Anthony Velasquez
Blog
25 Years Later, America Must Never Forget
I remember September 11, 2001, though I was just a young child living through it. My dad, an airplane parts manufacturer, left for work early that morning while my mom was home with me and pregnant with my little sister. From our apartment in Montebello, California, more than 2,000 miles ...
Blog
Young Americans Have Real Problems. Socialism Is the Wrong Answer.
That’s an extraordinary reversal and simply telling young Americans that socialism doesn’t work won’t reverse it. To make the case for free markets, we first have to understand why socialism is appealing to so many young Americans. Consider the Democratic Socialists of America have become a visible political force appealing ...
Blog
California’s New Software Tax Is Another Step Toward More Digital Taxes
Senate Bill 122 is projected to raise roughly $2 billion annual tax increase on the software businesses use to operate, and its costs will spread far beyond company software bills. Since software as a service supports nearly every part of the modern economy, businesses will have to absorb those higher ...
Blog
Taxpayer Dollars Should Not Fund Political Campaigns
Taxpayer dollars should be used for legitimate public responsibilities, such as maintaining roads, public safety, education, keeping communities clean, and paying down debt. Financing political campaigns should not become another government responsibility. Public campaign-financing programs use taxpayer dollars to help qualifying candidates run for office. Supporters argue that these programs ...
Blog
California Took Homes for the 710 Freeway Extension. The Extension Was Never Built
Drive through parts of El Sereno, Alhambra, South Pasadena, or Pasadena, and you will notice something strange. Homes sit behind aging fences, looking like they should belong to families, except they do not. For decades, they have been owned by the State of California, waiting for a freeway that was ...
Blog
California’s Bad Energy Policy Is the Real Threat to the AI Boom
In early 2026, data centers consumed roughly 1,000 megawatts of electricity, about 2% of California ISO’s peak load. The California Energy Commission projects that figure will reach 4,500 megawatts, or 9% of peak demand, by 2040. That projection sits on top of overall peak demand the CEC expects to rise between 42 and ...
Blog
Indiana’s Bears play could put taxpayers behind an $8 billion franchise
Illinois has plenty of problems. Its tax system is complicated, its approval process is slow, and its politics made the Arlington Heights path harder than it needed to be. In this case, though, Illinois not rushing into a special deal for the Bears was not the main policy failure. Indiana ...
Blog
Newsom says, “AVOID Chevron.” Californians may want to avoid Sacramento’s gas policies
Chevron controls 19% of California’s gas market with more than 1,600 stations, making it the state’s largest branded gasoline retailer according to a joint report prepared in part by the California Energy Commission. The company operates two of the eleven remaining refineries in California, one in Richmond and one in El Segundo. ...
AI
Big Tech Lost in Monterey Park. California’s First Data Center Ban Is a Warning
I grew up in Monterey Park, attending both middle school and high school there. The Monterey Park I know is a small, family-centered community where people go to the park, kids go trick-or-treating, and youth sports are full of life. It has been recognized as one of America’s best places ...
Blog
Higher pay, fewer trips: What Seattle’s gig law got wrong
According to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University analyzing Seattle’s law in a National Bureau of Economic Research study, the average base pay per delivery jumped from about $5.37 to $12.52, but tips fell so much that more than one-third of that gain disappeared, and monthly earnings for highly active drivers were ...
25 Years Later, America Must Never Forget
I remember September 11, 2001, though I was just a young child living through it. My dad, an airplane parts manufacturer, left for work early that morning while my mom was home with me and pregnant with my little sister. From our apartment in Montebello, California, more than 2,000 miles ...
Young Americans Have Real Problems. Socialism Is the Wrong Answer.
That’s an extraordinary reversal and simply telling young Americans that socialism doesn’t work won’t reverse it. To make the case for free markets, we first have to understand why socialism is appealing to so many young Americans. Consider the Democratic Socialists of America have become a visible political force appealing ...
California’s New Software Tax Is Another Step Toward More Digital Taxes
Senate Bill 122 is projected to raise roughly $2 billion annual tax increase on the software businesses use to operate, and its costs will spread far beyond company software bills. Since software as a service supports nearly every part of the modern economy, businesses will have to absorb those higher ...
Taxpayer Dollars Should Not Fund Political Campaigns
Taxpayer dollars should be used for legitimate public responsibilities, such as maintaining roads, public safety, education, keeping communities clean, and paying down debt. Financing political campaigns should not become another government responsibility. Public campaign-financing programs use taxpayer dollars to help qualifying candidates run for office. Supporters argue that these programs ...
California Took Homes for the 710 Freeway Extension. The Extension Was Never Built
Drive through parts of El Sereno, Alhambra, South Pasadena, or Pasadena, and you will notice something strange. Homes sit behind aging fences, looking like they should belong to families, except they do not. For decades, they have been owned by the State of California, waiting for a freeway that was ...
California’s Bad Energy Policy Is the Real Threat to the AI Boom
In early 2026, data centers consumed roughly 1,000 megawatts of electricity, about 2% of California ISO’s peak load. The California Energy Commission projects that figure will reach 4,500 megawatts, or 9% of peak demand, by 2040. That projection sits on top of overall peak demand the CEC expects to rise between 42 and ...
Indiana’s Bears play could put taxpayers behind an $8 billion franchise
Illinois has plenty of problems. Its tax system is complicated, its approval process is slow, and its politics made the Arlington Heights path harder than it needed to be. In this case, though, Illinois not rushing into a special deal for the Bears was not the main policy failure. Indiana ...
Newsom says, “AVOID Chevron.” Californians may want to avoid Sacramento’s gas policies
Chevron controls 19% of California’s gas market with more than 1,600 stations, making it the state’s largest branded gasoline retailer according to a joint report prepared in part by the California Energy Commission. The company operates two of the eleven remaining refineries in California, one in Richmond and one in El Segundo. ...
Big Tech Lost in Monterey Park. California’s First Data Center Ban Is a Warning
I grew up in Monterey Park, attending both middle school and high school there. The Monterey Park I know is a small, family-centered community where people go to the park, kids go trick-or-treating, and youth sports are full of life. It has been recognized as one of America’s best places ...
Higher pay, fewer trips: What Seattle’s gig law got wrong
According to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University analyzing Seattle’s law in a National Bureau of Economic Research study, the average base pay per delivery jumped from about $5.37 to $12.52, but tips fell so much that more than one-third of that gain disappeared, and monthly earnings for highly active drivers were ...