Cap and trade is looking more and more like a tax
The veneer that keeps everybody from seeing that the cap-and-trade program is really just a tax is coming unglued. Mayor Eric Garcetti blasted out an email newsletter happily announcing that the Jordan Downs public housing development in Watts will be refurbished with money from the hidden tax you’re paying for gasoline and electricity. Watts will […]
California’s Infrastructure Boondoggles Continue
Every news story about the bullet train seems to be accompanied by a photo of workers building a viaduct in Fresno County. This does nothing to dispel the impression that high-speed rail in California is actually a Marx Brothers movie. Groucho: Over here is a viaduct leading over to the mainland. Chico: Why a duck? […]
De León’s tax dodge may be legal, but it might not be for long
Unless California is trying to break the Guinness World Record for tax evasion, it’s hard to see what will be accomplished by the plan put forward by Senate Leader Kevin de León to get around the new federal tax law’s limitation on the deduction for state and local taxes. “This is legal,” de León insisted, […]
Making housing more expensive to build won’t make it more affordable
Only a politician could believe that making housing more expensive to build will create more affordable housing. But in Los Angeles, that’s what Mayor Eric Garcetti and the City Council are asserting. In December, they approved a new “linkage fee” on new development aimed at raising $100 million per year toward a goal of building […]
Los Angeles Public Officials are not Serious about Solving Homelessness
If you thought voter approval of two new taxes in Los Angeles to provide housing and services to the homeless would mean our government officials had no more excuses to ignore the problem, guess again. The new excuse for doing nothing about homelessness is, “We need more time.” That was the word from L.A. County […]
The Kate Steinle tragedy changed history
The Kate Steinle case was always about more than just the Kate Steinle case. The 32-year-old was shot in the back while walking with her father along San Francisco’s Pier 14. She collapsed and died in her father’s arms. It was July 1, 2015. The bullet came from a gun stolen four days earlier from […]
Crime—Statistics and Perception
Is the LAPD cooking the books to make the city’s crime rate look lower than it is? That’s the allegation from Captain Lillian Carranza of Van Nuys Division, who has filed a claim alleging that aggravated assaults have been intentionally underreported in more than one division of the LAPD. Carranza contended at a news conference […]
How the iPhone put the spotlight on sexual harassment
Someday, when the history of the smart phone is written, historians should give the devices credit for finally ending one of western civilization’s oldest traditions, the sexual harassment and assault of young women by powerful men. Here’s how it happened. In 2006, Bill Cosby settled a lawsuit alleging that he sexually assaulted a woman. A […]
Will China’s new recycling standards mean higher taxes in California?
Do you know where your recyclables go when they leave your blue bin? Would you believe China? But that’s about to change. In July, China notified the World Trade Organization that on Jan. 1 it will impose much stricter quality standards and will turn away shipments that don’t make the grade. In recycling, quality refers […]
Would California benefit from becoming a right-to-work state?
The California Association of Psychiatric Technicians is raising money to fight Donald Trump. The union that represents 6,200 state mental health workers has decided to charge members $6.50 per month to pay for extra political activities. The new political action fee will be collected from January 1, 2018, until December 31, 2020. Why? Union leaders […]