Kerry Jackson

Blog

Yet Another Bad Policy Idea for California: San Francisco Proposes An ‘IPO’ Tax

Anyone thinking that California can’t become more anti-business or add another punitive tax hasn’t seen the recent news out of San Francisco. Political leaders there are campaigning for an increase in the city’s “IPO tax,” which is both unnecessary and counterproductive. The proposal, sponsored by Supervisor Gordon Mar, would hike ...
California

Kamala’s Promise to End Right-to-Work Would Make Every State Like California

Democratic presidential candidate and California Sen. Kamala Harris has said that if she’s elected, she would issue an executive order to rescind hard-won worker freedom. Maybe it’s a “California value” to support conscripted unionism. But before Harris’ position becomes too hardened to walk back, she should consider how reforms would ...
California

Going Medieval in California’s Streets

California, to some people’s way of thinking, is the most modern state in the country, if not the most cutting-edge place on earth. It’s progressive, hip, innovative—a bellwether, filled with pioneers and opinion-makers. It’s also unique for its constant battles against biblical catastrophes—earthquakes, droughts, landslides, and floods are all part ...
Blackouts

The problem with government-protected utility monopolies

Just a few months back it was noted that California was suffering through a resurgence of medieval diseases. Another plague of premodern times now threatens to visit the state this summer: darkness. Bloomberg News reported that “California may go dark this summer.” Pacific Gas & Electric plans to cut power ...
Business & Economics

Worker Freedom at Risk in California

When the state Supreme Court issued a ruling last year threatening workers’ ability to operate as independent contractors, it sent a chill through the gig economy. The temperature dropped a few more degrees recently when the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals determined the standards outlined by the California court ...
Agriculture

Try the Free Market Before Tourists Are One Day Warned to Not Drink the Water in California

California has regressed from the land of opportunity to the land of crisis. A chronic housing shortage, growing homelessness problems, the highest poverty rate in the nation, and runaway public employee pension liability are ripping at the seams of the state. Add to that list of troubles the taint of ...
Book

New Book Explores Why Many Californians Are Living in Fear, Outlines Reforms to Restore Safe Communities

Well-meaning policy changes are undermining safe communities in California and must be reformed to restore public safety throughout the state, writes Pacific Research Institute fellow Kerry Jackson in his new book on crime in California, Living in Fear in California. Living in Fear in California can be purchased at Amazon.com, Barnes ...
Agriculture

Let It Flow: Carlsbad Desalination Plant Expansion Approval A Bright Spot In A Dry State

With more than 800 miles of coastline and a great big ocean out there, California shouldn’t be always be scrambling for water as if it were in the middle of the Sahara Desert. But politics tend to make goods scarce rather than plentiful. But sometimes there’s good news. Such as ...
Blog

Workers Of California Unite . . . Against Minimum Wage Hikes

They were warned. They wouldn’t listen. But they should have. A university study confirms what so many of us already knew — and what several other studies have corroborated: Minimum wage hikes kill jobs. Scholars at the University of California, Riverside, looked at the labor market and found that job ...
Blog

CAPITAL IDEAS: Cracking Down on Fracking in California—Is it The Smart Thing to Do?

DOWNLOAD THE PDF Jerry Brown left office in January as one of the most popular governors in California history. He also left successor Gavin Newsom with a few headaches. Among the more prominent unresolved issues are the high-speed rail project, the housing and homeless crises, and runaway public-employee pension obligations. ...
Blog

Yet Another Bad Policy Idea for California: San Francisco Proposes An ‘IPO’ Tax

Anyone thinking that California can’t become more anti-business or add another punitive tax hasn’t seen the recent news out of San Francisco. Political leaders there are campaigning for an increase in the city’s “IPO tax,” which is both unnecessary and counterproductive. The proposal, sponsored by Supervisor Gordon Mar, would hike ...
California

Kamala’s Promise to End Right-to-Work Would Make Every State Like California

Democratic presidential candidate and California Sen. Kamala Harris has said that if she’s elected, she would issue an executive order to rescind hard-won worker freedom. Maybe it’s a “California value” to support conscripted unionism. But before Harris’ position becomes too hardened to walk back, she should consider how reforms would ...
California

Going Medieval in California’s Streets

California, to some people’s way of thinking, is the most modern state in the country, if not the most cutting-edge place on earth. It’s progressive, hip, innovative—a bellwether, filled with pioneers and opinion-makers. It’s also unique for its constant battles against biblical catastrophes—earthquakes, droughts, landslides, and floods are all part ...
Blackouts

The problem with government-protected utility monopolies

Just a few months back it was noted that California was suffering through a resurgence of medieval diseases. Another plague of premodern times now threatens to visit the state this summer: darkness. Bloomberg News reported that “California may go dark this summer.” Pacific Gas & Electric plans to cut power ...
Business & Economics

Worker Freedom at Risk in California

When the state Supreme Court issued a ruling last year threatening workers’ ability to operate as independent contractors, it sent a chill through the gig economy. The temperature dropped a few more degrees recently when the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals determined the standards outlined by the California court ...
Agriculture

Try the Free Market Before Tourists Are One Day Warned to Not Drink the Water in California

California has regressed from the land of opportunity to the land of crisis. A chronic housing shortage, growing homelessness problems, the highest poverty rate in the nation, and runaway public employee pension liability are ripping at the seams of the state. Add to that list of troubles the taint of ...
Book

New Book Explores Why Many Californians Are Living in Fear, Outlines Reforms to Restore Safe Communities

Well-meaning policy changes are undermining safe communities in California and must be reformed to restore public safety throughout the state, writes Pacific Research Institute fellow Kerry Jackson in his new book on crime in California, Living in Fear in California. Living in Fear in California can be purchased at Amazon.com, Barnes ...
Agriculture

Let It Flow: Carlsbad Desalination Plant Expansion Approval A Bright Spot In A Dry State

With more than 800 miles of coastline and a great big ocean out there, California shouldn’t be always be scrambling for water as if it were in the middle of the Sahara Desert. But politics tend to make goods scarce rather than plentiful. But sometimes there’s good news. Such as ...
Blog

Workers Of California Unite . . . Against Minimum Wage Hikes

They were warned. They wouldn’t listen. But they should have. A university study confirms what so many of us already knew — and what several other studies have corroborated: Minimum wage hikes kill jobs. Scholars at the University of California, Riverside, looked at the labor market and found that job ...
Blog

CAPITAL IDEAS: Cracking Down on Fracking in California—Is it The Smart Thing to Do?

DOWNLOAD THE PDF Jerry Brown left office in January as one of the most popular governors in California history. He also left successor Gavin Newsom with a few headaches. Among the more prominent unresolved issues are the high-speed rail project, the housing and homeless crises, and runaway public-employee pension obligations. ...
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