Where does all the school money go?
Where does all the school money go?

Spending goes up. Test scores go down. California's attempts to track what happens in the bottomless pit of education management gets a harsh review from the San Jose Mercury News editorial board.

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Simon Gilbert
Market's reliance on "creative destruction" is another way of saying "progress" and "everybody getting richer."
Market's reliance on "creative destruction" is another way of saying "progress" and "everybody getting richer."

Atari goes bust. Netscape tanks. The Newton wouldn't sell. Is it such a bad thing? Deidre McCloskey explores the upside of free-market competition in her review of Capitalism in America, by Alan Greenspan and Adrian Woolridge, in the Claremont Review of Books.

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Simon Gilbert
San Jose, Santa Clara County say No to Woke in Election
San Jose, Santa Clara County say No to Woke in Election

If all you did was read the Merc and the local online news sites, you'd think that Santa Clara County resembled an undergraduate seminar at Oberlin on Critical Social Justice Theory: a hotbed of far left identity politics. Friend of Opportunity Now and senior in Political Science at UC Berkeley Susie Murillo offers a thoughtful take on election results.

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Simon Gilbert
High Density or Low Density? Understanding how we got into our housing crisis (part 1 of 3)
High Density or Low Density? Understanding how we got into our housing crisis (part 1 of 3)

San Jose and surrounding communities muddle through another election cycle talking about housing affordability but offering nothing substantial to fix the problem. Randal O'Toole of the Thoreau Institute explores the historical roots of the current mess in Santa Clara County in this exclusive three-part series for Opportunity Now.

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Simon Gilbert
How Smart Growth and higher density policies made San Jose housing less affordable. (part 2 of 3)
How Smart Growth and higher density policies made San Jose housing less affordable. (part 2 of 3)

Contrary to urban planners' promises, growth boundaries and the push for greater densities ended up making local housing more expensive and lowered tax revenues. Randal O'Toole explains in the second of his three-part exclusive to Opportunity Now.

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Simon Gilbert
The first steps toward fixing the housing crisis (part 3 of 3)
The first steps toward fixing the housing crisis (part 3 of 3)

In the final segment of his three-part analysis of Santa Clara County's housing crisis, Randal O'Toole of the Thoreau Institutes outlines how to start undoing the failed policies of the past that led to the current affordability debacle, with an eye toward increasing tax revenues as well.

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Simon Gilbert
The big management lessons from the SVO's implosion
The big management lessons from the SVO's implosion

What to learn from the SVO's collapse under charges of racist campaign advertising? Opp Now co-founder and ex-SVO PAC member Christopher Escher takes a look at how bad business practices may have contributed to the debacle.

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Simon Gilbert
SJPD arrests 176 during Floyd protests; Santa Clara DA prosecutes just 6
SJPD arrests 176 during Floyd protests; Santa Clara DA prosecutes just 6

DA dismisses almost all protester charges, consistent with the social justice goals of other progressive DAs, including Portland and around the country. Mark Lisheron's exclusive investigation for Opportunity Now.

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Special ReportsSimon Gilbert
Heeding the call for more civil political discourse
Heeding the call for more civil political discourse

If you are noticing that San Jose City Council Zoom meetings have exhibited a decreasing level of fair-minded and polite discourse, you are not alone. The 9.15 meeting featured a surprising rant (below) and we offer up Barack Obama's call for a more civil discourse as a counterpoint.

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Simon Gilbert
The same old, same old California suicide
The same old, same old California suicide

Many Californians wonder why taxes go up and services go down. The state suffers the same problems time and time again, yet does anything ever change? Victor Davis Hanson writes mournfully for the National Review.

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Simon Gilbert
Mandatory high school ethnic studies classes in California criticized as hypocritical
Mandatory high school ethnic studies classes in California criticized as hypocritical

Local and statewide Jewish groups banded together last month and wrote Governor Gavin Newsom a letter, asking him to veto a bill that would make ethnic studies a requirement in high school. He didn't. Evan V. Symon for the California Globe explores the issue.

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Simon Gilbert
Other examples of leftist violence and intimidation
Other examples of leftist violence and intimidation

The vandalism and arson associated with some of San Jose's recent demonstrations resembles similar activities in other cities around the country. The Washington Free Beacon reports.

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Simon Gilbert