ca-population-taxes-spending

What it Means to be a Donor State

Is it accurate to describe the federal funding California gets as California’s own money? Would the U.S. be poorer and weaker without California? Does California’s economy prop up red states? Is California one of the states least reliant on the federal government?

The short answer to all these questions is yes. But it’s pretty hard to win a debate with just one data point.

LA Fire Dept fights Palisades Fire

Connecting California: Did the L.A. Fires Start in D.C?

Joe Mathews: The flames that leveled Pacific Palisades and Malibu are believed to have started in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, managed by the National Park Service. (That’s you!).

The blaze that turned Altadena to ash burned through the Angeles National Forest, managed by the U.S. Forest Service, which is part of the United States (you again!) Department of Agriculture.

Photo credit: Ken Lund via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0

Democracy Local: How to Achieve Local Autonomy

Fully 68% of Californians believe that California would be better off if California negotiated a special autonomous status within the U.S., according to a poll that my think tank, the Independent California Institute, commissioned from YouGov earlier this year…. Why might Californians want more independence from the federal government?