Two minutes spent reading the SF Chronicle’s Friday point-counterpoint on Prop 98 should be enough to convince anyone that it’s a good idea. Eliminating rent control is long overdue, and I’m hopeful that a statewide vote will do just that.
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Should Gov’t Expenditures Stay a Constant Percentage Of GDP?
Liberals frequently like to point out that, no matter the meanderings of the government on tax and spending policy, government expenditures as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) have remained fairly constant across the years. This, they argue, means that all-in-all government is not growing too large. Here is an example of the graph they like to point to.
It’s a seductive argument accepted by many in academia. It is also one with which I strongly disagree. The details of this disagreement can be very useful in dissuading liberals of their wrongheaded beliefs.
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Reducing Welfare? In Alameda County?
I don’t know if anyone else caught this brief article in the Oakland paper. Apparently the county is considering only permitting six months of welfare payments for those who can work rather than the current year. I’d like readers to weigh in on this.
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Perata and Teachers Unions, Have You No Shame?
Don Perata took the microphone at a rally Monday, declaring that we should “raise taxes before cutting education.”
This comes on the heels of the news last month that Alameda teachers decided to put kids in trash cans to protest budget cuts. The hyperbole never seems to end.
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Oakland’s Business-Tax Dragnet
This week, I received a letter from the city of Oakland indicating that I had failed to register the business I apparently run out of my house. The letter claimed I owed the city more than $5,000 in back-taxes.
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Vote No On Oakland’s LLAD Increase
If you own property in Oakland, by now you should have received ballots in the mail regarding the proposed increase in the “Landscape and Lighting Assessment District” fee. PLEASE VOTE NO!
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In Oakland, Felons Get All The Breaks
Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums is at it again, this time pushing to cease asking job applicants whether they’ve been convicted of a felony in the past.
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Oakland Public Employee Unions Break The Bank (again)
The latest list of Oakland public employees earning more than $100k per year is making the rounds on the blogs today. Several folks have taken aim at City Administrator Deborah Edgerly, who took down a cool $255k. But that’s not where the real action is.
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Jane Brunner Thinks Our Schools Are “Great”
I just received this email in one of my many fake Yahoo accounts dedicated to such drivel:
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At Mandela Foods Coop, The Cupboard Is Bare
Regular readers of the blog know my dislike for the latest socialist experiment being perpetrated on the people of West Oakland. As promised, I dropped by and took pictures both of the “Coop” and the 99 Cents Only store’s produce section.
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