The Freedom Minute

Vote for Walter Moore for Mayor of Los Angeles

To say that anyone would be a better mayor than Antonio Villaragosa, would be the understatement of the year. Our current mayor is the typical career politician who caters almost exclusively to special interest groups and the politically connected. Under his watch, the City of Los Angeles has declined while taxes and fees have skyrocketed. Furthermore, Villaragosa has shown himself to be unconcerned with basic honesty. Remember Villaragosa’s misleading and deceptive Prop S which tricked LA voters into approving a tax which would otherwise have expired by calling it a tax reduction? Well we now have Measure B, another deceptively titled ballot measure (Solar Energy and Job Creation Program), which would stifle solar power innovation and give a monopoly to a powerful union. (See Related Post) Guess who championed this new boondoggle – right Mayor Villaragosa. The reasons to vote Villaragosa out of office are too numerous to list; his mismanagement of taxpayer dollars, disregard for the middle class taxpayer, and backdoor dealings should be enough to convince you. In addition, Villaragosa is likely to run for governor in 2010. The L.A. Weekly recently estimated that he currently spends only 11% of his time on his mayoral duties. How much time do you think he’ll spend on city business while he’s off campaigning?

This is why I am endorsing Walter Moore for Mayor. Walter has been an outspoken opponent of City Hall for a long time. He first came to my attention during the grassroots attempt to defeat Prop S and since then has been on the right side of almost every issue the middle class Angelino should care about. Here’s a link to his website. Walter can do a much better job speaking for himself than I could hope to do in this short blog post. I urge you to visit Walter’s website and vote for him this Tuesday. We can’t afford another four years of Antonio Villaragosa.

February 28th, 2009 Posted by freedomminute | Election, Local Government | no comments

Vote No on LA Measure B: Green Energy and Good Jobs for Los Angeles Program

This is another deceptively titled ballot measure designed to trick the voting public into voting for something they would never want if they knew the truth – a monopoly by a powerful union and guaranteed higher energy rates. So here’s the truth:

Measure B amends the Charter and Administrative Code to authorize creation of a DWP program to build 400 megawatts’ worth of solar photovoltaics on land and rooftops inside the city. But it also mandates that the “solar power installations shall be installed, owned, operated and maintained by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP)”. This gives the DWP a virtual monopoly on all solar power installations throughout the city and explains why the measure was created and pushed onto the ballot by the powerful union that represents DWP workers. They want to get through legislation what they can’t achieve in the open market – a monopoly. And we all know what happens when you have a monopoly – you block competition that could provide cheaper or better alternatives.

As explained on the VoteNoLA website, “Unlike giant power plants built to serve entire communities, solar power systems installed on rooftops lend themselves to private ownership and operation. Why not always get the best price for rate-payers by soliciting competitive bids? Wouldn’t that be better for rate-payers and the local economy? Of course it would. Competitive bidding and private ownership should be the rule, not the exception”. Private solar companies, with deep expertise honed in a competitive environment, could possibly provide the same solar service more cheaply than the DWP. But if Measure B passes, that won’t happen.

In addition, this measure isn’t even needed to achieve its purported goals. The LA Times stated in a recent editorial, “Los Angeles can do all of those things without Measure B. In fact, the DWP is already working on programs to generate about 900 megawatts of solar power, and it didn’t stop to ask voter permission. It should do the same with the 400 megawatts of in-basin rooftop energy”. Furthermore, the Times goes on to explain the political power grab that is also a part of this measure. “Something else is going on here. It’s a grab for power — the political kind, not the solar stuff — by the City Council and the union that represents DWP workers. Measure B, if passed, would transfer oversight of in-basin solar power from a five-member commission, with at least a modicum of political independence, to the City Council. But because the measure would allow the council to change or suspend everything that’s in it, the council’s new authority would not be accompanied by new accountability. On the contrary, this measure would give the council sweeping political cover.”

Measure B, is another disingenuous campaign put forth by the Mayor and City Council to hoodwink the public. Don’t fall for their deceptions again. Solar power is a good idea; Measure B is a step in the wrong direction.

Vote NO on Measure B.

Times Article
VoteNoLA
Vote NO on Measure B website

February 28th, 2009 Posted by freedomminute | Ballot Initiatives, Election, Local Government | no comments

Vote No on LA Measure E: Economic Incentives For Business Development

Amends the City Charter to state that the City may provide economic incentives to attract new businesses to the City or to keep current businesses in the City. Incentives must result in clearly identifiable public benefits, must follow applicable law, and must be approved by the Mayor and Council.

While this measure sounds good on the surface, it simply memorializes in the City Charter what the Mayor and City Council have already been doing, giving away millions of dollars each year of your hard earned tax dollars to rich, politically connected developers in the form of subsidies, tax breaks and other special treatment. These developers then turn around and support the campaigns of the politicians that transferred your money to them, assuring that these politicians will continue in office year after year where they can do more political favors for those that helped put them there. It’s an unholy alliance and this ballot measure makes it worse.

Economic studies show that “incentive” programs do not work: they do not create wealth; they just redistribute money from taxpayers to people with political connections. The best way to improve our business climate it to cut taxes and fees and reform the process that makes business owners and entrepreneurs wade through an unnecessary bureaucracy and mountains of paperwork in order to start and run their businesses.

There’s a lot of smart things we can do to improve business development in Los Angeles, but Measure E is not one of them.

Recommendation: Vote NO

February 28th, 2009 Posted by freedomminute | Ballot Initiatives, Election, Local Government | no comments

Vote No on LA Measure A: Fire Department Independent Assessor

Amends the City Charter to create the post of Fire Department Independent Assessor.

The Measure would:
(1) Establish the position of independent Assessor, exempt from Civil Service, who reports to the Fire Commission;
(2) Provide the Independent Assessor the responsibility for auditing, assessing and reviewing the activities of the Fire Department, including handling of complaints of misconduct against firefighters and civilian employees, under rules established by the Fire Commission; and
(3) Authorize the Fire Commission to appoint and remove the Independent Assessor.

Recommendation: Vote NO

Proponents of this measure claim that in order to protect firefighters from harassment at work while protecting taxpayers from frivolous lawsuits we need an Independent Assessor. But we are already footing a multi-million dollar annual bill for an army of deputy mayors, mayoral aides, attorneys, risk management teams, etc. whose job it is to prevent harassment and defend against frivolous lawsuits. We need better management at the top, not more layers of management below. The answer to any real or imagined problems within the fire department is to hold accountable those who are already charged with managing the department correctly.

The Mayor, Fire Chief and the Board of Fire Commissioners are responsible for conditions at the Fire Department. The Mayor has a staff of 93 people. The Fire Department has a Professional Standards Division to handle complaints. The City’s Personnel Department, moreover, has an Equal Employment Opportunity Section that “monitors compliance by City departments with City, State and Federal EEO laws and regulations.” The City Administrative Officer has a Risk Management Team. So does the City Attorney. As for lawsuits, the City Attorney has a budgeted staff of 791 people, including over 300 attorneys. City Hall, moreover, spent $28.9 million last year on outside counsel. Under the Charter, the Mayor and the City Council make “the client decisions in litigation,” including whether to take a case all the way to trial, or whether instead to settle and, if so, on what terms.

If all of those people cannot protect firefighters and taxpayers, what difference would an “Independent Assessor” make? None. We do not need to add yet another layer of bureaucracy. We just need better people running City Hall.

February 28th, 2009 Posted by freedomminute | Ballot Initiatives, Election, Local Government | no comments

Who Wants to Be a Master Debater?

On Sunday I was at a friend’s house for an Academy Awards viewing party. I generally don’t care much about who wins the Oscars, and this year in particular we all knew which film was going to take away the lion’s share of the awards. But I like visiting my friend and his wife and they were so very kind to include us, so we went.

During one of the commercial breaks, I happened to be talking to my friend about the state of the economy and mentioned in passing my libertarian leanings. One of the other couples there immediately took great umbrage at my statement. The wife pronounced that (I’m paraphrasing) “libertarianism can’t work because under such a system there’s no common property and you can’t have a functioning society without a commons such as roads etc.” I pointed out that I never claimed that I was in favor of a society in which there was no commons and that by attacking me on that point she was making a Straw Man argument (claiming I said something I didn’t say and then arguing against it). She apparently didn’t want to engage me further to explore what I did advocate because she simply walked away in a huff. As a result, I never got the chance to explain why she also happened to be wrong about her absolute assertion that a commons is necessary for a society to function.

Then her husband chimed in.
Continue reading “Who Wants to Be a Master Debater?”

February 25th, 2009 Posted by freedomminute | Libertarian Philosophy | no comments

What You Really Learn in Math 101

In a recent opinion piece on the Sacramento Bee’s web site, Dan Walters criticizes those who oppose the recent budget deal as panderers, suggesting that they’re somehow dishonest in their opposition. Read the piece here:

California budget’s foes pander on the numbers

I’m reposting my response here because comments on the Bee’s website only allows 1000 characters and I had to cut it up into five different posts:

Dan,

If you’re going to write an opinion piece on the state budget, it might be helpful for you to provide at least one fact or piece of evidence to support your claims. Basically you are claiming that the budget couldn’t be balanced unless taxes were raised. Then you go on to criticize two potential gubernatorial candidates for not giving specifics as to how they would have balanced the budget. But what’s sauce for the goose, is sauce for the gander. It’s intellectually dishonest for you to make the claims you do without backing them up. You simply proclaim that the governor is right but then offer no proof or at least a counter argument to those who claim the tax increase wasn’t necessary.

So let me provide a few examples of how to back up an assertion:

You claim that Steve Poizner is pandering when he called the budget “a financial fiasco”. It isn’t pandering to say that raising taxes in a recession would be extremely harmful to the economy when virtually every economist would agree that it’s the likely outcome. Furthermore, we have historical evidence that this budget will worsen our financial problems. In 1994, Republican Governor Pete Wilson went along with the Democratic Legislature’s attempt to eliminate the (at that time) historic $14 billion deficit with $7 billion in tax hikes and $7 billion in spending cuts. This resulted in a deeper and more sustained recession and the deficit quickly re-appeared because revenues shrank further due to the tax increases. Prosperity only returned when the tax increases expired. There’s certainly every reason to believe that the basic laws of economics will apply this time as well. And we’ll likely have “a financial fiasco” on our hands as we did before.

You further take Poizner to task for saying, “When politicians who were elected to oppose more taxes end up supporting them, this is not a hard choice – it’s a broken promise.” Well, every Republican in the State legislature signed a pledge not to raise taxes and then six of them voted for a budget that included over $12 billion in tax increases. The Governor unequivocally made that same pledge verbally numerous times as well and then approved the largest single tax increase by any State in U.S. history. I’m not sure what you’d call it, but in my book that’s pretty much the definition of breaking your promise.

Now let’s turn to your claim that the budget couldn’t be balanced without tax increases. This is false and I’ll give you and our esteemed Governor a much needed math lesson. The final budget raised taxes by about $12.5 billion. Here’s how you find that much without the taxes:

As reported in the SacBee on Dec. 15th, the Republicans proposed the following:

Redirect Proposition 10 unspent funds – $2.1 billion
Redirect Proposition 63 unspent funds – $3.9 billion
Transfer from trial court improvement fund – $61 million
Fund transfers from Department of Parks and Recreation – $27 million
Delay loan repayment to Integrated Waste Management Board – $21 million
Delay loan repayment to Public Utilities Commission – $5 million
Motor Vehicle Account Fund Transfer – $170 million
Redirect tribal gaming payments for transportation loans – $200 million

This comes to about $7 billion. Now add Senator Chuck DeVore’s plan to permit oil slant drilling which would allow us to borrow up to $5 billion against future revenues. That’s $12 billion right there. Now that’s not the only way to get the needed funds. Preferably, the legislature could just cut $12 billion of the $40 billion increase in state spending that occurred over the last 5 years. Or cut some of the 175,000 new state workers who were added to the state payroll over the last decade. (I’ll do the math for you – That’s 48 jobs added per day.)

My point is that it’s disingenuous to say the budget couldn’t be balanced without raising taxes. The truth is that it would have been politically difficult, not mathematically impossible. Of course, maybe in Gov. Schwarzenegger’s Math 101 class they only teach you how to balance the budget by raising taxes. Keeping your word and making politically difficult decisions must be taught in one of the advanced courses.

February 24th, 2009 Posted by freedomminute | Federal Government | no comments

Darrell Steinberg is a Liar

If you are a frequent visitor to this blog, you know that I’m not prone to hyperbole or name calling. So you can be sure I have good reason to title this post as I did.

Here’s a video of Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg speaking on the Senate Floor Monday night. He’s pretty pissed off that he hasn’t been able to get that one Republican vote that would raise our taxes by $14 billion. So, for the benefit of any news reporters that happen to be listening, he goes on a little tirade filled with half-truths and out-right lies. Now we’ve all come to expect a bit of “spin” when politicians open their mouths, but this particular set of distortions is particularly egregious since it’s simply scare tactics to ram the tax increase down our throats.

Ok – here’s the lies, transcribed directly from the video:

Steinberg’s lie -
“Tomorrow the Governor will issue an executive order and announce the layoff of 20,000 state workers. 20,000 hard working Californians, who will be victimized, through no fault of their own, because we have not completed our work.”

The Truth –
The Governor issued layoff “warnings” to 20,000 state workers who’s jobs are paid for from the General Fund. 20,000 warnings had to be sent out because, due to union rules, many of the jobs can’t actually be eliminated, so in order to cut 10,000 jobs, 20,000 notices have to be sent. Furthermore, many of the 10,000 jobs will be eliminated through attrition (retirement or not filling vacant positions) and many of the workers who’s jobs actually are cut, will simply be moved to other jobs funded by special revenue streams rather than through the General Fund. Few if any state workers will actually be laid off. But there’s even more to it. In order to eliminate any jobs, warnings have to be issued 6 months in advance, so even if some one does stand to lose their job, it won’t happen until July and by that time a new budget will have been passed and their jobs could again be funded. So the sending of the 20,000 warnings is pretty much just a formality and Darrell Steinberg knows it. He knows it’s not 20,000 workers and he knows that no one will be “victimized”. So when he said the Governor would announce the layoff of 20,000 state workers, that was a lie.

Steinberg’s lie -
“I will not allow anyone (Senators) to go home, to resume their lives, to have any kind of resumption of normal business as long as I know, and we all know, that on Wednesday morning 20,000 people are going to be laid off…”

The Truth –
Ok, you already know the truth, but since Steinberg repeated his bald faced lie, I figured it deserved a separate showing.

He also made some claims about thousands of workers in infrastructure jobs who would be thrown out of work on Wednesday as well, but since I can’t prove him to have lied about that yet, I’ll just wait till the end of the day and see what actually happens.

By the way, if you want to hear Republican Senator Hollingsworth’s reply which I reference in my previous post, it’s at the end of the clip, so watch the whole thing.

Darrell Steinberg Telling Lies on the Senate Floor

February 18th, 2009 Posted by freedomminute | State Government | no comments

Massive Tax Increase Defeated – For Now

Word just in at this late hour from Sacramento that the budget which would have included $14 billion in tax increases has been defeated. Republicans held the line and refused to saddle you with the State’s debt. You should be grateful. Depending on your circumstances, this massive tax increase could have cost you upwards of $1000 per year over the next two to five years. Plus, it would have worsened an already painful recession by causing a further retraction of our economy. We’ve dodged a bullet, for the time being. Who knows what other tricks the majority party has up their sleeves in order to stick you with the bill for the last ten years of overspending? Therefore, we can’t let up. Keep calling your representatives and tell them no new taxes. And then forward them my previous post below so they understand that there is a way out of this without raising your taxes and crippling our economy.

In related news, Dave Cogdill has been ousted as the leader of the Republican Caucus in the Senate. He helped negotiate this terrible tax plan and the majority of his Republican colleagues were not happy. He has been replaced with Senator Dennis Hollingsworth, who yesterday in response to the pressure tactics and outright distortions being used by Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg in order to pressure Republicans to go along with the tax increase, shouted out on the Senate Floor, “You’re not going to go back to the people’s pocketbooks to fuel that spending”. We’ll see what happens now that Hollingsworth is negotiating for the Republicans in the Senate.

February 18th, 2009 Posted by freedomminute | State Government | no comments

How to Solve California’s $42 billion Budget Deficit

Yes, it’s not enough to just chant “no new taxes” without also providing an alternative. Here’s my attempt to do so.

First of all, there is no “good” solution to this problem. The State (meaning our elected representatives) has overspent, expanded government services, and gotten itself into all sorts of long term financial obligations that are difficult, if not impossible, to easily reverse. Actually, the best solution would be to build a time machine, go back 10 years, and not make all the irresponsible decisions that got us into this mess. Barring that, let’s look at some possible actions that could solve the current budget deficit and not raise taxes.

First – Things You Need to Know

1. California is already one of the highest taxed states in the country.
   a. California has the highest personal income tax and capital gains tax rates in the country and these income tax rates kick in at the lowest income levels.
   b. California’s Top Individual Income Tax Rate is the Highest in the nation.
   c. California’s Corporate Income Tax Rate is the Highest in the west.
   d. California has the highest sales tax in the nation.
   e. California has the highest gas tax in the nation.
2. California teachers’ salaries are the highest in the nation.
3. California teachers’ benefits are among the best in the nation.
4. California spends more per prisoner than any other state, mostly due to exorbitant employee costs.
5. During the last decade, California has added 175,000 new state workers to the payroll.  That’s 48 jobs per day that have to be paid for with your tax dollars.
6. Total state expenditures have increased from $104 billion in 2003 to $145 billion in 2008.  Does that $41 billion number look familiar?
7. California now has the worst credit rating in the nation — even worse than Louisiana’s.
8. California has the nation’s fourth highest unemployment rate of 9.3% (after Michigan, Rhode Island and South Carolina).
9. There have been no major layoffs of state employees since 1975.

Continue reading “How to Solve California’s $42 billion Budget Deficit”

February 18th, 2009 Posted by freedomminute | State Government | no comments

Calculate How Much Extra Taxes You’ll Be Paying

Go to the Sacramento Bee website and calculate how much you’re going to be paying when they raise your taxes.

Then call your representatives and email your local paper with your story. Until everyone begins to see how individual taxpayers are affected, this massive tax increase will continue to be viewed as some abstract idea. But real people are going to be hurt and we should let them know exactly who and how much.

Calculate Your Taxes

February 17th, 2009 Posted by freedomminute | State Government | no comments