It’s Not So Easy To Cut Taxes in California Anymore
Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters wrote to Fox & Hounds to criticize my Fox & Hounds post arguing that a Democratic supermajority would be a bad thing. My main point: it would be next to impossible to undo anything that a party with a supermajority could do in California’s supermajority-mad system. Walters’ point: it’s not […]
Lessons on Policy and Politics
State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg dropped by my public policy class at Pepperdine yesterday. He told the students he thought the title of his speech should be: “Why Joel Fox is wrong.” Touché. I have been on the opposite sides of many a policy debate with Senator Steinberg over the years, but I […]
Getting Burned by Dancing with the Devil
In a state Capitol hearing room, the taxpayer advocate waited patiently for the 37 special interest pleaders to finish speaking in favor of yet another tax increase — a last minute measure that had been jammed through in the final hours of session. He reflected on the similarity of each robotic presentation, how approval of […]
Unhappy Californians Unwilling to Change
Crossposted on CalWatchDog California residents are depressed about the economy and see little hope for change in the near future, yet they seem more reluctant than ever to change the current high-tax, union-dominated political course that has led to the struggling economy. As the Field Poll revealed in July, “Californians have had an extremely gloomy […]