Denise Kalm’s Right on the Left Coast analyzes California’s $20 fast-food minimum wage that was meant to help workers, but has spiked prices and axed over 10k jobs instead. In Silicon Valley, costs are high, automation is at the forefront of innovators’ minds, and job scarcity worries workers; it begets the question: Is this policy progress or a recipe for disaster? If it's the latter, Bay Area burger joints might soon be staffed by bots, not teens.
The Daily Caller’s associate editor Nick Pope reveals how a dubious Ivy League paper, backed by activist cash, swayed policy despite contradicting robust DOE research. Cornell’s Robert Howarth’s un-peer-reviewed study, claiming LNG exports outpollute coal, sparked Biden’s LNG terminal approval freeze, evoking Silicon Valley’s energy debates. Bay Area innovators want reliable energy for tech growth, so this discovery might stir up some change.
When local gov’t makes huge energy mandates—looking at you, Bay Area Air Quality Mgmt District—it’s renters and homeowners who get stuck with the bill. What’s more, “renewable” goods aren’t always ethical—or, um, good for the environment. Opp Now contributors Denise Kalm and Sandra Delvin analyze boosting affordability in the Valley in this exclusive.
Small businesses are particularly damaged by lesser-known, often obscured local gov't revenue grabs that erode profits and stymie growth. Tax consultants Herbein+Company explain.
Right now, CA law says that any tax measure on the ballot must clearly state the tax rate, how long it will be in effect, and how much money it will generate. CA Assembly Bill 699 would undo those requirements, making it easier to pass tax measures that sound great on the surface but hit your wallet later. John Moorlack of CA Policy Center explains.
Far-left publication Dissent does a smart, fair-minded takedown of how governments create tax loopholes that reward the wealthy, furthering an inequitable and obscure tax system that nobody really understands. And makes everybody (except the top .001%) poorer. From a book review of The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens, by Gabriel Zucman
Rocket Chat’s guide to citizen engagement spotlights Vallejo’s gutsy budget-voting changes and LA’s community feedback app. Democracy does better when the grassroots get more involved. Local leaders in cities in Silicon Valley (after ignoring citizen feedback on downtown digital billboards, for example) stand to learn a thing or two from their California colleagues.
The failures of RM4 and Prop 5 notwithstanding, SJ Mayor Mahan voted (as a member of VTA board) to opt into Senate Bill 63, which aims to raise local taxes to help bail out our obsolete and spectacularly wasteful county transit system--especially when compared to emerging alternatives. SHIFT-Bay Area on Substack explains.
What is the critical social justice movement actually trying to do in Bay Area schools? Why are its rhetorical strategies—albeit heavy-handed—so compelling? And do we fix education through admin, teachers, parents, or gov't (or all of the above)? An Opp Now exclusive interview with Ex-De Anza DEI Dean Dr. Tabia Lee and School of Woke's Kenny Xu. All parts consolidated, below.
