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Archive for February, 2018

The Gropes of Wrath


Tuesday February 27th, 2018   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 10:30am PST   •   0 Comments

California assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, a high-profile player with the #MeToo movement, is now facing allegations of sexual misconduct conduct. Two men charge that Garcia groped them, in one case after making an explicit sexual proposition. Another says he was fired after declining to play “spin the bottle” with Garcia. She has taken unpaid leave…
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CalPERS to Force Choice Between Bankruptcy and Bureaucrats


Monday February 26th, 2018   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 6:18am PST   •   0 Comments

In an all too predictable move, the board of the California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS) pension fund has begun taking steps to try to bail itself out before it is forced to acknowledge that it has little-to-no prospect of paying out the excessively generous pensions that politicians have promised to local government employees…
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Bad News and Worse News at the VA


Friday February 23rd, 2018   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 5:34am PST   •   1 Comment

There is both bad news and worse news to report about the VA’s ongoing scandals of waste, fraud and abuse. First, the bad news. The Department of Vetarans Affairs is now immersed in a new scandal, one that reaches all the way up to the top ranks of the federal agency. Gabby Morrongiello of…
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Government Junkie Economics


Wednesday February 21st, 2018   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 1:09pm PST   •   0 Comments

As we noted, California assemblyman Ian Calderon has proposed a bill that would make it illegal for restaurant staff to give customers a plastic straw unless they ask for one. Unrequested straws would draw a fine of $1,000 or even jail time. For all his zeal, the assemblyman seems to have ignored the tons…
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Fatal Bureaucratic Indifference


Wednesday February 21st, 2018   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 3:56am PST   •   0 Comments

After the recent mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, FBI special agent Robert Lasky, head of the bureau’s Miami division, said he “truly regrets” the pain caused by the FBI’s failure to act on a tip about the shooter. The FBI supposedly had no way to trace the tip, then FBI…
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Inside President Trump’s 2019 Budget Proposal


Monday February 19th, 2018   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 8:19pm PST   •   0 Comments

When President Trump released his budget proposal for the U.S. government’s upcoming 2019 fiscal year last week, my first impression is that it was ugly. Having taken more time to review the proposed spending details included within it, I’d like to up the ante in describing it to “really ugly”. To see why, here’s…
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Tax System Remains Punitive


Friday February 16th, 2018   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 9:28am PST   •   0 Comments

As we noted, the Republicans’ tax bill lowers the corporate rate from 35 to 21 percent and according to the New York Times it will cut taxes for about 75 percent of filers in 2018. That is good news for taxpayers, who would do well to consider realities that have not changed, such as…
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Trump’s Troubling, Truthful Budget Director


Wednesday February 14th, 2018   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 6:28am PST   •   0 Comments

Even though he oversaw the production of President Trump’s ugly first budget proposal, there appears to be quite a lot to like about Mick Mulvaney, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and also the legitimate interim director of the constitutionally–questionable Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. Specifically, the thing to…
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An Ugly Budget Proposal


Tuesday February 13th, 2018   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 6:16am PST   •   1 Comment

President Trump released his first budget proposal yesterday. At first glance, it looks pretty ugly where the concept of fiscal responsibility is concerned. The following chart shows the amount of the U.S. government’s tax collections and spending that President Trump has proposed for the fiscal years of 2018 through 2023, where we’ve provided historical…
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California Straw Man Runs in the Family


Monday February 12th, 2018   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 11:14am PST   •   0 Comments

California assemblyman Ian Calderon has proposed a bill that would make it illegal for restaurant staff to give customers a plastic straw unless they ask for one. Unrequested straws would draw a fine of $1,000 or even jail time. This measure has led some to wonder about those little plastic umbrellas in drinks, or…
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