John Seiler, Author at CalWatchdog.com

Posts From John Seiler

John Seiler

John Seiler has been writing about California for 25 years. That includes 22 years as an editorial writer for the Orange County Register and two years for CalWatchDog.com, where he is managing editor. He attended the University of Michigan and graduated from Hillsdale College. He was a Russian linguist in U.S. Army military intelligence from 1978 to 1982. He was an editor and writer for Phillips Publishing Company from 1983 to 1986. He has written for Policy Review, Chronicles, LewRockwell.com, Flash Report and numerous other publications. His email: [email protected]

Exodus costs CA

People and businesses flee California’s high taxes and regulations. How much does that cost the state budget? A new book by Travis Brown, “How Money Walks,” quantifies it; as does his website, howmoneywalks.com. Writing in the Orange County Register, Adam

$26 minimum wage?

John Seiler May 8, 2014

California’s minimum wage rises to $9 an hour from $8 on July 1. Then in 2015, it rises to $10. That’s still pretty low for this expensive state. So Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., is proposing $26 an hour. That still

Taxes, regs clog new biz formation in USA, CA

John Seiler May 7, 2014

An alarming new study by the liberal Brookings Institution shows business dynamism has dropped by half from the Reagan Boom of three decades ago. Look at this graph: “Firm entry” means new startup companies. “Firm exit” means the companies are gone.

Analyzing Neel Kashkari’s flyer

John Seiler May 6, 2014

Today the first statewide political flyer plopped into my mailbox. It’s from Neel Kashkari, running for governor as a Republican. The whole thing is reproduced at the bottom. This is the first gubernatorial election using the Top Two system. The

CA governments can open meetings with prayer

John Seiler May 5, 2014

In one of those weird rulings, today the U.S. Supreme Court decided that it’s OK for local governments to open meetings with prayer. It’s weird because the Court itself opens with the prayer, “God save the United States and this Honorable

CA splits off

John Seiler May 5, 2014

Dems face ethnic Family Feud

John Seiler May 4, 2014

One thing I’ve predicted for years is that once Democrats reached supermajority status, fierce intra-party battles would surface. I regerenced the “Solid South,” meaning the total dominance Democrats had in the U.S. South from the end of Reconstruction through the 1960s.

Gov. Brown excuses Toyota move with Schumpeter

John Seiler May 3, 2014

It was free-market economist Joseph Schumpeter who coined the phrase, “creative destruction.” He meant that a dynamic economy doesn’t stand still. That cars replace buggies; trucks replace conestoga wagons; computers replace typewriters; smartphones replace line phones. A dynamic society is different

Sen. Lieu is Shocked! — Shocked! — Toyota is leaving Torrance

John Seiler May 2, 2014

Democratic State Sen. Ted Lieu is Shocked! — Shocked! — that Toyota’s U.S. headquarters is splitting Torrance, which he represents, for Texas. He wrote on his website: “I am really angry. Nothing prepared any of us for this surprise announcement

Fade to red ink: LAO questions tax cuts for films

John Seiler May 1, 2014

It’s always been as funny as a Coen Bros. movie that the Hollywood Left Elite, which backs massive tax increases on the rest of us, favors tax cuts for itself. The excuse is that the cuts create valuable movie-industry jobs. Which