Contrary Goals of the Tobacco Tax
What is the tobacco tax increase for? Is the tax proposed in Proposition 56 to reduce smoking or to gain revenue? It seems the proponents’ goal is to be all things—a deterrent to smoking by raising the cost, plus raising revenue mostly for health care. Can they really have it both ways? Raising the cost […]
Why California Needs to Reconsider Our Own Paths of Globalization
Though it has been little more than a month since its passage on June 23, Brexit already is fading in the rear mirror in American policy discussions. We should not let it disappear so easily, for it has lessons for the United States and for us in California . Brexit not only laid bare the […]
Climate Retreat? Legislature Could Ditch Plan To Radically Cut Emissions
Gov. Jerry Brown has taken the national stage to tout California’s fight against global warming, telling cheering throngs at the Democratic National Convention that the state has “the toughest climate laws in the country.” Yet inside the state Capitol, the fate of the policy’s centerpiece—legislation to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions—is in peril. One ominous […]
California’s Stressed-Out Stoners
California tokers, why are you trippin’ so hard? You keep saying that marijuana helps manage anxiety. But those of you who work in or partake of the cannabis industry sound like the most stressed-out people in California. And that leaves me wondering what’s in your bongs, especially since 2016 is supposed to be a year […]