Who Will Protect the Global Economy From California?

The Urge to Get Rich Quick Makes the Golden State a Threat to the World

Don’t bank on California, especially when banks are involved.

Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse is widely discussed as a harbinger of the future, a sign of problems and disruptions in the technology businesses that were its best customers. But this bank failure, the second largest in U.S. history, actually fits a very old pattern—of California and its industries putting the economies of the nation and the world at risk.

Our state’s history of precipitating economic crisis is singular, and rooted in the same California characteristic that so often makes us successful. We aren’t …

More In: Connecting California

Is San Diego America’s Finest College Town? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Is San Diego America’s Finest College Town?

SDSU and UCSD Are on the Rise, and They’re Bringing Their City up With Them

Who needs ivy-covered walls, Palo Alto farms, or Telegraph Hill when you could study in America’s Finest College Town?

That’s the thinking of more California kids in the 21st century. Led …

California, Keep Your Schools Open. No Matter What

Floods, Fires, Strikes, and More Cause Closures—And Students Are Hurting

We may have very good reasons to close our local K-to-12 schools for a day or two, or even for a week.

But we should keep them open anyway.

That’s because, in …

Why California and I Both Need a Jubilee

The Golden State (and Your Columnist) Should Embrace the Biblical Tradition of a Reset Every 50 Years

Ye shall hallow the 50th year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every …

Arnold Schwarzenegger, right, dressed in a suit, stares intensely at a robot, left, from the Terminator movies.

In California Politics, You Must Find Your Inner Terminator

Your Winning Initiative Requires More Sequels Than Governor Schwarzenegger’s Movies

Running for office in California is a tough job, but ultimately temporary. The election happens, you win or you lose, and life goes on.

But sponsoring a ballot initiative is forever.

That …

Should California Fight for or Against Silicon Valley? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Should California Fight for or Against Silicon Valley?

The Growing Federal War on ‘Big Tech’ Poses a Quandary—and Exposes Our Hypocrisy

Which side should California be on in the coming federal war against Silicon Valley?

The question feels less hypothetical after the State of the Union address, when President Biden blasted “Big …