Blog
Agriculture
Enacting UBI Would Bust Federal Budget, Rob Americans of More Prosperous Future
I have written before on the benefits and drawbacks of the various universal basic income (UBI) proposals bubbling up the last few years in the American political scene, specifically the economic, political, and moral dimensions of these policies. All share the same essential structure: cash payments sent to all American ...
Blog
Taxpayers Exhausted from Newsom’s Marathon Budget Presser
Gov. Newsom’s announcement of his 2020-21 State Budget plan on Friday was another whopper, his speech clocking in at roughly 2 hours and 47 minutes. Last year, reporters who were used to covering a 30 minute press conference where caught off guard by Newsom’s lengthy presentation. Los Angeles Times reporter ...
Blog
What We’re Watching – A Royal Shocker
Tim Anaya – The Royal Shocker That Happened While Everyone Was Focused on Foreign Affairs In public relations 101, there’s the old adage of the Friday news dump – drop major news or do a document dump either during some other major event or on a Friday afternoon at 4 ...
Blog
California And Bernie Sanders a Snug Political Fit
A Washington newspaper has reported that U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the socialist from Vermont, has received 300 endorsements from California. That goes a long to explaining why things keep going wrong in the state. “The campaign released endorsements from 40 elected officials, more than 80 community leaders and more than ...
Blog
Lies, Damn Lies, and Drug Price Increases
As each new year begins, the increases in the list prices of drugs are announced. And, following these announcements, the political class complains that something must be done. This year, following the price announcements, Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted “Enough is enough” while Senator Grassley emphasized that a “call to action” ...
Blog
Assembly Bill 5 Demolishes Autonomous Driving as Biggest Trucking Threat
Despite technological advancements to the movement of goods, trucks will still transport and deliver and incredible amount of goods in 2020. But automation and self-driving research are not the biggest threat to truckers anymore. California’s contested Assembly Bill 5 has emerged as the main crisis threatening truck operators. The regulatory ...
Blog
New Year, New Laws
New Year’s resolutions are about goals and aspirations. Unfortunately, California’s new 2020 laws serve mostly the aspirations of state politicians and interest groups, not hard-working Californians. Take AB5, a law that forces thousands of independent contractors to become company employees. Gig economy workers from Uber drivers to truckers and journalists ...
Blog
What We’re Watching – Happy New Year!
Ben Smithwick – The Best of the 2010’s Happy New Year! Here is a great recap of some of the major stories from the past decade – from the election of President Trump to the market disruption caused by the sharing economy – and the declining power of traditional media gatekeepers. ...
Blog
A Ghost in the Machine?
In 1967 Arthur Koestler wrote The Ghost in the Machine, which was essentially a critique of the hypothesis that the human mind could be viewed as a machine, a sort of chemical computer. He went on to consider that if were a computer, then what of the metaphysical? That is, ...
Blog
Who Are the Big Winners and Losers of 2019?
We made it to New Year’s Eve 2019 – the last day of the year and the last day of the decade. In between getting ready for a great party and enjoying some champagne, today is a time to look back on the year that was. 2019 was PRI’s 40th ...
Enacting UBI Would Bust Federal Budget, Rob Americans of More Prosperous Future
I have written before on the benefits and drawbacks of the various universal basic income (UBI) proposals bubbling up the last few years in the American political scene, specifically the economic, political, and moral dimensions of these policies. All share the same essential structure: cash payments sent to all American ...
Taxpayers Exhausted from Newsom’s Marathon Budget Presser
Gov. Newsom’s announcement of his 2020-21 State Budget plan on Friday was another whopper, his speech clocking in at roughly 2 hours and 47 minutes. Last year, reporters who were used to covering a 30 minute press conference where caught off guard by Newsom’s lengthy presentation. Los Angeles Times reporter ...
What We’re Watching – A Royal Shocker
Tim Anaya – The Royal Shocker That Happened While Everyone Was Focused on Foreign Affairs In public relations 101, there’s the old adage of the Friday news dump – drop major news or do a document dump either during some other major event or on a Friday afternoon at 4 ...
California And Bernie Sanders a Snug Political Fit
A Washington newspaper has reported that U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the socialist from Vermont, has received 300 endorsements from California. That goes a long to explaining why things keep going wrong in the state. “The campaign released endorsements from 40 elected officials, more than 80 community leaders and more than ...
Lies, Damn Lies, and Drug Price Increases
As each new year begins, the increases in the list prices of drugs are announced. And, following these announcements, the political class complains that something must be done. This year, following the price announcements, Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted “Enough is enough” while Senator Grassley emphasized that a “call to action” ...
Assembly Bill 5 Demolishes Autonomous Driving as Biggest Trucking Threat
Despite technological advancements to the movement of goods, trucks will still transport and deliver and incredible amount of goods in 2020. But automation and self-driving research are not the biggest threat to truckers anymore. California’s contested Assembly Bill 5 has emerged as the main crisis threatening truck operators. The regulatory ...
New Year, New Laws
New Year’s resolutions are about goals and aspirations. Unfortunately, California’s new 2020 laws serve mostly the aspirations of state politicians and interest groups, not hard-working Californians. Take AB5, a law that forces thousands of independent contractors to become company employees. Gig economy workers from Uber drivers to truckers and journalists ...
What We’re Watching – Happy New Year!
Ben Smithwick – The Best of the 2010’s Happy New Year! Here is a great recap of some of the major stories from the past decade – from the election of President Trump to the market disruption caused by the sharing economy – and the declining power of traditional media gatekeepers. ...
A Ghost in the Machine?
In 1967 Arthur Koestler wrote The Ghost in the Machine, which was essentially a critique of the hypothesis that the human mind could be viewed as a machine, a sort of chemical computer. He went on to consider that if were a computer, then what of the metaphysical? That is, ...
Who Are the Big Winners and Losers of 2019?
We made it to New Year’s Eve 2019 – the last day of the year and the last day of the decade. In between getting ready for a great party and enjoying some champagne, today is a time to look back on the year that was. 2019 was PRI’s 40th ...
