Response to Mayor Figg’s editorial on POA audit of Port Hueneme
By William Stevenson Mayor Figg, As a Police Officer for the Port Hueneme Police Department, I feel the utmost need to pen this response to your opinion letter. You state your interest is to retain our home town police department but are you familiar with the trouble we had keeping this home town police department […]
Re: California: The World’s Largest Insane Asylum
By William Hicks I’m not only a retiree after 43 years of service, but also a product of Los Angeles Unified School District. I graduated from High School in 1963 and had a World Class Education. If you are among the graduates from the Los Angeles Unified School District today, you’re lucky to have a Third […]
Leading on Paris climate treaty?
We should lead from behind – instead of with brains in our behinds – on this new Treaty of Paris What an unpalatable irony. The 1783 Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War and created the United States. The 2015 Treaty of Paris could end what’s left of our democratic USA – and complete […]
California’s Pensions Are An Economic Burden, Not Benefit
. Last month an article entitled “Pensions as Economic Stimulus” was posted to Fox & Hounds Daily. The author, Charles Beckwith, is a former CalPERS senior financial manager. Beckwith’s article, while thoughtful, invites a response. Because California’s pension systems may stimulate the economy in some ways, but equally significant ways, they are killing the economy. Beckwith’s […]
Deceptive and Misleading Claims – How Government Unions Fool the Public
By Ed Ring . California’s public sector unions collect and spend well over $1.0 billion per year. When you have that much money, you can hire thousands of skilled professionals to wage campaigns, litigate, lobby, negotiate, and communicate. You can hire the best public relations firms money can buy. You can commission research studies that […]
CalSTRS CEO Jack Ehnes Recommends 50% Increase to CalSTRS Pension Benefits
By Ed Ring Editor’s note: Mr Ring subsequently retracted some material in this article, but makes other useful points. See his words in reader comments below. . “The median CalSTRS pension replaced less than 60 percent of final salary for the members who retired last year. CalSTRS recommends income replacement of 80 percent to 90 percent […]
Why Pension Reform is Inevitable, and How Reforms Can Benefit the Economy
By Ed Ring . CalSTRS Chief Investment Officer Chris Ailman, Sacramento Bee, July 17, 2015 If what Mr. Ailman really means is equity investments may not be turning in double digit returns any more, that makes the recent performance of CalSTRS and CalPERS all the more troubling. Because according to their most recent financial statements, […]
Can Unionized Police Be Held Accountable for Misconduct?
“We thought [the employees we fired] were inappropriate to be employees of the city.” – Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard Parks (ret.), in reference to the termination of corrupt police officers, Rampart scandal (late 1990’s) About a year ago we published an editorial asking this question, “How much does professionalism cost,” using as an example […]
Public Sector Union Reform Requires Mutual Empathy
Sorry but you would all be crying like a little b**** if the cops and firefighters that earn every penny they get in retirement were not there when your perfect make believe world falls apart so shut the f*** up. Until you do the job you have no idea what you are talking about. – […]
How California’s State and Local Governments Can Save $50 Billion Per Year
By Ed Ring Back in the early 2000’s, in the aftermath of the internet bubble’s collapse, California’s state and local governments endured a period of austerity that resulted in “furloughs,” where, typically, employees would take Friday’s off in exchange for a 20% cut in their pay. That is, they worked 20% less, and made 20% less […]
