The failures of RM4 and Prop 5 notwithstanding, SJ Mayor Mahan voted (as a member of VTA board) to opt into Senate Bill 63, which aims to raise local taxes to help bail out our obsolete and spectacularly wasteful county transit system--especially when compared to emerging alternatives. SHIFT-Bay Area on Substack explains.
Read MoreWhat is the critical social justice movement actually trying to do in Bay Area schools? Why are its rhetorical strategies—albeit heavy-handed—so compelling? And do we fix education through admin, teachers, parents, or gov't (or all of the above)? An Opp Now exclusive interview with Ex-De Anza DEI Dean Dr. Tabia Lee and School of Woke's Kenny Xu. All parts consolidated, below.
Read MoreAt the end of the day, whether you’re a free marketeer or socialist, or somewhere else on the spectrum—cost of living matters. Like putting food on the table. Being able to pay rent, a mortgage. Running a business without gov’t running it into the ground. So we asked Opp Now contributors how the city/county can improve affordability—and Marc Joffe and Lance Christensen say it’s all about core services. An exclusive.
Read MoreThere are no physical differences between biological men and women. We need more “minorities” in colleges—unless they're Asian. When it comes to far-left DEI dogma in the Bay Area, the list only goes on. And viewpoint diversity advocates Dr. Tabia Lee and Kenny Xu think it's time we speak more freely—and honestly—about the ridiculousness. An Opp Now exclusive.
Read MoreHarvard Business Review examines how rewarding self-interest with economic incentives can backfire because they undermine what Adam Smith called the powerful "moral sentiments.” The enigmatic Scot was acknowledging the crucial role social interactions and the desire for approval play in shaping our moral behavior and social harmony.
Read MoreSanta Clara County leaders keep stacking “just a little more” onto the Sales tax rate—now eyeing a countywide health-care tax atop SB 63’s potential 0.5% transit levy. With flat population and a county budget that’s tripled since 2012, residents are paying more for the same potholes and emptier buses & trains.
Read MoreFrom the Wells Fargo new accounts scandal to the Sears Auto Center fake-repairs faceplant, business history is awash in clever incentive programs that backfired spectacularly. Incentivate takes a look at the Top 6 Screw-ups.
Read MoreSan Dieguito Academy's student newsletter explores how young adult books that romanticize and improperly portray toxic and abusive relationships do subtle harm on their impressionable audiences. Many YA romance books suggest that men are allowed to treat women however they want, whether the action is sexual or physical abuse. Bad ethics, bad writing, bad marketing.
Read MoreWhen ConAgra moved to Chicago, its CEO admitted it had nothing to do with the city’s incentives (although he took them anyway). On his academic blog, UT Austin Professor Nathan Jensen calls handouts like these, which Silicon Valley cities routinely give out, “redundant, expensive and ineffective.” Why, after all, should a company get $62 million just to move four miles?
Read MoreMost media choose to focus on the political ramifications of the Trump administration's new law 'n' order-tinged homelessness directives. But the excellent Calmatters (excerpted below) examines the real differences between status quo CA approaches to the unhoused and the direction of the new fed orders--especially when it comes to managing illegal encampments and drug usage & addiction.
Read MoreAlex Epstein at Energy Talking Points pins California’s disastrous wildfire strategy on resilience failures, not climate, and urges free market insurance to spur smarter prevention. This would prevent premium hikes from strangling homeowners in Silicon Valley cities like San Jose and Los Gatos on the edge of flammable hillsides.
Read MoreSchool of Woke's Kenny Xu and former local DEI Dean Dr. Tabia Lee believe that to reform universities like SJSU, individual instructors must take a stand against destructive ideologies—even, and especially, when tenure's at stake (as with Dr. Lee two years ago). An Opp Now exclusive Q&A.
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