Yesterday, one week after the election, the Legislative Analyst Office released a report on California’s fiscal outlook. It reported that there was going to be a $25 billion deficit. Assembly Budget Committee Chairman, Assembly Phil Ting, a Democrat, told the press there was nothing to worry about, “last year,” he said, “the LAO reported there was going to be a deficit at this same time, and it turned out to be a record surplus.” That is a false statement. I use the harsh word “false” because it is easy verifiable (though no one in the press even made the effort to verify if it was true or false). Read last year’s fiscal outlook report (on November 17, 2021) and you will find the LAO predicted a more than $30 billion surplus, with surpluses into the future (whoops, that was wrong too).

Contrast that with my prediction made in the run up to the state budget last year, in an article I wrote on December 15, 2021 entitled “My Advice to Legislators: Don’t Rely on LAO Rosy Scenarios For A Budget Surplus.” In that article, I said: “History has shown that pre-election projections of large… Read More

Absence of Malice is a 1981 Sydney Pollack film starring Paul Newman that I recently rewatched. If you have not seen it — or have not recently — it is timeless. Newman’s character is accused of killing a union boss which he asserts he is innocent of the charge. Sally Field plays a reporter who writes a story “accusing him” of the crime. During one encounter, Newman says “I gotta know where that story came from. ‘Knowledgeable sources,’ you said. You write what they say and then you help them hide. You say you have a right to do that, and I got no right to know who they are.” Fields says “If they clear you. I’ll write about that too.” Newman replies. “What page?” Matters have not changed much when it comes to the press except they now attribute most claims to “experts say” and we are supposed to drop to our knees and thank them. Yet this kind of behavior has spread throughout our society. You are aware of it – “it” is called cancel culture. People express something on social media, and they are harassed for being a bigot etc. etc. etc. We now have advanced past cancel culture as proceedings have gotten even worse and… Read More

We have lived for 32 years in a neighborhood that until recently had virtually no crime incidents. We live in the Santa Monica Mountains away from major boulevards. We kept our garage door open during the day without concern. Then things changed. Three years ago, on a Sunday, when I was at my office seven minutes from our home, a person pulled into our garage in my space. He saw no activity in the house but sat in the garage for fifteen minutes waiting for our dogs to calm down. The Beautiful Wife (TBW) was in her office on the other side of the house, so the alarm was not on. She heard the continuing barking by our three dogs and came over to the other side of the house thinking there was a critter driving the doggies crazy. On that side of the house, she was facing a man who came in from our garage. When she asked what he was doing in our house, he said “I am a visitor.” She told him to get the hell out, and he immediately exited while she called the police. That very evening, the police suspected it was same the guy casing a house around the corner, got us and TBW identified him as he was wearing the same shirt he wore when entering our home.… Read More

Yes, we are having an election in next week and there could not be a clearer choice. In fact, there never has been. I understand why some people wanted to toss Donald Trump out of office. He has a great ability to say things in ridiculously stupid ways. But he had this country in a rather good place until his replacement took over. Let’s recount what has happened since Mr. Biden took over: 1. He has given away over $426 billion of our money to people who made a choice to take out college loans and now somehow feel oppressed. That does not include the billions he has already given away through other college loan relief programs. And yet he has proposed zero reforms to prevent this from happening again. 2. Parents in this country finally woke up to the fact the country’s public schools are dismal. This is the best thing that came out of the pandemic. They have come to realize the teachers’ unions have negligible interest in our children. The already horrific performance of these schools only became worse. Standardized test scores have plummeted from their already dismal levels. It is easy to brand the teachers’ unions as the most… Read More

I have a terrible confession to make. After much soul searching, for the first time in my life, I just voted for a massive tax increase — Prop 30. So did my wife and sons.

It’s a HORRIBLE tax increase — a 1.75% income tax increase on the over-taxed super-wealthy of California — those with $2,000,000 or more in annual income (including, of course, capital gains) to fund elect vehicle (EV) infrastructure. It’s a special interest propfunded 95% by Lyft. Initially I opposed this EV tax increase, and I included that opposition position in my list of recommendations.

Here are my reasons for changing my mind:

The overwhelming majority of these wealthy Californians either actively support the woke movement (including higher taxes) or choose to stay quiet. According to the Legislative Office (LAO), the top 1% of CA income taxpayers pay 50% of all the state’s income tax. Too bad for them. Only a handful of the super-rich have had the guts … Read More

The Democrats always invoke thoughts in me of the 1984 Sparks song: All you ever think about is race All you ever think about exclusively All you ever think about is race, all right with me Of course, the song used a different word than “race” and, gosh, do I ever wish it were the good old days when all they thought about was sex. Where is John Kennedy when one needs him? Is anyone genuinely surprised about the leaked tape becoming a national sensation? You know, the one where four “Hispanic” power brokers using some “choice” language while doing backroom dealing and attempting to get their team a bigger slice of the Los Angeles City Council? Certainly, some of the rhetoric was over-the-top and downright racist, but it just shows you the party of race sensitivity is really the party of racists. Did you expect campfire sing-alongs of Peter, Paul and Mary songs and s’mores. When your entire party is based on racial divide and group identity then one can only expect the groups to be focused on their own needs, wants and desires. What do the four major subgroups of the Democrat party have in common? They… Read More

I have read a lot of legislation over the years, but never have I read a piece of legislation quite as cynical as California’s AB257 Fast Food Accountability and Standards Act passed by the Legislature and signed by Gallivanting Governor Newsom. The people who created this legislation obviously think we are all fools. Allowing this to exist will destroy the jobs they believe they are protecting. The reason this legislation was passed is quite clear (you probably have figured this) — the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has largely failed to unionize employees at fast-food restaurants and has figured out a workaround to get the employees under their control. First, the legislation creates specific rules that allows a restaurant to be exempt from the draconian rules for one reason – the restaurant is subject to a collective bargaining agreement. Second, it creates the Fast Food Council (FFC) where nine positions are appointed by the Governor/ Legislature, and one is a career union government worker from the Department of Industrial Relations. Sure, it has two representatives from franchisors and two from franchisees, but they are being… Read More

Breaking Bad:California vs. the Other States

by Richard Rider – Chairman, San Diego Tax Fighters

Version 3.49 Revised: 5 October, 2022

Online version at:www.TinyURL.com/CA-vs-other-states… Read More