Rent Seekers

Yesterday I wrote that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is concealing from voters that revenues from its Proposition D tax proposal on the San Francisco ballot would primarily benefit SEIU itself. But that’s not the only secret.

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), representing San Francisco government workers, is concealing the reality behind its Proposition D tax proposal. While presenting itself as a populist group focused on reallocating wealth from billion-dollar firms, the SEIU fails to disclose that this redistribution would primarily benefit the union itself.

I regularly ride SF Muni, which is not only a great way to get around town but also at times a wonderful way to interact with my fellow residents.

Once upon a time, Eric Swalwell was endorsed for governor by all of the “Big Three” of California’s establishment: the California Teachers’ Association (CTA), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and the California Hospital Association (CHA). Together the members of those organizations collect upwards of $80 billion per year from the governor and legislature.

In 2018, businessman and philanthropist Eli Broad spent $19 million to help elect a slate of pro-charter-school legislators. Nearly all of his chosen candidates won. Yet, in the next legislative session, almost all of those newly elected officeholders voted for an anti-charter-school bill sponsored by the California Teachers Association (CTA).

Recently a super-successful friend told me he met with Eric Swalwell and thought Swalwell wouldn’t be bad as governor. My friend and I are very close friends, so he wasn’t offended by my response: “You’re a fool if that’s what you think.”

The two largest recipients of state spending have picked their man. This weekend, the California Teachers’ Association endorsed Eric Swalwell for governor. Yesterday, the California Hospital Association did the same.

Some Johnnys-Come-Lately are warning about a pension bomb, but they’re way behind the times. Pension spending already exploded. For example, pension spending at Los Angeles Unified School District already quadrupled over the last decade.

Matt Mahan is introducing himself to more Californians, most recently in this sharp interview with sharp interviewer Dave Friedberg of the All-In Podcast.

After landing valuable endorsements from labor-union rent-seekers last week, this week Eric Swalwell picked up financial support from some of Sacramento’s leading commercial rent-seekers.

Before yesterday, the race for brand-name endorsements from rent-seekers was largely between Eric Swalwell and Tom Steyer…

Right after Eric Swalwell landed SEIU’s big endorsement, Tom Steyer countered with endorsements from AFSCME 3299 and California Federation of Teachers (CFT). AFSCME 3299 represents only 0.10% of California’s population but collects $2.75 billion per year of UC spending while CFT represents only 0.30% of California’s population but collects $14.8 billion per year of public school spending.

Yesterday SEIU endorsed Eric Swalwell for governor. Though the union represents only two percent of California’s population, it strikes fear and hope in the heart of every candidate for office in Sacramento…

All too often, rent-seekers and other special interests push polls to influence elected officials. One antidote is community-based polling that provides a clear signal of what the public actually wants. Recently Oakland got such a signal in a poll of its residents by the East Bay Polling Institute (EBPI).

While Hollywood is aflutter about who will win Academy Awards next Sunday, everyone in Sacramento is talking about which candidates for CA governor will win the endorsements of the state’s Top Rent-Seekers.

In fiscal year 2024-25, state and local governments in California spent $240 billion on public employees and $161 billion on healthcare enterprises. The government in California is big business, and the public employee unions, healthcare corporations and healthcare employee unions that captured those billions are among the biggest businesses in California.

Last night’s CA gubernatorial debate hosted by Jewish California reminded me of Li’l Abner, a comic strip I read as a kid in which the residents of a town lived in a state of perpetual war with tax agents whom they called “Revenooers.”

Yesterday’s post was about rent-seekers such as hospitals and public employees who receive cash from the California governments they seek to influence. Today’s post is about rent-seekers who receive benefits in other forms.

Below is a screenshot of California’s major rent-seekers ranked in descending order of dollars they currently capture from state spending…

Endorsements of gubernatorial candidates by Sacramento’s establishment are ramping up. Below is an updated list of the major Sacramento political organizations engaged in “rent-seeking,” which means they seek to manipulate public policy to boost their wealth without creating new wealth, and the candidates they have endorsed…

The race for CA governor is in full swing as the rent-seeking unions and corporations that capture the lion’s share of $500 billion per year of state spending are starting to announce their endorsements. I’m keeping a spreadsheet. Here’s a screenshot of endorsements so far by some of Sacramento’s leading rent-seekers.

With all the headlines about billionaires fleeing California because of a proposed — and self-harming — wealth tax, our disastrous state budget has escaped the grim headlines it merits.

Thirteen years ago, the California Chamber of Commerce and other big business organizations cut a deal with Governor Jerry Brown not to oppose a 30 percent temporary tax increase on individuals. Since then the state’s General Fund has extracted an extra $95 billion from individual taxpayers, including small businesses that pay business taxes at individual rates, and annual General Fund Expenditures have increased 165 percent.

Klein and his co-author Derek Thompson believe more of everything is the answer to what ails California. But bad governance will ruin it all.

In early January Governor Newsom will present the Legislature with a proposed budget for the next fiscal year. The last budget dealt with a large deficit caused by excessive spending. To address that deficit, Newsom and the Legislature raided the Rainy Day Fund, borrowed money, shifted funds and deferred spending, steps that should be reserved for deficits caused by recessions, not by excessive spending.

As previous writings have disclosed, our current focus falls into three categories…

For years the University of California has been treated like a doormat by the state’s elected officials. That’s because UC supporters have not flexed their political muscles. That’s changing.

SACRAMENTO — With a windfall of cash five years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was doing away with a state budget “gimmick” one of his predecessors relied on to shave about $800 million off a deficit during the Great Recession.

Yesterday Governor Newsom, Senate President pro Tempore McGuire and Assembly Speaker Rivas confirmed they still intend to close the budget deficit in part by drawing half of the state’s budget reserves when they finalize the budget in June.

Two social media and crypto executives are behind an initiative on the November ballot that would jeopardize steady funding for services financed by the General Fund and force state taxpayers to use after-tax dollars to fund what the sponsors and others like them could fund with pre-tax dollars.

This report examines the compensation of California state correctional officers relative to several other groups. It examines wages in detail because of the richness of available data. It examines benefits in less depth because available data are far less comparable and detailed.