Archive
Back to homepage
CA auditor demolishes Jerry-Brown-saved-state narrative
The eagnerness of national media to lionize Gov. Jerry Brown as the guy who saved California amounts to an extreme form of cherry-picking. In some ways, Brown has done a better job than his two immediate predecessors in forcing some
Read More
Debate on lead ammo ban defies political stereotypes
A bill to ban lead ammunition in California has sparked a heated debate among environmentalists, conservationists, hunters and sportsmen. But, don’t expect these groups to follow political conventions. This isn’t your usual gun control debate. This week, the National
Read More
Federal govt. shutdown would ripple through CA
Confusion, as usual, reigns in the U.S. Capitol. Now that Sen. Ted Cruz has finished his epic speech (or filibuster, depending whom you ask), the question of whether or not House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, will be able to convince
Read More
LAUSD offers reminder of pervasiveness of government incompetence
As John Seiler noted, it was completely predictable that students in L.A. Unified would figure out how to get around restrictions on their taxpayer-provided iPads. But another point that needs to be made is the sheer stinking stupidity of a
Read More
Who pays for LAUSD’s broken or stolen iPads?
I’ve written a couple of things on the Los Angeles Unified School District’s gift of iPads to its students. In July, I predicted the kids would “jailbreak” the iPads. They did. Remember, these iPads are costing taxpayers $1 billion. That’s
Read More
To keep tech companies, S.F. gentrifies housing
“A city is where sirens make white streaks of sound in the sky and foghorns speak in dark grays,” wrote fabled columnist Herb Caen. “San Francisco is such a city.” It’s also a city with a severe housing shortage
Read More
CA Obamacare implementation registers Dem voters
This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Part 1 is here. As I explained in Part 1 of this series, one of the biggest features of Covered California, the state’s new health benefit exchange, is how it was set
Read More
Jim Rogers: big recession coming
As regular readers of this site know, I’ve long pointed out that recessions hit every 4-6 years. The last one began in Dec. 2007. That’s almost 6 years ago, so we’re due. Here’s a YouTube of famed investor Jim Rogers.
Read More
Business bills reach Brown’s desk
While there has been much focus on the impacts to California businesses from Obamacare and the state minimum wage hike, less noticed are the smaller pieces of legislation regulating businesses. Two of those bills, which passed the recent legislative
Read More
CA taxes, mandates boost unemployment
“California raised a bunch of taxes this year. Its economy hasn’t collapsed.” So read the snarky headline accompanying a post last month by Jim Tankersley on the Washington Post’s Wonkblog. “Eight months after raising sales and income taxes, California
Read More