Regular readers of this column know by now that I think Thomas Sowell is possibly the greatest American of the last century. It is hard to imagine an American with whom I have been more impressed over my lifetime. The fact that he wrote a fabulously enlightening book published at age 90 (he is now 91) is enough of a statement. Jason Riley (WSJ contributor) has released a biography of Sowell entitled Maverick. Riley’s book in its way is as great as any of Sowell’s 40+ books. Allow me to explain.

First, Riley writes the book in a readable fashion much like Sowell, even though both tackle complex subjects. Riley understands like Sowell (except for his pure economic treatises) that the reader needs to comprehend what he is writing; otherwise, the book is just an act of egotism. Additionally, despite writing about a person who has had a long, full life, Riley brings the book in at 248 pages. So many of those pages illicit a “wow” that there is extraordinarily little not totally fulfilling in this book.

You do learn of Sowell’s meager beginnings which he did not allow to color or taint his outlook. You also learn that while gathering his post high-school… Read More

I have not been a big fan of the recall election. I am friends with the people who are behind it, so I do not think they are doing a bad job. I think to win the first vote, the actual recall to move on to the second vote and determine Newsom’s replacement is a much higher hurdle than in 2003.

The main part of ousting Newsom successfully is the necessity of an attractive alternative to replace him. You cannot defeat someone without an attractive alternative. We now have that candidate once Larry Elder was cleared to be on the ballot. I now believe the recall can win.

When I heard Larry was running (we have been friends for 25 years and I am very fond of him), my initial reaction was what in God’s name is he thinking? He has become a nationally syndicated radio host, earns speaking fees, appears on national news shows, writes books and made a movie (the excellent Uncle Tom if you are not familiar). Many people would characterize Larry as a superstar.

That is why Dennis Prager has a standard offer regarding Larry. Prager will personally make a $10,000 donation to the charity of a person’s choice for any… Read More

In my previous discussions on the budget, I pointed out that the budget has numerous problems, and we haven’t even gotten to the details:

(1) The budget for the current and predictions for future year budgets are based on unstable revenue; (2) The spending increases in the current budget fix in spending patterns that are unsustainable in the future; and (3) The Legislature completely failed to comply with the budget deadlines, and in their tardiness, they didn’t fix the real problems in the budget.

We are now faced with a fake budget, enacted at a fake time, with fake revenue estimates. The time bomb is ticking. All of this might be excusable if the budget actually solved the state’s problems, but it doesn’t. It continues legislative priorities that don’t solve the real problems of the state of California. One of my observations during my time, as I saw the budgets take shape, was that Democrats always wanted to spend more on health, welfare, and education, and Republicans wanted to spend more on public safety and transportation. The compromise, when Republicans mattered, was to raise spending on… Read More

In my last two comments on the state budget, I pointed out: (1) the state budget is based on highly volatile and unstable revenue sources; and (2) the increase in spending in this budget will lead to significant negative future year budget impacts, that is, we are not far from a budget so unbalanced that it will make the budget crises of the past look like a walk in the park. We will then be told that tax increases are necessary to solve the budget problems, and that it would be “irresponsible” to enact the tax increases. As one of my colleagues noted in the budget crisis that occurred at the turn of the century, “we call them ‘tax and spend’ liberals, but they are really ‘spend and tax’ liberals.” First they spend everything they can put their hands on, then, when the budget collapses from the weight of their spending, they claim they have to raise taxes. Today is when the mistake of overspending occurs, tomorrow is when they use the “excuse” of a budget crisis to raise your taxes. Note this now, in one, two or three years, when the budget collapses, Republicans will be attacked for not… Read More

It has taken 72 years since the publication of the book 1984 for us to finally arrive at being led by President Orwell. He has been sending out his shock troops to convince Americans not to believe their own eyes and ears and blame Republicans for defunding the police and surging crime. They are truly shock troops because Americans are dazed and confused by the bewildering arguments that blame Republicans. Only the most desperate Democrats are adopting this line. I am here to tell you as bad as the lawlessness being unleashed on Americans by Democrat mayors and district attorneys it can and will most likely get even worse.

The trashing of our laws to allow criminals to walk out of stores with hundreds of dollars of goods without legal recourse or allowing violent criminals out after arrest without bail to further their personal crime wave, bafflingly can get even worse. We know that because it is going on in France.

Kobili Traore was an immigrant from Mali who obtained French citizenship. He had been arrested and sentenced by French courts 20 times for violent assaults. His only known means of support was as a drug dealer. Despite that the French government made… Read More

Last week, I wrote that there is no budget surplus, as our Arrogant Lazy Authoritarian (ALAIC) Gavin Newsom said when he signed “the budget” last week. The first rule of government budgeting is to never spend nonrecurring funds on recurring expenses, yet that is exactly what ALAIC Newsom, and his minions in the State Legislature, are doing with what little of the budget they have enacted to this point. ALAIC Newsom is promising to pay rent, utilities, and tons of other of the personal expenses of millions of Californians using borrowed federal money, federal money that will not be there next year.

But, when you are facing a recall like ALAIC Newsom is, what better way to win than to bribe voters to make them forget that it was the orders of ALAIC Newsom that cost them their jobs in the first place. Two things happens with such a bribe: (1) Voters get a short term benefit because they avoid the immediate consequence of the ill-conceived government policy; and (2) the long term effects of the disastrous policy get passed off to someone else. The looming disaster gets covered over by the propaganda puppets in the mainstream media, who dutifully report ALAIC… Read More

There is a fable that has been created in our society over the last 50 years. That fable is you will not succeed in America unless you have a college degree. It is so much so that students (and their families) have driven themselves into $1.4 trillion of debt. The Democrats want to make college free (Yes – “free”) while we (the nation) absorb the existing debt. Fortunately, many major employers, in part driven by the pandemic, have realized that not all their employees need degrees. In fact, it is harming their employment goals.

Not only have larger employers used a college degree as a distinguishing aspect in their hiring practices, but so have many medium and smaller sized employers. One of the reasons it is a demarcation on a resume is because it can be. In today’s legalistic world of hiring, employers can maintain employees’ college degrees as a characteristic to stratify employees. Mindlessly or not.

Research for this column noted that many employers felt a college degree confirms a higher level of verbal and writing skills. That is fascinating because most employers I know think the current college graduates (except for possibly ones with… Read More

I support the recall, but I have a warning. The one thing I learned from our 2003 recall experience is that the Democrats who control the Legislature, and their allies in the press, will blame Republicans for everything that occurs post recall, even if the seeds of the destruction were sown by the Democrats prior to the recall. By the end of his term, Governor Schwarzenegger and the Republicans were successfully blamed for the failings of the state government that were rooted in the mistakes of Gray Davis. If we actually do succeed at the recall, and are not careful post recall, the same thing will happen again.

I say this because the economic collapse of the California State Government is now, in my opinion, unavoidable, and, if the recall succeeds, Democrats will do all they can to avoid responsibility for their failings, and blame the impending collapse on the new Governor. If the new Governor acts like Schwarzenegger, and, like him, lacks the fortitude to stand up to the Democrats, that new Governor will get the blame for the collapse. That is the lesson of the 2003 recall. Simply winning the recall doesn’t fix a thing. The policy disputes that will… Read More