Kerry Jackson
California
Trump Election Inspires New “Calexit” Movement
Forgive the understatement, but Donald Trump’s election didn’t go so well in some quarters. We’ve seen inconsolable weeping, bitter protests, riots that appear to be professionally orchestrated, and a flood of Internet assassination threats. It is discouraging that a democratic election produced such a spiteful reaction. Regrettably, California, where 62 ...
California
Clean Power Plan Will Hurt California’s Most Vulnerable
California’s relatively mild climate means that, on average, our electricity bills are a smaller portion of our incomes relative to the rest of the country. But that doesn’t protect us from the increased costs of President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, a federal effort to cut emissions. Nor does it mean ...
California
CAPITAL IDEAS:Public Employee Unions Must Accept Reality on State Pensions, Work Toward Reform
A janitor who works for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system made nearly a quarter of a million dollars last year in regular and overtime pay. Another janitor made more than $200,000 while a third came close. The highest-paid worker earned $57,946 in base pay and $162,000 in overtime, and ...
California
Road Funding Hits Sacramento Traffic Jam
The stretch of California Highway 1 that winds through Big Sur is considered by some to be the greatest drive in the world. Popular Mechanics praises the section between San Simeon and Carmel “for its staggering views over perilous cliffs, revealing the Pacific Ocean’s whitecaps as they rush past immense ...
California
CAPITAL IDEAS: State Shouldn’t Export “Only in California” Bad Laws
California has a long history as a bellwether state, a place where trends begin, then sweep across the nation. Many a fine idea has been produced by creative and gifted entrepreneurs and free-thinking Golden Staters.
California
New Asset Forfeiture Law Will Protect Property of Innocent Californians
In 2014, the owner of a janitorial company who paid her employees in cash was pulled over by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies on Interstate 5. Officers found $18,000 in her car. She presented paperwork showing the cash was from her business, but she was told they didn’t believe her. ...
Business & Economics
Consumers and Grocers Would Benefit Most By Preserving Bag Tradition
Grocery shopping in California isn’t what it used to be. Traditionally, customers carried their items away in paper bags provided by the store through an unspoken, but well-established and always understood, contract between seller and buyer. But then government got involved and turned a simple transaction into an irksome task. ...
California
CAPITAL IDEAS: Climate Change Bill Will Cost California Hundreds of Millions
A report from Energy and Environmental Economics in San Francisco says cutting emissions between 26 percent and 38 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 could cost $23 billion year. Read Full Brie
California
Temporary Taxes Become Permanent in Prop. 55
Economist Milton Friedman said, and was proved right many times over, that nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program. The same could be said for temporary taxes. They’re about as eternal as death. It’s actually a ghost we are considering here, though, tax hikes authorized by Proposition 30 ...
California
Prop 57 Contains a Loophole for Violent Criminals
With violent crime increasing in California, it seems reasonable to grant early release to inmates convicted of nonviolent offenses to make room in the prison system for truly dangerous felons. Most of us would be happy to trade an accountant guilty of bilking his employer for a serial rapist. One ...
Trump Election Inspires New “Calexit” Movement
Forgive the understatement, but Donald Trump’s election didn’t go so well in some quarters. We’ve seen inconsolable weeping, bitter protests, riots that appear to be professionally orchestrated, and a flood of Internet assassination threats. It is discouraging that a democratic election produced such a spiteful reaction. Regrettably, California, where 62 ...
Clean Power Plan Will Hurt California’s Most Vulnerable
California’s relatively mild climate means that, on average, our electricity bills are a smaller portion of our incomes relative to the rest of the country. But that doesn’t protect us from the increased costs of President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, a federal effort to cut emissions. Nor does it mean ...
CAPITAL IDEAS:Public Employee Unions Must Accept Reality on State Pensions, Work Toward Reform
A janitor who works for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system made nearly a quarter of a million dollars last year in regular and overtime pay. Another janitor made more than $200,000 while a third came close. The highest-paid worker earned $57,946 in base pay and $162,000 in overtime, and ...
Road Funding Hits Sacramento Traffic Jam
The stretch of California Highway 1 that winds through Big Sur is considered by some to be the greatest drive in the world. Popular Mechanics praises the section between San Simeon and Carmel “for its staggering views over perilous cliffs, revealing the Pacific Ocean’s whitecaps as they rush past immense ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: State Shouldn’t Export “Only in California” Bad Laws
California has a long history as a bellwether state, a place where trends begin, then sweep across the nation. Many a fine idea has been produced by creative and gifted entrepreneurs and free-thinking Golden Staters.
New Asset Forfeiture Law Will Protect Property of Innocent Californians
In 2014, the owner of a janitorial company who paid her employees in cash was pulled over by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies on Interstate 5. Officers found $18,000 in her car. She presented paperwork showing the cash was from her business, but she was told they didn’t believe her. ...
Consumers and Grocers Would Benefit Most By Preserving Bag Tradition
Grocery shopping in California isn’t what it used to be. Traditionally, customers carried their items away in paper bags provided by the store through an unspoken, but well-established and always understood, contract between seller and buyer. But then government got involved and turned a simple transaction into an irksome task. ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: Climate Change Bill Will Cost California Hundreds of Millions
A report from Energy and Environmental Economics in San Francisco says cutting emissions between 26 percent and 38 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 could cost $23 billion year. Read Full Brie
Temporary Taxes Become Permanent in Prop. 55
Economist Milton Friedman said, and was proved right many times over, that nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program. The same could be said for temporary taxes. They’re about as eternal as death. It’s actually a ghost we are considering here, though, tax hikes authorized by Proposition 30 ...
Prop 57 Contains a Loophole for Violent Criminals
With violent crime increasing in California, it seems reasonable to grant early release to inmates convicted of nonviolent offenses to make room in the prison system for truly dangerous felons. Most of us would be happy to trade an accountant guilty of bilking his employer for a serial rapist. One ...
