A group dedicated to reforming California government tested its taxation and revenue proposals before a supposedly “friendly audience” at a facilitated “Town Hall” consensus-building meeting in Santa Cruz in mid-March, 2009. They encountered surprising resistance, even from a room filled primarily with self-identified “liberals,” as it dawned on attendees that the proposals would at least grease the skids for higher taxes. Time will tell whether that resistance is echoed or amplified in subsequent meetings held in the Fresno area and Los Angeles.

"Regionalizing” water enables the abolition of private property (which is an objective of Sustainable Development policy). Throughout the country, schemes are arranged to accomplish this goal. The central coast of California provides an example of a typical "regional" maneuver.

Summary: Michael Park reviews an enlightening audio lecture by economist George Reisman.

Santa Cruz County Treasurer-Tax Collector Fred Keeley is at the helm of a movement to repeal Proposition 13 and the 2/3 voting supermajority required for tax increases. The mantra is crisis, crisis, crisis and the claim is that a new organization called "California Forward" can fix it. This use of crisis is meant to scare voters into agreeing to increased taxes.