Sacramento The concept of black markets is simple enough even for a California lawmaker to grasp. Most people would prefer to buy products in a legal marketplace, and generally are willing to pay higher prices to do so. Legal products…
Sacramento The award for the most ridiculous opening paragraph in a news story, this week anyway, goes to CBS Sacramento for its coverage of a 2020 ballot measure that the secretary of state has recently approved for signature gathering: “A ballot…
Sacramento During one of my first fire seasons in Southern California nearly two decades ago, my neighbors and I received a notice from the county fire department warning us to keep our lawns cut and watered and to clear vegetation…
Sacramento Not long ago, I quoted Swedish economist Assar Lindbeck’s conclusion about the results of rent control. He wrote that in many cases, it “appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city — except for…
Sacramento California officials have been obsessed this year about the ongoing housing crisis, as home prices soar out of reach of most of the state’s residents and as rent prices consume an ever-greater portion of people’s incomes. Absurdly high housing…
Sacramento California voters apparently aren’t the only ones who believe that wealth can be created by government edict and income inequality fixed by approving ever-higher minimum-wage rates. In the 72,000-population northern Arizona city of Flagstaff, voters in November 2016 approved…
The Legislature is back in session and it’s strange to see the priorities of the state’s dominant Democrats. Assemblyman Ian Calderon of Whittier, for instance, introduced a bill that would forbid restaurants from handing out straws to their customers —…
California Gov. Jerry Brown introduced his final budget last week. For a sense of perspective, the first general-fund budget he introduced back in 1975 was for $11.5 billion. His final one spends $132 billion — a whopping $190 billion if…
There’s little question that Jerry Brown has had a long and storied career in California politics. He was the state’s youngest governor when he was first elected in 1975 and will soon begin his final year as the state’s oldest…
Sacramento The newly announced California Assembly’s Republican leadership team is, as I reported, a “who’s who” of “Republicans in name only” (RINOs) — a poke in the eye of party activists. No matter how riled the party’s dwindling number of…
