Earth to Palmdale
Hello, Palmdale. Planet Earth calling. You ever coming back here? You, a struggling working-class exurb of 160,000, may be located in the Antelope Valley, in north L.A. County’s. But your civic head lives in outer space. Is it your hot desert air, your elevation (2,657 feet), or all your psychedelically orange poppies? I don’t know, […]
The Case for Cristina Garcia for Senator
As all the political world knows, the selection of Senator Kamala Harris as Joe Biden’s Vice President will create a vacancy in the US Senate that Governor Gavin Newsom is authorized to fill by either making an “interim” appointment or calling a special election within 100 days. The Governor has indicated he will appoint a […]
Hewlett Packard packs up — Will California ever get fed up with losing to Texas?
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), the California firm that literally kickstarted Silicon Valley in a garage in 1939, is moving to Texas. The low-key announcement was made via an SEC filing on Dec. 1. If California’s anti-jobs policies, its high taxes, capricious regulatory enforcement, and blackout-inducing energy policy can chase out the company that launched Silicon […]
Here’s How Gavin Could Make His Big Four Appointments
The much-discussed contest over who Gov. Newsom names to fill Kamala Harris’ Senate seat—a contest in which I remain the best choice—is about far more than one appointment. In fact, it’s starting to look like the governor will get to make a Big 4 of appointments to elected office. And on top of those, he’s […]
LA Need not Sacrifice Public Safety
Today’s LA Times reports the city is looking at layoffs of police officers because of a budget shortfall. But as we explain here, LA could save nearly $400 million per year by eliminating a rich subsidy for retired city employees that was rendered redundant by subsidies provided by the federally-funded Affordable Care Act in 2010 […]
What Lessons Can Be Learned from Project Roomkey?
In the spring, California policymakers created Project Roomkey to address the needs of people experiencing homelessness amid the pandemic. To date, the program has provided a hotel room to more than 22,000 people. Governor Newsom recently announced an additional $62 million in one-time state funds to continue the program over the winter, given the current […]
Here’s How Gavin Could Make His Big Four Appointments
The much-discussed contest over who Gov. Newsom names to fill Kamala Harris’ Senate seat—a contest in which I remain the best choice—is about far more than one appointment. In fact, it’s starting to look like the governor will get to make a Big 4 of appointments to elected office. And on top of those, he’s […]
Pension Obligation Bonds Are Not the Answer to Pension Crisis
Pension Obligation Bonds (POBs) do NOT reduce pension obligations. They increase pension assets, which produces an accounting benefit (more assets — the same liabilities = a lower unfunded liability). Economically, a POB is just a “carry trade,” which is a borrowing at a low rate to bet on hopefully-higher-yielding products. Not surprisingly, Wall Street also […]
The Myth of the Latino Monolith
Along with our guest, journalist Pilar Marrero, we discuss the Latino vote in the 2020 election nationally and in California, Arizona and other states. And we explore the impact of Latinos on American politics and policy in the future. Nancy Boyarsky is the producer-director of Inside Golden State Politics. Listen to the podcast here.
Waiting for Chad Mayes
We completely screwed up California’s election system, and all we got was one lousy independent. After a decade of the miserable election experiment known as the top-two, the election to the state assembly of Chad Mayes, a former Republican turned independent, is the only consolation prize. That ought to embarrass backers of the top-two system. […]