How many times have we heard that jobs are leaving California for Texas? How many times have big-business groups and the polticians who play to their needs said that lower taxes and corporate welfare make states more "competitive" and are good for the economy?

So look, for a moment, at California and Texas. Who has the lower taxes and the governor who will do whatever employers want? And who has the more robust job growth?Read more »

Is it really possible? Could California be on the path to repair the damage of Prop. 13? Would Jerry go along?

You wouldn't think so -- it's been talked about for so long and so little has happened. But it's an all new year in Sacramento, and the era of Republican dominancy-by-minority is over (in fact, the era when Republicans will have any role at all in state government is pretty much over), and already, some changes are in the works.

Assemblymember Tom Ammiano notes:Read more »

The most optimistic piece I've read on the results of the November election is on Calitics, where Robert Cruikshank argues that the tax revolt that started with Prop. 13 in 1978 is finally over.Read more »

There's an element of Disney buying Lucasfilm that hasn't made the news yet: The giant SoCal outfit is now inheriting Lucas's nifty annual tax break, cheating San Francisco out of property taxes worth about $60 million. See, part of what Disney gets is that shiny Lucas building in the Presidio -- a private office complex built in a national park. Read more »

It only works once; if everyone all over the web starts using this gag, I'll get totally sick of it. But right now, it's worth a laugh.

How many ways is this video by the tech flackery sf.citi really embrassing and whiny? Let's start:Read more »

The latest Forbes 400 is out, the list of the richest Americans, and a record number (according to my annual record-keeping) now live in San Francisco. This is a city with 18 people on the top-billionaires list -- and since the list cuts off at $1.1 billion, there are a lot of really, really rich San Franciscans who didn't quite make it this year. Read more »

Jerry Roberts, who has long been among the best political reporters in California, has a nice, detailed piece on CalBuzz about Jerry Brown's history and legacy -- and how California got into the mess that the Guv is trying to get us out of. Read more »

The NY Times isn't exactly a revolutionary left-wing publication -- and while columnist Paul Krugman routinely talks about the income and wealth divide, it's not typically a staple of how the Times cover the news. But David Leonhardt is starting a blog on the decline in the middle class and is going to turn it into an article during the later parts of the presidential campaign -- and amazingly enough, he's got it pretty much right:Read more »