Blog
Why Don’t We Find More Waste, Fraud and Abuse in California?
Shocking exposes of waste, fraud, and abuse in state government have dominated media headlines in recent weeks. Our friends Christopher Rufo and Kenneth Schrupp at the Manhattan Institute uncovered an unfinished wildlife “bridge to nowhere” in Agoura Hills, which has cost taxpayers over $100 million to date and counting. CBS ...
Blog
The FTC Is Settling for Lower Drug Prices
The FTC alleged that Express Scripts “artificially inflated the list price of insulin drugs by using anticompetitive and unfair rebating practices, and impaired patients’ access to lower list price products, ultimately shifting the cost of high insulin list prices to vulnerable patients.” This is a big win – and not just for ...
Blog
Students can’t be expected to learn in schools plagued by violence
Students can’t be expected to learn in schools plagued by violence By Rafael Perez | April 3, 2026 A U.S. News & World Report comparison of public schools ranks California’s Pre-K-12 schools 38th in the nation. In California, 51.2% of our students fail to meet English standards and 62.7% fail ...
Blog
Despite setbacks, inter-city bullet train boondoggles keep chugging along
The high-speed rail (HSR) community had a tough 2025. In April, the Trump administration nixed a $63.9 million grant to “the Amtrak Texas High-Speed Rail Corridor previously known as the Texas Central Railway project.” Justifying the decision, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy explained that if “the private sector believes ...
Blog
Read the latest on fraud in California government
Fraud in California Community Colleges Spurs Congress to Act
Across the country, financial aid fraud in higher education has skyrocketed, causing big budgetary hits for colleges and negative impacts for law-abiding students in true need. Perhaps the biggest explosion in financial aid fraud has taken place in the nation’s largest system of higher education—the California Community Colleges. With 2.2 ...
Blog
What Happens When the Government Pays for Enrollment Without Verifying Attendance
To understand why, you have to understand how the system actually works. The state does not simply write checks to parents. A low-income family qualifies for a subsidy, selects a licensed provider, and the state reimburses that provider directly on the family’s behalf through a network of Alternative Payment Program agencies. ...
Blog
Spending Watch
Spending Watch: Stock Market Volatility Is a Growing Threat to California’s Upcoming Budget
Stock Market Volatility Is a Growing Threat to California’s Upcoming Budget Wayne Winegarden March 2026 Warren Buffett famously noted that “when the tide goes out, you discover who’s been swimming naked.” Heeding Buffet’s wisdom, we will soon discover whether Governor Newsom and state legislative leaders are in need of some ...
Blog
Can 3D printers help solve the housing-affordability crisis?
Can 3D printers help solve the housing-affordability crisis? by Kerry Jackson | March 27, 2026 The best thinkers have been unable to solve California’s housing crisis, not because their ideas haven’t had merit, but due to policymakers’ resistance to reasonable reform. Technology, though, might soon override the obstructionists. A recent study published by ...
Blog
Focus on transit: How to save BART without raising taxes
Focus on transit: How to save BART without raising taxes San Francisco’s “beloved” BART system is “on the brink of collapse,” says the New York Post, and the only thing that will save it is for voters to agree to raise taxes for it in November. While I question how “beloved” ...
Agriculture
Farming, actually … is all around
There is this movie – either you love it or you hate it. That is how I feel about National Agriculture Month. At the beginning of that movie, though, there is a monologue that is pretty good and ruminates on the meaning of, well, love, but it works for food ...
Why Don’t We Find More Waste, Fraud and Abuse in California?
Shocking exposes of waste, fraud, and abuse in state government have dominated media headlines in recent weeks. Our friends Christopher Rufo and Kenneth Schrupp at the Manhattan Institute uncovered an unfinished wildlife “bridge to nowhere” in Agoura Hills, which has cost taxpayers over $100 million to date and counting. CBS ...
The FTC Is Settling for Lower Drug Prices
The FTC alleged that Express Scripts “artificially inflated the list price of insulin drugs by using anticompetitive and unfair rebating practices, and impaired patients’ access to lower list price products, ultimately shifting the cost of high insulin list prices to vulnerable patients.” This is a big win – and not just for ...
Students can’t be expected to learn in schools plagued by violence
Students can’t be expected to learn in schools plagued by violence By Rafael Perez | April 3, 2026 A U.S. News & World Report comparison of public schools ranks California’s Pre-K-12 schools 38th in the nation. In California, 51.2% of our students fail to meet English standards and 62.7% fail ...
Despite setbacks, inter-city bullet train boondoggles keep chugging along
The high-speed rail (HSR) community had a tough 2025. In April, the Trump administration nixed a $63.9 million grant to “the Amtrak Texas High-Speed Rail Corridor previously known as the Texas Central Railway project.” Justifying the decision, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy explained that if “the private sector believes ...
Read the latest on fraud in California government
Fraud in California Community Colleges Spurs Congress to Act
Across the country, financial aid fraud in higher education has skyrocketed, causing big budgetary hits for colleges and negative impacts for law-abiding students in true need. Perhaps the biggest explosion in financial aid fraud has taken place in the nation’s largest system of higher education—the California Community Colleges. With 2.2 ...
What Happens When the Government Pays for Enrollment Without Verifying Attendance
To understand why, you have to understand how the system actually works. The state does not simply write checks to parents. A low-income family qualifies for a subsidy, selects a licensed provider, and the state reimburses that provider directly on the family’s behalf through a network of Alternative Payment Program agencies. ...
Spending Watch
Spending Watch: Stock Market Volatility Is a Growing Threat to California’s Upcoming Budget
Stock Market Volatility Is a Growing Threat to California’s Upcoming Budget Wayne Winegarden March 2026 Warren Buffett famously noted that “when the tide goes out, you discover who’s been swimming naked.” Heeding Buffet’s wisdom, we will soon discover whether Governor Newsom and state legislative leaders are in need of some ...
Can 3D printers help solve the housing-affordability crisis?
Can 3D printers help solve the housing-affordability crisis? by Kerry Jackson | March 27, 2026 The best thinkers have been unable to solve California’s housing crisis, not because their ideas haven’t had merit, but due to policymakers’ resistance to reasonable reform. Technology, though, might soon override the obstructionists. A recent study published by ...
Focus on transit: How to save BART without raising taxes
Focus on transit: How to save BART without raising taxes San Francisco’s “beloved” BART system is “on the brink of collapse,” says the New York Post, and the only thing that will save it is for voters to agree to raise taxes for it in November. While I question how “beloved” ...
Farming, actually … is all around
There is this movie – either you love it or you hate it. That is how I feel about National Agriculture Month. At the beginning of that movie, though, there is a monologue that is pretty good and ruminates on the meaning of, well, love, but it works for food ...