Blog
Blog
California Promotes Wind Energy, Ignores Market Forces
Windmills on the water. Get ready for them. They’re on their way, thanks to a recently signed bill. The new law requires the state’s Energy Commission “to evaluate and quantify the maximum feasible capacity of” offshore wind energy in federal waters, which “if developed and deployed at scale … can ...
Kerry Jackson
October 1, 2021
Blog
Microsoft Flies Under the Big Tech Backlash Radar
“Find a bad guy you can beat up in the stairwell.” That’s the main takeaway from a LinkedIn post I read recently on marketing. The post explained how big brands engage in witty ads to poke fun at competitors and try and make memorable marketing campaigns for consumers. Think of ...
Evan Harris
September 30, 2021
Blog
In California and Across the Country, Parents and Their Kids are Abandoning Public Schools
The COVID-19 pandemic may have been the crack in the dam that allowed parents’ building frustration with the regular public schools to burst forth. Public school enrollment is nose-diving across the country, with legions of parents everywhere choosing other learning options for their children. The National Alliance for Public Charter ...
Lance Izumi
September 29, 2021
Agriculture
Are Mandatory California Water Cutbacks Coming Soon?
Back in 2014, when I was in my past life working for elected officials, I found myself engaged in one of the more annoying parts of the job – “volunteering” on political campaigns. One day, my volunteer efforts took me to a neighborhood in San Bernardino. Knocking on doors, it ...
Tim Anaya
September 28, 2021
Blog
30 Million Real Men Don’t Have Jobs
I recently read an eye-popping article by business writer Andy Serwer, who reported that nearly one-third of working-age men in America “aren’t doing diddly squat. They don’t have a job, and they aren’t looking for one either.” All total, that’s nearly 30 million men. “How do they live? What are ...
Rowena Itchon
September 27, 2021
Blog
Afghan Refugees Are Being Steered Away From California – It’s Just Too Expensive to Live Here
Thousands of Afghans who escaped as the Taliban was overtaking their country are being relocated in the U.S. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom, “proud,” he said, “of the fact that, over the last decade, the state has taken in more refugees than any other state in America,” announced in August ...
Kerry Jackson
September 24, 2021
Blog
The Road (and Funding) to More California Broadband
In August, I detailed the $42 billion broadband grant program proposed in the $3.5 trillion infrastructure package. Not to be outdone, California is pursuing its own broadband grant program expansion. Connectivity to the internet is a must for education and every industry, especially after going through the last 18 months ...
Evan Harris
September 23, 2021
Blog
California’s Students Desperately Need Housing. College Towns Aren’t Building It.
In the coming weeks, nearly a million Californians will be returning to college campuses across the Golden State as in-person instruction resumes within the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems. Many students, faculty, and staff will be returning to college towns and neighborhoods for the first ...
M. Nolan Gray
September 22, 2021
Blackouts
Been There, Done That on Broken Promises on Wildfire Prevention
Been There, Done That on Broken Promises on Wildfire Prevention While touring wildfire damage in Northern California, President Biden touted billions in proposed federal dollars for wildfire resilience and forest management. But California dollars that should be spent on fire prevention, forest management, and equipment upgrades to reduce fire risk ...
Pacific Research Institute
September 21, 2021
Blog
Crowdsourcing: A Revolutionary Solution to Health Care Price Transparency
On January 1st, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid gifted the American people with a new rule requiring price transparency in healthcare. The federal rule requires hospitals to publish cash prices, prices with insurance plans, and minimum/maximum commercial negotiated prices in a “manner that is consumer-friendly,” each year. If ...
McKenzie Richards
September 20, 2021
California Promotes Wind Energy, Ignores Market Forces
Windmills on the water. Get ready for them. They’re on their way, thanks to a recently signed bill. The new law requires the state’s Energy Commission “to evaluate and quantify the maximum feasible capacity of” offshore wind energy in federal waters, which “if developed and deployed at scale … can ...
Microsoft Flies Under the Big Tech Backlash Radar
“Find a bad guy you can beat up in the stairwell.” That’s the main takeaway from a LinkedIn post I read recently on marketing. The post explained how big brands engage in witty ads to poke fun at competitors and try and make memorable marketing campaigns for consumers. Think of ...
In California and Across the Country, Parents and Their Kids are Abandoning Public Schools
The COVID-19 pandemic may have been the crack in the dam that allowed parents’ building frustration with the regular public schools to burst forth. Public school enrollment is nose-diving across the country, with legions of parents everywhere choosing other learning options for their children. The National Alliance for Public Charter ...
Are Mandatory California Water Cutbacks Coming Soon?
Back in 2014, when I was in my past life working for elected officials, I found myself engaged in one of the more annoying parts of the job – “volunteering” on political campaigns. One day, my volunteer efforts took me to a neighborhood in San Bernardino. Knocking on doors, it ...
30 Million Real Men Don’t Have Jobs
I recently read an eye-popping article by business writer Andy Serwer, who reported that nearly one-third of working-age men in America “aren’t doing diddly squat. They don’t have a job, and they aren’t looking for one either.” All total, that’s nearly 30 million men. “How do they live? What are ...
Afghan Refugees Are Being Steered Away From California – It’s Just Too Expensive to Live Here
Thousands of Afghans who escaped as the Taliban was overtaking their country are being relocated in the U.S. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom, “proud,” he said, “of the fact that, over the last decade, the state has taken in more refugees than any other state in America,” announced in August ...
The Road (and Funding) to More California Broadband
In August, I detailed the $42 billion broadband grant program proposed in the $3.5 trillion infrastructure package. Not to be outdone, California is pursuing its own broadband grant program expansion. Connectivity to the internet is a must for education and every industry, especially after going through the last 18 months ...
California’s Students Desperately Need Housing. College Towns Aren’t Building It.
In the coming weeks, nearly a million Californians will be returning to college campuses across the Golden State as in-person instruction resumes within the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems. Many students, faculty, and staff will be returning to college towns and neighborhoods for the first ...
Been There, Done That on Broken Promises on Wildfire Prevention
Been There, Done That on Broken Promises on Wildfire Prevention While touring wildfire damage in Northern California, President Biden touted billions in proposed federal dollars for wildfire resilience and forest management. But California dollars that should be spent on fire prevention, forest management, and equipment upgrades to reduce fire risk ...
Crowdsourcing: A Revolutionary Solution to Health Care Price Transparency
On January 1st, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid gifted the American people with a new rule requiring price transparency in healthcare. The federal rule requires hospitals to publish cash prices, prices with insurance plans, and minimum/maximum commercial negotiated prices in a “manner that is consumer-friendly,” each year. If ...