A Modest Proposal: Give High-Speed Rail to Unhoused Californians

Combining Two Failed Golden State Projects Could Save Both. Right?

California is spending billions to house its increasing population of unhoused people. But it hasn’t come close to building enough to meet its ambitious goal of ending homelessness. And many Californians have lost hope that it ever will.

California is spending billions to construct a high-speed rail system. But it hasn’t come close to completing what would be the first such line in the nation. And many Californians have lost hope that it ever will.

In the face of these crises, what is to be done? One option would be to sit …

by Joe Mathews | November 7, 2023

Who Will Protect the Global Economy From California?

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

by Joe Mathews | April 18, 2023

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 …

Will Granny Flats Replace Green Lawns in California’s Backyards?

Historic Deregulation Is Freeing Homeowners to Build in Hopes of Easing the Growing Housing Crisis

by Joe Mathews | October 12, 2021

A snarky reader, annoyed at some praise of California’s governor in this space, recently asked: Where exactly do I keep my shrine to Gavin Newsom?

My answer: In the same place …

Out With Mass Incarceration and in With Mass Commerce

Can California Call It Progress When Rural Prisons Are Replaced With Retail Warehouses?

by Joe Mathews | September 21, 2021

As California starts closing prisons, what might open in their place?

I glimpsed one answer to that question while driving to Deuel Vocational Institution, between the San Joaquin County cities of …

Aggressive State Meddling Could Fix California’s Housing Crisis

With Local Governments Crying "NIMBY," Sacramento Must Empower Developers and Home-Seekers

By Joe Mathews | May 15, 2017

All the debate about how to address California’s massive housing shortage is obscuring the big picture: a state takeover of local housing policy has begun.

That’s the real import of the …

Welcome to the Affluent Central Coast, California’s Child Poverty Capital

How the Rising Cost of Living and, Paradoxically, the Availability of Jobs Are Tough on Families

By Joe Mathews | March 16, 2017

Californians used to envy residents of our beautiful, wine-and-wealth-drenched Central Coast. Now we have reason to pity them.

And not just because Nicole Kidman has thrown her star power into producing …

California economy