Cato Institute argues that professional sports live in an environment of "false scarcity"-- the economic benefits of of which accrue to the wealthy sports team owners, while the rest of us pay the many unseen costs for fear of hypothetical lost benefits.
Read MoreIt didn't have to be this way. Citizens Against Government Waste unpacks how changing tax laws and unseemly competition between cities led to the stadium-subsidy free-for-all which has cost taxpayers billions, while team owners get richer.
Read MoreSharks' new deal with city with SJ is part of a generational wave of sports venue upgrades about incur billions on unhappy U.S. municipalities. Reason magazine explains.
Read MoreEdward Ring of California Policy Center certainly thinks so, in the third installment of our Silicon Valley affordability perspectives series. He believes local gov’t could trim hundreds of thousands of dollars (!) off each housing unit this way—encouraging homebuilding and cost-effective living. Ring elaborates, below, in this Opp Now exclusive.
Read MorePeter Coe Verbica, candidate for CA CD19, argues in an Open Letter to area Dems that Liccardo, Lofgren, Khanna, Panetta, et al., are breaking their oath of office by choosing to represent the national Dem party over California voters in the redistricting kerfuffle.
Read MoreCato’s Marc Joffe reveals California’s budget blues, where fiscal follies and terrible transit threaten residents. In Silicon Valley, San Jose’s public infrastructure creaks and groans, yet project budgets blow past expectations thanks to bloated bureaucracy. Local leaders can learn from it or be doomed to the same song and dance.
Read MoreGerman Lopez in the New York Times reports on San Francisco’s lenient stance on drugs, how it’s rooted in destigmatization, has doubled overdose deaths since 2018. Harm-reduction programs like GLIDE prioritize body autonomy over treatment. Locals face a sobering reality: tolerance is enabling tragedy.
Read MoreTest scores are falling, but teachers unions still want more money to shore up job security and pay all members equitably, regardless of results. So says former Santa Clara County Board of Education candidate Shane Lewis in an Opp Now exclusive Q&A. He argues the county should protect the schools from disruptive state policies, while teachers and schools could benefit from incentive pay and a focus on outcomes.
Read MoreIt's sometimes known as "the cruellest tax." Inflation--often caused by irresponsible fed gov't policies or local gov't policies that make it harder for businesses to start and survive--is regressive in the extreme, and disproportionately hammers the least fortunate. The World Economic Forum explains.
Read MoreMany products--especially if they're not a necessity nor a monopoly--have what is called elastic demand--which means that as prices go up, demand plummets, most clearly if substitutes are available. See airline tickets, restaurants, trendy clothing. Investopedia provides a primer.
Read MoreReform California sheds light on the labor unions’ skeevy stranglehold on politics, with hundreds of millions in forced dues funneled into campaigns. Moreover, environmental law is wielded like a weapon, hurting home development. Future homebuyers in Silicon Valley cities like San Jose struggle under steep prices as a result.
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