Should Google and Your Taxes Pay for Local News
Whose job it is to revive local journalism in California? Our state’s elites have a clear, if dubious answer: themselves. Last year, Google announced it
Joe Mathews
March 7, 2019
Author: Joe Mathews
Connecting California Columnist and Editor, Zócalo Public Square, Fellow at the Center for Social Cohesion at Arizona State University and co-author of California Crackup: How Reform Broke the Golden State and How We Can Fix It (UC Press, 2010)
The Trouble With the Split Roll Initiative
It may well make sense to roll back Prop 13 protections for commercial property, with the goal of providing more tax dollars to the state.
Joe Mathews
March 6, 2019
Could PG&E Sink Harris?
The PG&E bankruptcy, and the scandals surrounding it, are about to go national. That could be both embarrassing and healthy for California and its leaders.
Joe Mathews
March 1, 2019
DiFi vs. the Kids
There’s nothing quite as clarifying as being told that you’re being unrealistic by an 85-year-old. That’s what made Dianne Feinstein’s videotaped and condescending dismissal of
Joe Mathews
February 28, 2019
Don’t Cut Taxes On Weed. Increase Enforcement on Scofflaws
Instead of doing its job, the state wants to cut taxes. That’s the essence of a new legislative effort to cut taxes on marijuana being
Joe Mathews
February 27, 2019
Merced and California’s Unfinished Dreams
Have any grand but unfocused ambitions? Have an idea but no strategy to execute it? How about any half-finished projects clogging up your garage? Send
Joe Mathews
February 26, 2019
Huntington Beach’s Wall of Denial
Who says you can’t build anything in California? Huntington Beach is busy constructing a wall of denial around whatever is left of its soul. The
Joe Mathews
February 20, 2019
Newsom Puts Bullets in the Bullet Train and the Water Fix
Who says Gavin Newsom isn’t frugal? He just cut Californians’ list of big things to complain about by two. In his state of the state
Joe Mathews
February 13, 2019
Kamala Harris Can’t Win the California Primary
Kamala Harris’ campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination rests on a political theory that depends on California’s early primary. Because California is early, the theory
Joe Mathews
February 12, 2019