Blog
Blog
The Price Control Hammer Will Break the Health Care System
From California to Washington D.C. legislators continue to confirm Abraham Kaplan’s famous insight that if you, “give a small boy a hammer, he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding.” In the case of our legislators, that hammer is price controls; and, what needs pounding is the price of ...
Blog
Prop. 54 Tames Wild Late Nights at the State Capitol
For political nerds like me, there’s no rush quite like the last night of the legislative session. Every year, legislators and staff literally work around-the-clock to pass final bills before the clock runs out. To keep going, they drink too much coffee and eat lukewarm pizza and take-out Chinese food. ...
Blog
What Connecticut – and California – Can Learn from Tennessee on Fiscal Reform
We’ve all heard the negative economic and budget stories coming out of Sacramento in recent years. But as a Connecticut native, the headlines coming out of my home state are equally concerning, and offer a lesson for Golden State policymakers. Connecticut is the richest state in the country (by per-capita ...
Blog
Gov. Brown’s Rolling Stone Interview is a Must-Read
As much as we have criticized Gov. Jerry Brown, we have to acknowledge that on occasion he will act as the senior statesman of his party, beating back its most mindless impulses. The most recent example: his judicious counsel on single-payer health care. Of course Brown has been a supporter ...
Blog
An entitlement for… moi?
If you think this is going to be one of those hard-hitting policy pieces that you get from the likes of Anaya and Jackson, or one of those brainy blogs from Winegarden. It’s not. It’s all about me, and my yearning for that fabulous, subsidized Tesla. I’m in the market ...
Blog
A Scientific Basis for the EPA on the Clean Power Plan
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt will make official on Tuesday what we knew all along – the Administration is officially withdrawing the controversial Clean Power Plan rule on power plant emissions. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has railed against the repeal of the Clean Power Plan (CPP) claiming that the EPA’s ...
Blog
A Sad State of Affairs on Campus
National media attention recently returned to UC Berkeley over the planned “Free Speech Week.” Following dueling press releases over whether the event would occur and who would speak, the event largely fizzled out. Ben Shaprio did speak on campus a few weeks prior amid a heavy security tab estimated at ...
Blog
Government Policy, Not Hurricanes, Main Contributor to High California Gas Prices
Download Capital Ideas, October 2017 Gasoline prices spiked more sharply in some states after deadly storms in Texas and Florida than at any time since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But in California, steep fuel prices are an everyday event. The average gallon of gasoline cost $3.02 in California in August, ...
Blog
Latest Effort to Move Up California Primary Won’t Make a Difference
The Legislature recently passed a bill that will move California’s presidential primary from June up to Super Tuesday – which will be March 3, 2020. Upon Governor Brown signing the bill, Secretary of State Alex Padilla told the Los Angeles Times that, “candidates will not be able to ignore the ...
Blog
To Grow America’s Economy, We Need Tax Reform and Spending Reform
Washington D.C. has turned its sights on tax reform. Critics, almost reflexively, oppose the effort based on claims that tax reform will increase the deficit. A little perspective is in order, consequently. The chart below presents data on total federal, state, and local government revenues and spending relative to the ...
The Price Control Hammer Will Break the Health Care System
From California to Washington D.C. legislators continue to confirm Abraham Kaplan’s famous insight that if you, “give a small boy a hammer, he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding.” In the case of our legislators, that hammer is price controls; and, what needs pounding is the price of ...
Prop. 54 Tames Wild Late Nights at the State Capitol
For political nerds like me, there’s no rush quite like the last night of the legislative session. Every year, legislators and staff literally work around-the-clock to pass final bills before the clock runs out. To keep going, they drink too much coffee and eat lukewarm pizza and take-out Chinese food. ...
What Connecticut – and California – Can Learn from Tennessee on Fiscal Reform
We’ve all heard the negative economic and budget stories coming out of Sacramento in recent years. But as a Connecticut native, the headlines coming out of my home state are equally concerning, and offer a lesson for Golden State policymakers. Connecticut is the richest state in the country (by per-capita ...
Gov. Brown’s Rolling Stone Interview is a Must-Read
As much as we have criticized Gov. Jerry Brown, we have to acknowledge that on occasion he will act as the senior statesman of his party, beating back its most mindless impulses. The most recent example: his judicious counsel on single-payer health care. Of course Brown has been a supporter ...
An entitlement for… moi?
If you think this is going to be one of those hard-hitting policy pieces that you get from the likes of Anaya and Jackson, or one of those brainy blogs from Winegarden. It’s not. It’s all about me, and my yearning for that fabulous, subsidized Tesla. I’m in the market ...
A Scientific Basis for the EPA on the Clean Power Plan
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt will make official on Tuesday what we knew all along – the Administration is officially withdrawing the controversial Clean Power Plan rule on power plant emissions. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has railed against the repeal of the Clean Power Plan (CPP) claiming that the EPA’s ...
A Sad State of Affairs on Campus
National media attention recently returned to UC Berkeley over the planned “Free Speech Week.” Following dueling press releases over whether the event would occur and who would speak, the event largely fizzled out. Ben Shaprio did speak on campus a few weeks prior amid a heavy security tab estimated at ...
Government Policy, Not Hurricanes, Main Contributor to High California Gas Prices
Download Capital Ideas, October 2017 Gasoline prices spiked more sharply in some states after deadly storms in Texas and Florida than at any time since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But in California, steep fuel prices are an everyday event. The average gallon of gasoline cost $3.02 in California in August, ...
Latest Effort to Move Up California Primary Won’t Make a Difference
The Legislature recently passed a bill that will move California’s presidential primary from June up to Super Tuesday – which will be March 3, 2020. Upon Governor Brown signing the bill, Secretary of State Alex Padilla told the Los Angeles Times that, “candidates will not be able to ignore the ...
To Grow America’s Economy, We Need Tax Reform and Spending Reform
Washington D.C. has turned its sights on tax reform. Critics, almost reflexively, oppose the effort based on claims that tax reform will increase the deficit. A little perspective is in order, consequently. The chart below presents data on total federal, state, and local government revenues and spending relative to the ...
