High living costs make people poor
There’s no question that the COVID-19 pandemic and the severe recession it spawned are widening California’s economic divide. California already had the nation’s highest rate of functional poverty before this year began, as calculated by the Census Bureau using cost-of-living as well as income data, with nearly 20% of the state’s 40 million people impoverished. […]
Bigger Than Politics: The Future of Public Education
As the school semester grows near, we discuss whether to open the schools or rely on home schooling, often in the hands of overworked parents. This is bigger than political campaigns. Each day, the pressure increases on Gov. Gavin Newsom, his good start in handling the pandemic forgotten as the number of coronavirus cases […]
Beware of Sleight-of-Hand in Prop 15 Numbers
The Yes on Proposition 15 campaign has bandied about all kinds of figures on how many commercial properties will pay a bulk of the new record property tax increase if the measure passes. First, they showed a study that reported 6% of the properties will pay 78% of the taxes. Next we heard that 10% […]
California Consumers’ Confidence In Economy Plummets As Covid-19 Rages
The confidence of California consumers in the economy is in free-fall, as the pandemic rages on, taking a devastating toll on human life and the economy. According to a recent survey of Californians, consumer confidence has plummeted by 34% since the onset of COVID-19 two months ago. This assessment is particularly troublesome, given that consumer […]
The Power (and Threat) of the Unelected
It’s easy to bash the Governor for this and that. It’s equally simple to criticize state lawmakers for passing bad laws – something they do with great regularity. Indeed. it’s a fairly effortless and common exercise – carping at the Governor and legislators – mostly because they are public figures. It’s almost sport. Should we […]
Life on the American River
…the colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky, are also on the faces, of people going by, I see friends shaking hands, saying how do you do, they’re really saying, I love you… – What a Wonderful World, sang by Louis Armstrong in 1967 The American River runs through the heart of Sacramento, […]
Close LA? No Dodger Baseball?
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti raised a red warning flag this week saying the surge of COVID-19 in Los Angeles could again shut down the city. One of my first thoughts was will the mayor stop Major League Baseball resuming at Dodger Stadium, even with no fans? The fate of the Dodgers could serve as […]
Billions of reasons taxpayers must demand accountability
With COVID-19 precautions making government accountability more challenging, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Foundation’s annual Follow the Money report shows taxpayers must remain vigilant against waste, fraud, and abuse. This year’s report, released on July 15th to coincide with this year’s postponed Tax Day, includes a special section exposing instances of waste arising directly from the […]
The hidden toll of California’s Black exodus
In a quiet corner of Elk Grove, where the maze of subdivisions and shopping centers gives way to open fields, Sharie Wilson has spent the last three years building her dream home. It’s nothing like the neighborhood where she grew up in South Central L.A. But in this Sacramento suburb, her family owns a modern […]
Federal Dollars Won’t Be Coupled to Tax Reform
Slightly more than a decade ago as California was working its way out of the last devastating recession, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the legislature created the Commission on the 21st Century Economy, chaired by financier Gerald Parsky. Often referred to as the Parsky Commission, it boldly followed its mandate to create a new tax structure […]