by jpitney | Jun 30, 2025 | California Politics, Democracy, Polarization
Mark Z. Barabak at LAT: Democrats may be California’s majority party, enjoying a sizable registration advantage. They hold 60 of 80 seats in the Assembly and 30 of 40 in the state Senate. But the state has nearly 6 million registered Republicans. There are doubtless...
by jpitney | Jun 29, 2025 | Debt, Economic Policy
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) just published their “current policy” score of the Senate reconciliation bill, showing the bill would add about $500 billion less to the deficit than extending all the expiring 2017 tax...
by jpitney | Jun 28, 2025 | Public Service, Violence
Anna Liss-Roy at WP (h/t George Van Cleve): Abusive messages, fear of physical violence and violations of privacy are the cost of elected office in the United States in 2025, according to nine Gen Z and millennial state lawmakers interviewed by The Washington Post....
by jpitney | Jun 27, 2025 | California Politics
Dan Walters at CalMatters: [All] of the versions of the budget, including the semi-final one unveiled this week, would fill the gaps for another year with payment deferrals, loans, accounting gimmicks and raids on reserves meant to cushion the effects of genuine...
by jpitney | Jun 26, 2025 | Economic Policy, Trade
Phil Gramm and Donald Boudreaux at WSJ: Because steel and aluminum are crucial in manufacturing, anything close to a 50% tariff will drive up the cost of U.S. manufactured products dramatically. That will harm consumers, make U.S. manufactured products far less...
