Fox and Hounds Daily Says Goodbye
With this article, we end publication of Fox and Hounds Daily. It has been a satisfying 12½ year run. When we opened in May 2008, our site was designed to offer an opportunity to those who wished to engage in public debate on many issues, especially in politics and business, but found it difficult to get placed in newspaper op-ed pages.
Co-publishers Tom Ross, Bryan Merica and I have kept F&H going over this time investing our own time, funding, and staff help. Last year at this time we considered closing the site, however with an election on the horizon we decided to keep F&H going through the election year. With the election come and gone, and with no sense of additional resources, we have decided to close the site down.
Fox and Hounds will live on, at least, with my articles collected in the California State Library.
On a personal note, I have spent over 40 years in California policy and politics. There have been some incredible high moments and some difficult low points. It pains me that politics too often is a blood sport, frequently demonizing the motives of opponents and using the legal system as a weapon in public discourse. At Fox & Hounds, we tried to adhere to the practice of giving all a voice in the debate, yet keep the commentaries civil and avoided personal attacks.
F&H offered the opportunity to publish different perspectives (even ones that criticized my writings!). We had success as indicated by the Washington Post twice citing Fox and Hounds Daily one of the best California political websites and many other positive affirmations and comments received over the years.
Tom, Bryan and I want to thank our many readers and writers for being part of our journey. The publishers of Fox and Hounds Daily believe that we added value to California and its people. We hope you agree.
Today’s Job Decisions: There’s a Fine Fine Line
In the musical Avenue Q, Kate Monster (Julie Atherton, below) sings about the “fine fine line” that characterizes many social relationships: between “reality and pretend”, between “you’re wonderful, and goodbye”, and most of all between “love, and a waste of your time.”
So in the job market similar fine, fine lines exist in hiring, in promotions, in career planning. This past week, I encountered situations with three such fine fine lines. Most of us in the California job market will be familiar with one or more.
Top-Two Changes the Game for Write-In Candidates
While we wait for the carrier pigeons from 58 counties to carry nomination papers to the Secretary of State today for the assembling of an official list by March 27, we know that several legislative and congressional candidates are running unopposed on June 3. This appears to include the entire Assembly delegation in San Diego County, as well as in AD60 (Corona) and AD67 (Temecula). Can these candidates put their feet up?
Of course, with that lead-in, you’re probably correctly guessing that the answer is “no.”
Top-two changes the game for write-in candidates. Under the old primary system, parties were focused on getting candidates for every office on the primary ballot to ensure that their party spot would be occupied in November. However, since that is no longer guaranteed as only the top two–regardless of party–make it to November, a full field appears to be deemphasized.
Condoleezza Rice’s Political Future
California Republicans are definitely in need of big name star power to help bring attention to the party, and that was on display when former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice addressed the state Republican convention this weekend. So, why is she not running for office?
The Stanford professor says she is not interested in running, declaring in the past that her dream job is that of Commissioner of the National Football League. But if she decides that office won’t open soon, perhaps she will change her thinking. There will be continuing pressure for her to do so.
Finding $240 Billion for CalSTRS
A recent post at The Volcker Alliance examines a subject of great importance to the California Legislature this week as it searches for an extra $240 billion to pay for employee retirement costs.
State and local government retirement costs are already rising but as Warren Buffett wrote recently, those outlays are just beginning their climb. Over the next thirty years, California governments will spend more than $1 trillion on pensions and post-retirement health care costs — and that doesn’t include billions more needed to bail out the State Teachers’ Retirement System, known as “CalSTRS.” Despite an enviable investment record and the annual receipt of more than $5 billion in pension contributions, CalSTRS has developed a deficit for which it seeks an extra $240 billion in contributions over the next thirty years, starting with an extra $4.2 billion this year.
Taking the Main Street Off-ramp
To some, the $19 billion paid by Facebook for the Silicon Valley start-up What’s App represents the ultimate confirmation of the capitalist dream. After all, these riches are going first and foremost to plucky engineers whose goals are simply to make life better for the public. Got a problem with that?
Yes, actually. Sure, people should be rewarded, even lavishly, for their innovations. But $19 billion for 50-something people in a company with no profits and no prospects of having any, at least in the short term? Is this app worth more than Southwest Airlines, or Sony, or scores of other companies with thousands of employees and decades’ worth of profits? Put another way, the $19 billion makes Vladimir Putin’s now-defunct bailout of Ukraine seem puny. Ukraine, the homeland of What’s App’s CEO, if you don’t remember, is a country of 46 million people.
Updated California Manufacturing Investment
Last month we showed you how California shaped up for manufacturing investments in the first three quarters of 2013. We just got the fourth quarter numbers and we have updated our chart below to indicate how it looks for the entire year. Basically we got 1.5 percent of the nation’s new or expanded facilities, accounting for 1.2 investments per one million people in California.
The numbers don’t look good but believe it or not, it is a small improvement from last year. Our economy will depend on big improvements in the coming years and we’ll have to learn what will drive more manufacturing to our state. In the wake of California-based Tesla’s announcement to grow 6,500 manufacturing jobs outside of the Golden State, we’ve learned we can’t take any manufacturing for granted — even an electric vehicle producer.