State's school funding process is failing
November 19, 2009
Anyone who has spent time in or around government, from the deeply embedded bureaucrat to the young policy wonk, knows that there are two important issues in funding a public program.
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Mutual interests bind Chinese, U.S. economies
November 16, 2009
When President Obama embarks on a round of bilateral meetings with the Chinese leadership in Beijing today, he'll be laboring under a heavy burden of history and politics.
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The Golden State of Fender guitars
November 12, 2009
The sound of California business success came to my ears the moment I stepped through the door of Fender Musical Instruments Corp.'s 3-acre manufacturing plant in Corona.
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Carly Fiorina's Senate campaign an uninspiring product launch
November 5, 2009
The most cherished American credo is that anyone can grow up and run for high office.
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An antitrust exemption for insurers? That's not the real problem
November 2, 2009
I suspect I had the same reaction as many other Americans after hearing that Congress was planning to strip the health insurance industry of its antitrust exemption.
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Calling America's bluff on Internet gambling
October 19, 2009
No issue brings out America's talent for self-deception like gambling.
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Is fine in healthcare bill big enough to ensure coverage?
October 15, 2009
Healthcare reformers tell a wry joke about one of their number who, called to heaven, is given the opportunity to pose a single question to God.
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Are the rich paying their fair share?
October 12, 2009
When it comes to the state budget and state taxes, everybody knows the following facts:
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Billions are spent to defend 5,000 jobs at Boeing C-17 plant
October 8, 2009
If you're interested in contemplating the harvest of this country's decades of failed economic policies, failed military policies and just plain failed politics -- and who isn't? -- I know just where to send you.
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State tax reform panel blew its opportunity
October 5, 2009
Last week's release of the final report by a blue-ribbon panel on tax reform for California was accompanied by all the ceremonial obeisance customarily paid to groups of public-spirited citizens completing a difficult task.
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Tort reform is the healthcare debate's frivolous sideshow
October 1, 2009
Every circus needs a sideshow, which must be why every time the issue of rising medical costs gets debated, politicians start clamoring for "tort reform."
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These crusaders bring transparency to government
September 28, 2009
Government pooh-bahs live by the credo Information is Power. Here are a few of the guerrillas working to overthrow the resulting dictatorship.
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It's time for Obama to take off the kid gloves
September 24, 2009
Here's my advice for President Obama as the crunchtime arrives for such major initiatives as healthcare reform and climate change: Get mean already.
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U.S. Census Bureau data on the medically uninsured simply can't be denied
September 17, 2009
Pity the medically uninsured in America. As if they don't already have enough to worry about, now they've become a political football.
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Will U.S. learn its healthcare reform lesson from California?
September 14, 2009
The difference between a government program that works and one that fails spectacularly can be razor thin. A few words here, a loophole there, and you can turn a boon for the consumer into a windfall for big business.
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Coffeepot maker vents about doing business in California
July 30, 2009
Wilbur D.Curtis invented the globular glass coffeepot, that staple of coffee counters everywhere, in 1940. Since then his son and grandsons have turned Wilbur Curtis Co. into a manufacturing concern that earns revenue approaching $100 million by turning out commercial coffee brewing equipment from a sprawling factory in Montebello.
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CalPERS appears to be a willing victim
July 27, 2009
Students of the fine art of pointing fingers know that the key thing is to not make yourself look like an idiot in the process.
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File California tax system revision effort under flawed
July 20, 2009
In these budget-crisis days, when California citizens showing true public spirit are thin on the ground, I propose a tip of the hat to Gerald L. Parsky.
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It's time to close a big tax loophole for businesses
July 13, 2009
Of all the ways in which California residents have slit their fiscal throats over the last 30 years, surely the most inexplicable is the bestowal of a gaping tax loophole on commercial and industrial property owners.
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Mercury General using guise of benevolence to assault Prop. 103
July 2, 2009
The art of setting automobile insurance rates is incomprehensible to most of us civilians. Liability coverage, comprehensive insurance, assigned risk pools, discounts, surcharges . . . the list goes on. Just try to figure out how your carrier arrived at the figure at the bottom of your itemized bill -- I know nuclear physicists who can't do that math.
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A California tax on oil drilling? Why not?
June 15, 2009
The most persistent misconception about Californians is that we hate to raise taxes. The truth is that we adore raising taxes -- as long as someone else is paying, that is.
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Credit card companies as evil villains? It's not that simple
May 4, 2009
Is there any business in the United States more vilified than credit card lending?
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Apple's condition linked to Steve Jobs' health
January 5, 2009
Some important questions can't be asked without sounding crass and insensitive. But there's no way around asking this one that's on everybody's mind, so here goes:
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