California

Blog

Notes from Taxifornia

Last week, as millions of Californians filed their tax returns on the delayed July 15 tax deadline, there was good and bad news on the tax increase front in Taxifornia.  Split Roll Tax Increase Campaign Based on Class Warfare I wrote last month that how the 2020-21 state budget deal, ...
California

Racial preferences or school choice? How to improve education for non-white students

One of the most important questions in America today is how to improve the quality of education for underrepresented minorities so that they can succeed in life. Two huge political earthquakes offer two vastly different answers: racial preferences and school choice. In the first earthquake, the California Legislature voted to ...
Blackouts

State Move Toward All-Electric Buildings Would Be Another Hit to California’s Working Class

At roughly the same time the state Air Resources Board issued a rule forcing trucks and vans to transition from diesel to electric motors, the state moved closer to a policy framework in which new buildings must be all-electric. The smiling environmental lobby feels no mercy toward the poor, who ...
Blog

California Near Rock-Bottom Again on Yet Another National Ranking

Another national list, another nearly rock-bottom ranking for California. It’s become too predictable. When WalletHub, a prolific producer of lists, says that California is 48th among the states on “taxpayer return on investment” (forget for the moment that taxes are not investments but funds to operate government, and a drain ...
Blackouts

State Move Toward All-Electric Buildings Would Be Another Hit to California’s Working Class

At roughly the same time the state Air Resources Board issued a rule forcing trucks and vans to transition from diesel to electric motors, the state moved closer to a policy framework in which new buildings must be all-electric. The smiling environmental lobby feels no mercy toward the poor, who ...
California

Would Sacramento raise taxes when economic growth is needed the most?

The pandemic lockdown not only was a lethal financial contagion for many Californians, it deprived the state government of so much revenue that Sacramento now has a $54 billion budget deficit. How will lawmakers bridge the gap? By coincidence, they were already thinking about nearly $66 billion in new taxes ...
Blog

Latest Rankings Further Proof California Must Remove Barriers to Opportunity

Recently, I attended a webinar hosted by the Legatum Institute, a UK-based think tank, where they discussed the results of their latest “Prosperity Index”. According to the Index’s executive summary, Legatum hopes that “nations around the world (will) assess their strengths and weaknesses (in the rankings) to determine the economic ...
Business & Economics

Damon Dunn – Punting Poverty

This podcast is a special rebroadcast of a recent webinar featuring Damon Dunn, PRI fellow in business and economics, discussing his new book Punting Poverty:  Breaking the Chains of Welfare.  The former collegiate and pro football player turned entrepreneur pushes back against the universal basic income movement, calling it “fool’s ...
Blog

California’s Plastic Bag Ban Returns After Two-Month Vacation

California’s coronavirus pandemic lockdown isn’t over. There was even a partial reversal of the state’s reopening on the first day of July when Gov. Gavin Newsom hit the “dimmer switch.” But not much can come between California and its plastic bag ban. After a two-month vacation, it’s back. In late ...
Commentary

Dems Want to Use Medicaid to Incinerate Yet More Taxpayer Money

Congressional Democrats are looking to put billions more federal dollars into Medicaid as part of their plan to fight COVID-19. The HEROES Act, which narrowly passed the House in May, would temporarily increase the share of the program’s spending covered by the federal government, to the tune of $45 billion ...
Blog

Notes from Taxifornia

Last week, as millions of Californians filed their tax returns on the delayed July 15 tax deadline, there was good and bad news on the tax increase front in Taxifornia.  Split Roll Tax Increase Campaign Based on Class Warfare I wrote last month that how the 2020-21 state budget deal, ...
California

Racial preferences or school choice? How to improve education for non-white students

One of the most important questions in America today is how to improve the quality of education for underrepresented minorities so that they can succeed in life. Two huge political earthquakes offer two vastly different answers: racial preferences and school choice. In the first earthquake, the California Legislature voted to ...
Blackouts

State Move Toward All-Electric Buildings Would Be Another Hit to California’s Working Class

At roughly the same time the state Air Resources Board issued a rule forcing trucks and vans to transition from diesel to electric motors, the state moved closer to a policy framework in which new buildings must be all-electric. The smiling environmental lobby feels no mercy toward the poor, who ...
Blog

California Near Rock-Bottom Again on Yet Another National Ranking

Another national list, another nearly rock-bottom ranking for California. It’s become too predictable. When WalletHub, a prolific producer of lists, says that California is 48th among the states on “taxpayer return on investment” (forget for the moment that taxes are not investments but funds to operate government, and a drain ...
Blackouts

State Move Toward All-Electric Buildings Would Be Another Hit to California’s Working Class

At roughly the same time the state Air Resources Board issued a rule forcing trucks and vans to transition from diesel to electric motors, the state moved closer to a policy framework in which new buildings must be all-electric. The smiling environmental lobby feels no mercy toward the poor, who ...
California

Would Sacramento raise taxes when economic growth is needed the most?

The pandemic lockdown not only was a lethal financial contagion for many Californians, it deprived the state government of so much revenue that Sacramento now has a $54 billion budget deficit. How will lawmakers bridge the gap? By coincidence, they were already thinking about nearly $66 billion in new taxes ...
Blog

Latest Rankings Further Proof California Must Remove Barriers to Opportunity

Recently, I attended a webinar hosted by the Legatum Institute, a UK-based think tank, where they discussed the results of their latest “Prosperity Index”. According to the Index’s executive summary, Legatum hopes that “nations around the world (will) assess their strengths and weaknesses (in the rankings) to determine the economic ...
Business & Economics

Damon Dunn – Punting Poverty

This podcast is a special rebroadcast of a recent webinar featuring Damon Dunn, PRI fellow in business and economics, discussing his new book Punting Poverty:  Breaking the Chains of Welfare.  The former collegiate and pro football player turned entrepreneur pushes back against the universal basic income movement, calling it “fool’s ...
Blog

California’s Plastic Bag Ban Returns After Two-Month Vacation

California’s coronavirus pandemic lockdown isn’t over. There was even a partial reversal of the state’s reopening on the first day of July when Gov. Gavin Newsom hit the “dimmer switch.” But not much can come between California and its plastic bag ban. After a two-month vacation, it’s back. In late ...
Commentary

Dems Want to Use Medicaid to Incinerate Yet More Taxpayer Money

Congressional Democrats are looking to put billions more federal dollars into Medicaid as part of their plan to fight COVID-19. The HEROES Act, which narrowly passed the House in May, would temporarily increase the share of the program’s spending covered by the federal government, to the tune of $45 billion ...
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