Politics

Throughout history, poverty, class and economic self-interest have driven radical political movements. The Bolsheviks harnessed the anger of impoverished workers and peasants  read more »

Ten thousand years from now, future archaeologists will be allowed back into the wasteland that was once known as California.  read more »

As with many political movements, MAGA represents a fragile coalition of groups that often have little in common — and, at the extremes, may even detest one another.  read more »

Over the last half-century, more restrictive urban planning policies have been associated with undermined housing affordability  read more »

French president Emmanuel Macron had an unusually good relationship with US president Donald Trump during the latter’s first term.  read more »

It’s easy to dismiss Donald Trump’s haphazard tariff barrage as silly and self-defeating, especially after so many days of global market turmoil. But critics among liberal Democrats and Republican free traders still need to address the overriding goal behind the seeming madness.  read more »

The late economist Milton Friedman famously declared that “nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.”  read more »

The Democrats are at a historic ebb and now is a good time to examine what the party believes in, who its main protagonists are and what their agenda is.  read more »

If you let the popularity of an idea – no matter how silly - dictate your stance, then you are not a very good elected official.  read more »

The second of two reported essays on the issues facing California. Read the first installment here.

California’s wide range of problems – including declining schools, widening inequality, rising housing prices, and a weak job market – show the urgent need for reform. The larger question is whether there is the will to change.  read more »