Posts Tagged: recession

News

The pandemic is hurting pediatric hospitals, too

A coronavirus checkpoint at the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles.. (Photo: MSPhotographic, via Shutterstock)

And children’s hospitals that have offered to take sick kids off the hands of adult hospitals, or extend the age of people they admit, have not seen an influx of patients to fill the beds they emptied. As a result, numerous pediatric facilities, like many of the adult ones, face sharply declining revenues and extra expenses.

News

Stem cell agency refi: LAO sees $7.8 billion price tag

A pipette and vessels usd in stem cell research. (Photo: CI Photos, via Shutterstock)

The price tag for refinancing California’s unique and ambitious stem cell research program could run to close to $7.8 billion, give or take a few hundred million dollars or more. So says the state’s legislative analyst in a financial analysis of a proposed ballot initiative that is likely to be on next November’s ballot. 

News

Amid jitters, experts eye potential California recession

A 3D rendering of stock indices in open space. (Image: Vitaly Sosnofsky)

There are clouds on California’s economic horizon, but whether they herald a coming recession is uncertain. The experts agree that there is a slowdown, but there is little consensus beyond that.

News

Budget: Brown warily eyes federal impact

Gov. Jerry Brown, unveiling his revised state budget, is flanked by a chart showing billions of dollars of Medi-Cal cuts. (Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press)

Gov. Jerry Brown’s state budget draft is a no-frills document reflecting fears about the policies of the Trump administration, a Republican-led Congress and the likelihood of an economic recession. “The potential of a federal reduction in aid to California is real enough,” Brown noted, as he unveiled his revised $180 billion spending plan for 2017-18.

Opinion

Minimum wage hike: The costs are higher than you think

Binders and documents relating to wage information. (Photo: Tashatuvango, via Shutterstock)

The California minimum wage increase has been approved. The minimum wage will rise by $1 per hour through 2022, up to $15. There are significant costs to employers, both public and private, besides the $5-per-hour increase. Inflation is one of those costs. Let’s look at the real results and implications of what our elected officials have done to us and for themselves on many levels. And let’s find the unintended consequences.

News

Economy up, greenhouse gas down

A California industrial complex in action. (Photo: Tom Grundy, via Shutterstock)

California’s greenhouse gases declined even as the state’s economy expanded, according to state and federal agencies tracking the numbers. State air-quality regulators reported that carbon emissions fell by 1.5 million metric tons in 2013, while the economy experienced 2 percent growth, greater than the national average.

News

CalPERS eyes long-term rate hike

The CalPERS' governing board during a meeting several years ago at the pension fund's headquarters. (Photo: CalPERS board)

CalPERS is considering small increases in employer and employee rates over decades to reduce the risk of big investment losses, a policy that also would lower an earnings forecast critics say is too optimistic. The proposal is a response to the “maturing” of a CalPERS system that soon will have more retirees than active workers. From two active workers for each retiree in 2002, the ratio fell to 1.45 to one by 2012 and is expected to be 0.8 to 0.6 to one in the next decades.

News

Kevin de León on policy, politics and the future

State Senate Leader Kevin de León on Feb. 1, 2014, at the Golden Dragon Parade in Los Angeles(Photo: Betto Rodrigues, via Shutterstock)

GRIZZLY BEAR PROJECT: After some hard feelings and bruised egos, De León accepted his defeat and ran for the Senate seat that he never really wanted. But in the Senate, de León has matured and grown as a legislator. Early on, he helped ease roadblocks between the Senate and the governor’s office. In the meantime, he reconstructed and expanded his personal relationships, and was elected by his colleagues last year as the new leader of the state Senate.

News

CalPERS: Retirees soon will outnumber active members

Calpensions: In a few years CalPERS retirees are expected to outnumber active workers, a national trend among public pension funds that makes them more vulnerable to big employer rate increases. The growing number of retirees, partly due to aging baby boomers, is one reason a staff report last week argues that CalPERS has too much “risk.”

Opinion

What’s next in the public pension debate?

OPINION: Ventura County citizens scored a victory earlier this month when a Superior Court Judge affirmed that any changes to the county pension plan must be made through the collective bargaining process — not at the ballot box. Actuarial analyses showed that closing the existing retirement plans and forcing new employees into risky 401k style plans would increase immediate costs to taxpayers, while forcing new employees to put their retirement security at risk in the hands of Wall Street.

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