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.
Can Technology Help Students And Save Education In California?
Watch a video of PRI’s “The Future Is Now” panel here.
Much of the debate in education over the last few years has centered around issues of standards, curricula and testing. While very important, these issues should not obscure the possibilities offered by new models of delivering instruction, especially those involving education technology.
To explore these critical questions, the Pacific Research Institute recently held a panel discussion of educators, school officials and lawmakers at the State Capitol. The event drew a large crowd of education leaders, and key legislative staff on both sides of the aisle. You can watch the event at the link above. (more…)
Breaking Up: Is it Really That Hard to Do?
In the past, whenever I came across an article in which someone boosted the notion of secession, it elicited a chuckle from me. Boy, that’s out there, I thought.
But now, I’m not sure a majority of Californians would vote to stay in a country led by Donald Trump. In fact, a nascent petition drive seeks to put the secession question before the state’s voters. And look at the mayors of sanctuary cities who vowed to keep them so, even if their cities would defy federal orders. Revolt is in the air.
Consider the rancor in Sacramento last week when state lawmakers opened their session. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon of Paramount called Trump’s appointments “white nationalists and anti-Semites” and went on to say that “Californians do not need healing. We need to fight.” (more…)
Building A More Sustainable Economy One Neighborhood at a Time
Next year will mark the 25th anniversary of the L.A. riots. Though many of the issues that helped fan the flames of the unrest – poverty, unemployment and crime – still persist in the neighborhoods of South L.A. (and other parts of the region), there is a growing sense that change is coming. The question is – to whose benefit.
The leading change agent is L.A. Metro and its relatively new $1.5 billion Expo line extension from downtown to Santa Monica. This project is one of a number of public and private infrastructure investments ($6 billion plus) that are already transforming neighborhoods on the periphery of South L.A. Projects include, the University of Southern California’s “Village” development (2017), a Major League Soccer stadium in Expo Park (2018), Metro’s Crenshaw Line expansion from West L.A. to LAX (2019), a NFL football stadium in Inglewood (2019) and The Reef Project (2019). These dollars are also funding and stimulating additional investments in housing units, retail and conference space and new hotels. (more…)
Toast the Water Bill with Whiskey
Fights over water are the norm but the successful water bill that passed Congress last week with a rider provision for California may upset the old standard that water is for fighting and whiskey is for drinking. The bill will divert runoff water to parched farms and set up storage, desalination and recycling programs in California. The overall measure sailed through the House and Senate despite opposition from California’s junior senator, Barbara Boxer, and now awaits the president’s signature.
Masterminded by Senator Dianne Feinstein and the House of Representative’s Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the bill balances the interests of the environment with the concerns for jobs to bring water to California’s rich, but parched, agricultural land. As Tom Nassif, president of Western Growers, which represents local and regional family farmers who grow fresh produce stated, the bill comes at an important time. “California is entering its rainy season and we cannot once again allow flawed policies to prevent reasonable diversions from runoffs to storage.” (more…)
Why CalExit is a CalFantasy
I suggest those who think there’s even a one in a million chance we’ll ever have CalExit instead take a trip to Anaheim and spend a year at Disneyland’s Fantasyland. Even the objections on Fox and Hounds have not gotten to the real reasons it won’t happen, which are, in rough order of importance:
1 — The more than $211 trillion (with a “t”) in U.S. unfunded liabilities, as calculated by Prof. Laurence Kotlikoff of Boston University. This largely is for Social Security, Medicare, federal pensions and military pensions. Given that California is 12% of the USA, our share comes to $25 trillion.
If a CalExit vote makes it to the ballot, every senior citizen will vote against it. So will everyone age 50 or older, as they already get in the mail offers to join AARP. (more…)
Falling incomes turn California into modern-day Dust Bowl
Nearly 60 percent of California voters with children living at home agree with the statement, “my children will have a better future if they leave California.” More than 75 percent now think “earning enough income to enjoy a middle-class lifestyle is becoming almost impossible in my part of California.” In Los Angeles County, it’s 87 percent.
That’s from a new survey by the California Chamber of Commerce. And if you think those numbers are discouraging, the numbers in a just-released report from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation are even worse.
The LAEDC projects that employment in L.A. County will grow by 334,000 jobs over the next five years, but don’t stop your children from leaving California for a better future quite yet. Only 5 percent of those jobs will require a bachelor’s degree, and less than 4 percent will require a master’s, doctoral or professional degree. (more…)