California Housing Crisis Prolonged By Policymakers’ Inability To Shed Old Impulses
With every idea offered as a serious “solution,” it becomes clearer why California has a housing crisis. The thinking is stuck on policies that aggravate rather than improve. The latest ill-considered proposal picking up support would enact price-gouging laws to keep rental costs in check. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, and […]
Solar May be Going Below Market
In what could become a savings for the federal government in utility costs, several non-profits are engineering the installation of solar panels on the rooftops of public and other subsidized housing in certain parts of the country, including California. This effort could also be a boon for the struggling solar power industry which has seen […]
The Long Stall
Every time the issue of capital punishment has been put before California voters, they have voted to keep the death penalty and rejected efforts to eliminate it. Yet our paternalistic elected officials and their appointees smugly substitute their own values over the ratified votes of the majority. This includes the Attorney General, who is supposed […]
Long Alliance of Democrats and Police Union Erodes
California’s crime rates soared in the 1970s and became a potent political issue that Republicans used, with great effect, against Democrats by accusing them of being soft on crime. More or less simultaneously, a Democratic Legislature and governor, Jerry Brown, enacted collective bargaining for California’s public employees. Those two seemingly discrete events spawned a clever […]
Defending Direct Democracy, Defending Taxpayers
The powers of direct democracy — initiative, referendum and recall — are powerful tools to control slow-moving or corrupt politicians. These powers are enshrined in the California Constitution for reasons that are just as compelling in 2019 as they were in 1911 when Gov. Hiram Johnson, seeking to suppress the absolute control the railroads had […]