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.
All Aboard the Hyperloop!
There are now two high-profile major transportation projects promising fast trips between Los Angeles and San Francisco. One of them has a big unknown price tag and no known funding for the balance of it, is based on plans that don’t have all the details, and may never be built.
The other one is Elon Musk’s Hyperloop.
A comparison of that first transportation project – the years-in-planning high-speed rail project – to the Hyperloop, just announced Monday online to great aplomb, may of course be unfair. To the Hyperloop. (more…)
The Hollywood Mystique Only Goes So Far
There is an old saying in real estate that there are only three things that count–location, location and location. Well, in today’s entertainment business, there are only three things that count–the bottom line, the bottom line and the bottom line. This reality goes a long way in explaining why Southern California has lost its edge in competing for movie, television and commercial productions.
Our great weather and Hollywood tradition simply aren’t enough. Other places–across the country and around the globe are dangling financial incentives that producers and investors would be crazy to ignore. Advances in technology make it easy to turn out product any place in the world. (more…)
The Street Tax Blitz
With lots of hoopla and cameras, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Operation Neighborhood Blitz, a program designed to attack the epidemic of potholes plaguing our City. However, this is just beginning of a concerted effort to convince the voters of Los Angeles to approve the Street Repair Tax that was proposed in January by Council Members Mitch Englander and Joe Buscaino.
Under the proposed “Los Angeles Emergency Local Street Safety and Traffic Improvement Measure,” the City would issue $3 billion in Street Bonds over the next ten years to finance the repair of the one third of our streets that in a failed or near failed condition. These bonds would be financed through a new real estate tax that would raise up to $250 million a year, a 6% increase in our property taxes. (more…)
Plan for Public Works Before Raising Taxes
Modern and reliable public works are key to California’s economic growth. Indeed, few activities by state and local governments can be more helpful to economic development than ongoing maintenance and expansion of the public infrastructure: roads, water facilities and sewers, and public buildings for schools, colleges, courthouses and jails. (This doesn’t include the privately-financed and operated but publicly regulated telecom and energy networks.)
State and local agencies spend billions every year on infrastructure, but population growth plus the age of the existing system, minus tight budgets and tax fatigue, equals an increasing gap between the legitimate need for new facilities and the revenues available to provide them. (more…)
Fair Effective Tax Rates Could Re-ignite Small-Business Job Creation
American small-business owners are rightly proud of their reputation as the nation’s leading job creator. But their ability to create jobs is complicated by the federal tax code burden they face.
Today’s federal tax code is so complex and unfair that 91 percent of owners surveyed recently by the National Federation of Independent Business said they have given up trying to wade through the IRS maze. They now turn to professionals to sort things out.
Angered and frustrated, Main Street proprietors have had it with a tax system loaded with inconsistent tax provisions and tweaked with endless changes that prevent them from planning future business steps while also increasing their compliance costs. (more…)
Bill on Governor Brown’s Desk Would Expand the Underground Economy
Several weeks ago, the California Labor Commissioner reported that 70 workers would receive over $200,000 in wages cheated from them by their employers. That same day, the California Senate sent a bill to the Assembly to defund the very same group that uncovered the wage theft. Partisans in the Assembly have now sent the bill to Governor Brown who should swiftly veto it.
Why would California politicians defund a watchdog organization that recovers wages stolen from workers? Are Californian’s asking for this? Is the group accused of wrongdoing?
The answer is: No and No. The bill is sponsored by California labor unions and they are doing it under the guise they are looking out for the interests of nonunion workers. (more…)