Gov. Jerry Brown has formally proposed a $7-billion-a-year increase in sales and income taxes to close the state’s chronic budget deficit.
Whether it will be the only tax increase on the November ballot is uncertain. Several others are in the works, and if they reach the ballot as well, voter confusion could doom all. But assuming that Brown’s stands alone, how would the campaign shape up?
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By:
Ed Reiskin
12/08/11 11:33 PM
I want to thank The San Francisco Examiner editorial page for the consistent attention it’s paying to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
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By:
Marc Intermaggio
12/07/11 10:00 PM
Ranked-choice voting is rank. This exotic electoral experiment utterly failed to fulfill the most fundamental purpose of a democracy — majority rule. The effort to prevent costly runoffs produced the unintended consequence of disenfranchising tens of thousands of local voters — and discouraging even more from participating in the complex process. A very small number of San Franciscans ended up electing our municipal officials and deciding important measures in November’s election.
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California’s population increased by 10 percent between 2000 and 2010 but the number of Californians living in poverty grew more than three times as fast, a new U.S. Census Bureau report reveals.
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By:
George Landrith
12/02/11 12:25 AM
‘Net neutrality,” which supporters say will keep the Internet free, is actually a plan making it more expensive for many of us. One of the biggest drivers of Net neutrality has been Google, the Internet behemoth. Its goal is to keep its own operational costs lower by trying to make Internet usage more costly for others.
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By:
Steve Falk
11/30/11 8:37 PM
Nationwide, Americans are angry about the economy, unemployment and economic inequality. The Occupy demonstrations in New York, San Francisco and many other cities have spotlighted these concerns and sparked heated dialogue about the many economic and social challenges facing our cities and our nation. Such discussion and debate is warranted. But Occupy San Francisco has become too expansive, dangerous and damaging to continue in its current form.
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It’s difficult to divine exactly what the Occupy demonstrators in California cities and on university campuses are protesting.The former appear to be denouncing the greed of the “1 percent” — those with the highest incomes — while the latter are opposing fee increases that university boards are imposing to compensate for reductions in state appropriations.
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Jose Pimentel decided to become an Islamic extremist, taking online lessons from al-Qaida on how to make war on the West. On Nov. 19, he was arrested for allegedly plotting a string of terrorist attacks in New York. His weapon of choice was the terrorist’s friend, an improvised explosive device.
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By:
Paul Howard
11/28/11 11:27 PM
Pundits have been weighing in on Big Pharma’s innovation drought for years, but recently Silicon Valley gurus like Intel’s Andy Grove and Microsoft’s Bill Gates have gotten into the act.Gates’ interest stems from his support for the Gates Foundation, which has made a tremendous commitment to vaccine development for “neglected” diseases in the developing world, like malaria.
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The failed deficit-reduction supercommittee was a gimmick designed to help Congress force itself to do something it did not want to do. It was the parliamentary version of the chronic straggler who sets his watch 10 minutes ahead in an effort to improve his punctuality. If you have ever tried this, it doesn’t work. And were it possible to achieve virtue through self-deception, our politicians would all be philosopher kings.
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