In the article below, my friend Joel Fox expresses disappointment (but NOT surprise) that the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce has voted to support yetanothersales tax increase – in exchange for establishing a toothless commission to make government work better (and we all know how that’s gonna work out). Joel and I would have been surprised only if they had OPPOSED such a tax increase.

We should always remember that the major city Chamber of Commerce outfits are NOT controlled by businesses – nor are they run for the benefit of businesses involved in commerce. Nonprofit officials, government bureaucrats and even labor union reps sit on the boards — not to mention attorneys, lobbyists, government contractors and heavy construction firms.

And few on such boards work/own enterprises that collect sales tax. I once asked the San Diego C of C directors (about 40)“How many of your businesses/employers collect income taxes on a significant portion of your revenue?”

Six hands went up. There was actually a… Read More

Here’s a disturbing WALL ST JOURNAL editorial on a new tax grab out of Minnesota. It’s disturbing because — given the similar political affiliation and climate — I would expect that, if it’s found to be legal, then California, New York, Illinois and some other desperate high tax, union-controlled states might very well adopt similar strategies.

The idea is to gouge those evil retired snowbirds who leave the Minnesota for over 6 months a year, and hence are exempt from Minnesota’s high state income tax. The governor wants to levy the state income tax on anyone who is physically present in Minnesota over 60 days a year. Hoh boy!

To start with, guess who is responsible for proving that they DIDN’T live in Minnesota more than 60 days? Probably anyone who has any connection at all with the state. Heck, maybe everybody, PERIOD.

As the article below suggests only half in jest — perhaps one will need to put a GPS tracker in Grandma’s phone — or on her ankle! Regardless, the compliance required would be costly, time-consuming — and potentially dangerous.

And then,… Read More

Much has been written about the vast sums of money that Charles Munger, Jr. (and his sister, Molly, for that matter) have dumped into initiative campaigns in California. At the time that his major support of Prop. 32 became public, I tweeted my praise for it — Prop. 32 was a worthy cause, and it’s defeat most unfortunate. His efforts on behalf of some targeted general election candidates – admirable.

But I have not seen too much written about Charles’ quixotic quest to retool the California Republican Party in his own image — that of a moderate “anti-ideologue.” Munger dropped big bucks in the June and November elections, much of it going to fund candidates who he feels will reject no tax pledges, and embrace the political center. (The hundreds of thousands of dollars that Orange County Republicans had to devote to Munger’s broadside of an incumbent Republican Assemblyman who didn’t fit his “litmus test” in June likely cost us the Norby seat in November.) He… Read More

I read this week that Planned Parenthood was abandoning the pro-choice label for their pro-abortion position as “not descriptive” of their actual position. I have to agree, and the good news is that leaves the pro-choice label for real choices, made by individual in their own lives to direct their future, not for an event that is made by one individual for another. Hence, the title of this article, because liberty is about allowing people to direct their own lives. To this point in this set of articles, I have made broad brush statements about the importance of a liberty agenda for the future of the Republican Party in California. This article is going to break down that agenda into individual policy areas, specifically welfare, health care, and education.

To a Republican, these policy areas are the most difficult to approach from a pro-liberty perspective, and so most Republican officeholders and even a few think tanks and activists, get lost in the debates about how to address these issues.

First welfare–our current welfare system (and by welfare system, I mean all programs that address the less fortunate, whether they are in that position… Read More

Welcome to our fifth installment of our popular “Idiot Of The Week” feature. .

The FlashReport Idiot Of The Week Award is bestowed upon that pubic official (or high profile person engaged in politics or public policy) who does something completely idiotic. With a state as large as Californian, which seems to have a higher-than-average amount of folks who either don’t think about what they do — or even worse, they think about what they do and still act like idiots — we suffer from no shortage of potential award winners. As in previous columns, we start first with the runners-up in no particular order, and then onto the big prize. Oh yes, don’t be shy or timid in sending… Read More

One of the big mistakes most Republicans make is how to define who they are when it comes to economic growth, and the economy. The first thing out of most Republicans mouths is business and jobs. Wrong. If we are to reconnect with Joe Everyvoter, Republicans need to make it clear that they are pro-economic liberty, not pro-business. Business and jobs will come with economic liberty, but the principle is one of economic liberty, not business and jobs.

Why? Two basic reasons. First, even business owners are not pro-business. They are pro-their business, and anti-their competitors business. That means they are anti-their present competitors, and anti-any potential competitors. That is why a lot of businesses are not against more regulations, business licensing and sometimes higher taxes. Barriers to competition raise the cost of entering the marketplace, and limit the number of new entrants. I refer once again to Mises, who noted in his book, Planning For Freedom, that even monopolies are controlled by market forces, as long as those forces are not limited by government, because it is not just current participants in a market that limit price, but potential… Read More

Critics of the California High-Speed Rail often claim that deliberations and decisions of the Board of Directors and staff of theCalifornia High-Speed Rail Authoritybetray how “the entire process lacks public transparency and accountability.”

It does seem true that some important decisions about the high-speed rail project occur without public notice.

Any interested member of the public diligently scrutinizing board agendas and attending meetings of the Board of Directors would never know that all construction companies working on the first segment of the high-speed rail line from Madera through Fresno will be required tosign a Project Labor Agreement (disguised under the term “Community Benefits Agreement”) with… Read More

Strategy is the most alluring facet of corporate and political campaigns. Most politicos who manage to get on cable TV news programs take on the title of “strategist.” No one wants to be the “manager,” “organizer” or “communications director.” In politics, strategy is sexy.

And strategy is important. But campaigns and organizations put themselves at a disadvantage when they fail to equally value three other facets: organization, communications, and infrastructure. These components are necessary to move a strategy from theory to practice.

Organization is the structuring and population of groups of people and resources. Organization requires management, leadership, lines of authority, accountability, people, money, improvement cycles, and more. This doesn’t sound very cool in a Fox News interview, but it’s vital for being able to harness people and money and channel these resources into action.

Infrastructure is vital to supporting the organization, and generally falls into two parts: physical infrastructure, and technological infrastructure. Physical infrastructure means headquarters, meeting facilities, equipment, and… Read More