Growth, Not Redistribution the Cure for Income Inequality
Ever since the publication this spring of Thomas Piketty’s book “Capital in the 21st Century,” conservatives and much of the business press, such as the Financial Times, have been on a jihad to discredit the author and his findings about increased income inequality in Western societies. Some have even equated growing attacks on inequality with anti-Semitism, with at least […]
Draper’s Fateful Anti-Democratic Error
I still like the idea of hijacking Tim Draper’s ballot initiative campaign for 6 Californias (since it has not chance of winning) and using it to have a conversation about the importance of devolving government power from Sacramento the regions. I argued that previously here. But re-reading the initiative after signatures were turned in made […]
CA Fossil-Fuel Foes Want To Ban More Than Just Fracking
California foes of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have been surprised and disappointed at their inability to get Gov. Jerry Brown or the Legislature to ban the practice. Brown’s support for a law regulating but permitting the newly improved drilling technique barely seemed to discomfit the oil industry. But now frack phobes are borrowing a tactic […]
Why the State and Local Pension Problem Will Get Worse
When unions agreed to a deal last month with Detroit city government to freeze the city’s underfunded pension system and create a new, less expensive one, some experts hailed it as a model that other troubled cities might adopt. News reports prominently mentioned governments with deep retirement debt, including Chicago and Philadelphia, as candidates for […]