California
Business & Economics
To lure Amazon and more, California needs a statewide enterprise zone
Everyone wants a piece of Amazon. A city in Georgia has even offered to rename itself “Amazon” if only the web sales giant would locate its second headquarters there. Jerry Brown is making a pitch, too. The governor, according to the Mercury News, “is offering tax breaks and other incentives ...
Blog
Rent Control for Small Businesses Another Bad Idea
It’s “Basic Economics” that residential rent control is harmful housing policy. So it makes perfect sense that we’re beginning to hear about commercial rent control in California. Why not heap more destructive laws on the pile? San Jose Inside reported earlier this month that “a local community leader” wants the ...
Blog
Equifax Data Breach Gives Californians Much to Think About
Americans are rightfully outraged over the massive data breach at Equifax. We’re also upset about how the company handled the announcement of the breach and its proposed remedy. What made the Equifax breach so jarring was how many of us are victims. Roughly 1 in 2 people – 143 million ...
Commentary
Republicans, don’t forfeit the battle against Obamacare’s insurer bailouts
Washington Examiner Last week, Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., introduced a bill they say will stabilize Obamacare’s insurance exchanges. A dozen Republicans and a dozen Democrats have already signed on as co-sponsors. That’s a shame. The proposal is a bad deal for proponents of free markets. It ...
Blog
A Neutral Network is Best for California
Northern California is a hotbed of modern, global technological innovation, particularly internet innovation. Yet, increasingly Washington, D.C. dictates the direction and velocity of innovation, often abetted by the very companies that gained from the permissionless innovation approach of government that so benefitted the industry in the past. For example, in ...
Business & Economics
Bartlett Cleland – Is California’s Innovation Luster Wearing Off?
Bartlett Cleland, PRI’s senior fellow in Tech and Innovation, talks with us about whether California’s innovation luster is wearing off, how poor government policy is impacting the sharing economy, autonomous vehicles, and innovation companies, and the future of artificial intelligence.
Blog
American Dream Denied by Berkeley Government Bureaucrats
I recently read about a case in Berkeley where a hot dog vendor just trying to earn a few dollars was manhandled by city government. Rigoberto “Beto” Matias was selling bacon-wrapped hotdogs outside a Cal football game. A police officer approached Beto and started questioning him. A customer quickly pulled ...
Blog
The Political Aftermath of California’s Wildfires
The amount of time it takes a celebrity of the political left to blame a natural disaster on global warming can usually be measured in seconds. Gov. Jerry Brown quickly answered the challenge last week by coldly politicizing the deadly Northern California wildfires. Following the master blueprint Chicago Mayor Rahm ...
Blog
On Wildfires and Wine
Small business owners and entrepreneurs have always been the backbone of California’s economy. No one can deny the courage of those individuals who risk all for an idea and a dream. For the vintners, growers, restauranteurs, and small business owners who live and work in California’s wine country, that courage ...
California
Unmistakable Signs That California Lawmakers Have (Yet Again) Gone Too Far
A Mercury News headline earlier this year declared that “Amid ‘Resistance,’ activists try to push California Democratic Party to the left.” But looking back now that the bill signing period is complete, it’s clear that Sacramento Democrats don’t need to be pushed left. They’re headed that way just fine on ...
To lure Amazon and more, California needs a statewide enterprise zone
Everyone wants a piece of Amazon. A city in Georgia has even offered to rename itself “Amazon” if only the web sales giant would locate its second headquarters there. Jerry Brown is making a pitch, too. The governor, according to the Mercury News, “is offering tax breaks and other incentives ...
Rent Control for Small Businesses Another Bad Idea
It’s “Basic Economics” that residential rent control is harmful housing policy. So it makes perfect sense that we’re beginning to hear about commercial rent control in California. Why not heap more destructive laws on the pile? San Jose Inside reported earlier this month that “a local community leader” wants the ...
Equifax Data Breach Gives Californians Much to Think About
Americans are rightfully outraged over the massive data breach at Equifax. We’re also upset about how the company handled the announcement of the breach and its proposed remedy. What made the Equifax breach so jarring was how many of us are victims. Roughly 1 in 2 people – 143 million ...
Republicans, don’t forfeit the battle against Obamacare’s insurer bailouts
Washington Examiner Last week, Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., introduced a bill they say will stabilize Obamacare’s insurance exchanges. A dozen Republicans and a dozen Democrats have already signed on as co-sponsors. That’s a shame. The proposal is a bad deal for proponents of free markets. It ...
A Neutral Network is Best for California
Northern California is a hotbed of modern, global technological innovation, particularly internet innovation. Yet, increasingly Washington, D.C. dictates the direction and velocity of innovation, often abetted by the very companies that gained from the permissionless innovation approach of government that so benefitted the industry in the past. For example, in ...
Bartlett Cleland – Is California’s Innovation Luster Wearing Off?
Bartlett Cleland, PRI’s senior fellow in Tech and Innovation, talks with us about whether California’s innovation luster is wearing off, how poor government policy is impacting the sharing economy, autonomous vehicles, and innovation companies, and the future of artificial intelligence.
American Dream Denied by Berkeley Government Bureaucrats
I recently read about a case in Berkeley where a hot dog vendor just trying to earn a few dollars was manhandled by city government. Rigoberto “Beto” Matias was selling bacon-wrapped hotdogs outside a Cal football game. A police officer approached Beto and started questioning him. A customer quickly pulled ...
The Political Aftermath of California’s Wildfires
The amount of time it takes a celebrity of the political left to blame a natural disaster on global warming can usually be measured in seconds. Gov. Jerry Brown quickly answered the challenge last week by coldly politicizing the deadly Northern California wildfires. Following the master blueprint Chicago Mayor Rahm ...
On Wildfires and Wine
Small business owners and entrepreneurs have always been the backbone of California’s economy. No one can deny the courage of those individuals who risk all for an idea and a dream. For the vintners, growers, restauranteurs, and small business owners who live and work in California’s wine country, that courage ...
Unmistakable Signs That California Lawmakers Have (Yet Again) Gone Too Far
A Mercury News headline earlier this year declared that “Amid ‘Resistance,’ activists try to push California Democratic Party to the left.” But looking back now that the bill signing period is complete, it’s clear that Sacramento Democrats don’t need to be pushed left. They’re headed that way just fine on ...
