We have been warning readers about the pension crisis for a few years now.  In a nutshell, the problem is the following:  California public employee unions - which are virtually unregulated despite the fact they operate in the uncompetitive public sector - have pretty much taken over California’s state and local governments. In recent years [...]

Back in March 2008 we first posted an essay entitled “Rational Environmentalism,” where we explicitly stated fifteen principles that we believe summarize our editorial position on what environmentalism should be, versus what environmentalism has become.  We did this because we had just been noticed - perhaps we should consider this an honor, but we don’t - by [...]

Does that get your attention?  It should, because when that happens, the Silicon Valley will become the sister city of Detroit, with the only difference being Detroit gave way to union power fifty years earlier, and is still paying the price.  Silicon Valley is a meritocracy, and as long as it stays that way it [...]

Only an extreme libertarian would claim there is no role for government.  In the face of population growth, aging infrastructure, and myriad new, cleaner and more sustainable ways to deliver energy, water and transportation resources, there is much to be done by the public sector.  Green public works will create wealth and resource abundance.  Green public works must include [...]

Today California is probably the most hostile state in the U.S. towards private business, and with the global warming act nearing implementation, things are going to get much worse.  But big changes could be closer than you think.
It isn’t easy to understand just how bad California’s business climate is until you talk to people from [...]

Assembly Bill 32, signed into law by California Governor Schwarzenegger in late 2006, took a big step closer to implementation last week with the release of the much anticipated “Climate Change Draft Scoping Plan.”

Sturnella neglecta.

AB32 California Global Warming Act
Climate Change Draft Scoping Plan - CARB July 2008
Two key pages in the 77 page document are [...]

Few would dispute the benefits unions have brought to society, especially through about the middle of the last century.  But the inspirational work of leaders from Mary Harris Jones to Cesar Chavez is used to obscure the reality in the 21st century - that in most states in America, unions in the public sector now exercise nearly absolute [...]