Demographics

Longevity breakthroughs make gov pensions even more of a gold mine

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

CA media: GOP dysfunction bigger topic than mass poverty

Chris Reed April 10, 2014

The Los Angeles Times’ news analysis about how recent controversies are likely to hurt California Republicans with two constituencies they are trying to woo — Latinos and women — isn’t loaded or biased. It’s likely true. Here’s a bit of

Coverage of L.A. ‘pothole tax’ never mentions why budget is bare

Chris Reed April 4, 2014

The city of Los Angeles’ finances are in terrible shape. The city’s economy is sluggish and revenue is stagnant. Meanwhile, retirement benefits for retired city workers — especially police and firefighters — eat up ever more of the budget. “As

L.A. proposal: That’s a pension tax — not a pothole tax

Chris Reed March 20, 2014

This proposal — allegedly from Los Angeles bureaucrats but almost certainly from new L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti — got the scorn it deserved on libertarian and conservative websites when it came out Wednesday afternoon: “L.A.’s elected officials should put a half-cent

Will failed Prop. 209 rollback help GOP with Asian voters? It depends

Chris Reed March 19, 2014

With Asian-Americans making up 14 percent of the state’s electorate, there is a small but real chance that this past month’s developments in the Legislature could prove the biggest story in California politics in years. I refer to Asian Democratic

CA Dems: Are they following the pattern of another one-party state?

Chris Reed March 12, 2014

After I got out of college in the 1980s, I spend a fun few months working as a reporter for a weekly newspaper in Kauai. The chairman of the County Council was an affable young Democrat in his late 20s

CA Asians finally grasp that under affirmative action, they’re victims

Chris Reed March 10, 2014

The fact that Asian-Americans in California tend to be Democratic seems to me to be almost entirely a function of the perception of Democrats are more welcoming to minorities and Republicans more hostile. Surveys and anecdotal evidence show that Asian-Americans