Prop. 56 Kills
Taxes have consequences. One is black markets. Vice.com’s “Black Market: Dispatches” just ran an episode on Ukraine’s “people who rely on the underground cigarette trade for survival during a time of war and economic struggle.” They smuggle smokes West into the wealth European Union. Here’s a preview. Asks a journalist, “Do you see yourself as […]
California’s New Education Architecture Is Already Failing
Is California abandoning its poorest students? That question would be dismissed as absurd by our state’s education leaders, especially Gov. Jerry Brown and the State Board of Education. For years, they have been building a new educational architecture they say will do more for the poorest kids in the poorest schools. But as the many […]
Angelenos Face $1.6 Billion Tax Bill … If All the November Ballot Measures Pass
We need to send a loud and clear message to Mayor Eric Garcetti, the Herb Wesson led City Council, the County Board of Supervisors, the Los Angeles Community College District, the Los Angeles Unified School District, Governor Jerry Brown, and our representatives in Sacramento that we are not their ATM. If all the taxes on […]
Four California Ballot Measures Worthy Of A ‘Yes’ Vote
Most of the oxygen in the room for this November’s election is being sucked up by the prolific and particularly vitriolic presidential showdown between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. You may be focused on that race because of your desire to make everything great again, or just a morbid fascination with reality TV-meets-American politics. That […]
Approaching 80, I Learned to Speak Millennial-ese
Ready for anything at the age of 78, I sold my home on the edge of Ventura County and moved into a downtown Los Angeles high-rise full of millennials and dogs. A demographic poster child for DTLA I’m not, given that my neighbors are in their 30s. And 80 percent of them work downtown, making […]
Some Changes to Expect Under a Trump Administration
As the Trump team contemplates relocation to Washington it isn’t too early to look ahead to some of the changes he would institute. While it is not possible to foresee all of them since the programs and solutions under a Trump Administration have yet to be revealed, and a few might not survive constitutional challenge, […]