Commentary
California
Californians could save big if lawmakers legislate energy prosperity
The coronavirus has hit Southern California especially hard. With businesses forced to close their doors to customers, many have shuttered for good unable to handle the sharp downturn in income. As a result, more than 3.6 million Californians filed for unemployment over 8 weeks in March and April. Millions who are now ...
Climate Change
Pandemics, Pollution, and Poppycock
By Henry I. Miller, M.S, M.D. and Andrew I. Fillat With the world in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the short-term focus is now on how to avoid surges of infections and get the economy functioning so people can go back to work. Hindsight is, of course, ...
Business & Economics
Extending generous unemployment benefits will drag out the economic crisis
According to a new analysis from the Congressional Budget Office, the next coronavirus relief package could spell disaster for our economy. In a letter to the Senate Finance Committee, the nonpartisan CBO warned that extending unemployment benefits would discourage the jobless from rejoining the workforce. As the country emerges from lockdown and ...
Commentary
Coronavirus Stimulus Would Barely Cover Medicare for All
The economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic has prompted the biggest spending spree in American history. The House of Representatives just passed an additional relief package worth $3 trillion. That’s on top of $2.2 trillion in spending that Congress and the president green-lit in March — including $250 billion ...
Commentary
COVID-19 Reveals The Power Of Deregulation
One of the most effective policy responses to COVID-19 thus far has not been a new government program or infusion of federal funding. Rather, it’s been the deliberate effort by the Trump administration to pare back regulations impeding access to health care. That work must continue after the pandemic passes. ...
Commentary
Governor Newsom’s Medi-Cal Proposal Betrays California’s Poor
Governor Gavin Newsom just unveiled a new budget proposal aimed at digging California out of a $54 billion deficit brought on by the pandemic. He hopes to slash Medi-Cal payments to healthcare providers and use the money to enroll more people in the program. This week, the Democrat-led state legislature rejected those ...
Commentary
Coronavirus lockdown — How many harmed by disruption to routine medical care?
With states in the initial stages of reopening their economies, early research seems to indicate that the stay-at-home orders may not have had as much impact on the spread of COVID-19 as the conventional wisdom held. We may be on the cusp of a different “mass casualty incident,” a group of over 600 doctors ...
California
Newsom: Police And Firefighters Will Be Laid Off But We’ll Spend Millions To Enforce AB5
Gov. Gavin Newsom is leveraging the state’s $54.3 billion budget deficit. Give us what we want, he demands, or public safety programs will be cut. At the same time, he wants $20 million to enforce Assembly Bill 5, maybe the most damaging piece of legislation that ever became law in ...
California
Attempt to overthrow Proposition 209 ignores K-12’s responsibility
While Californians are focused on surviving the COVID-19 lockdown, some state legislators are using the crisis as cover for a stealth effort to overturn Proposition 209, the 1996 voter-passed initiative that prevents government discrimination based on race and other classifications. Not only has this effort been largely hidden from the ...
Commentary
The coronavirus recession is no excuse for Medicaid expansion
House Democrats are looking to funnel billions of dollars into state Medicaid programs through the HEROES Act, which narrowly passed the lower chamber in mid-May. The $45 billion they’re promising may sound like a godsend to states staring at huge budget deficits in the wake of the recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But Medicaid ...
Californians could save big if lawmakers legislate energy prosperity
The coronavirus has hit Southern California especially hard. With businesses forced to close their doors to customers, many have shuttered for good unable to handle the sharp downturn in income. As a result, more than 3.6 million Californians filed for unemployment over 8 weeks in March and April. Millions who are now ...
Pandemics, Pollution, and Poppycock
By Henry I. Miller, M.S, M.D. and Andrew I. Fillat With the world in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the short-term focus is now on how to avoid surges of infections and get the economy functioning so people can go back to work. Hindsight is, of course, ...
Extending generous unemployment benefits will drag out the economic crisis
According to a new analysis from the Congressional Budget Office, the next coronavirus relief package could spell disaster for our economy. In a letter to the Senate Finance Committee, the nonpartisan CBO warned that extending unemployment benefits would discourage the jobless from rejoining the workforce. As the country emerges from lockdown and ...
Coronavirus Stimulus Would Barely Cover Medicare for All
The economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic has prompted the biggest spending spree in American history. The House of Representatives just passed an additional relief package worth $3 trillion. That’s on top of $2.2 trillion in spending that Congress and the president green-lit in March — including $250 billion ...
COVID-19 Reveals The Power Of Deregulation
One of the most effective policy responses to COVID-19 thus far has not been a new government program or infusion of federal funding. Rather, it’s been the deliberate effort by the Trump administration to pare back regulations impeding access to health care. That work must continue after the pandemic passes. ...
Governor Newsom’s Medi-Cal Proposal Betrays California’s Poor
Governor Gavin Newsom just unveiled a new budget proposal aimed at digging California out of a $54 billion deficit brought on by the pandemic. He hopes to slash Medi-Cal payments to healthcare providers and use the money to enroll more people in the program. This week, the Democrat-led state legislature rejected those ...
Coronavirus lockdown — How many harmed by disruption to routine medical care?
With states in the initial stages of reopening their economies, early research seems to indicate that the stay-at-home orders may not have had as much impact on the spread of COVID-19 as the conventional wisdom held. We may be on the cusp of a different “mass casualty incident,” a group of over 600 doctors ...
Newsom: Police And Firefighters Will Be Laid Off But We’ll Spend Millions To Enforce AB5
Gov. Gavin Newsom is leveraging the state’s $54.3 billion budget deficit. Give us what we want, he demands, or public safety programs will be cut. At the same time, he wants $20 million to enforce Assembly Bill 5, maybe the most damaging piece of legislation that ever became law in ...
Attempt to overthrow Proposition 209 ignores K-12’s responsibility
While Californians are focused on surviving the COVID-19 lockdown, some state legislators are using the crisis as cover for a stealth effort to overturn Proposition 209, the 1996 voter-passed initiative that prevents government discrimination based on race and other classifications. Not only has this effort been largely hidden from the ...
The coronavirus recession is no excuse for Medicaid expansion
House Democrats are looking to funnel billions of dollars into state Medicaid programs through the HEROES Act, which narrowly passed the lower chamber in mid-May. The $45 billion they’re promising may sound like a godsend to states staring at huge budget deficits in the wake of the recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But Medicaid ...
