Kevin McCarthy on Political Anger and Political Risk
If the harsh division in congress reflects attitudes across the country, as House majority leader and California congressman Kevin McCarthy asserted at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills yesterday, there is a belief among many political observers that the midterm elections will mirror a political environment not friendly to McCarthy’s team. While McCarthy […]
A Prominent Californian Weighs In On the Future of the Republic
Amidst all the dreary speculation of our Republic being in imminent danger of collapse, there is still a flicker of optimism coming from some unusual quarters. One of those places is the University of California, Berkeley—hardly a bastion of conservatism—where Robert Reich, the former Labor Secretary for in the Clinton Administration, holds forth as a […]
School Spending Up; Student Performance Down. Time for a Change
California school boards are prevented by the state legislature and governor from offering disproportionate pay to employees willing to work in high-poverty zones, cutting pension spending, altering tenure rules or granting principals the power to fire poorly performing employees. The outcome: poor student performance and shaky finances despite a big increase in spending. All it takes is 62 legislators and […]
Voters Face Anti-Tax Measures as Cycle Continues
There is a cyclical quality to California’s perennial debate over taxation, one most evident in the tax-related ballot measures placed before voters. Initiatives to raise taxes, or make them easier to raise, will appear in one election cycle, but just two years later, voters may be asked to cut taxes, or at least make increases […]