Blog

Analyzing Neel Kashkari’s flyer

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

Longevity breakthroughs make gov pensions even more of a gold mine

Chris Reed May 5, 2014

On Sunday the Drudge Report sent Twitter abuzz with the report of a hugely significant breakthrough on aging and longevity: “It may seem the stuff of gothic horror novels, but transfusions of young blood could reverse the ageing process and

Jerry Brown expresses satisfaction with CA’s 24% poverty rate

Chris Reed May 4, 2014

If you live in a state that has by far the highest effective poverty rate in the U.S. — at just under one-quarter of the population — you would seem unlikely to express satisfaction with the economics status quo. But

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’s 3D chess game leads to timid politics

Chris Reed May 3, 2014

If you believe Jerry Brown is a governing genius, then forgive me for laughing until I injure myself. What I think is that he’s scary shrewd at managing the narrative, at keeping people in the dark about what he’s really

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

Dallas editorial chortles over Toyota departing CA for Texas

Chris Reed May 2, 2014

Monday’s announcement that Toyota is moving its North American headquarters from Torrance to the suburbs of Dallas prompted the usual schizophrenic approach in California: Some editorial writers and pundits lamented the loss of 3,000 middle-class jobs, but Gov. Jerry Brown

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