Free Republic

I meant to post on this over the weekend as I read about this first on Friday... naturally (bury the big news in the weekend, eh?) But once again - as Mike's A pointed out with the auto makers - Obama is flexing his muscles on behalf of the unions. And in this case, Arnie, the guvernator, is finding his diminutive stature eyeball to belly button with Obama over a renegotation with the SEIU service employees union. And right now, Arnie's not got the wind at his back because Obama's holding the stimulus funds hostage. The short story? Schwarzenegger and...

WASHINGTON -- Working in his office at a public health clinic in downtown Sacramento, Robert Caulk is gearing up to make a dent in California's growing unemployment rate, now at 10.5 percent. Caulk, the chief executive officer of The Effort, has already offered a job to a psychiatrist to help the homeless, making a good start in his goal to hire from 40 to 44 new employees by the end of June. "That's going to be a challenge, but that's what we're going for," said Caulk, who has been plenty busy since his organization became one of the very first...

The California GOP's stimulus dodge Republicans in Sacramento have been trying to change overtime and meal-break regulations long before the current crisis. December 7, 2008 One of the keys to finally closing a state budget deal may be a controversial package of economic stimulus measures, either in the form recommended by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the unsuccessful special session of the Legislature that came to a close after Thanksgiving, or with some tweaks here and there to satisfy various constituencies. Democrats are expected to come back with the same budget proposals they put forward last month, a call for Republicans...

As the final embarrassing days of California's special legislative session slip away with no state budget solution in sight, the 40 members of the state Senate and 80 members of the Assembly have once again proved the wisdom of my call to abolish the Legislature. They are a worthless group that individually and collectively have ignored the state's toughest problems. On Tuesday's budget vote, some lawmakers didn't even bother to show up. The Democrats' budget bill didn't get the required two-thirds votes to pass and the Republicans didn't offer up an alternative. This is the best our lawmakers can offer:...

Speaker Bass wrote a column in the Sacramento Bee today calling for a "stimulus package" for California. Her solution? Give the state more federal welfare. Since the state's financial problems have been caused by overspending, poor fiscal management of the tax dollars entrusted to them, and a complete lack of self control, you would expect the President and Congress to say no to this outlandish demand. However, since neither the President nor Congress have said no to the completely self indulgent behavior of the private sector, the Speaker's request might actually be considered. The Speaker claims that the state has...

During the Cold War, U.S. presidents paid close attention to the "domino theory" and to how having some country fall to communism on their watch would ultimately affect their place in history. In his final weeks in office, President Bush has another set of dominoes to worry about – namely which financial giant will be the next to topple during his presidency. To help in moving toward a national economic recovery – and to burnish his legacy by doing right in time of crisis – President Bush needs to step in now to help shore up one of the country's...