I faced a challenge one out of every three people in America has: depression and anxiety
On Friday, April 10, at 5 p.m., Californians learned I had resigned as Chief Economic and Business Advisor to Gov. Gavin Newsom and chair of the California High Speed Rail Authority. The press release stated I was leaving “to focus on family and personal business.” In corporate speak, this usually means someone got fired. I […]
Urban Blues
On the surface, progressive “Blue America” has never appeared stronger. President Donald Trump’s leadership failures exposed by the pandemic and the recent disorders, is sinking him in the polls. His rival, Joe Biden, seems likely to concede his traditionally moderate stances to placate the Democrats’ youthful activist and identitarian wings. Radical “transformation” of the United […]
Why Didn’t LA Government Agencies Uncover City Council Corruption?
The fact that federal authorities, rather than local investigators, arrested Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar in a huge racketeering-bribery scheme speaks poorly for the county and city watchdogs who are supposed to keep politics and government clean. Where was the district attorney’s Public Integrity Division, created almost 20 years ago to root out corruption […]
Small Businesses Offer Key Fiscal Support for Government
The recent flurry of stories about small business woes often miss an important part of the picture: Small businesses’ role in helping fund government’s important responsibilities. Consider the City of Placerville. Located in El Dorado County with the original colorful Gold Rush era monikers, the sometimes controversial Hangtown and the more staid Dry Diggings, the […]
California Is the State with the Most Coronavirus Restrictions; Third Worst in Taxpayers Getting What They Pay For – WalletHub Studies
(Editor’s Note: The following releases from WalletHub offers a look at state rankings with the fewest coronavirus restrictions to the most. The study found California has the most. A second study revealed Return on Investment on taxes. California was ranked third worse in this category.) With some states pausing their reopening processes due to spikes […]
How the Virus Is Pushing America Toward a Better Future
Pessimism is the mood of the day, with 80 percent of Americans saying the country is generally out of control. Even before civil unrest and pestilence, most Americans believed our country was in decline, Pew reported, with a shrinking middle class, increased indebtedness and growing polarization. It’s a dark hour, but the United States has […]
Will Defund the Police Movement Revive Thoughts of LA Secession?
An op-ed in the Los Angeles Times over the weekend by Jon Wiener looked back at the Los Angeles beach community of Venice attempting to secede from the City of Los Angeles 50 years ago over LAPD actions that secession organizers said terrorized the community. The article rekindled a thought I had when the movement […]
Corruption in Government
The Los Angeles Times recently wrote a timely editorial about “Ending City Hall Corruption” in the city of Los Angeles. Written in response to the recent arrest of City Councilman Jose Huizar for taking payoffs from developers to get their projects approved, the Times stated that the city’s development review process “…just invites corruption.” Their […]
California Needs Fossil Fuels
With the world reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, California, the U.S. and world is using more energy than ever, and growing, according to the British Petroleum (BP) Statistical Review of World Energy 2020 (SRWE2020). What abundant energy and electricity offers is a way to grow California’s economy, and recover from the coronavirus simultaneously. Additionally, abundant […]