Local economics professors David Neumark and David Smith read the tea leaves on California's minimum wage increase (up by 50 cents to tally $16/hr), pointing out studies that connect mandated pay hikes with dirtier restaurants, pricier goods/services for locals, and tremendous job losses (perhaps up to 50,000). From ABC30 in Fresno.
Read MoreACA 1's proposal to lower California's two-thirds voter approval requirement down to 55% for “infrastructure” measures is controversial, many claiming it'd amplify crazy tax hikes and expensive gov't projects. KCRA News reports that State Senator Brian Jones—along with Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association head Jon Coupal—believes the measure would undermine taxpayer protections. Meanwhile, SJ City Council has greenlighted ACA 1 despite residents' Prop 13 concerns.
Read MoreCNBC reports that Google/Meta (and tech companies writ large) are downsizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs and have let go unprecedented numbers of DEI employees. Are Bay Area tech companies realizing that these “equity” job titles tend to be expensive, authoritarian, ineffective, and (yep) even racially discriminatory?
Read MoreIt's about time policymakers like SJ's “learn from the past” on housing, argues Manhattan Institute's Howard Husock in the Atlantic. He traces public housing's failures back to the early 1900s, when many neighborhoods were replaced by gov't-managed housing. The too-predictable result? Low-income/minority families were denied home ownership (and its financial benefits). Also, housing bureaucracies grew strict/unaccountable without market competition.
Read MoreLocal common-sense environmentalists have been saying this for years (especially since 2020's out-of-control wildfires): good forest management involves prescribed, monitored burns. These burns, as the Mercury News just acknowledged, prevent forests from being overpacked, thereby limiting wildfires' potential to spread and pollute the air. Below, Harvard's Applied Science school explains why controlled burns are helpful, especially in Northern CA.
Read MoreCato Institute's state policy expert Marc Joffe is dubious about Metropolitan Transportation Commission's slated $10-20 bn “affordable housing” bond. Due to the proposal's fuzzy verbage, it's unclear just how much taxpayers would fork over—and how many housing units would get produced (and when?). An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreMatthew Hargrove is president of California Business Properties Association, a prominent pro-taxpayer org fighting for Prop 13 rights via the courts and ballot box. In this Opp Now exclusive, he analyzes Prop 13's popularity among CA'ns, the tricky Upland loophole that the Taxpayer Protection Act (TPA) would close, and why he believes lowering the voting threshold via ACA 1 would exacerbate housing unaffordability.
Read MoreThis April, CA's big franchise fast food restaurants must start paying their workers minimum $20/hr. Reason magazine remarks that local cities should brace for messy consequences: on unemployment rates (did you know San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara already gained 8,000+ unemployed folks since January 2023?), prices for consumers, and companies relying on automated “workers.”
Read MoreGov. Newsom has a habit of repeating the falsehood of California's income tax being lower than Florida's and Texas's; so the Globe's Katy Grimes consulted the Tax Foundation, and sets the facts straight with data-based rankings (sorry, CA's at #1 for tax collections per capita) and a comparative map (still takes #1 with a 13.3% indiv income tax).
Read MoreHousing provider Dean Hotop takes a close look at the City's latest initiative to abate homelessness via sponsored RV parking spots. Getting down and dirty with the numbers, Hotop contends there are far more productive ways to turn taxpayer dollars into real (and lasting) change; and by funding yet another failed solution, gov’t props up its self-perpetuating Homeless Industrial Complex. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreYou didn't think we'd resist putting in our two cents, did you? (It's true: we can't help ourselves.) Below, Opportunity Now's editor Lauren Oliver, inaugural editor Simon Gilbert, and co-founders Christopher Escher and Jeffrey Cristina share the articles, podcasts, movies, and books that really resonated in 2023. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreContinuing our annual tradition of listing our most popular stories of the year, here’s #1 (first posted 6.13): Local progressive nonprofits added a new item to their ever-lengthening resume of ridiculous protest stunts on June 7, when for almost an hour they occupied the offices of the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors and threatened staff. SCCAOR's sin? Actually supporting an initiative—not approved by local housing nonprofits—that would provide quick, high-quality housing for our homeless neighbors. Opp Now co-founder Christopher Escher broke it down with SCCOAR's Gov't Affairs chief Gina Zari in this Opp Now exclusive.
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