Housing

California

Brown’s State Of The State Strong On Rage, Light On Solutions To State’s Problems

What is the state of the state in California? Apparently it’s under siege. Gov. Jerry Brown’s annual address sounded more like a commander rallying his troops to resist an occupying force than an informative report from the state government’s chief executive. “The recent election and inauguration of a new president ...
Business & Economics

How To Create A High-Growth Economy

Click here to read part 1 of “Beyond the New Normal” by Wayne Winegarden and Niles Chura For more than a decade federal policy has re-shaped the economy through a variety of activist policies. Taxes have risen, spending has increased, and the regulatory state has been empowered. The Federal Reserve, ...
California

Hiring Of Holder Takes Away From Real Issues

The California Legislature entered the New Year by hiring former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder to lead the state’s legal charge against the Trump administration. The justification is that he will “safeguard the values of the people of California.” Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León said that bringing in ...
Business & Economics

Housing Crisis A Man-Made Disaster

Type “California housing crisis” into a web search engine and the results come gushing out. Dozens of stories from just the past year highlight a crunch that’s “way past a problem,” a “middle-class” disaster, “drowning renters” and “California’s most pressing challenge.” We’re living through a complete turnaround from the 1970s ...
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 ...
Climate Change

Obama’s Energy Plan Will Cost Poor Hundreds Of Billions To Stop 0.019 Degrees Of Global Warming

President Barack Obama’s plan to fight global warming will raise energy prices and drag many low-income Americans into “energy poverty,” according to a new study. The so-called Clean Power Plan (CPP) would significantly increase the price of electricity in the U.S., and could cost the economy up to $479 billion ...
California

Where’s the Passion for CEQA Reform?

The roots of California’s environmental regulations can be traced back to 1884. That’s the year a federal judge ordered miners to stop using water cannons to batter the Sierra hillsides to separate gold from the soil and rock, but also left behind a broken and ugly landscape. The process, called ...
California

Making Housing More Affordable

Gov. Jerry Brown is an easy target for the conservative- and libertarian-minded, both from within and without of California. He’s in many ways the quintessential big-government Democrat. But not everything Brown does is wrong. Consider, for instance, his level-headed plan for getting government out of the way of developers who ...
California

Admission By California’s State Attorney May Blow Union’s Case

During this week’s much-anticipated oral arguments in the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association U.S. Supreme Court case, which challenges mandatory teacher-union fees, a critical exchange took place between Justice Antonin Scalia, who is viewed as the swing vote in the case, and the attorney representing the State of California. The ...
Business & Economics

Lessons from the San Francisco Airbnb Fight

In 1979, the Pacific Research Institute opened its doors in San Francisco. Jimmy Carter was President; Diane Feinstein was mayor; and Brian Chesky, the founder of home-sharing platform Airbnb, was still two years away from being born. San Francisco voters this month gave Chesky and Airbnb a win, defeating Proposition ...
California

Brown’s State Of The State Strong On Rage, Light On Solutions To State’s Problems

What is the state of the state in California? Apparently it’s under siege. Gov. Jerry Brown’s annual address sounded more like a commander rallying his troops to resist an occupying force than an informative report from the state government’s chief executive. “The recent election and inauguration of a new president ...
Business & Economics

How To Create A High-Growth Economy

Click here to read part 1 of “Beyond the New Normal” by Wayne Winegarden and Niles Chura For more than a decade federal policy has re-shaped the economy through a variety of activist policies. Taxes have risen, spending has increased, and the regulatory state has been empowered. The Federal Reserve, ...
California

Hiring Of Holder Takes Away From Real Issues

The California Legislature entered the New Year by hiring former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder to lead the state’s legal charge against the Trump administration. The justification is that he will “safeguard the values of the people of California.” Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León said that bringing in ...
Business & Economics

Housing Crisis A Man-Made Disaster

Type “California housing crisis” into a web search engine and the results come gushing out. Dozens of stories from just the past year highlight a crunch that’s “way past a problem,” a “middle-class” disaster, “drowning renters” and “California’s most pressing challenge.” We’re living through a complete turnaround from the 1970s ...
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 ...
Climate Change

Obama’s Energy Plan Will Cost Poor Hundreds Of Billions To Stop 0.019 Degrees Of Global Warming

President Barack Obama’s plan to fight global warming will raise energy prices and drag many low-income Americans into “energy poverty,” according to a new study. The so-called Clean Power Plan (CPP) would significantly increase the price of electricity in the U.S., and could cost the economy up to $479 billion ...
California

Where’s the Passion for CEQA Reform?

The roots of California’s environmental regulations can be traced back to 1884. That’s the year a federal judge ordered miners to stop using water cannons to batter the Sierra hillsides to separate gold from the soil and rock, but also left behind a broken and ugly landscape. The process, called ...
California

Making Housing More Affordable

Gov. Jerry Brown is an easy target for the conservative- and libertarian-minded, both from within and without of California. He’s in many ways the quintessential big-government Democrat. But not everything Brown does is wrong. Consider, for instance, his level-headed plan for getting government out of the way of developers who ...
California

Admission By California’s State Attorney May Blow Union’s Case

During this week’s much-anticipated oral arguments in the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association U.S. Supreme Court case, which challenges mandatory teacher-union fees, a critical exchange took place between Justice Antonin Scalia, who is viewed as the swing vote in the case, and the attorney representing the State of California. The ...
Business & Economics

Lessons from the San Francisco Airbnb Fight

In 1979, the Pacific Research Institute opened its doors in San Francisco. Jimmy Carter was President; Diane Feinstein was mayor; and Brian Chesky, the founder of home-sharing platform Airbnb, was still two years away from being born. San Francisco voters this month gave Chesky and Airbnb a win, defeating Proposition ...
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