Time to stop the mandates, give business time to recover
Proponents of a newly-proposed privacy initiative, the so-called California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), claim to have enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. The actual number of qualifying signatures may be close, based on my experience with previous initiatives. But as someone who has signed a few ballot initiative arguments, I question whether this […]
Budgeting by Trump
Remember a long, long time ago—all the way back to February—when our state and its leaders were committed to resisting President Trump at all costs. Three months later, Gov. Gavin Newsom, our resistor-in-chief, is proposing to put Trump in charge of the California budget. These are strange times, and this strategy may be good politics. […]
California’s Request For Federal Funds
About Governor Newsom’s request for $14 billion of additional federal support– Even when added to the $8 billion already provided to California by the CARES Act, the total ($22 billion) would be less than half the $48 billion proposed for California under the HEROES Act passed by the US House of Representatives last week. But, […]
Separating Good Bailouts From Bad Bailouts
The pandemic shutdown is about to enter its third month, and economic repercussions have just begun. Too much has been shut down for too long. In California, the initial reopen is not going to include huge business sectors – theaters, concerts, conventions, sports, travel, hotels – and other sectors such as restaurants and retail establishments […]