Blog
No need for hysteria over federal cuts to homeless housing
The usually levelheaded CalMatters reported that the expected deep cuts are the “latest blow in a seemingly endless barrage of bad news for the California agencies tasked with fighting homelessness.” The “news has sent counties throughout California into a panic” and they are “bracing to lose hundreds of millions of dollars,” the ...
Blog
After Voters Pass Prop. 50, What Comes Next?
First, despite what President Obama said in Prop. 50 commercials, its passage does not protect the independent redistricting commission in any way. By enacting Prop. 50, voters have done away with the independent commission’s work for the rest of this decade. Remember that California stands to lose two more congressional ...
Blog
California’s Great Gasoline Panic of ‘25
“California’s Refinery Rethink” Politico Pro, Oct. 22 “Newsom Courts Big Oil as Gas Prices Threaten Political Ambition” Bloomberg, Sept. 29 “Faced with looming gasoline shortage, California’s governor backs off oil companies” Le Monde, Oct. 11 “Gas Price Map Shock: Why Gas Is $4.60 in California but $2.60 in Oklahoma?” Autoblog, ...
Blog
Spending Watch
Spending Watch: The Unpleasant Arithmetic of a California Wealth Tax
Spending Watch: The Unpleasant Arithmetic of a California Wealth Tax Wayne Winegarden October 2025 A just proposed initiative to impose a one-time wealth tax on billionaires summarizes why California has fallen from the fourth to the fifth largest economy in the world. State policymakers continually view the private sector as ...
Blog
Western governors try to boost housing as population grows
Western governors try to boost housing as population grows By D. Dowd Muska | October 31, 2025 What do Houston, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Phoenix, Seattle, San Jose and Las Vegas have in common? U.S. Census Bureau data show that each made the list of the 15 cities ...
Blog
State Lawsuit Latest Effort to Rid State of Plastic Bag Convenience
Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on Oct. 17 that four manufacturers and the state had reached a settlement that will require them to pay more than $1.7 million for allegedly violating a 2014 law that requires carry-out plastic bags in grocers and other retailers to be recyclable. They have also agreed ...
Blog
Corporate home buyers are not ‘plundering’ U.S. neighborhoods
Tucker Carlson, for one, has been for years carping about corporations buying single-family homes. In 2021, when he still had a show on Fox News, Carlson objected to “private-equity firms like BlackRock” buying “entire neighborhoods of single-family homes and turning them into rentals.” His guest that evening was Chronicles Magazine’s Pedro Gonzalez, ...
Agriculture
U.S. beef prices don’t need “fixing”
The comments came recently while the president was flying from Florida to Washington D.C., according to several reports. The plan to drive down the cost of American beef prices by purchasing Argentinian beef and dropping it into the American market has sparked outrage since the news broke. According to the ...
Blog
Ronald Reagan Opposed Tariffs – And For Good Reason
Having worked with Dr. Laffer for several years, I heard him explain the tenets of supply-side economics, or “the five pillars of prosperity” many times. These policies are (1) a low-rate broad-based flat tax; (2) a moderate level of government spending to ensure that the benefits from the government program ...
Blog
Prop. 50 will reduce the voting strength of cities and counties
Prop. 50 will reduce the voting strength of cities and counties By Daniel M. Kolkey | October 24, 2025 Proposition 50 – an admitted gerrymander of California’s congressional districts that is the subject of November 4’s special election – will not only harm voters by making our congressional districts less ...
No need for hysteria over federal cuts to homeless housing
The usually levelheaded CalMatters reported that the expected deep cuts are the “latest blow in a seemingly endless barrage of bad news for the California agencies tasked with fighting homelessness.” The “news has sent counties throughout California into a panic” and they are “bracing to lose hundreds of millions of dollars,” the ...
After Voters Pass Prop. 50, What Comes Next?
First, despite what President Obama said in Prop. 50 commercials, its passage does not protect the independent redistricting commission in any way. By enacting Prop. 50, voters have done away with the independent commission’s work for the rest of this decade. Remember that California stands to lose two more congressional ...
California’s Great Gasoline Panic of ‘25
“California’s Refinery Rethink” Politico Pro, Oct. 22 “Newsom Courts Big Oil as Gas Prices Threaten Political Ambition” Bloomberg, Sept. 29 “Faced with looming gasoline shortage, California’s governor backs off oil companies” Le Monde, Oct. 11 “Gas Price Map Shock: Why Gas Is $4.60 in California but $2.60 in Oklahoma?” Autoblog, ...
Spending Watch
Spending Watch: The Unpleasant Arithmetic of a California Wealth Tax
Spending Watch: The Unpleasant Arithmetic of a California Wealth Tax Wayne Winegarden October 2025 A just proposed initiative to impose a one-time wealth tax on billionaires summarizes why California has fallen from the fourth to the fifth largest economy in the world. State policymakers continually view the private sector as ...
Western governors try to boost housing as population grows
Western governors try to boost housing as population grows By D. Dowd Muska | October 31, 2025 What do Houston, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Phoenix, Seattle, San Jose and Las Vegas have in common? U.S. Census Bureau data show that each made the list of the 15 cities ...
State Lawsuit Latest Effort to Rid State of Plastic Bag Convenience
Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on Oct. 17 that four manufacturers and the state had reached a settlement that will require them to pay more than $1.7 million for allegedly violating a 2014 law that requires carry-out plastic bags in grocers and other retailers to be recyclable. They have also agreed ...
Corporate home buyers are not ‘plundering’ U.S. neighborhoods
Tucker Carlson, for one, has been for years carping about corporations buying single-family homes. In 2021, when he still had a show on Fox News, Carlson objected to “private-equity firms like BlackRock” buying “entire neighborhoods of single-family homes and turning them into rentals.” His guest that evening was Chronicles Magazine’s Pedro Gonzalez, ...
U.S. beef prices don’t need “fixing”
The comments came recently while the president was flying from Florida to Washington D.C., according to several reports. The plan to drive down the cost of American beef prices by purchasing Argentinian beef and dropping it into the American market has sparked outrage since the news broke. According to the ...
Ronald Reagan Opposed Tariffs – And For Good Reason
Having worked with Dr. Laffer for several years, I heard him explain the tenets of supply-side economics, or “the five pillars of prosperity” many times. These policies are (1) a low-rate broad-based flat tax; (2) a moderate level of government spending to ensure that the benefits from the government program ...
Prop. 50 will reduce the voting strength of cities and counties
Prop. 50 will reduce the voting strength of cities and counties By Daniel M. Kolkey | October 24, 2025 Proposition 50 – an admitted gerrymander of California’s congressional districts that is the subject of November 4’s special election – will not only harm voters by making our congressional districts less ...
