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Archive for July, 2016

Learning from Spain’s Social Security Example


Friday July 29th, 2016   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 10:31am PDT   •   0 Comments

What should Americans expect to happen when Social Security’s Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund runs out of money in 2034? For many Americans, including those who are just starting to collect Social Security retirement benefits, that may seem like a long time away. But if current projections hold, well before 2034…
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Clinton and the Future U.S. Budget


Monday July 25th, 2016   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 6:10am PDT   •   0 Comments

The Democratic National Convention is going on this week, and much like the Republican National Convention last week, I’m once again planning to avoid watching any part of it. Life is simply too short to waste valuable leisure time on the empty promises of politicians who either won’t keep their grandiose promises or worse,…
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Trump and the Future U.S. Budget


Friday July 22nd, 2016   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 6:47am PDT   •   3 Comments

If you’re anything like me, you’re doing everything you can to keep from having to watch any part of the major party political conventions this month. That’s because these kinds of events are far too often long on political hyperbole and short on substance. Too many promises get made that have absolutely no chance…
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Covered California Misery Mounts a Surge


Thursday July 21st, 2016   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 4:12am PDT   •   0 Comments

We have been tracking Covered California, the Golden State’s wholly-owned subsidiary of Obamacare. Emily Bazar of the Center for Health Reporting has exposed glitches in the system’s $454 million computer system, problems with cancelation of policies when people turn 65, and difficulties in enrollment for others. For Bazar, these and other problems resulted in…
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Conventional Wisdom on Education?


Wednesday July 20th, 2016   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 10:12am PDT   •   0 Comments

The Republican National Convention in Cleveland this week has showcased plenty of hoopla and boilerplate rhetoric – some of it apparently plagiarized – but provided little enlightenment on key themes such as education. On Tuesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan and New Jersey governor Chris Christie bypassed the subject completely. Not so Donald Trump Jr.,…
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Proposition 13 Liars Exposed


Tuesday July 19th, 2016   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 4:53am PDT   •   1 Comment

In 1978, when Jerry Brown was governor, soaring property taxes were literally driving people from their homes. Embattled Californians responded with the People’s Initiative to Limit Property Taxation. This measure capped property tax rates for residential and commercial properties at 1 percent of the assessed value and prevented assessed value from growing more than…
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The Debt Scenario You Should Believe


Monday July 18th, 2016   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 6:38am PDT   •   0 Comments

Each year the Congressional Budget Office publishes its Long Term Budget Outlook, it presents two different scenarios that project the future value of the publicly-held portion of the national debt: the Extended Baseline scenario and the Alternative Fiscal scenario. Because the two have very different assumptions behind them, the question of which scenario is…
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Bullet Train’s “Blended” Boondoggle


Thursday July 14th, 2016   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 5:17am PDT   •   0 Comments

We have been keeping track, so to speak, of California’s high-speed rail project, the vaunted “bullet train.” In February, we noted that farmers are not eager to sell the land the project needs. The alleged cost of $68 billion was already more than double the $33 billion estimate before California voters approved $9.95 billion…
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CBO: Out of Control Spending Worsens U.S. Fiscal Situation


Wednesday July 13th, 2016   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 5:26am PDT   •   0 Comments

Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office published its 2016 Long Term Budget Outlook for the U.S. government. Investors Business Daily‘s John Merline identifies the main takeaway from this year’s edition of the CBO report. The nation’s long-term fiscal picture has grown considerably more dire over the past year, according to the latest forecast from the…
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Income Equality Researchers More Equal Than Others


Tuesday July 12th, 2016   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 5:12am PDT   •   0 Comments

In recent years, income equality has become an issue, with the discussion usually generating more heat than light. As Michael McGrady writes in The College Fix, income equality research has also become a lucrative pursuit. Drawing on a recent report from the California Policy Center, McGrady notes that several UC Berkeley economics professors who…
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