Economics Archives - Page 11 of 12 - The I Spy Radio Show

Trump vs Hillary on economics and tax plans

Do Issues Matter Anymore? Trump v Hillary on the Economy

By Dr Mark | October 15, 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

Show Summary: In the era of corrupt media, do real issues matter any more? Or actions for that matter. All you need is what someone says rather than actual actions. Or things like economic and tax plans. Want proof? Quick! When was the last time you heard someone in the mainstream media actually mention Hillary’s tax plan?

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We thought so. Join us this week for our continuing series of shows as we examine Hillary’s actions as we compare Hillary’s tax and economic plans to Trump’s. And the huge ticking time bomb of states’ unfunded liabilities.

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11:00AM Saturday: KUIK (Portland) | KBKR (Baker City) | KLBM (La Grande)
7:00PM Sunday: KAJO (Grants Pass)

Original Air Dates: Oct 15 & 16, 2016 | Jonathan Williams

You would think that if Obamacare is such a great program, the economy should be humming along—no tinkering needed. But just like Obamacare was going to make health care more affordable (who’s got the swamp land for sale on this one?) Wikileaks has exposed Hillary’s beliefs that by expanding programs like Food Stamps it will help “fix the economy” because it will give families more money to spend. Yes, she actually said this—to a bunch of bankers behind closed doors. Hillary’s tax plan and economic plan reveals an overwhelming foundational philosophy to tax, tax, tax. If Obamacare is an example of an economic policy and expansion of government programs that has increased taxation (as the Supreme Court termed it), Hillary’s economic policies will be even bigger and more expensive.

If you think your health care is already getting to be extremely expensive, just wait until you open your tax bill a year after Hillary is in office. And you won’t even escape it by dying because she wants to slap a 65% death (penalty) tax, which will destroy family-owned businesses and farms.

But you may not have heard about any of this—the Wikileaks or dire consequences of Hillary’s tax plans. In fact, Fox News reported that on Thursday evening news coverage for ABC, CBS, and NBC , 8 minutes per station was spent on Trump scandals with only 20 seconds spent on covering WikiLeaks (with one station not carrying it all), a scandal which has an actual document trail; tens of thousands of documents. They’re not reporting the truth; they are reporting their agenda.

Mainstream media hammers away at Trump’s accusers, but largely ignores Clinton revelations coming from recent WikiLeaks releases pic.twitter.com/cT88908z7Q

— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) October 14, 2016

This week we turn away from the scandals and focus on policy—actions over words. I Spy will talk with Jonathan Williams from ALEC who has just completed a report on the unfunded pension liabilities faced by every state. We discuss the ticking time bomb, especially in Oregon, over the massive pay back states have with no money to pay it back. Consider this: in just two years the total amount of states unfunded liabilities has grown more than 900 Billion Dollars. Almost a trillion dollars on top of what was owed in just two short years. And then consider what the MSM’s focus has been on, Trump’s alleged scandals.

This week, we compare Hillary’s and Trump’s tax and economic plans and even how their plans can impact the looming pile of debt at the state levels. Be sure to tune in to hear some solutions and find out how one candidate’s plan just may give us a chance to dig our way out of this monstrous hole.

Links Mentioned

Trump’s tax and economic policies
Hillary’s tax and economic policies
Jonathan Williams organization is ALEC – American Legislative Exchange Council
Download the report “Unaccountable and Unaffordable 2016: Unfunded Public Pension Liabilities Near $5.6 Trillion” here

Thanks Democrats! Oregon’s Train Wreck

By Dr Mark | April 29, 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

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Show Summary: After a decade of one-party rule (just like China!), Oregon is headed for a financial train wreck. From the disastrous Obamacare-Kitzcare deal to insurance companies fleeing the state to state agencies on a spending spree to counties going bankrupt. And despite this, one particular segment of health care has billions in profits—at taxpayer expense.

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11:00AM Saturday: KUIK (Portland) | KBKR (Baker City) | KLBM (La Grande)
7:00PM Sunday: KAJO (Grants Pass)

Air Dates: April 30 & May 1, 2016 | Lisa Lettenmaier & Scott Jorgensen

Oregon is in a world of hurt thanks to Democrat policies. Brace yourself for the coming train wreck.

We start off by talking with Lisa Lettenmaier of Health Source NW. Lisa is our “in house” expert on the insurance industry and the broader aspects of health care. She has been following the disastrous (for consumers) roll-out of Obamacare and its ugly stepchild, Oregon’s Health Care Transformation.

Tune in to hear her shine the light on Oregon’s insurance industry and why customers can expect to see huge rate increases in the next year. There are some parts of the healthcare industry that are benefiting from Obamacare but it’s not the insurers as they face steeper and steeper declines in revenues. Oregon has lost two more insurers in Oregon and another one on a national level. Listen as we unpack the reasons they are leaving the state and what’s happening behind the scenes.

Oregon and Its Free-Spending Ways

Scott Jorgensen, the chief of staff for State Senator Whitsett, then joins us to share insights into the consequences of government attempting to push policies that force expensive programs (think Medicaid without federal funding).

The Oregon Democrat Leadership’s answer is to continue to raise taxes to pay for the spending spree. Ask most Oregon voters and they’ll tell you that by our own state constitution we’re supposed to have a balanced budget; which, to many, means we don’t spend more than we take in. Well, not under Democrat leadership. It’s “balanced” because we borrow huge amounts to make it balanced.

Tune in to hear how much every man, woman, and child—all 4 million of us—are on the hook for under this new model of funding Oregon’s government. And guess what? It’s only going to go up. Did you know we borrow money against Oregon Lottery Revenue? Talk about a gamble!

Why Trans Pacific Partnership is a Bad Deal for America

By Dr Mark | April 16, 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

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Show Summary: The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal is Obama’s final nail in America’s coffin. If you thought Obamacare and the Iran Deal were bad, you haven’t seen anything yet. In an explosive interview, we dive into why it’s bad and why our Congressmen vote for such atrocities. And not just why but who is supporting this? Plus, could one of the presidential candidates, who publicly says he’s against it, might actually be for it?

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11:00AM Saturday: KUIK (Portland) | KBKR (Baker City) | KLBM (La Grande)
7:00PM Sunday: KAJO (Grants Pass)

Air Dates: Apr. 16 & 17, 2016 | Crista Huff (former Morgan Stanley VP

One of the questions we consistently try to answer here on the I Spy Radio Show, is why. Why does a government agency do this or why does a politician do that? But uncovering “why” requires digging deeper into motivations and a lot times those motivations are hidden away, lurking in the shadows where you don’t know what happened behind closed doors or what’s been promised.

On this week’s show, we’re talking about the monstrosity better known as the TPP – the Trans Pacific Partnership. This is Obama’s magnum opus for weakening America. And it must be stopped. The TPP is a major trade deal involving 12 Pacific Rim nations, including the US, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Vietnam and others. China is not a signer, yet, because after the agreement is signed China can come in later through a back door. Why, do you ask? Oh, you’ll find out why.

Trans Pacific Partnership = Anti-American

It’s amazing that anyone who calls themselves an American is backing this agreement. Foremost it represents a stunning loss of U.S. sovereignty. But beyond that, common economic sense says this will harm the US economy–especially given that even its own supporters say it will result in only a 0.13% increase in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product by 2025. (See links, below, for citation.)

But even that less -than-rosy projection is based on the assumption of the U.S. being at full-employment. (How’s that worked out the last seven years?) So why take a huge gamble and throw our economy into upheaval for not even 1/50th of a percent increase per year over nine years?

It boggles the mind why would anyone in the U.S. support this. And not just why, but who is supporting this? Tune in to learn the answers, including whether one of the presidential candidates might be misrepresenting their position on the Trans Pacific Partnership. And find out why, if this goes through, it really could be the end of America as we know.

Links Mentioned During Show

Crista Huff’s terrific website, Good Fellow, LLC. Be sure to check out her fantastic TPP blog page, frequently updated with the latest info
Check out Crista on Kerry Lutz’s Financial Survival blogtalk podcast
If you want to stop the TPP, CALL the Capitol Switchboard! (202) 224-3121. Ask to be transferred to your Congressman’s office and tell them you want them to vote no on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal; do the same for both of your senators.
The Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee is Rep. Kevin Brady (TX).
Article via Drudge: New Balance publicly calls the TTP a bad deal (Apr 13, 2016)
Robert Zoellick and The Trilateral Commission and Robert (via FreedomWorks’ SourceWatch)

Economic Warfare and Financial Terrorism – How the 2008 financial meltdown could happen in 2016

By Dr Mark | February 12, 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

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Air Dates: February 13 & 14, 2016 | Kevin Freeman

On the morning of Sept 11, 2008, John McCain and Sarah Palin were leading Obama and Biden in the polls by quite a bit. But by the end of the day, it saw the largest spike in short-selling in market history, ushering in the financial meltdown of 2008. Was it just some rogue day-traders? Or, as McCain thought at the time, was it an outright attack on our markets, perhaps by Russia and China? The end result was that not only did it set back the American financial markets, cause trillions of dollars of paper value to disappear in a matter of days, plunge thousands of Americans home-owners into bankruptcy, and hamstring our economy—it dramatically affected our 2008 presidential election.

What’s especially concerning is how similar the economic conditions of 2008 are to now—in 2016. Is history about to repeat itself? Have any of the vulnerabilities that ushered Obama into office been fixed?

Economic Warfare and Financial Terrorism

Over the last two weeks, there have been some very troubling headlines, including one that has nearly escaped notice: the sale of the Chicago Stock Exchange to a Chinese-owned company. But this week on Drudge and other sources, there have been headline after headline of trouble in the stock markets — not just here in the U.S. but all across Europe. US and EU stock markets are off to their worst starts since the 1930s. Is history going to repeat itself? And can capitalism survive? Could all of this be a coordinated attack? And why?

Join us this week for a fascinating story of another type of warfare between modern governments: economic warfare and financial terrorism. Get a look at the weapons used and techniques used to deploy them.

On this week’s show, you’ll learn:

Was there an attack in 2008 on the U.S. stock markets?
What’s been done to prevent another one?
Why did the Chinese buy the Chicago exchange — and does it create any vulnerabilities?
The latest economic tool is “negative interest rates,” what impact can and will this have on the markets?
Are the same conditions from 2008 collapse happening now in 2016?
What about all those foreign donations to Hillary Clinton?

Links Mentioned

Kevin Freeman’s website secretweapon.org and his blog: Global Economic Warfare
Read Kevin’s white paper, submitted to the Department of Defense – Economic Warfare: Risks and Responses; an analysis of twenty-first century risks in light of the recent market collapse
Kevin’s books are Game Plan: How to Protect Yourself from the Coming Cyber-Economic Attack and Secret Weapon: How Economic Terrorism Brought Down the U.S. Stock Market and Why It can Happen Again.
The UK Telegraph article: “The World cannot Afford another Financial Crash: It could Destroy Capitalism as We Know it“
Even the Huffington Post, normally more of an Obama cheerleader than news source admits that the US stock market is off to its worst start for a year — ever

Related Links

Be sure to check out our previous shows with Kevin Freeman on the archives page

Socialism Defined

By Dr Mark | February 6, 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

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Air Dates: February 6 & 7, 2015 | Dr. Richard Rahn (CATO Institute)
Where, when, & how to listen

Here we are, not even three decades from the end of the Cold War, and America has an avowed socialist running for office. And not just any office — the highest office in the land.

Great. America’s socialized education system has officially failed.

But what is socialism? Discerning and intelligent voters realize socialism is bad, but what is it and why is socialism so bad? Not just that, but why is socialism especially bad for America? Why does socialism fail every time it has been tried? And if socialism always fails every time without fail, why do the so-called “smart people in the room” (the socialist elites) keep trying to push America into socialism?

Join us this week to find out what socialism is, its history and origins, why it fails, and why —yes, Virginia—it will fail again.

Socialism Defined

In his fantastic article, “Socialism means Coercion” Dr. Richard Rahn of the CATO Institute defines socialism this way: “Socialism is a system in which the government owns or controls the means of production, and allocates resources and rewards.”

But it’s more than that. It is a system rooted in envy and jealousy; it is only adopted as a political system when ignorance reins supreme. It depends on the stupidity of the masses who would trade their freedom for slavery to the state. It depends on the ignorance of voters to pass a system that, they believe, will only take from others. Socialism is the policy of envy.

Join host Mark Anderson, as he walks you through socialism defined. You’ll learn:

What socialism means
Its origins as a response to America’s highly successful experiment with representational republicanism and as a response to the vast wealth created by the Industrial Revolution
Its origins in anti-Christianity philosophy and German pagan romanticism
Why capitalism and the free market system are so vastly superior to socialism
Are there differences between socialism, communism, and fascism

And then stick around for the last half of the show with Dr. Richard Rahn of the CATO institute as the two of them expand on socialism’s massive historical failure

Links Mentioned

Dr. Richard Rahn’s article in the Washington Times, “Socialism means Coercion”
The CATO Institute is a think tank “dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace.”
Bernie Sanders loves to claim socialism has succeeded in Scandinavia – this article debunks the success of Scandinavia socialism
Recent CBO study shows the rich not only pay their fair share but the fair share of a lot of others

The following articles helped form much of the discussion for this week’s show:

Communism, socialism, and fascism defined
Socialism versus European Democracy by Ludwig von Mises – excellent article on France’s early experiences with socialism
Philosophic & religious origins of socialism and as a response to the success of the Industrial Revolution

EPA Colluding with Environmentalists and Tribes

By Dr Mark | October 21, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment

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Air Dates: Oct 24 & 25, 2015 | Lawrence Kogan & Tom Collier (CEO of Pebble Partnership)

The EPA long ago lost its watchdog status and has turned rabid environmentalist. Now, clear evidence of the EPA colluding with environmentalists and tribes is beginning to emerge—ironically, in what the EPA had hoped to turn into one of its trophy cases: the Pebble Mine.

Show 5-43 will air the weekend of Oct 24th & 25th. Join us as we expose collusion between the EPA and “environmental” organizations, the tribes, and other players.

What’s important to understand in this fight against a government agency run-amok, is that they violated the rule of law and a basic tenet of American freedoms: due process. The EPA, by applying an obscure rule that it had never used before in its four-decades’ old existence and by trying to circumvent the permit process, it was denying Pebble Partnership its due process. Just as though it had arrested someone in suspected of a crime and put them in jail without any Miranda rights, no legal counsel, and so on.

Links Mentioned

Lawrence Kogan’s firm: the Kogan Law Group – tons of great info and articles on the assault by the Enviro-Left on our free market system
Tom Collier’s group – the Pebble Partnership.

This Week on I Spy Radio - Public Lands Transfer to States can mean jobs—real jobs

Devolution – Public Lands Transfer to States

By Dr Mark | September 11, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment

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Air Dates: September 12 & 13, 2015 | Jonathan Williams & Karla Jones

Devolution is defined as “the transfer or delegation of power to a lower level, especially by central government to local or regional administration.” When it comes to the transfer of public lands here in the U.S., this means the federal government giving control of federally held public lands to the states in which those lands reside. Why is this important? Jobs.

With more than 98 million Americans continuing to be out of the workforce, the jobs resulting from a public lands transfer to states means more than ever that the federal government honor their promise to relinquish control of the public lands held in trust. At one time, Illinois and Missouri both had more than 50% of their land controlled by the federal government when they entered statehood. Now, the federal government holds only 1% and 4%, respectively. So why do they maintain control of so much public lands states west of the Rockies—on average, more than 50% of these states? Why should Illinois get to have 99% of their land and Oregon gets less than 47% of its land?

94 million Americans out of work - the U.S. economy as of September 2015 has clearly fallen off a cliff. Time for a public lands transfer to states. — US Economy off a cliff. Time for a public lands transfer to states.

We’ve talked in the past with Ken Ivory and it’s seemed a little theoretical at times: what would it be like if the states got their lands back? Now we some direct evidence of what it would look like from our neighbor to the north: Canada.

We’ll start by talking with Jonathan Williams of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) about the continuing record numbers of Americans not working and the state policies that consistently work to put people to work; policies that ALEC advocates. We’ll then talk about a federal policy that needs to happen: a public lands transfer to states. Karla Jones, also with ALEC, walks us through the process. We’ll examine the roadblocks and hurdles to making this happen, astonishing examples of federal mismanagement to private land management, and then look at how this has unfolded in Canada.

Sorry, environmentalists; it wasn’t the end of the world.

Links Mentioned

If you’re not visiting American Legislative Exchange Council on a regular basis, you’re missing out on a huge amount of incredible information — policies that your state ought to be implementing if they want to be successful. Don’t you want your state to be successful? Of course you do! Then visit alec.org.
Read ALEC’s State Lands report, which we discuss with Karla Jones. (You can download a copy for easier reading; see the Download PDF link on the right-side of the page.)
Heritage Foundation article, “1,000 people per day: Why Red States are Getting Richer and Blue States Poorer“

This week on I Spy Radio - Forest fires and mismangement of state lands

Oregon Forest Fires – State Lands Going Up in Smoke

By Dr Mark | August 26, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment

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Air Dates: August 29 & 30, 2015 | Suzan Ellis Jones, John Charles, Rep. Ken Ivory

With more than its share of forest fires, Oregon’s state lands scream mismanagement. Oregon’s rather infamous environmental policies only seem to kill trees, owls, and profits—and the only thing they seem to protect are politicians. But these last few weeks, the smoke from the fires are hard to ignore. It’s time to look at Oregon’s mismanagement of its lands.

We start the show by interviewing Suzan Ellis-Jones. Unlike the “environmentalists,” Suzan actually makes her home in rural Oregon — Baker County to be exact. Baker is one of several Oregon counties that have ravaged by brutal, devastating, heartbreaking forest fires — fires that could have been prevented. By the way. Have you ever noticed that environmental lobbyists just can’t be pulled away from their favorite coffee shops in downtown Portland to go fight fires? Why is that?

Perhaps it’s because they’re too busy spewing nonsense into papers like the Eugene Register-Guard about how the timber industry runs this state. What?

Elliot State Forest Map — Map: Oregon’s Elliot State Forest

To sort out that nonsense, we need a real expert, so this week we also talk with John Charles of the Cascade Policy Institute, about the recently announced intention by the State Lands’ Board to sell off the Elliot Forest. The Elliot State Forest is perhaps the epitome of mismanagement. Well, except it hasn’t caught fire—yet. We’ll also get a handle on that “board” (it’s really just three people) and how they are utterly failing in their fiduciary duty to the state. Yes, that’s right. The state is ordered to make money from those state lands — but when has a pesky law ever mattered to a career politician? That’s for the rest of us.

Speaking of which, we wrap things up with Rep. Ken Ivory (UT) about the complete inadequacy and unwillingness by the agencies to follow laws let alone their own rules. Rep. Ivory is also President of the American Lands Council and he fills us in on the environmental devastation being caused by out-of-control agencies and career bureaucrats, to whom laws do not apply.

And don’t miss the shocking developments in Montana and what the federal government ordered Montana to do. Here’s a hint: they were handing out fiddles.

Sometimes, it doesn’t even seem like we’re in America any more. Is it 2016 yet…?

Links Mentioned

Cascade Policy Institute’s website and a great article on the mismanagement of Oregon’s State Lands: “When will the State Land Board Restore the ‘Trust’ in Oregon’s State Lands Trust?“
American Lands Council website (be sure to check our events page for links to Rep. Ivory’s event in Baker City)

5-32 Chinese Invasion – China’s Silent War with the US

By Dr Mark | August 4, 2015 | Comments 1 comment

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: ^{To download the show, right-click the mic, then “Save Link As…” or use the handy player below}

Air Dates: August 8 & 9, 2015 | James Hirsen & Kevin Freeman

Seemingly almost without notice, China is quietly invading the U.S. Perhaps taking a page from the Soviet Union era’s failed communist takeover, China is waging war against the U.S. — not with nuclear ICBMs but through economic and cultural warfare. And the scary thing is, they’re winning.

This Chinese invasion is taking many forms. Some months ago, we brought your attention to the economic warfare China is waging against the U.S. Their silent warfare has intensified. This week, we take a deeper look at the threat no one seems to be paying attention to—at least seemingly no one in the Obama administration. Why are they opening the door to our enemies?

The Chinese Invasion of Hollywood

We’ll start by talking to James Hirsen of Headline Hollywood about the Chinese invasion of Hollywood. Why are Hollywood elites—the uber-liberal of liberals, who famously decry any sort of censorship—getting into bed with Chinese investors? What are the Chinese hoping to get out of this strange marriage?

The Chinese Invasion of US Companies

As of 2008 the Chinese government had hired more than 100,000 full-time hackers to do nothing but try to hack into America’s government and U.S. companies. Given that, and the Obama administration’s penchant for words not actions, it’s perhaps not surprising that a former NSA director recently said that every major US company has been hacked into by the Chinese. This gives the Chinese access to trade secrets, companies’ financial information, and future plans. Talk about insider trading. Are we ripe for a disaster? We’ll talk with Kevin Freeman about China’s silent war with the U.S. Kevin is one of the world’s leading authorities on financial and economic warfare.

Since the mainstream media is focused on Donald Trump, you probably haven’t heard that the Chinese markets have suffered huge losses, more than 30%, in the last few months. The Chinese government has officially accused the U.S. of hacking their system. Did we?

Hillary Clinton’s Emails Hacked?

Given the Chinese hack attacks on our infrastructure, on our government, and that Hillary used a private server for official, classified State Department business, could one of these 100,000-plus Chinese hackers found their way into Hillary emails? Tune in to hear the stunning revelation of how easily Hillary’s private server may have exposed the entire U.S. government to infiltration.

Show 5-19 Urban vs Rural

By Dr Mark | May 5, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment

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Air Dates: May 9 & 10, 2015

When it comes to land use and natural resources, it seems to be an unending battle for control between two combatants: urban vs rural. Often, this means that the Urbans (city dwellers) want or need the sanctimonious psychological safety of believing they’ve “protected” or “saved” the environment, which means blocking rural people (country dwellers) from accessing, using, harvesting or otherwise touching natural resources. In other words, they want the benefits of what the rural areas produces (food, wood, water, etc.) without actually harvesting any of it.

This is like wanting beef without touching cows.

Even worse, after blocking rural people from engaging in economic activities that they—the city dwellers—haven’t “sanction” they—the city dwellers—raise taxes and inflict other economic hardships.

If this sounds all too familiar, you probably live in a rural area. If you’ve never ever heard of this, you undoubtedly live in a city.

We talk with William Tucker about the “Detroit-ification” of rural areas and the incomparable harm city dwellers are inflicting on people who’ve chosen to living the country and provide city dwellers with all the benefits of life that the city dwellers just won’t get their hands dirty to do. And we talk with Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) about the perfect example of cities destroying rural areas—California.

Links Mentioned

American Media Institute – news the way it used to be. Reported and investigated, not packaged.
Article by William Tucker: “How high taxes and regulation are killing one of the most prosperous states in the nation.”
Rep. Tom McClintock represents the 4th Congressional District of California, which takes in both urban and rural areas. It runs east of Sacramento to the Nevada border, and then southeast, including mountainous regions and Yosemite National Park. (map)
Wall Street Journal article: “Where are the smelt” another article on California’s self-inflicted devastation.
Article – Gov Brown proposes $10,000 fines for water users