California
Blog
Why Are We Voting on Cage-Free Eggs and Dialysis Funding?
The other day I was thumbing through California’s official voter information guide to read up on some of the propositions that we’ll be voting on in November. This year, we’ll decide 12 statewide propositions, plus numerous local and county measures. In general, I believe direct democracy is the only way ...
Agriculture
Should Voters Really Have to Decide How Eggs are Made?
In less than a month, Californians will head to the polls in what will surely be of the most consequential elections in years. The state is home to several competitive races for U.S. House seats – the results of which will have a significant impact on American politics for many ...
Blog
Prop. 8: Curiouser and Curiouser
On the California ballot this November is a state measure that would cap dialysis clinics’ profits at 15 percent, forcing them to offer rebates to insurance companies at the end of every year if dialysis companies’ margins exceed that cap. About 66,000 people need dialysis treatments in the state. With ...
Blog
Only in California: Falling Oil Production, Gas Plant Closures Are Reasons to Party
We recently documented California’s sharp fall in oil production, noting that even though only two states have more proved reserves of crude, five are producing more oil. This is not due to an accident or bad luck. Or even poor management. It is by design. The state’s dominant political party ...
Blog
What Happened to the “Grown-Up in the Room”?
During his second tenure as governor, Jerry Brown has often been called the “grown-up” in the room when forging consensus on major policy issues like spending and public pensions. This has especially been the case comparing Gov. Brown to the extreme progressive left that make up a good chunk of ...
Blog
Free Markets 101: My Story Shows You Can Get Ahead by Adding New Skills
This essay is meant to be a simple and straight forward look at how adding specific skill sets allowed me to have socioeconomic mobility and earn wages that allow me to send my daughter to private school, own a home, and enjoy a better present and future for my family. ...
Blog
Government Botches Another Big California Transportation Project
About once a month, I travel by Amtrak to Emeryville, and then by shuttle bus across the bay, for events or meetings at PRI’s San Francisco headquarters. Usually, I take the shuttle bus that stops in front of the Hyatt Regency at the Embarcadero Center, which is about a 10-minute ...
Agriculture
The U.N. Celebrates 15 Years of Screwing Up Biotech Regulation
Although best-known for its peace-keeping in areas of conflict — where it enjoys a mixed record, at best — the U.N.’s agencies, programs, commissions and international agreements have a dismal record of accomplishment, especially while acting as the world’s regulator-wannabe for all manner of products, processes and activities. The U.N. ...
Blog
Las Vegas High Speed Rail Project Shows Private Sector Can Get Job Done on High Speed Rail
As California’s bullet train continues to get hung up by cost projections gone wild, construction delays, postponed opening dates, and legal troubles, a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and Las Vegas could be carrying passengers just four years from now. The difference? One is a government project, the other ...
California
Women belong in the boardroom — but not because the government forces it
California has passed a bill that would, if signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown by Sept. 30, force every publicly-traded company in the state to place a certain number of women on their corporate boards. The legislation’s proponents are sending a clear message that women do not have the ...
Why Are We Voting on Cage-Free Eggs and Dialysis Funding?
The other day I was thumbing through California’s official voter information guide to read up on some of the propositions that we’ll be voting on in November. This year, we’ll decide 12 statewide propositions, plus numerous local and county measures. In general, I believe direct democracy is the only way ...
Should Voters Really Have to Decide How Eggs are Made?
In less than a month, Californians will head to the polls in what will surely be of the most consequential elections in years. The state is home to several competitive races for U.S. House seats – the results of which will have a significant impact on American politics for many ...
Prop. 8: Curiouser and Curiouser
On the California ballot this November is a state measure that would cap dialysis clinics’ profits at 15 percent, forcing them to offer rebates to insurance companies at the end of every year if dialysis companies’ margins exceed that cap. About 66,000 people need dialysis treatments in the state. With ...
Only in California: Falling Oil Production, Gas Plant Closures Are Reasons to Party
We recently documented California’s sharp fall in oil production, noting that even though only two states have more proved reserves of crude, five are producing more oil. This is not due to an accident or bad luck. Or even poor management. It is by design. The state’s dominant political party ...
What Happened to the “Grown-Up in the Room”?
During his second tenure as governor, Jerry Brown has often been called the “grown-up” in the room when forging consensus on major policy issues like spending and public pensions. This has especially been the case comparing Gov. Brown to the extreme progressive left that make up a good chunk of ...
Free Markets 101: My Story Shows You Can Get Ahead by Adding New Skills
This essay is meant to be a simple and straight forward look at how adding specific skill sets allowed me to have socioeconomic mobility and earn wages that allow me to send my daughter to private school, own a home, and enjoy a better present and future for my family. ...
Government Botches Another Big California Transportation Project
About once a month, I travel by Amtrak to Emeryville, and then by shuttle bus across the bay, for events or meetings at PRI’s San Francisco headquarters. Usually, I take the shuttle bus that stops in front of the Hyatt Regency at the Embarcadero Center, which is about a 10-minute ...
The U.N. Celebrates 15 Years of Screwing Up Biotech Regulation
Although best-known for its peace-keeping in areas of conflict — where it enjoys a mixed record, at best — the U.N.’s agencies, programs, commissions and international agreements have a dismal record of accomplishment, especially while acting as the world’s regulator-wannabe for all manner of products, processes and activities. The U.N. ...
Las Vegas High Speed Rail Project Shows Private Sector Can Get Job Done on High Speed Rail
As California’s bullet train continues to get hung up by cost projections gone wild, construction delays, postponed opening dates, and legal troubles, a high-speed rail line between Los Angeles and Las Vegas could be carrying passengers just four years from now. The difference? One is a government project, the other ...
Women belong in the boardroom — but not because the government forces it
California has passed a bill that would, if signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown by Sept. 30, force every publicly-traded company in the state to place a certain number of women on their corporate boards. The legislation’s proponents are sending a clear message that women do not have the ...
