Category Archive

Last year the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) ranked California as the worst STATE judicial hellhole in America.  But the corrupt courts in the city of Philadelphia gave that berg the top hellhole ranking of all. Those days are behind us.  The Philadelphia courts have since undergone some encouraging reforms, making California now the undisputed judicial hellhole ANYWHERE in America, …

San Diego – Can San Diego rebuild its crumbling infrastructure without a massive tax hike that some city leaders are pushing? Carl DeMaio says the answer is YES – and will lay out how to achieve better infrastructure without tax hikes in a major speech today. Carl DeMaio will be the keynote speaker today at the San Diego Chapter of …

What is a “death spiral state”?  If you live in the largest state on the West Coast, I think you know the answer.  The Forbes article below uses objective criteria to establish rankings — with the idea of suggesting that folks should not buy homes or municipal bonds in the declining states. The comparison uses two criteria.  One is the …

SACRAMENTO – Assemblyman Brian Jones, R-Santee, today took the oath of office for his second term in the Assembly, pledging to uphold the California Constitution and fight for California’s taxpayers.  “I am honored to have taken the oath to represent East San Diego and Riverside County residents and to have the opportunity to continue to work for real change at …

Californians okayed Governor Brown (and the labor unions’) plea for 30% higher taxes on the rich — making the “Golden State” BY FAR the highest income tax state in the nation.  Perhaps voters should have first looked “across the pond” at England’s similar “soak the rich measure” recently put in place. Britain raised its income tax rate on the wealthy …

Report Released at Today’s Audit Committee Recovery Audit to Save Taxpayers Money As part of his Roadmap to Recovery, Councilmember DeMaio proposed that the City of San Diego implement a Recovery Audit Program to identify and recover overpayments made to vendors working for the City of San Diego. The City Council unanimously approved DeMaio’s program, and today the City Comptroller …

It seems that after every Presidential election, there’s some who predict the demise of the losing party.  This year this often hopeful predication seems even more prevalent than usual.  A little historical perspective is in order. In 1964 the GOP ran a “radical” candidate, Barry Goldwater.  He got shellacked, even though his libertarian-oriented platform seems rather bland by today’s standards — certainly …

While Prop 30 passed handily statewide, it failed equally as handily in San Diego County. It failed 46%-54% in SD County while passing 54%-46% statewide. I did my job opposing Prop 30!!  😉 Just glad I wasn’t campaigning in LA, or SF, or SAC. Note to local SD politicians (especially Filner) — don’t think you can get tax increases easily …

RIDER COMMENT:  Here’s an EXCELLENT graphic summation of who pays income taxes in CA, and who does not (well, who pays very little taxes). It’s a worthwhile online visit. Indeed, I think this illustration UNDERSTATES the under-$60K group, as many MAKE money on the CA income tax scheme via tax credits and exemption credits. It certainly puts the lie to …

The commonly-heard term “anti-tax group” is interesting. If you oppose tax INCREASES, then you are labeled by the press as “anti-tax.” Really? I doubt that almost any of the opponents of tax increases want to do away with taxes, but that’s the inference. Okay, fair is fair.  What should we call the groups that always want to RAISE our taxes? …

What’s driving the unemployment rates down? Is the economy really booming? More important for us Golden State residents, why is California still doing so poorly compared to the other states? Here are some answers. http://riderrants.blogspot.com/2012/10/california-jobs-picture-still-as-dismal.html There are four factors suggested for our nation’s relatively improving unemployment figures. 1.  More private sector hiring. 2.  More of the “unemployed” dropping out of …

Today, the Bilbray for Congress campaign announced new internal poling results, which show him up by four points against his opponent Scott Peters. These new polling results reflect the growing momentum in the race for California’s 52nd Congressional District for Congressman Bilbray. Internal polling conducted last week, showed Bilbray leading by two points. The poll conducted October 15-18, with 470 …

California Prop 32 would end political payroll deductions for corporations and labor unions.  Both sides are spending millions on this measure (with the “no” side — all union money — spending MANY millions MORE against it). But here’s a point that’s seldom mentioned — even by Prop 32 supporters.  Labor union dues are 100% tax deductible.  About 75% of union dues …

Here’s an excellent letter to the editor by my good friend Paul King on CA’s soaring gasoline prices (I updated and expanded the figures, and added verifying URL’s): The Los Angeles Times correctly reported that refinery problems were the major cause of the supply problem on the West Coast.  CA once had 14 refineries producing the state’s unique blend of …

Chargers rule!  What a whupping.  Battle on! I sure enjoyed the Titans game. One interesting aspect struck me in the U-T reader letters (“Voices”) on the game.  There were six letters published.  NONE were from San Diego city residents.  BTW, all were from north of I-8, except perhaps the one from El Cajon. The point is, a very large number …

SACRAMENTO – Assemblyman Brian Jones, R-Santee, releases his commentary on the California pension issue in the “Are You Kidding Me?” series. In this video, Assemblyman Jones explains how true pension reform could save the state billions of dollars and Democrats need to pass the Governor’s reform plan now. The “Are You Kidding Me?” series consists of brief radio and television …

This morning the Labor Council and Filner each made announcements in the mayoral race. The Labor Council announced a month old, 400 sample poll that only included San Diego Unified School District, effectively excluded all of DeMaio’s council district 5.  Needless to say this oversight makes the poll about as worthwhile as a survey conducted by a freshman stats class …