Lamar Odom: The New Poster Child for Tax Reform?
Is California’s tax system about to cost the Los Angeles Lakers a star player?
Perhaps.
There’s long been a dispute about why high-income people leave California. Some say that high taxation and regulation drive businesses and rich people out of the state. Others pour cold water on such claims, and note that poor people leave California at a much faster rate than do the rich. The controversy isn’t settled in part because there’s little objective data on why people leave California. The state doesn’t conduct a census of ex-Californians.
So we’re left to the world of anecdote, which brings us to Lamar Odom.
A Safe Haven for Summer
Urban cities and police departments across the nation are bracing themselves for the peak of summer – traditionally the most violent time of year. Here in Los Angeles, the gang capital of the world, youth in many at risk communities will have a safe place to spend hot summer nights thanks to the Summer Night Lights program made possible by the city, community groups and local businesses.
This year’s program will keep 16 city parks open after dark with organized activities such as sports, arts and films. All parks are located in the City of Los Angeles’ Gang Reduction and Youth Development zones and include intervention workers to help maintain cease-fires in the surrounding communities. Now in its second year, Summer Night Lights is expanding to include job opportunities for at least 10 young adults at each site to help develop and staff activities.
The Second Oldest Profession
Were William Shakespeare alive today, I’m certain that, based on the headlines screaming across the front pages of California newspapers over the weekend, his famous line from Henry IV would have been, “The first thing we do, is kill all the lobbyists.”
I can remember the days in the 1970s when there were no more than 300 lobbyists in Washington, DC. Today there are over 35,000. A comparatively similar growth in the profession of persuasion has occurred simultaneously in River City, aka Sacramento.
What is it about the media that causes them to scream “Lobbyists!”, as if we were an attacking horde of blood-thirsty Visigoths, whenever there is contention among competing interests over matters of public policy? Democracy does not evolve in and of itself from some magical source to bless us. We have to work for it, fight for it, and win, lose or draw for it.
Welcome AAJ, California Is Closed For Your Business…
On July 24-29, the American Association of Justice will be holding its annual conference in San Francisco. Originally they were scheduled to be meeting at the Manchester Hyatt in San Diego, but the labor community put a nix on that. So the AAJ will be meeting this year at the Hilton San Francisco (I hope they have their Prop. 65 warnings posted).
I am not usually picky about which conferences decide to come to our state, but in this case I draw a line. If the trial lawyers want to spend time in our state figuring out how they can sue business and industry they can quite frankly take their business elsewhere. I am sure Florida would be a nice setting. There are certainly enough hotels, runways long enough for their G5’s and plenty of sharks to make them feel at home. And more golf courses then they will ever want.