Businesses across the U.S. panned California’s new consumer-privacy legislation, saying it risked far-reaching damage to everything from retailers’ customer-loyalty programs to data gathering by Silicon Valley tech giants. The bill, which was introduced one week before it was passed and was largely sold as a way to rein in big tech firms, sweeps up a […]
A far-reaching online privacy bill that got next-to-no vetting or legislative debate was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown last Thursday – the product of a quickly hammered-out agreement among state legislators, privacy advocates, tech firms and a real estate tycoon whose qualifying of an even more sweeping privacy measure for the November ballot […]
Many of California’s “green” policies may make matters worse. California, for example, does not encourage biomass energy use, though the state’s vast forested areas—some 33 million acres— could provide renewable energy and reduce the excessive emissions from wildfires caused by years of forest mismanagement. Similarly, California greens have been adamant in shutting down nuclear power […]
Gas power plants are mushrooming all over the country, with almost a 20 percent gas capacity gain of 90,000 megawatts from 2017–2020 alone. Bolstered by rising efficiency, the more that we have turned to natural gas, the more our CO2 emissions have plummeted. Our power emissions are now the lowest they have been since 1985. […]
Under these conditions, California cannot create a successful multi-cultural society. As environmentalist Michael Shellenberger has noted, the way the state applies its “green policies” has transformed California from “the most progressive state” to “the most racist.” Recently, a coalition of hundreds of veteran civil rights leaders sued CARB over selecting greenhouse gas reduction measures that […]
San Francisco restaurateurs have been preparing for the $15 mark and its corresponding fallout for four years. Despite the anticipation for what has finally arrived, many continue to struggle with finding a balance, because tactics such as adjusting service models, cutting staff and raising prices can only go so far. “It’s a catch-22. People need […]
The minimum wage in San Francisco increases to $15 an hour July 1 under a ballot measure approved by voters in 2014. San Francisco is the first major city in California to hit the magic $15 mark, but it won’t be the last. Two years ago, California lawmakers approved a plan to increase the state’s […]
It happened in Japan earlier this year when Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 4 suddenly became hard to find. A popular new game called “Monster Hunter: World” led to a surge of demand for the videogame machine. Engineers at Sony say the company couldn’t quickly make more because components ran short, especially the part called a multilayer […]
Five years ago, SolarCity ruled the rooftops. No other company in the fast-growing solar industry installed nearly as many panels on American homes. The pace of installation was accelerating quarter after quarter, leaving such rivals as Sunrun and Vivint far behind. Then electric auto manufacturer Tesla bought the company. Now, what once was SolarCity appears […]
Americans are burdened with about $1.4 trillion in student loan debt. One in four has a low wage job, which is by far the highest proportion of any advanced economy. Meanwhile, there are hundreds of thousands of open positions in the U.S. in fields like cybersecurity, cloud computing, computer programming, data science, tech support and […]
State regulators proposed sweeping changes in the allocation of California’s water Friday, leaving more water in Northern California’s major rivers to help ailing fish populations — and giving less to farming and human consumption. By limiting water sent to cities and farms and keeping more for fish, the proposal by the State Water Resources Control […]
American factory activity accelerated for the second straight month this summer, in part because manufacturers were scrambling to move goods ahead of threatened tariffs. The Institute for Supply Management on Monday said its manufacturing index rose to 60.2 in June from 58.7 in May. Numbers above 50 indicate activity is expanding across the manufacturing sector, […]
Hundreds of thousands of Americans started looking for jobs and employers added 213,000 to their payrolls last month, the Labor Department said Friday. Many of those job seekers were snapped up by employers while some were counted as unemployed while they sought out work, which helped push the jobless rate up to 4.0%, from an […]
The digital revolution relentlessly enables consumer products to become better, faster and cheaper. But environmental regulation has for decades been making household tasks more difficult, time-consuming and expensive. A new effort to rewrite some old rules suggests a consumer backlash may be brewing. “Make dishwashers great again. It should not take 2-3 hours to clean […]
In their quest for cash, municipalities across the nation are trampling individual rights and human dignity by imposing arbitrary and abusive fines on residents. In some cities, if you walk on the left side of the sidewalk rather than the right, you could be fined. BBQ in the front lawn? Face a fine. Have mismatched […]