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Special Transportation Session Stuck in Legislative Gridlock
Much like much of the state’s traffic, the legislative special session on transportation/infrastructure is stuck in gridlock. Democratic legislators have a plan to provide $7.5 billion a year in new tax revenue. The governor’s plan also includes tax increases. Republicans want to use current tax revenue more efficiently, cap and trade funds for roads or […]
Inequality in San Francisco Haunts Democrats
As San Francisco’s sharp inequality draws national attention this election year, California Democrats have begun to question how to explain their role in fostering — and reversing — the trend. The gulf between the progressive city’s richest and poorest, and the emptying space between the two, has come to haunt Democrats worried that their almost unfettered […]
How LAUSD’s Chocolate Milk Ban Became an Environmental Disaster
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines idiocy as “extreme stupidity; something that is extremely stupid or foolish.” That’s the best thing that can be said about the Los Angeles Unified School District’s decision in 2011 to ban chocolate- and strawberry-flavored milk. It might be worse than idiocy, but let’s go with that. LAUSD has more than 640,000 […]
The Property Tax is Pure Tyranny
The arrival of autumn means more than leaves turning color. Toward the end of September, California residents will be receiving their 2016-2017 property tax bills. What they will also be receiving is an example of economic tyranny. In the Golden State, the property tax on a $1 million home is likely to be several hundred […]
The Lie Behind Public Financing of Political Campaigns
Democrats in the California Legislature have presented Gov. Jerry Brown with a bill that would legalize public financing of political campaigns, similar to initiatives that have taken root in several cities and states across the country. This is not only a bad idea that will in fact result in more special interest involvement in elections, […]
CPR Blog
Don’t bet the house against the law of demand
2016’s edition of Labor Day followed a well-established tradition — unions claiming credit for every worker gain. Among their most common assertions, often incorporated in attributing negative wage trends to eroding union power, was that unions raise all workers’ wages. Unfortunately, unions retard rather than raise others’ real earning power. Unions leverage special government-granted powers […]
A Pattern for Revolt is better than a revolting pattern
2016 has already given Americans a truly unique presidential campaign, with more almost assuredly to come. Many have claimed to be revolted by it, for reasons ranging from obvious absence of decorum to apparent policy dementia. Sadly, though, attention soon leaves why we should be revolted, and what might hold out the promise of real […]
Mainstream Misdirection in SCOTUS Search
Antonin Scalia’s death has begun a new Supreme Court battle. And much of it will be expressed in terms of whether nominees are “mainstream” or not. Senator Charles Schumer already demonstrated this pattern. In 2007, he said any Bush nominee “must prove … that they are in the mainstream rather than we have to […]
Publisher’s Corner
Just Say “No” to the California Tax Hike Industry
Successful Californians must pay over 50% of their income at the top marginal rates in state and federal income taxes. That’s right – Obama’s tax hike created a 39% top Federal income tax bracket, and combined with California’s top of the nation 13% plus, our state’s most successful citizens aren’t working for themselves anymore, they […]
Cali-Culture
NY Giants Send Loud & Clear Message to America After Kaepernick Refuses to Stand for National Anthem
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick should be disciplined for not standing during the national anthem at a recent game. In a football league where Christian quarterback Tim Tebow was cut by a team for, in part, being too religious, there ought also be a consequence for disrespect of our nation. Kaepernick’s complaints about people […]
Trending News
California ballot has record number of local revenue measures
As reported by Reuters: A record number of local tax and bond measures will fill the California ballot this November, including over $32 billion of proposed funding for education, infrastructure and homeless services. Some 650 local measures will go before voters, including 427 revenue measures. That is considerably more than the number proposed during any […]
Kamala Harris says lower-income kids should go to college for free
As reported by the Sacramento Bee: Kamala Harris, in the final weeks of her U.S. Senate campaign against fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez, released a higher education plan Tuesday calling for making public colleges and universities free for students whose families earn less than $140,000 a year. She also wants to allow borrowers to discharge student […]
California lawmakers collect thousands on top of salary while absent
Originally published by the San Jose Mercury News: SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In addition to their six-figure salaries and benefits, California’s 120 lawmakers are compensated for their cost of living and meals when they leave home and travel to Sacramento to write and pass bills. Unlike in many other states, however, California lawmakers have over time crafted […]
Gov. Brown signs legislation regulating cow, landfill emissions
As reported by the Orange County Register: SACRAMENTO – Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Monday that regulates for the first time greenhouse-gas emissions tied to dairy cows and landfills, an escalation of California’s efforts to fight climate change beyond carbon-based gases to include methane and other pollutants. The move by the Democratic governor targets […]
The Ever-Growing California Pension Gap
As reported by the Los Angeles Times: With the stroke of a pen, California Gov. Gray Davis signed legislation that gave prison guards, park rangers, Cal State professors and other state employees the kind of retirement security normally reserved for the wealthy. More than 200,000 civil servants became eligible to retire at 55 — and […]
