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As American voters continue to express concerns about the U.S. economy’s fate and the country's overall direction in the midst of ever-present partisan gridlock, a recent Washington Post report about the growing wealth gap between lawmakers and their constituents may indicate a political disconnect that runs much deeper than initially realized. The Post reports the following figures: “Between 1984 and 2009, the median net worth of a member of the House more than doubled, according to the analy

On Monday, Secretary of State Debra Bowen officially certified Americans Elect to appear on California's ballots for the 2012 elections.  The addition brings the number of qualified political parties in the state to seven, including the American Independent, Democrat, Green, Libertarian, Peace and Freedom and Republican parties.  It is the first time a new political entity has been certified by the state since 1995. There are two ways in which a political body can achieve ballot access in the G

Over the past decade, California dairies, ranches and livestock farms have created 17,000 jobs for the state. A new report that analyzes federal data from 2000 to 2010 shows that the $289 billion a year animal agriculture industry has grown in California, buoying the state's position as one of the top farm economies in the nation. The report, prepared by Promar International, estimates that in 2010, animal-ag impacted national household earnings by $51 billion and sustained more than 1.8 millio

UC Davis has come up with an answer to the crushing budget reductions that the State of California has thrown its way:  become a private university.  While that’s not exactly what University Chancellor Linda Katehi said in her move to add 5,000 mostly non-California students to the UCD population by 2016, it is the essence of the new program. Davis is following what is called the Michigan plan, which will grow the University with more than 50 percent of its expanded base of new students paying

Sylvia Longmire's new book Cartel: The Coming Invasion of Mexico's Drug Wars has just been released and is available in bookstores today. She is a retired Air Force captain and Special Agent with extensive experience investigating Mexico Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTO). She now consults and writes about southwest border violence issues and blogs at Mexico's Drug War. I interviewed her last month. Your book implies the violence and corruption of the drug wars will be spilling across the bor

Protesters  demonstrating against the excesses of crony capitalism and its  corrupting influence on our nation’s politics have occupied a park in  Manhattan’s financial district for over a week.  Their numbers are  growing and the movement appears to be spreading. On  September 17th, thousands of demonstrators descended on downtown  Manhattan in New York City to protest the all-too-cozy relationship  between Wall Street and Washington D.C.  Protesters have occupied  Liberty Plaza, a nearby park

On the same day that a small earthquake shook the San Fernando Valley, a recent Rasmussen Reports study of partisan trends indicates that unaffiliated voters will likely be shaking up the nation's political landscape. Voters not affiliated with either party grew from 32.1% in July to 33.5% in August, which Rasmussen notes as being the highest level in its seven years of tracking. Interesting to note is that the ranks of these unaffiliateds grew as Republicans and Democrats duked it out over rai

For most of the last decade, California was first or second in new business creation. In 2009, it ranked first. In 2010, new business creation imploded. Actually, that's an understatement. California was almost dead last in 2010 with only Michigan behind them.  That's right, it went from #1 to #50 in just one year for business creation (The list includes the District of Columbia, so there are 51 entries.) In 2008, California created 32,829 businesses, in 2009, it created 12,529, but in 2010 it

In  addition to the Democrats and Republicans, there are four other ballot-qualified political parties in California, and over a dozen smaller  political bodies which are formally attempting to gain ballot access  ahead of the 2012 presidential election.  At least one of the latter is already well on its way. According  to the most recent report on voter registration from the Secretary of  State’s office, there are currently over 17 million registered voters in  California. With 23.6 million el

It certainly seems that way sometimes, doesn't it? The California legislature shambles around, bumping into things, with no apparent sense of direction. Issues that managed to get resolved quickly in other states (like Utah revising their public pension plans in one year flat) take ponderously interminable amounts of time for California to even start pondering them. This certainly seems zombie-like to me, and also to economist William Watkins of California Lutheran University.  He says Californ