Free Cities
Lawmakers Should Think Carefully Before Leashing ‘The Dog’
Crime in California is on the rise and the solution offered by Sacramento is … releasing suspected criminals back into the community without requiring them to post bail? Assembly Bill 42 would, if passed and signed, authorize the pretrial release of an “arrested person,” and “set a time and place …
Government Should Leave Sharing Economy Alone
Governments tend to target innovative industries that are too new to be regulated and single them out for punitive taxes and nasty abuse. As Art Laffer once put it, governments aren’t happy when business pioneers enjoy “success without the benevolent, guiding wisdom of” of the regulatory state. This was the …
More Government Won’t Help Sacramento’s Homeless Get Back On Their Feet
Sacramento’s mayor thinks he’s hit on an answer to the city’s homeless problem. He wants to provide them with housing vouchers. Of course, he’s likely to find the result will be the exact opposite of the one he’s looking for. In downtown Sacramento alone, there are reported to be more …
Government Policies Perpetuate Poverty In California
Anyone can see the road that they walk on Is paved in gold And it’s always summer They’ll never get cold They’ll never get hungry They’ll never get old and gray ~ Fastball, “The Way,” 1998 Before California was officially christened the Golden State by the Legislature in 1968, it …
A Choice For Kids With No Options Left
January 22nd to 28th will mark National School Choice Week, which promotes efforts to empower parents to choose the best education option for their children. There is probably no better example of why children need choices in education than Life Learning Academy (LLA) public charter school. Opponents of charter schools, …
The Obamacare Law Devours Itself With Exemptions Amid 5 Million (And Counting) Cancellations
Nearly five million people have had their health insurance policies cancelled because of Obamacare. Their coverage didnt meet the laws lofty specifications for covered benefits. So they were told theyd have to secure more generous and more expensive insurance. Needless to say, they werent too pleased. And they …
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 …
By Killing Off Ride-Sharing, Austin Puts It In Reverse
“Keep Austin Weird” is a slogan dreamed up by the Texas city’s independent business alliance to promote local businesses and to keep national corporations out of the city. By recently regulating ride-sharing companies out of business, Austin became more than just weird — it’s now perfectly unique. The supposed tech …
California’s Regulations are Harming Small Businesses
The regulatory burden in California continues to grow. Minimum wage increases—which simultaneously raise costs on businesses and harms many low-wage workers and consumers—have passed in Los Angeles and San Francisco. California is also pursuing regulations that would reduce the viability of Uber and Lyft, the popular ride-for-hire services revolutionizing how …
States Where Regulations Harm Small Businesses The Most
The federal and state governments continue to impose ever-more burdensome regulations on businesses across the country. Overall, in 2014 alone, the Obama Administration imposed an estimated $181.5 billion in proposed and final regulatory costs on the U.S. economy according to a study by the American Action Forum. And, the federal …
Lawmakers Should Think Carefully Before Leashing ‘The Dog’
Crime in California is on the rise and the solution offered by Sacramento is … releasing suspected criminals back into the community without requiring them to post bail? Assembly Bill 42 would, if passed and signed, authorize the pretrial release of an “arrested person,” and “set a time and place …
Government Should Leave Sharing Economy Alone
Governments tend to target innovative industries that are too new to be regulated and single them out for punitive taxes and nasty abuse. As Art Laffer once put it, governments aren’t happy when business pioneers enjoy “success without the benevolent, guiding wisdom of” of the regulatory state. This was the …
More Government Won’t Help Sacramento’s Homeless Get Back On Their Feet
Sacramento’s mayor thinks he’s hit on an answer to the city’s homeless problem. He wants to provide them with housing vouchers. Of course, he’s likely to find the result will be the exact opposite of the one he’s looking for. In downtown Sacramento alone, there are reported to be more …
Government Policies Perpetuate Poverty In California
Anyone can see the road that they walk on Is paved in gold And it’s always summer They’ll never get cold They’ll never get hungry They’ll never get old and gray ~ Fastball, “The Way,” 1998 Before California was officially christened the Golden State by the Legislature in 1968, it …
A Choice For Kids With No Options Left
January 22nd to 28th will mark National School Choice Week, which promotes efforts to empower parents to choose the best education option for their children. There is probably no better example of why children need choices in education than Life Learning Academy (LLA) public charter school. Opponents of charter schools, …
The Obamacare Law Devours Itself With Exemptions Amid 5 Million (And Counting) Cancellations
Nearly five million people have had their health insurance policies cancelled because of Obamacare. Their coverage didnt meet the laws lofty specifications for covered benefits. So they were told theyd have to secure more generous and more expensive insurance. Needless to say, they werent too pleased. And they …
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 …
By Killing Off Ride-Sharing, Austin Puts It In Reverse
“Keep Austin Weird” is a slogan dreamed up by the Texas city’s independent business alliance to promote local businesses and to keep national corporations out of the city. By recently regulating ride-sharing companies out of business, Austin became more than just weird — it’s now perfectly unique. The supposed tech …
California’s Regulations are Harming Small Businesses
The regulatory burden in California continues to grow. Minimum wage increases—which simultaneously raise costs on businesses and harms many low-wage workers and consumers—have passed in Los Angeles and San Francisco. California is also pursuing regulations that would reduce the viability of Uber and Lyft, the popular ride-for-hire services revolutionizing how …
States Where Regulations Harm Small Businesses The Most
The federal and state governments continue to impose ever-more burdensome regulations on businesses across the country. Overall, in 2014 alone, the Obama Administration imposed an estimated $181.5 billion in proposed and final regulatory costs on the U.S. economy according to a study by the American Action Forum. And, the federal …
