Free Republic

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—California Republican interests have qualified a ballot measure that would severely curb the political influence of public and private employee unions while depriving Democratic political candidates of a major source of campaign cash. The measure, which bans political contributions through payroll deductions, qualified Tuesday for the November 2012 statewide ballot. With labor's primary funding source under attack, the measure sets up an expensive campaign season ahead for both sides. Funded in part by wealthy GOP donor and Stanford University physicist Charles Munger Jr. and backed by former Secretary of State George Shultz, the measure bans corporation and union contributions...

It is a well-known scandal that the Dodd-Frank financial "reform" bill could not find room in its 2,300 pages to address the government blunder at the center of the housing bubble, namely Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The current congressional majority and administration have announced they want to reform these two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) next year. Fannie and Freddie's financial implosion will cost the taxpayers much more than did the infamous collapse of the savings and loan institutions in the 1980s. Both the S&Ls and the GSEs were favored in their sunshine days by government policy aimed at promoting housing...