Fill the Rainy Day Fund
At his recent press conference introducing his last budget, Governor Jerry Brown pointed to a chart indicating a future his successor in office might face as “darkness, uncertainty, decline and recession.” Brown was echoing the theme he brought to every budget introduction press conference that a recession is inevitable and would hit the state coffers hard. […]
No “Business as Usual” in Politics, Just Ask Di Fi
Senator Diane Feinstein’s vote against the compromise leading to halting the federal government shutdown says a lot about the shape of California politics and about the cross pressures within the state’s Democratic Party. In the past, Senator Feinstein could have been expected to be one of the Senate’s centrist ringleaders seeking a middle ground—not this year. There is no question that Senator Feinstein is a strong […]
Local Elected Officials Should Devote Extra-Long Terms to Housing
Election law has created an opportunity to reckon with California’s housing crisis more forcefully. That’s because election law has created extra-long terms for many local public officials around the state. In the name of increasing local voter turnout, state law now requires local governments that held elections in odd-numbered years to move those elections to […]
Can a Trump Economy Trump Trump
President Trump’s critics find it hard to give him credit for anything, especially given his extraordinary boastfulness. Yet Trump’s economic policies seem to be working. New job numbers are robust, GDP and wages continue to rise, stocks are soaring, unemployment continues to decline, and overall growth is at its highest in 13 years. And this salutary picture is not exclusive to big business; […]