California has long been regarded as a bellwether state, a window into the social, economic, and political trends that are about to extend across the land. In 2018, Golden State voters elected Gavin Newsom as governor with 62 percent of the vote. What, then, does...
When California Gov. Gavin Newsom and a collection of mayors and law enforcement officials held a news conference in Long Beach last month to discuss, according to the governor’s office, “state efforts to address crime and reduce retail theft,” tongues wagged, optics sparkled, and a...
The Senate is poised, on Tuesday, to pass a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package. According to the latest estimate from the Congressional Budget Office, the new spending will increase the deficit by over $250 billion. The 2,700-page bill appropriates an avalanche of funding for everything from...
Demonstrators in 50 cities across the country took the streets last month to demand a government takeover of America's health system. The Democrats who control Washington are trying to give those activists what they're asking for, albeit in piecemeal fashion. In recent weeks, they've proposed lowering Medicare's eligibility age and adding dental, vision...
Today, Medicare and Medicaid mark their 56th birthday. They were signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson to ensure that seniors and the poor had access to quality, affordable health coverage as part of his Great Society. They've grown far beyond what their creators envisioned. In...
Whether it is investing in infrastructure or addressing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, President Biden and the Democratic Congress continue to believe that the government is the main driver of growth and innovation. This errant belief threatens our fiscal solvency and our ability to solve the...
Recently, the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) at the California Department of Education decided to postpone the release of the controversial and ideological 2021 Mathematics Framework to December 2021 at the earliest. This unexpected retreat came in response to mounting pressure from members of Congress and other officials,...
During the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, the most vocal proponents of aggressive lockdowns often framed the issue as a trade-off between personal freedom on the one hand and public health on the other. Stay-at-home orders may have prevented some people at the margin from congregating...
Did a member of the California Legislature inadvertently, and quite publicly, admit that “progressive” governance is unsustainable? While discussing the state’s eviction protections and financial aid for renters during a CalMatters podcast, Assemblyman David Chiu, a San Francisco Democrat, said “If we run out of money, all...
The SEC, under former Chairman Jay Clayton, issued a rule that improved the proxy advisory services market by promoting transparency and holding proxy firms more accountable for inaccuracies. Rather than implementing the necessary improvements to these reforms, Chairman Gary Gensler intends to roll-back the progress...