The SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE had a good editorial on 5/30/17 (see the bottom of this commentary), excoriating politicians for ignoring practical private market housing alternatives (such as “granny flats”) in favor of uber-expensive taxpayer-subsidized housing which meets only a tiny fraction of the low income housing need. The editorial correctly highlights some building innovations that offer low income folks small but quality homes for relatively low cost. Perhaps most intriguing is the 3D printer homes prefabbed in 24 yours for as little as $10,000 apiece.

But the editorial fails to consider WHY our politicos so quickly dismiss these amazing “shovel ready” alternatives. The reason is that the labor unions (and their union construction firms) profit greatly from “affordable housing” — housing that can cost double what private apartments would cost and is FAR more expensive than these new housing options (built with nonunion labor). These construction unions partner with their powerful public employee labor unions on policy issues, resulting in the election of local politicians bought and paid for by (or afraid of) these… Read More

Apparently feckless, neutered police are also impacting the safety and security in the United Kingdom, and not just on California college campuses. The horrific Manchester bombing at the Arianna Grande concert Monday evening, which killed at least 22 and injured more than 150, might have been prevented if politically correct fecklessness within government wasn’t so rampant.

Adding to the fecklessness and politics,LondonMayor Sadiq Khan said terrorism is “part and parcel” of urban life.

…Good to know given that I live in California, where our officials… Read More

It’s no surprise that the AFL-CIO would put out an annual CEO compensation survey using ridiculously absurd, cherrypicked figures and dishonest assumptions. What is sad is that the lapdog MSM will report this “survey” annually as factual — not seeking dissenting viewpoints.

The result is more a reflection of the MSM liberal bias (and laziness) than a condemnation of the AFL-CIO. After all, the unions are EXPECTED to rig the figures to make their point.

If you are not subscribing to Economics Professor Mark Perry’s blog (his free daily email) you SHOULD be. He does terrific work. Below in this post he totally debunks the AFL-CIO survey. The union’s dishonesty is breathtaking.

Here’s the link to subscribe to his daily email: http://feeds.feedburner.com/aei-ideas/posts

***… Read More

California’s already overburdened taxpayers are, once again, being blamed for being the problem, now that Gov. Jerry Brown has labeled those who object to his new $5.2 billion gas and car tax as “freeloaders.”

Taxpayers have become accustomed to being insulted by those who want more of their money. A few years back, Barbara Kerr, then-president of the California Teachers Association, said taxpayers who opposed new taxes were “cheap.” This was the same view echoed by high-tech billionaires who financed the successful effort to make it easier to impose new property taxes to pay for school bonds. (It should be noted that billionaires are often insensitive to new taxes that mean little to them, but which can require a significant sacrifice to average California families.)

Californians are already struggling with a heavy tax burden. We rank first in state sales tax and marginal income tax rates and, when adding in the carbon tax, our gas tax is already the highest — and it is about to go much higher. Even with Proposition 13, the per capita property tax burden in the state ranks in the top 20.

It should come as no surprise that average folks find… Read More

Gun control advocates cite the total number of U.S. deaths from gunshots in their literature. Fair enough. But they cultivate the image that these are deaths resulting from one person shooting another, intentionally or by accident. That’s not right.

It turns out that 63% of U.S. gun deaths are suicides. According to Wikipedia, in 2013 there were“33,636 deaths due to “injury by firearms” (10.6 deaths per 100,000 U.S. citizens).[4]These deaths consisted of 11,208 homicides,[5]21,175 suicides,[4]505 deaths due to accidental or negligent discharge of a firearm, and 281 deaths due to firearms… Read More

My wife Diane and I had a spirited debate about whether or not I should write this piece. Only when I ASSURED her that our co-conspirators names’ would be redacted and no faint electronic trail would remain did she reluctantly agree to allow me to proceed (in case anyone wants to know who REALLY rules the roost in my house).

Brace yourselves.

In April onextremelyshort notice we held a clandestine meeting in our home. Diane invited a VERY small number of neighborhood Republican couples to come over for a “wine and cheese” celebration of Neil Gorsuch making it to the U.S. Supreme Court. He was scheduled to be sworn in the next day.

Only two other couples could make it. Well, DECIDED to make it.

While we had them come to our front door in the normal fashion, there was no outward indication of the purpose of our meeting. No one sported “Trump” bumperstickers. They left their “deplorable” attire at home. By all outward appearances, it was just an informal gathering of friends. Little did my neighbors know . . . .

I had not met one of the couples.… Read More

By: Assemblyman Phillip Chen (R-Brea) and Assemblyman Matthew Harper (R-Huntington Beach)

California is in a housing crisis. Simply put, the prices of homes are very high compared to individual salaries.

The current homeowner’s exemption in California is $7,000. This is taken off the value of a homeowner’s primary residence, amounting to $70 annually off your property tax bill, or one percent.

The homeowner’s exemption hasn’t been increased in 40 years. The last time the exemption changed was in 1974, Ronald Reagan was still Governor of California, Mohammed Ali had just knocked out George Foreman to regain the Heavyweight Boxing title, Apple Computer and Microsoft had yet to be founded, and the median home price in the Golden State was $21,000.

A lot has changed since then. … Read More

California natives (and long time residents — DE FACTO “natives”) have no idea how and WHY housing in other states is far less expensive than in the Golden State. Indeed, many don’t even grasp the magnitude of the price gap. When it comes to the price gap, I’m here to help.

Many folks love (or HATE) to compare California with Texas. Let’s start there with home prices.

According to Zillow, here’s the median price of homes as of March, 2017:

Hence CA homes are roughly TRIPLE the cost of Texas homes. And consider this — there are 18 states with median home prices lower than Texas!

https://www.zillow.com/research/data/

Let’s look at the big picture. The CA median home price is 151% higher than… Read More