Governor Brown has proposed extensive reforms for the pension liabilities threatening to bankrupt the state of California.
He wants to raise the minimum retirement age from the youthful and outlandish 55 to 67. He also wants to curtail pension-spiking, in which employees roll over sick day, holiday pay, and end-load their employment with overtime to raise their pensions artificially.
Governor Brown also has the same line-time veto power as other governors in the United States. Still, that state of California is lurching from one budget crisis after another.
One of the reasons why the state of California cannot get its fiscal house in order is the domination of ballot-box budgeting, which requires the state to allocate funds to certain agencies, whether there is money or not. The state constitution has tied the hands of the legislature and the governor from implementing much needed financial reform.
Also, the Democratic legislature wants to coast on millionaire tax-money, which has caused wealthy people (including job-creating small businesses) to flee the state in record numbers, tired of being fleeced by the many to subsidize those who refuse to work for themselves.
Then there are the public employee unions, dead-set on keeping their entitlements, even if that means bleeding the state dry and depriving taxpayers of public services.
I commend Governor Brown for his bold proposals to deal with out-of-control pension and health-care obligations, but what this state needs more than anything else is leadership that can act unilaterally in this time of fiscal crisis, free of political calculation and legislative hindrances enacted in more flush times to protect narrow interests.
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