Back to the Future? 2020 Reflects 1968
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (Philosopher George Santayana, 1905) “Nixon, now more than ever.” (Richard Nixon campaign slogan, 1968) Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy assassinated. American cities on fire. Protests and civil unrest across the country. Vietnam escalates and thousands of American soldiers die. A very unpopular LBJ […]
California Re-Evaluating Cap-and-Trade Program
As the coronavirus pandemic and recession hits California, the governor’s top environmental official has launched a comprehensive review of the cap and trade program that has been the cornerstone of the state’s strategy to fight climate change. California has been relying on its carbon trading program for nearly half of the greenhouse gas reductions it […]
Manipulating the Election System…Again
The Democratic majority in the Legislature is at it again, attempting to manipulate election rules to favor a desired outcome with voters. It has happened a number of times in the last decade. The current effort is SB 300 by Senator Tom Umberg to place all constitutional amendments passed by the legislature in the coming […]
Please Don’t Heap New Privacy Rules on Fragile Small Businesses
My friends at BizFed, the Los Angeles Business Federation, just released the results of their May survey of business owners. Among other disturbing findings on the impact of COVID-19 on the businesses, almost half of all respondents said their revenues have dropped by more than 50%. And our organization, the NFIB, the leading small business […]
Budget deal shields neediest Californians, shifts burden to middle class
The work of crafting a pandemic-era state budget was never going to make California Democrats happy. The question, as soon as the economic fallout from the coronavirus became evident this spring, wasn’t whether there would be cuts, but rather, who would take them and how deep they would go. The answer, detailed in an agreement […]
California’s 21st Century Megadrought
A recent paper on climate change in California and the West has been in the news and raising concerns. Based on extensive analysis of tree ring data—a good measure of summer soil moisture—the authors postulate that most of the region is in an unfolding “megadrought” that began in 2000 and is the second worst in […]
Unmasking an Opportunity and a Reckoning
Announcements from a number of law enforcement officials that they will not enforce Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mask order comes with both an opportunity and a reckoning. The opportunity arises with the ability to test a theory behind the defund police movement that asserts that non-sworn public officials can mediate and deal with situations that do […]
Why Sacramento Fails California—And Itself
There is no better symbol of Sacramento’s failure as California’s capital than the 18-foot-tall stainless-steel sculpture, by artist Jeff Koons, standing outside the city’s downtown arena. It cost the city and the NBA’s Sacramento Kings $8 million. Officially named “Coloring Book #4,” it’s really a representation of the Winnie the Pooh character Piglet. It also […]
Gov. Newsom: Cap-and-trade is not the legislature’s ATM
Right now, small business leaders like me are just trying to survive the twin crises of the past four months. We do understand the budget dilemma our state is now facing, but when the head of California’s Environmental Protection Agency recently said, “We are going to have to make hard decisions,” he was talking about […]