Advice for California Republicans: Audacity! Audacity! Always Audacity!
If Donald Trump’s victory has taught Republicans across the land anything, it’s to follow Danton’s cry to the Assembly (the French one, not the one in Sacramento): Audacity! Audacity! Always Audacity! Shut out of any statewide office and with less than 1/3 in each house of the Legislature, what do they have to lose? The […]
The Immigration Dilemma
In often needlessly harsh ways, President Donald Trump is forcing Americans to face issues that have been festering for decades, but effectively swept under the rug by the ruling party duopoly. Nowhere is this more evident than with immigration, an issue that helped to spark Trump’s quixotic, but ultimately successful, campaign. Many Americans are clearly […]
Escalating Tax Wars
First came the threat from the Trump administration that California sanctuary cities would no longer receive federal money if the cities defied U.S. immigration policy. Next, former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown said California officials are considering ways to withhold tax revenue from the federal government. “California could very well become an organized non-payer,” he said. In […]
Are Climate Policies Really an Economic Boon to the San Joaquin Valley?
“Time has a wonderful way of showing us what really matters.” – Margaret Peters State climate policies are boosting the San Joaquin Valley’s economy. At least that’s the basic message that the authors of a recent study are trying to convey. On January 19 the Bay Area organization Next 10 released a commissioned report entitled […]
Calexit Reasons Don’t Hold Calestoga Water
With Donald Trump walking into the Oval Office, liberal Democrats in California don’t have much to cheer about. Some of them are turning to the movement for Calexit, for California Exit. I’ve detailed before on Fox & Hounds why their initiative, if it makes it to the ballot, will be rejected by state voters. But […]
To Business Owners: Keep a Low Profile When Leaving California
Time and again I’ve encouraged smaller companies planning to escape California’s business-hostile environment to avoid publicly discussing their move. What follows is the story of an honest business owner expressing his legitimate concerns about operating in the state – and the unfortunate blowback that resulted. Houman Salem, who owns a small apparel design and manufacturing […]
The Implications of the Paris Climate Deal
Rational people want a clean environment. Usually it has been western, wealthy nations leading the environmental movement with California and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) leading the way. California can afford to clean up their air, water and be concerned about carbon emissions; now that their economies are mature enough since Maslow’s hierarchy of needs have […]
Will Taxpayers Come to the Aid of Sanctuary Cities?
President Donald Trump started the process of denying federal grants to cities that don’t cooperate with federal immigration laws. Mayors of many large California cities, but not all, have declared they will resist the order and keep sanctuary status for undocumented immigrants. If the president is eventually successful in denying funds to sanctuary cities will local […]
Measure S Would Be a Giant Step Backwards for Los Angeles
The sponsors of Measure S claim that this two-year construction moratorium is altruistic, to halt greed and improve life in Los Angeles. They claim that this draconian measure will increase housing affordability and decrease traffic. The exact opposite is true. It is not progressive to minimize housing supply and drive up rents for everyone. It is not […]