California
Blog
Criminals Respond To Incentives Just As Consumers Do
California seems to have become a plunderers’ paradise. Thieves have moved on from shoplifting with large garbage bags at drug stores to violent smash-and-run raids on retailers, some of them during the middle of the day. Neiman-Marcus, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Louis Vuitton, and other stores from San Francisco to ...
Kerry Jackson
December 1, 2021
Blog
Support PRI’s Campaign for America’s Future on Giving Tuesday
Today marks Giving Tuesday—a global movement to inspire generosity around the world. At the Pacific Research Institute, we are grateful to all our donors who have generously supported our work to advance market-driven policies that fulfill our mission to champion freedom, opportunity, and personal responsibility for all Americans. We certainly ...
Ben Smithwick
November 30, 2021
Blog
The Once and Future “Net Neutrality”
Late last month the Biden Administration finally got around to nominating a new commissioner to the Federal Communications Commission to replace Chairman Ajit Pai, who left the FCC at the beginning of the year. Also nominated was a current commissioner, Jessica Rosenworcel, for another term and also to become the ...
Bartlett Cleland
November 29, 2021
Commentary
Democrats’ Creative Accounting Can’t Hide Build Back Better’s True Cost
For weeks, President Joe Biden has insisted that the Democrats’ ‘Build Back Better’ spending bill would be “fully paid for.” The Congressional Budget Office begs to differ. In its newly released analysis of the bill, the CBO projects that ‘Build Back Better’ will increase the deficit by $367 billion over ...
Sally C. Pipes
November 24, 2021
Blog
The California Cost Of Thanksgiving
All Californians traveling this Thanksgiving by automobile will be paying steep prices for gasoline. Those who have a little cash left over after filling up can indulge in a meager (compared to last year) turkey day meal. As of Nov. 22, California had the highest gasoline prices in the country. ...
Kerry Jackson
November 24, 2021
Blog
Millionaire Migration: Exhibit A – California
Some years ago — not long after the debt crisis in Greece – I took a cruise around the Greek Isles. As we drove past rows of villas and yachts outside of Athens, our tour guide made this snarky comment: according to the country’s tax rolls, there was only one ...
Rowena Itchon
November 23, 2021
Blog
First Data Shows Real Record of Controversial New DA Putting Public Safety at Risk
The San Francisco Chronicle recently asked if residents should “tolerate a high level of burglaries as a downside of city living, and focus on barricading their homes?” Or, if that’s not satisfactory, “should people who are repeatedly accused of stealing be targeted with rehabilitation services, or incarcerated so they can’t ...
Kerry Jackson
November 22, 2021
Blog
Los Angeles Is Gearing Up to Ban Wood-Frame Construction. Renters Will Soon Pay the Price.
Over the summer, the Los Angeles City Council Public Safety Committee approved a proposal to expand Fire District 1, an anachronistic planning overlay that would effectively ban wood-frame construction in much of the city. Superficially premised as a measure to improve fire safety, the motion has been heavily promoted by ...
M. Nolan Gray
November 19, 2021
Blog
CAPITAL IDEAS: California Gets Kicked by Drought 66
DOWNLOAD THE PDF The recent record-breaking bomb cyclone that replenished depleted reservoirs and swelled shriveling rivers was not enough to break the drought. So parched is the state that Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency, a condition Californians, bedeviled by wildfires, unaffordable housing, growing homelessness, a punitive ...
Kerry Jackson
November 16, 2021
California
Will Huntington Beach spill trigger the end of oil in California?
A recent San Diego Union-Tribune story asked the question that’s been on a lot of minds recently: After last month’s Huntington Beach spill, is oil in California at its end? Given the state’s focus on the environment, the answer is likely a booming “Yes.” Three years ago, Rep. Ro Khanna ...
Kerry Jackson
November 15, 2021
Criminals Respond To Incentives Just As Consumers Do
California seems to have become a plunderers’ paradise. Thieves have moved on from shoplifting with large garbage bags at drug stores to violent smash-and-run raids on retailers, some of them during the middle of the day. Neiman-Marcus, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Louis Vuitton, and other stores from San Francisco to ...
Support PRI’s Campaign for America’s Future on Giving Tuesday
Today marks Giving Tuesday—a global movement to inspire generosity around the world. At the Pacific Research Institute, we are grateful to all our donors who have generously supported our work to advance market-driven policies that fulfill our mission to champion freedom, opportunity, and personal responsibility for all Americans. We certainly ...
The Once and Future “Net Neutrality”
Late last month the Biden Administration finally got around to nominating a new commissioner to the Federal Communications Commission to replace Chairman Ajit Pai, who left the FCC at the beginning of the year. Also nominated was a current commissioner, Jessica Rosenworcel, for another term and also to become the ...
Democrats’ Creative Accounting Can’t Hide Build Back Better’s True Cost
For weeks, President Joe Biden has insisted that the Democrats’ ‘Build Back Better’ spending bill would be “fully paid for.” The Congressional Budget Office begs to differ. In its newly released analysis of the bill, the CBO projects that ‘Build Back Better’ will increase the deficit by $367 billion over ...
The California Cost Of Thanksgiving
All Californians traveling this Thanksgiving by automobile will be paying steep prices for gasoline. Those who have a little cash left over after filling up can indulge in a meager (compared to last year) turkey day meal. As of Nov. 22, California had the highest gasoline prices in the country. ...
Millionaire Migration: Exhibit A – California
Some years ago — not long after the debt crisis in Greece – I took a cruise around the Greek Isles. As we drove past rows of villas and yachts outside of Athens, our tour guide made this snarky comment: according to the country’s tax rolls, there was only one ...
First Data Shows Real Record of Controversial New DA Putting Public Safety at Risk
The San Francisco Chronicle recently asked if residents should “tolerate a high level of burglaries as a downside of city living, and focus on barricading their homes?” Or, if that’s not satisfactory, “should people who are repeatedly accused of stealing be targeted with rehabilitation services, or incarcerated so they can’t ...
Los Angeles Is Gearing Up to Ban Wood-Frame Construction. Renters Will Soon Pay the Price.
Over the summer, the Los Angeles City Council Public Safety Committee approved a proposal to expand Fire District 1, an anachronistic planning overlay that would effectively ban wood-frame construction in much of the city. Superficially premised as a measure to improve fire safety, the motion has been heavily promoted by ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: California Gets Kicked by Drought 66
DOWNLOAD THE PDF The recent record-breaking bomb cyclone that replenished depleted reservoirs and swelled shriveling rivers was not enough to break the drought. So parched is the state that Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency, a condition Californians, bedeviled by wildfires, unaffordable housing, growing homelessness, a punitive ...
Will Huntington Beach spill trigger the end of oil in California?
A recent San Diego Union-Tribune story asked the question that’s been on a lot of minds recently: After last month’s Huntington Beach spill, is oil in California at its end? Given the state’s focus on the environment, the answer is likely a booming “Yes.” Three years ago, Rep. Ro Khanna ...