Blog
Ronald Reagan Opposed Tariffs – And For Good Reason
Having worked with Dr. Laffer for several years, I heard him explain the tenets of supply-side economics, or “the five pillars of prosperity” many times. These policies are (1) a low-rate broad-based flat tax; (2) a moderate level of government spending to ensure that the benefits from the government program ...
Blog
Prop. 50 will reduce the voting strength of cities and counties
Prop. 50 will reduce the voting strength of cities and counties By Daniel M. Kolkey | October 24, 2025 Proposition 50 – an admitted gerrymander of California’s congressional districts that is the subject of November 4’s special election – will not only harm voters by making our congressional districts less ...
Blog
Is Declining Homeownership Driving Support for Democratic Socialism?
My previous post “On young Americans and their Growing Acceptance of Socialism” connected the popularity of democratic socialism among Americans aged 18 – 39 to inequality. Inequality concerns are not the only factor driving Gen Z’s embrace of democratic socialism. Gen Z’s growing support for democratic socialism is occurring along ...
Blog
It Was A Cruel, Cruel Summer For California Teens
California has a jobs problem. It’s not only failing to create them, it’s been destroying existing ones. Unemployment sits at 5.5%, the worst among the states. Only in the District of Columbia is the situation more grim. The jobless rate in the nation’s capital is 6%. This isn’t due to a run of bad luck. It’s the greasy residue of poor public policy ...
Blog
New Study Shows Success of School Choice in Action
Recently released scores on California’s state tests in English and math show huge proportions of students failing to achieve proficiency in the basic subjects. More than half of California students taking the 2025 state English exam failed to score at the proficient level. On the state math test, more than ...
Blog
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Seattle’s public-housing experiment is heading toward disaster
It’s long been obvious that America’s history with government-run housing projects has been an unmitigated disaster. They were quite the rage when I grew up around Philadelphia in the 1960s and 1970s, but these public-housing projects always ended up as dangerous, poorly designed, soulless and racially segregated – places that ...
Blog
If you build it, they will socialize? Public spaces and loneliness
If you build it, they will socialize? Public spaces and loneliness By D. Dowd Muska | October 17, 2025 Urbanists have a new item for cities’ to-do lists: Fix America’s loneliness crisis. And their preferred tool? Public spaces. The William Penn Foundation’s Shawn McCaney is typical. He believes the nation’s ...
Blog
Naval strikes on drug rings may bring cases of “Smuggler’s Blues” and “Sugar Highs”
In 1999, just 703 people died from fentanyl overdoses. For the next ten years, those deaths remained relatively low. hitting 2,628 in 2012. Yet from 2013 to 2023, fentanyl killed 376,197 Americans – a number roughly equivalent to the entire population of Cleveland Ohio. This doesn’t factor in the over ...
Blog
Read about San José's transformation under Mayor Mahan
San José Mayor Shows Market-Based Ideas Can Improve Urban Quality of Life
Major cities in California have decayed in recent years as elected officials and city bureaucrats have doubled down on a mix of government mandates, excessive regulations, high fees and lax enforcement of public safety laws that have created an unattractive quality of life driving away businesses, jobs, tax revenue and ...
Agriculture
Read the latest on how tariffs hurt employers and workers
Soybean squabble points to larger ag problems to come
During the first Trump Administration Americans were asked to adopt the motto, “short term pain for long term gain.” During the current Trump Administration, the tariff war was kicked off with “Liberation Day.” With harvest season upon ag country, soybeans are taking center stage in the current trade war. China ...
Ronald Reagan Opposed Tariffs – And For Good Reason
Having worked with Dr. Laffer for several years, I heard him explain the tenets of supply-side economics, or “the five pillars of prosperity” many times. These policies are (1) a low-rate broad-based flat tax; (2) a moderate level of government spending to ensure that the benefits from the government program ...
Prop. 50 will reduce the voting strength of cities and counties
Prop. 50 will reduce the voting strength of cities and counties By Daniel M. Kolkey | October 24, 2025 Proposition 50 – an admitted gerrymander of California’s congressional districts that is the subject of November 4’s special election – will not only harm voters by making our congressional districts less ...
Is Declining Homeownership Driving Support for Democratic Socialism?
My previous post “On young Americans and their Growing Acceptance of Socialism” connected the popularity of democratic socialism among Americans aged 18 – 39 to inequality. Inequality concerns are not the only factor driving Gen Z’s embrace of democratic socialism. Gen Z’s growing support for democratic socialism is occurring along ...
It Was A Cruel, Cruel Summer For California Teens
California has a jobs problem. It’s not only failing to create them, it’s been destroying existing ones. Unemployment sits at 5.5%, the worst among the states. Only in the District of Columbia is the situation more grim. The jobless rate in the nation’s capital is 6%. This isn’t due to a run of bad luck. It’s the greasy residue of poor public policy ...
New Study Shows Success of School Choice in Action
Recently released scores on California’s state tests in English and math show huge proportions of students failing to achieve proficiency in the basic subjects. More than half of California students taking the 2025 state English exam failed to score at the proficient level. On the state math test, more than ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Seattle’s public-housing experiment is heading toward disaster
It’s long been obvious that America’s history with government-run housing projects has been an unmitigated disaster. They were quite the rage when I grew up around Philadelphia in the 1960s and 1970s, but these public-housing projects always ended up as dangerous, poorly designed, soulless and racially segregated – places that ...
If you build it, they will socialize? Public spaces and loneliness
If you build it, they will socialize? Public spaces and loneliness By D. Dowd Muska | October 17, 2025 Urbanists have a new item for cities’ to-do lists: Fix America’s loneliness crisis. And their preferred tool? Public spaces. The William Penn Foundation’s Shawn McCaney is typical. He believes the nation’s ...
Naval strikes on drug rings may bring cases of “Smuggler’s Blues” and “Sugar Highs”
In 1999, just 703 people died from fentanyl overdoses. For the next ten years, those deaths remained relatively low. hitting 2,628 in 2012. Yet from 2013 to 2023, fentanyl killed 376,197 Americans – a number roughly equivalent to the entire population of Cleveland Ohio. This doesn’t factor in the over ...
Read about San José's transformation under Mayor Mahan
San José Mayor Shows Market-Based Ideas Can Improve Urban Quality of Life
Major cities in California have decayed in recent years as elected officials and city bureaucrats have doubled down on a mix of government mandates, excessive regulations, high fees and lax enforcement of public safety laws that have created an unattractive quality of life driving away businesses, jobs, tax revenue and ...
Read the latest on how tariffs hurt employers and workers
Soybean squabble points to larger ag problems to come
During the first Trump Administration Americans were asked to adopt the motto, “short term pain for long term gain.” During the current Trump Administration, the tariff war was kicked off with “Liberation Day.” With harvest season upon ag country, soybeans are taking center stage in the current trade war. China ...
