Energy Costs
California
Lax CPUC oversight lets PG&E gouge ratepayer
As the price of natural gas has fallen to a decade low, utility ratepayers wouldnt know it. Utility costs continue to explode. Given the low cost of natural gas, Pacific Gas & Electrics latest request to increase utility rates by more than 15 percent by 2016 is causing many to ...
California
Professors at legislative hearing push more government
The rich are getting richer and everyone else is losing wealth. This phenomenon supposedly would justify more aggressive government policies redistributing wealth. At an Assembly hearing Wednesday about whether the state of California should be actively pursuing additional wealth redistribution policies, Legislators and academics said that the highest degree of ...
Business & Economics
California ‘Jobs Gap’ Jumps to Record High
California’s “Jobs Gap” with the rest of America jumped to a record high, according to new calculations. In 2010, I devised the “Jobs Gap” to measure how much worse unemployment is in California than the rest of America. The Jobs Gap is calculated by subtracting the national unemployment level from ...
Climate Change
How the “Green Jobs” Agenda Destroys Jobs
Proposition 23 on the Nov. 2 ballot would delay implementation of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Assembly Bill 32). A recent study from the California Small Business Roundtable deals with the economic costs of that legislation. The Cost of AB 32 on California Small Businesses argues that such ...
Commentary
How California can set a better example on jobs and environment
Proposition 23 on the Nov. 2 ballot would delay implementation of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Assembly Bill 32). A recent study from the California Small Business Roundtable deals with the economic costs of that legislation. “The Cost of AB 32 on California Small Businesses” argues that such ...
Business & Economics
Dodgy days for business
The national unemployment rate remains stubbornly high – 9.5 percent in June – and the private sector simply isn’t willing yet to make a genuine effort to create jobs. Some contend that to stimulate the economy, the government should spend and borrow more. This argument ignores a central reason for ...
Commentary
Will Business-Toxic Environment Poison Silicon Valley Innovation?
The world is full of pseudo-Silicon Valleys — private and public attempts to re-create California’s high-tech mecca. But they have achieved only pale copies of an original that remains the undisputed cradle of innovation. Historic leaders like Hewlett-Packard and Intel have stayed there, and more recent giants like Google, Facebook ...
Business & Economics
Guest view: Consider value-added tax, tort reform
Editors note: Several weeks ago, we asked readers to share their thoughts on what our state and region can do in the year ahead to help the economy specifically, how to grow the good-paying jobs we so desperately need. We also asked business leaders to tell us what theyve ...
Energy Costs
The Costs and Uncertainties of Carbon Reduction Schemes
Earlier this month, a bill to implement a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions passed the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The Boxer-Kerry bill now moves on to the full Senate for consideration, where it will likely be combined with other climate bills. The House narrowly passed a similar ...
California
Governor to Impose $Quarter-Billion Tax Hike on California
Renewable energy that is forced on the California market means higher energy costs for everyone. Renewables are simply more expensive—which is why their proponents have to argue for mandates (and not coincidently, the highest levels of direct subsidy.) Ironically, the mandates—excused as ‘helping drive costs down through mass markets’ have ...
Lax CPUC oversight lets PG&E gouge ratepayer
As the price of natural gas has fallen to a decade low, utility ratepayers wouldnt know it. Utility costs continue to explode. Given the low cost of natural gas, Pacific Gas & Electrics latest request to increase utility rates by more than 15 percent by 2016 is causing many to ...
Professors at legislative hearing push more government
The rich are getting richer and everyone else is losing wealth. This phenomenon supposedly would justify more aggressive government policies redistributing wealth. At an Assembly hearing Wednesday about whether the state of California should be actively pursuing additional wealth redistribution policies, Legislators and academics said that the highest degree of ...
California ‘Jobs Gap’ Jumps to Record High
California’s “Jobs Gap” with the rest of America jumped to a record high, according to new calculations. In 2010, I devised the “Jobs Gap” to measure how much worse unemployment is in California than the rest of America. The Jobs Gap is calculated by subtracting the national unemployment level from ...
How the “Green Jobs” Agenda Destroys Jobs
Proposition 23 on the Nov. 2 ballot would delay implementation of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Assembly Bill 32). A recent study from the California Small Business Roundtable deals with the economic costs of that legislation. The Cost of AB 32 on California Small Businesses argues that such ...
How California can set a better example on jobs and environment
Proposition 23 on the Nov. 2 ballot would delay implementation of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Assembly Bill 32). A recent study from the California Small Business Roundtable deals with the economic costs of that legislation. “The Cost of AB 32 on California Small Businesses” argues that such ...
Dodgy days for business
The national unemployment rate remains stubbornly high – 9.5 percent in June – and the private sector simply isn’t willing yet to make a genuine effort to create jobs. Some contend that to stimulate the economy, the government should spend and borrow more. This argument ignores a central reason for ...
Will Business-Toxic Environment Poison Silicon Valley Innovation?
The world is full of pseudo-Silicon Valleys — private and public attempts to re-create California’s high-tech mecca. But they have achieved only pale copies of an original that remains the undisputed cradle of innovation. Historic leaders like Hewlett-Packard and Intel have stayed there, and more recent giants like Google, Facebook ...
Guest view: Consider value-added tax, tort reform
Editors note: Several weeks ago, we asked readers to share their thoughts on what our state and region can do in the year ahead to help the economy specifically, how to grow the good-paying jobs we so desperately need. We also asked business leaders to tell us what theyve ...
The Costs and Uncertainties of Carbon Reduction Schemes
Earlier this month, a bill to implement a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions passed the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The Boxer-Kerry bill now moves on to the full Senate for consideration, where it will likely be combined with other climate bills. The House narrowly passed a similar ...
Governor to Impose $Quarter-Billion Tax Hike on California
Renewable energy that is forced on the California market means higher energy costs for everyone. Renewables are simply more expensive—which is why their proponents have to argue for mandates (and not coincidently, the highest levels of direct subsidy.) Ironically, the mandates—excused as ‘helping drive costs down through mass markets’ have ...
