Kerry Jackson
Business & Economics
Paramount merger lawsuit could spell trouble for California’s entertainment industry
Rob Bonta’s crusade against a big Hollywood merger could have drastic repercussions for the entertainment industry in California. The state’s Attorney General says his lawsuit is to protect jobs, but those might be in New Jersey soon. Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance have agreed to a deal in which ...
Blog
If EVs Sell Themselves, Why Are Taxpayers Paying for More of Them?
The rebates from the MyFirstEV program, which has no income cap (meaning it’s a subsidy for the wealthy), will be paid by taxpayers and participating automakers who will match the state’s contributions dollar-for-dollar. The timing is revealing. The rebate arrives just as the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found that two-thirds of Californians now oppose Gov. ...
Blog
California cities turn to tax hikes to deal with overspending
Two years ago, 125 local tax measures appeared on ballots. Ninety, says the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, passed. A number of cities now have local sales taxes that exceed 10%. Several cities in “conservative” Orange County are likewise asking voters to approve various local tax increases. We won’t know until the deadline in August how ...
Blog
How California’s Plastic Ban Could Change What Every American Buys
The Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, passed and signed in 2022, went into effect on May 1. It demands a lot. By 2032, every shred of single-use packaging and single-use plastic food service ware sold in the state has to be recyclable or compostable. The law covers not just ...
Blog
Who Wants To Ride California’s Bullet Buses?
With a grand high-speed rail project struggling to lay its first track nearly two decades after voters approved it, California seems to be moving on to its next transportation fiasco: A high-speed bus system connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco that reaches an implausibly brisk 140 mph along the way. It seems more likely ...
California
The affordability crisis is real. Sacramento just made it worse.
Californians are told almost daily that Sacramento understands the state’s affordability crisis. Lawmakers hold hearings about it. The gubernatorial candidates are campaigning on it. Gov. Gavin Newsom promises to fix it. Then, when budget season arrives, Sacramento does what it always does: make California more expensive. State lawmakers just approved ...
Blog
California flips out over investors who flip distressed properties
California flips out over investors who flip distressed properties Government efforts that rig the system to produce more affordable housing are neither effective nor noble — especially when policymakers target a trend that has captured the public’s imagination while improving and increasing the housing stock. Home flippers have become prominent ...
Blog
California’s Regulatory Blob
On the surface, it might appear to be minor. Nothing too big. But from seemingly insignificant rules come sweeping, burdensome regulatory frameworks. The plan is to only outlaw a particular type of automobile tire for fuel economy purposes, but it sets up regulators to police anything they wish to, from engine displacement ...
Blog
Environmentalists Vs. Renewable Energy
Virginia-based power firm AES has plans to build a 40-acre battery facility in the Coyote Valley hard up against a conservation area not far off U.S. 101. The valley is “a key wildlife corridor,” says the Sierra Club, that features “open space, trees, and agricultural fields.” The project would be sited on ...
Blog
Broken Promises: The California High-Speed Rail Might End Up Being Little More Than A Regular Train — A Particularly Expensive One
Newsom denied that the cost — once a paltry, in comparison, $33 billion — had soared to $231 billion. “We’re actually making this project work,” he claimed. Newsom told Maher that the train “goes back three administrations” and he “inherited a mess” — both of which are true. It’s also true that the want-to-be-president governor ...
Paramount merger lawsuit could spell trouble for California’s entertainment industry
Rob Bonta’s crusade against a big Hollywood merger could have drastic repercussions for the entertainment industry in California. The state’s Attorney General says his lawsuit is to protect jobs, but those might be in New Jersey soon. Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance have agreed to a deal in which ...
If EVs Sell Themselves, Why Are Taxpayers Paying for More of Them?
The rebates from the MyFirstEV program, which has no income cap (meaning it’s a subsidy for the wealthy), will be paid by taxpayers and participating automakers who will match the state’s contributions dollar-for-dollar. The timing is revealing. The rebate arrives just as the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found that two-thirds of Californians now oppose Gov. ...
California cities turn to tax hikes to deal with overspending
Two years ago, 125 local tax measures appeared on ballots. Ninety, says the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, passed. A number of cities now have local sales taxes that exceed 10%. Several cities in “conservative” Orange County are likewise asking voters to approve various local tax increases. We won’t know until the deadline in August how ...
How California’s Plastic Ban Could Change What Every American Buys
The Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, passed and signed in 2022, went into effect on May 1. It demands a lot. By 2032, every shred of single-use packaging and single-use plastic food service ware sold in the state has to be recyclable or compostable. The law covers not just ...
Who Wants To Ride California’s Bullet Buses?
With a grand high-speed rail project struggling to lay its first track nearly two decades after voters approved it, California seems to be moving on to its next transportation fiasco: A high-speed bus system connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco that reaches an implausibly brisk 140 mph along the way. It seems more likely ...
The affordability crisis is real. Sacramento just made it worse.
Californians are told almost daily that Sacramento understands the state’s affordability crisis. Lawmakers hold hearings about it. The gubernatorial candidates are campaigning on it. Gov. Gavin Newsom promises to fix it. Then, when budget season arrives, Sacramento does what it always does: make California more expensive. State lawmakers just approved ...
California flips out over investors who flip distressed properties
California flips out over investors who flip distressed properties Government efforts that rig the system to produce more affordable housing are neither effective nor noble — especially when policymakers target a trend that has captured the public’s imagination while improving and increasing the housing stock. Home flippers have become prominent ...
California’s Regulatory Blob
On the surface, it might appear to be minor. Nothing too big. But from seemingly insignificant rules come sweeping, burdensome regulatory frameworks. The plan is to only outlaw a particular type of automobile tire for fuel economy purposes, but it sets up regulators to police anything they wish to, from engine displacement ...
Environmentalists Vs. Renewable Energy
Virginia-based power firm AES has plans to build a 40-acre battery facility in the Coyote Valley hard up against a conservation area not far off U.S. 101. The valley is “a key wildlife corridor,” says the Sierra Club, that features “open space, trees, and agricultural fields.” The project would be sited on ...
Broken Promises: The California High-Speed Rail Might End Up Being Little More Than A Regular Train — A Particularly Expensive One
Newsom denied that the cost — once a paltry, in comparison, $33 billion — had soared to $231 billion. “We’re actually making this project work,” he claimed. Newsom told Maher that the train “goes back three administrations” and he “inherited a mess” — both of which are true. It’s also true that the want-to-be-president governor ...