California

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Spending Watch

Too Much Government Spending and Volatile Tax Revenues Drive State’s Budget Problem

Too Much Government Spending and Volatile Tax Revenues Drive State’s Budget Problem Wayne Winegarden March 2024 This analysis is the first publication of Spending Watch, a new initiative from the Pacific Research Institute. Spending Watch is a resource that evaluates the revenue, spending, and economic impacts of major budget and ...
California

Steve Hilton – Keynote Address: PRI Ideas in Action Conference

Our podcast guest this week is Steve Hilton, the keynote speaker at PRI’s 2024 Sacramento Ideas in Action Conference. Steve was a top advisor to UK Prime Minister David Cameron, a contributor at Fox News, and now running “Golden Together” a group focused on new ideas to increase affordable housing ...
Blog

Read latest State Budget Update

Newsom’s Budget Plan Sinks in Deficit Quicksand

Gov. Newsom’s budget problems continue to grow worse. After rolling out his $292 billion proposed state budget plan by arguing with the state’s respected independent budget analyst over the size of the deficit, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office has more bad news for Newsom about the deficit. On Friday, Newsom’s ...
California

Blame slow-growth policies for California’s housing and homeless crises

By Steven Greenhut & Wayne Winegarden The roots of California’s housing problems aren’t hard to trace given the reams of house-price and population data going back decades. The Los Angeles Times reported the median price of a California home in 1970 was only 5 percent higher than the national average at $24,300. That ...
Blog

Spending Watch

Reparations: A Financially Unrealistic Proposal That Will Bankrupt California

Reparations: A Financially Unrealistic Proposal That Will Bankrupt California Wayne Winegarden February 2024 With the introduction of its first set of reparations bills, the California legislature is officially considering the recommendations of the California Reparations Report from the state Reparations Task Force.1 Given these introductions, it is imperative to understand ...
California

Watch Videos from PRI’s 2024 California Ideas in Action Conference

Watch Videos from PRI’s 2024 California Ideas in Action Conference The theme of the 2024 PRI California Ideas in Action Conference is the “5 Issues for 2024”. Recent surveys show the economy, homelessness and housing, crime, energy regulation, and debt are top issues for voters in advance of the 2024 ...
California

Read the latest on Project Homekey

Latest figures show what we’ve known all along: Project Homekey is a waste of taxpayer dollars

Recently, the Bay Area media wondered if $800 million in aid from California’s Homekey program would help reduce homelessness in the region. Not to diminish the work that was put into the analysis, but some of us have known for quite a while that Project Homekey was not the answer. ...
Business & Economics

Roger Simon – American Refugee

Roger Simon wrote novels and screenplays before co-founding and becoming CEO of the pioneering blog aggregation and news and opinion website PJ Media (formerly Pajamas Media) in 2005. He’s best known for the Moses Wine detective series, which have won prizes from the Mystery Writers of America and the Crime ...
Blog

Read latest on SF's housing woes

So-Called Vacant Housing Tax Will Make SF’s Rental Housing Problems Even Worse

San Francisco’s residential vacancy rate is around 13% to 15%. Tens of thousands of housing units are unoccupied. Some might see this as merely the natural order of things, the market response to the conditions on the ground. But politicians, and a majority of voters – 54% –  believe it’s ...
Blog

Newsom public safety budget shortchanges crime victims

For California’s Crime Victims – Budget Dust

Despite his protestations to the opposite in the recent debate with Governor DeSantis,  California’s violent crimes are up 6.1 percent and property crimes are up 6.2 percent over their 2021 levels, making California a crime outlier compared to national crime statistics which have dropped. The Governor’s “Real Public Safety Plan” ...
Blog

Spending Watch

Too Much Government Spending and Volatile Tax Revenues Drive State’s Budget Problem

Too Much Government Spending and Volatile Tax Revenues Drive State’s Budget Problem Wayne Winegarden March 2024 This analysis is the first publication of Spending Watch, a new initiative from the Pacific Research Institute. Spending Watch is a resource that evaluates the revenue, spending, and economic impacts of major budget and ...
California

Steve Hilton – Keynote Address: PRI Ideas in Action Conference

Our podcast guest this week is Steve Hilton, the keynote speaker at PRI’s 2024 Sacramento Ideas in Action Conference. Steve was a top advisor to UK Prime Minister David Cameron, a contributor at Fox News, and now running “Golden Together” a group focused on new ideas to increase affordable housing ...
Blog

Read latest State Budget Update

Newsom’s Budget Plan Sinks in Deficit Quicksand

Gov. Newsom’s budget problems continue to grow worse. After rolling out his $292 billion proposed state budget plan by arguing with the state’s respected independent budget analyst over the size of the deficit, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office has more bad news for Newsom about the deficit. On Friday, Newsom’s ...
California

Blame slow-growth policies for California’s housing and homeless crises

By Steven Greenhut & Wayne Winegarden The roots of California’s housing problems aren’t hard to trace given the reams of house-price and population data going back decades. The Los Angeles Times reported the median price of a California home in 1970 was only 5 percent higher than the national average at $24,300. That ...
Blog

Spending Watch

Reparations: A Financially Unrealistic Proposal That Will Bankrupt California

Reparations: A Financially Unrealistic Proposal That Will Bankrupt California Wayne Winegarden February 2024 With the introduction of its first set of reparations bills, the California legislature is officially considering the recommendations of the California Reparations Report from the state Reparations Task Force.1 Given these introductions, it is imperative to understand ...
California

Watch Videos from PRI’s 2024 California Ideas in Action Conference

Watch Videos from PRI’s 2024 California Ideas in Action Conference The theme of the 2024 PRI California Ideas in Action Conference is the “5 Issues for 2024”. Recent surveys show the economy, homelessness and housing, crime, energy regulation, and debt are top issues for voters in advance of the 2024 ...
California

Read the latest on Project Homekey

Latest figures show what we’ve known all along: Project Homekey is a waste of taxpayer dollars

Recently, the Bay Area media wondered if $800 million in aid from California’s Homekey program would help reduce homelessness in the region. Not to diminish the work that was put into the analysis, but some of us have known for quite a while that Project Homekey was not the answer. ...
Business & Economics

Roger Simon – American Refugee

Roger Simon wrote novels and screenplays before co-founding and becoming CEO of the pioneering blog aggregation and news and opinion website PJ Media (formerly Pajamas Media) in 2005. He’s best known for the Moses Wine detective series, which have won prizes from the Mystery Writers of America and the Crime ...
Blog

Read latest on SF's housing woes

So-Called Vacant Housing Tax Will Make SF’s Rental Housing Problems Even Worse

San Francisco’s residential vacancy rate is around 13% to 15%. Tens of thousands of housing units are unoccupied. Some might see this as merely the natural order of things, the market response to the conditions on the ground. But politicians, and a majority of voters – 54% –  believe it’s ...
Blog

Newsom public safety budget shortchanges crime victims

For California’s Crime Victims – Budget Dust

Despite his protestations to the opposite in the recent debate with Governor DeSantis,  California’s violent crimes are up 6.1 percent and property crimes are up 6.2 percent over their 2021 levels, making California a crime outlier compared to national crime statistics which have dropped. The Governor’s “Real Public Safety Plan” ...
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