Timm Herdt of the Ventura County Star does an excellent column on how redevelopment cuts across traditional partisan lines. I still say we have the social justice opportunity of the century! Related “Herdt: On Taxes, Redevelopment and Teamwork” by Timm Herdt […]
Howard Ahmanson
Cal-EITC and Gasoline Tax
I don’t know whether the state can afford it at the moment, but a Cal-EITC would be a good and civilized thing to have. If we institute a higher gasoline or carbon tax, especially, which I do advocate, common decency […]
CA Special Election
Mimi Walters is doing a commendable thing standing up against the no tax ever ever Republicans but using the Republicans’ leverage to have a public vote on public sector pensions, to install for future public employees a “defined contribution” plan […]
OASDI Taxes Are Also Unconstitutional
If this court is right, OASDI taxes are also unconstitutional. If it is upheld, I will so interpret. And the payroll tax is far more ‘regressive’ than the income tax. On the other hand, I am fine if we want […]
What Do Words Really Mean to our Contemporaries?
Not long ago I was at church and we happened to sing a well known song called “Power in the Blood.” Here are a couple of lines from it: Would you be free from your passion and pride? There’s power […]
I Like Some Taxes Less Than Others, Notes on the California Situation
Originally the Republicans were going to be totally obstructive and try to keep the necessary ballot initiatives for the special election regarding taxes from going to the public at all. Now Mimi Walters, who had been the Republican candidate for […]
San Francisco Leaders Defend Redevelopment Agencies
I would like to see all the local government leaders involved in trying to defend redevelopment to lose their re-election campaigns, whenever they may be. Except who has a vested interest enough who could afford to support such an effort? […]
Chinese Parenting, Part II: Why Chinese Mothers are Superior
Here is David Brooks defending the upper middle class American approach to parenting. He declares that Amy Chua sheltered her daughters from the kind of social interactions that teach us how to deal with people in the real world. In […]
Chinese Parenting, Part I: Why Chinese Mothers are Superior
This article is not only interesting for its own sake, but because it illustrates a cultural division that has been raging in mixed Asian-Anglo communities such as Irvine, California. There are not separate school systems, but there are “Asian” churches […]
Inflation
Michael Brendan Dougherty says that the Fed has, under Bernanke, pursued an expansionist philosophy of letting asset prices rise and never trying to limit or deflate “bubbles.” This is a different one than it followed in the Paul Volcker era, […]