After Bell’s Toll: Can California Be Reformed?
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on August 9th, 2010 4:31 am by HL
After Bell’s Toll: Can California Be Reformed?
Brian Calle, OC Register
Calling out the city of Bell's flagrant misuse of taxpayer funds for enormous salaries for city executives has started a statewide movement for local cities and municipalities to post all salary information on their websites.That's good news for those of us concerned with greater transparency, but the approach must be uniform for cities throughout the Golden State, and transparency should not be the only reform. Much work needs to be done on the public policy front to protect local taxpayers and address unbalanced compensation for civic employees. Such actions as local…
More on the Higher Education Bubble
Glenn Reynolds, DC Examiner
Back at the beginning of the summer, I had a column in this space in which I predicted that higher education is in a bubble, one soon to burst with considerable consequences for students, faculty, employers, and society at large.My reasoning was simple enough: Something that can’t go on forever, won’t. And the past decades’ history of tuition growing much faster than the rate of inflation, with students and parents making up the difference via easy credit, is something that can’t go on forever. Thus my prediction…
ObamaCare: Can Dems Keep Ignoring Public?
Merrill Matthews, Forbes
Democracy is breaking out all over the country, and some in Washington don't like it one little bit.The latest example occurred in Missouri Tuesday, where more than 70% of voters rejected ObamaCare. Actually what they did was pass Proposition C, which declares that the federal government cannot tell Missourians they must have health insurance or pay a fine if they don't. That mandate to have health insurance is one of the most controversial provisions in ObamaCare.When President Obama and the Democratic leadership pushed through the health care reform bill last March, a number…
For Politicians, a Marriage of Inconvenience
Lou Cannon, New York Times
WHEN a federal judge ruled last week that a California ballot measure banning same-sex marriage violated the Constitution, he complicated the political strategy of Meg Whitman, the personable Republican billionaire who wants to be our next governor. Yet while most close observers of California politics think the decision is either irrelevant to the race or puts Ms. Whitman in a tough corner, there’s also a chance it could play out in a way that gives her an edge on her opponent, Attorney General (and former governor) Jerry Brown.After disposing of a more conservative rival in…
Can Christina Romer Get Her Soul Back?
Tim Cavanaugh, Reason
Christina D. Romer is quitting as chairwoman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers.The ordinary function of government is to destroy talented people, but Romer's epic failure has an additional element of tragedy. As an economist, Romer did an excellent job of establishing that New Deal stimulus failed to end or seriously mitigate the Great Depression. As an Obama team player (and poignantly, a sunny supporter of the then-senator's campaign), she made a 180-degree turn toward pro-stimulus hocus pocus. Romer will be remembered as the main advocate of the mythical…
