Raise the minimum wage! To $10, $12, $15 — more!

Help the downtrodden fast food worker. It all comes out of corporate profits, and so who cares? What could be more fair?

Two problems: 1. Economic reality. 2. Technology.

Dramatically raising wages (coupled with all the ancillary costs of labor) is a huge incentive to replace labor with machines. Below is a highly sophisticated coffee dispensing kiosk (not yet in commercial production) that is potentially thecompletereplacement for a Starbucks store. It’s a highly specialized, heavily customized “coffee shop” with next to ZERO labor.

Don’t get me wrong. For years to come, many clueless liberals will still pay $5 or more for their handmade coffee at Starbucks. Saving the world, one cup of java at a time.

But if (more likewhen) this technology innovation wave is fully commercialized, market forces (and lower prices) will have a devastating effect on unskilled fast food labor. Unemployment will grow, with fewer and fewer able to get even… Read More

Having faith in freedom, Igor Birman is hoping voters “hire” him for Congress. “I’m here on a job interview asking you to hire me,” Birman tells voters he meets.

Birman, a Russian Jewish Immigrant and Republican, announced in September he is running for Congress against Rep. Ami Bera, a Democrat from Congressional District 7. At 32, Birman has a unique ability to reach young and ethnic voters who historically have been wooed by Democrats. At a Sacramento coffee shop, he sat down to talk to me.

“I was defined by freedom,” Birman said when we met this week. “But that freedom now… Read More

Republicans are on journey to prove to Californians that Republicans can win the minds and hearts of Latino voters.

Recent elections prove it’s possible. Take Andy Vidak, who won a state senate seat in a 60 percent Hispanic district, by talking about the needs of the community and finding common ground with Latino voters registered in a different party.

Another role model is David Valadao in the 21st Congressional District, who showed up, became part of his Latino community and talked about his principles.

He too was able to win his district with Latino support. That’s what the party has to do on a large scale.

In order to grow our party, we have to go where we haven’t been and talk to voters who haven’t heard from us. And the RNC has pledged to do just that.

The RNC is investing in resources and staff to strengthen opportunities to reach new voters. In California, the RNC hired a Hispanic state director to build a grassroots infrastructure, expand our electorate, engage with people at community events, and strengthen our ties with Hispanic Republicans.

The RNC’s efforts to engage directly with the Hispanic community are… Read More

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Richard Nixon, in a moment of wisdom many will find incongruous, is reported to have observed, “When you’ve said something so many times you can’t stand the sound of your own voice saying it, that’s when people hear you for the first time.” We’ve come to that point with President Obama’s Common Core Standards (CCS), which I and many others have been criticizing for several years to an uninterested bipartisan audience. The criticism may make an impression now, however, because the you-know-what is hitting the fan in every California school district, and the story is the same in the other 44 states that bought into CSS. The implications for the California GOP become clear when the facts are reviewed.

The Common Core Academic Standards were forced on the states (arguably in violation of the Tenth Amendment) when money was promised via Obama’s signature education initiative, Race to the Top (RTTT), if the states purchased the standards. One fly in the ointment (the first of many) is that the RTTT money doesn’t begin to cover the cost of the standards, and is not supposed to be used for that purpose anyway. That cost is $10 billion nationwide. The… Read More

At the end of September, Assembly Bill 8 was signed by Governor Brown and became law. This is horrible news for taxpayers because California motorists will now be paying $2.3 billion in additional taxes and charges. Adding insult to injury, taxpayers will find their hard earned dollars being used to subsidize programs such as the purchase of all electric cars, like the Tesla that, even with the taxpayer provided discount, can be afforded only by a handful of wealthy individuals. Money will also be lavished on the hydrogen network designed to service vehicles of which, about 250 currently exist.

The bill for ordinary California drivers may not be immediately noticeable because these “surcharges” are buried in vehicle registration and charges for the disposal of tires and other auto services. But they are there nonetheless and, like a death by a thousand cuts, working class Californians are paying for questionable programs that citizens in other states simply don’t have to suffer.

With all the burdens Sacramento imposes on taxpayers – we already have the highest state sales in all 50 states, the highest marginal income tax rate and the highest gas tax –… Read More

Some passing thoughts on the political scene…

IDIOT OF THE WEEK: Francine Godoy is the former Deputy Chief of Staff to Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar. She has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against her former boss. Huizar’s spokesman released a statement saying that allegations by Godoy are, “absolutely false and malicious.” — His version of facts? I wasn’t harassing her, I was having an affair with her! This guy has been hanging out too long with Anthony Villaraigosa. Huizar: Idiot. __

The fact that former Assemblyman and former Republican Nathan Fletcher has been revealed as a political quisling is a source of great personal angst for me, as he has been a friend for many years. When I read the questionnaire he filled out when seeking the San Diego Labor Council endorsement I got physically ill. When I… Read More

It’s over…….for now.

The mainstream media (MSM) would have you believe that this was a “bipartisan agreement”. It was…..in the same way that Lee and Grant reached an agreement at the Appomattox Courthouse in 1865. It was a complete surrender on the part of Republicans. All that was “negotiated” were the terms of that surrender.

President Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi got what they wanted. They employed an admittedly risky strategy a month ago centered on the basis that they would not negotiate, not compromise and not talk. Taking this position and holding it meant that it was certain the country was going to go close to “the brink” of the debt ceiling. Boehner repeatedly said that “default” was not an option. The Democrat troika never said that. They were willing to risk the future of this nation in pursuit of their socialist dreams. Their strategy left only two possible outcomes: Republican surrender or we find out what happens if a modern government runs out of money. They got the former.

The battle is lost. But, the war is far from over. The nature and timing of future battles… Read More

For most individuals, California’s expensive home prices are a far bigger problem than our highly progressive tax structure. For the really well-to-do who carry most of the CA income tax load, housing costs are a secondary problem. But for the middle class, it can be a dream killer.

Below is a key excerpt from a current, informative article comparing the affordability of homes for the middle class in 100 national markets — recently summarized in a U-T article I can’t replicate here. Not surprisingly, California ranks poorly. We have the worst local market in the nation by far (San Francisco). But we also have the 2nd(Orange County), 3rd(Los Angeles), 5th(my San Diego), 6th(San Jose), and 7th(Ventura County) worst housing markets.

What makes theses homes so expensive is the subject of another post. But suffice it to say that intense government opposition to housing (reflected in VERY limited available land), massive housing “fees” and environmental regulatory and litigation madness make California housing anything but a free market.

What makes this housing survey particularly… Read More