California Financial News 14/11/09

Budget cuts will cripple state of California colleges and universities

From the 1960s to the 1990s the education system in California was second to nobody. Population flocked to this spectacular state so that their kids not only had access to the K-12 system, but to a open university system that rivals the Ivy League.

The University of California system is a large player in the world of secondary education; however, with the recent budget cuts – and the designs for more – that may all be changing. This is a contortion and will only work to tip the scales in the wicked direction.

California's public pensions need reform

Lawyer of overhauling California's problematic pension system for public employees could not have chosen a more providential moment to throw away their reform campaign.

The huge California Public Employees' Retirement System is in deep financial doo-doo, having lost tens of billions of dollars in often-speculative investments, and is telling state and local officials it going to need more "contributions." In the interim, investigations are below way into multimillion-dollar payments to placement agents who arranged some investments.

State Finance Directors Warn of More Problems Ahead

Short-term budget gaps have knocked about states as incomes plummeted through the retirement. Aided by about $250 billion in funds from the stimulus package expected through the end of next year, states governed to shut down the gaps this year. But a couple of finance directors, speaking at a Pew Center on the States event in Washington, were pessimistic about their position' following across financial 2011