Ted Cruz Cannot Be President: Take Him Off The Ballot
Secretary of State Alex Padilla should not list Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as a Republican candidate in the presidential primary because Sen. Cruz is not eligible to be President and to place him on the ballot would violate the United States Constitution. The Constitution lists three qualifications for President: you must 35 or older, been […]
Golden Blues: EITC Preferable to Minimum Wage
Hello again California. As promised, here is the follow-up to the recent Golden Blues piece on climate legislation. Today, we discuss the blue elite’s counterproductive attempts to fight inequality. As has been reported over the last few months, blue thinkers, policy wonks, and activists across the state are building momentum to get cities to raise their minimum […]
The Great TV Debates That Forever Changed How Politics Was Covered
In our defense, we were a bit desperate. It was 1968 and ABC News was starved for resources and significantly smaller than its rivals NBC and CBS. We had to do something, anything, to get noticed. I should know: I was ABC News’ director of public relations. As the presidential nominating conventions loomed that year […]
Solar Energy Gives Investors A Shock
Solar energy is full of surprises. The operators of the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System were recently surprised by state air quality regulators, who informed them that the $2.2 billion solar energy plant is a carbon polluter. Solar energy doesn’t emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That’s the whole point of California’s increasingly mandatory and […]
Two Terrible Ideas, One Ballot Initiative
Many ballot initiatives are built around a big, bad idea. Bob Huff and George Runner have distinguished themselves by filing a ballot initiative with two big, bad ideas. Their innovation, and I use that term in a Hindenburg-esque way, is to combine those two bad ideas. Reversing the high-speed rail project that’s already under way, […]
Contradictions in Tax Philosophy on Cigarettes and Marijuana
Isn’t there something odd about the tax arguments tied to the proposed initiatives on cigarettes and marijuana? One of the arguments for raising taxes on cigarettes is to discourage their use. Raise the tax and fewer people will want to buy the product. Of course, some will seek cigarettes in the black market or online. […]
Golden Blues: Brown and the Oligarchs Love Green Energy
Good morning, California, and welcome to this week’s edition of Golden Blues. On tap today is a green boondoggle; later this week we’ll cover a blue one. Governor Jerry Brown is in Paris working to encourage provincial leaders from other nations to sign a memorandum “promising to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.” […]
Tech Titans Want To Be Masters Of All Media We Survey
The rising tech oligarchy, having disrupted everything from hotels and taxis to banking, music and travel, is also taking over the content side of the media business. In the process, we might see the future decline of traditional media, including both news and entertainment, and a huge shift in media power away from both Hollywood […]
Business, Taxpayer and Political Concerns Over “Secure Choice” Retirement Plan
Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal highlighted California’s move to establish required private sector retirement programs in an editorial that criticized the Obama Administration for taking steps to “socialize” the private retirement business that will end up as a long term entitlement program backed by taxpayers. As often is the case, an idea promoted out […]