Fox and Hounds Daily Says Goodbye
With this article, we end publication of Fox and Hounds Daily. It has been a satisfying 12½ year run. When we opened in May 2008, our site was designed to offer an opportunity to those who wished to engage in public debate on many issues, especially in politics and business, but found it difficult to get placed in newspaper op-ed pages.
Co-publishers Tom Ross, Bryan Merica and I have kept F&H going over this time investing our own time, funding, and staff help. Last year at this time we considered closing the site, however with an election on the horizon we decided to keep F&H going through the election year. With the election come and gone, and with no sense of additional resources, we have decided to close the site down.
Fox and Hounds will live on, at least, with my articles collected in the California State Library.
On a personal note, I have spent over 40 years in California policy and politics. There have been some incredible high moments and some difficult low points. It pains me that politics too often is a blood sport, frequently demonizing the motives of opponents and using the legal system as a weapon in public discourse. At Fox & Hounds, we tried to adhere to the practice of giving all a voice in the debate, yet keep the commentaries civil and avoided personal attacks.
F&H offered the opportunity to publish different perspectives (even ones that criticized my writings!). We had success as indicated by the Washington Post twice citing Fox and Hounds Daily one of the best California political websites and many other positive affirmations and comments received over the years.
Tom, Bryan and I want to thank our many readers and writers for being part of our journey. The publishers of Fox and Hounds Daily believe that we added value to California and its people. We hope you agree.
Senate Bill 161 Hurts Small Employers
With each passing day, the federal healthcare law (known to many as “ObamaCare”) seems to be evolving as one of the most polarizing issues of our generation. Whether you love it or hate it, or find yourself somewhere in between, all sides can agree on one thing: every American deserves access to affordable healthcare.
As this law unfolds, small business owners – indeed, our state’s and nation’s leading job creators – and their employees deserve the opportunity to achieve their dream and have greater certainty and hope about tomorrow. The American Dream is what has made our nation the envy of the world, and that is achieved by allowing entrepreneurs the flexibility to run their businesses in the best way possible. (more…)
Labor Comes to LA, Discussing Change
The AFL-CIO convention began in Los Angeles this weekend. And it comes at a moment when the labor movement is considering significant changes.
We talk so much at Fox & Hounds Daily at the power of labor, but that’s public employee labor. Unions in the private sector are weak and shrinking. For decades, the response to this has ranged from denial among unions to organizing efforts to seeking changes in the law to ease union membership. Nothing has worked.
Labor is re-evaluating. At the AFL-CIO, there are new committees and groups to consider how to transform the labor movement. Leadership is becoming younger and more diverse. (more…)
Kicking the Can Down the Alameda Corridor
The Alameda Corridor is a well-managed public private partnership between the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroads that has resulted in massive transportation efficiencies and savings. At the same time, countless backups at surface street railroad crossings have been eliminated and truck traffic on our congested freeways has been reduced by over 10,000 trips a day. This has resulted in significant reductions in pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
Yet for all of the efficiencies of this 20 mile rail expressway that connects San Pedro to the downtown rail yards that serve as a gateway to the rest of the country, the finances of the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority and its $2.2 billion of assets are upside down, relying on the credit of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to back stop this highly leveraged financing vehicle. (more…)
Secession Makes Sense In Rural California
Siskiyou County supervisors voted Tuesday to move toward seceding from California and looking to form a new state with neighboring counties in California and Oregon.
Crazy as it sounds, it makes a kind of sense in rural California.
Not that it’s time to start thinking about hiring a new Betsy Ross to sew a 51st star on the U.S. flag or anything like that. Folks in the state’s northernmost regions have been talking about putting together their new state of Jefferson since the 1940s and 70 years later all they have to show for it are a few green “double X” state flags, some T-shirts for sale and a website, www.jeffersonstate.com. (more…)
Heath Care Industry will be Transformed into Something Resembling a Public Utility
For millions of Californians who buy health insurance on their own – and even for many who get it through work – the Affordable Care Act will change almost everything about the experience.
The federal health reform law completely upends the business model of private insurance companies, changing their incentives and, very likely, the way they deal with customers.
Under current law, which goes away on Jan. 1, insurance companies make money by minimizing their risk, and they do that by screening out potential customers who might actually need the product the insurance companies are selling. Using questionnaires and detailed interviews about a person’s medical history, insurers decide who is most likely to get sick. If you are one of those people, you will probably not be offered coverage. If you do get a chance to buy a policy, it will be priced at a level you will almost certainly not find affordable. (more…)
Is Medicaid Better than no Coverage at All?
Most credible sources agree that health care requires some statutory and regulatory framework to protect the public. Supporters of the President’s health care law believe we need an extraordinary amount of oversight, while those opposed to federal further expansion into health care remain skeptical at best.
But at the end of the day, there should be one overriding guiding principle in the debate over health care reform – does the law and/or regulation(s) improve quality and enhance public safety? Incredibly, that question remains largely unanswered by those debating over Obamacare. (more…)