Matters of Policy & Politics

Taxing Silicon Valley’s Wealth: Joshua Rauh on California’s Billionaire Tax Initiative

As America prepares to celebrate its 250^th birthday, it’s not so much “taxation without representation” at issue as it is the question of what modern taxation represents – For some, a chance to strike a blow against wealth disparity while pursuing a socialist dream of expansive government. Nowhere is that more evident than in California and a ballot initiative which, if approved by voters in November, would impose a 5% “wealth tax” on the Golden State’s resident billionaires – 90% of the proceeds going to state healthcare programs. Joshua Rauh, the Hoover Institution’s George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics and an expert on California-style taxation, discusses America’s current fascination with socialism and economic class warfare as well as all that’s at stake in the Golden State. Will a voter-approved wealth tax prompt billionaires to flee California for the likes of Austin and Nashville, taking with them needed tax revenue? Would the one-time tax lay waste to Silicon Valley as an incubator of innovation (and revenue stream)? Moreover, if the promised revenue doesn’t materialize, is California likely to apply the tax to millionaires as well (and perhaps expand it beyond a five-year period, as happened a decade ago when the Golden State extended a “temporary tax” on California’s upper earners)?

Recorded on June 29, 2026.

California Update: First Couple Under Investigation; Wealth-Tax Deal Underway?

This week’s bombshell news in Sacramento: California Gov. Gavin Newsom announcing that he and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom are under federal investigation reportedly for tax and financial improprieties – Newsom claiming he’s the victim of a political vendetta as a critic of President Trump, but the story also a window into the unseemly practice of “behested payments” that special interests use to curry favor with elected officials, especially sitting governors. As the June primary results are closer to being finalized, why did former reality-tv “villain” Spencer Pratt, billionaire Tom Steyer, AOC-clone Saikat Chakrabarti, and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan all fail to advance to the general election? Finally, as legislators race to finish a new state budget before its July 1 deadline, will Gov. Newsom, his political allies, and a powerful California labor union cut a deal to keep a billionaire wealth tax off the November ballot?          

Recorded on June 18, 2026.

A National Treasure Indeed: Michael Auslin on the Declaration of Independence’s Endurance

On the eve of the 250^th anniversary of America’s founding, how has the nation’s Declaration of Independence – drafted, debated and signed in a world shaped more by royalty than republicanism – managed to stand the test of time?

They quibbled over the language and the provisions, but in the end America’s Founding Fathers produced a 1,320-word document establishing a newborn republic’s belief in natural rights and self-governance. Were the founders who debated and ultimately signed the Declaration of Independence true visionaries or merely smart and realpolitik enough to find a new way to express the colonists’ longstanding desires for self-governance and liberty? Michael Auslin, a historian and the Hoover Institution’s Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow, discusses his acclaimed new book National Treasure: How the Declaration of Independence Made America. Among the topics discussed: the interplay between Thomas Jefferson and the committee tasked with producing what the author calls “a big bang of declaration”; the document’s various compromises required to attain unanimous consent; how the Declaration survived future wars; plus why other nations (revolutionary France in particular) drafting their own declarations fell short of the American standard.

Recorded on June 1, 2026.

California Update: AI to the (Fiscal) Rescue; Spencer for Hire in LA?

California’s revised state budget for the new fiscal year beginning in July comes with a plot twist – a deficit that’s no more, courtesy of an unexpected capital-gains tax windfall. But is the same entity that showered Sacramento with billions in tax revenue – California’s vibrant AI sector – also a source of long-term economic and policy concerns (tech-related job losses; competing with farmers for water and electricity)? And how does AI and the jittery state of California’s finances factor into Gov. Gavin Newsom’s presidential ambitions? Meanwhile, as the Golden State’s June 2 primary approaches, is it time to take reality-TV “villain” and Palisades Fire victim Spencer Pratt seriously as he gains ground in Los Angeles’ contentious mayoral race?

Recorded on May 20, 2026.

Declining Industry and Public Trust at the Local Level: Elizabeth Elder on America’s “Company Towns”

America is a land dotted with so-called “company towns” – population centers where a single business or industry dominates not only the local economy, but government and community ethos as well. But what happens when a town and an industry in decline part ways, leaving it to local government and leadership to take up the slack? Hoover fellow Elizabeth Mitchell Edler discusses what transpired in those portions of America (Appalachia and the Midwest) once dominated by a since-diminished coal industry and the lack of institutional confidence that followed – her interviews, polling and data research chronicled in her new book, Company Towns: Industry Power and the Historical Foundations of Public Mistrust.

Recorded on May 4, 2026.

“Security Through Cooperation”: Rose Gottemoeller on US-Russian Diplomacy Past, Present . . . and Future?

Before invasions of Ukraine and Crimea and various “resets” of America’s diplomatic approach toward the Kremlin, there was the “Boris and Bill Show” – two chummy and newly-installed presidents meeting multiple times at the tail-end of the 20^th Century with the shared goal of bringing Russia into a post-Cold War world order as a peaceful, prosperous (and non-proliferating) society.

Rose Gottemoeller, a Hoover Institution research fellow and former Clinton and Obama administration national security aide, sets the record straight on the Clinton-Yeltsin summits, what she learned as the first American woman to lead nuclear arms talks, why Vladimir Putin went from offering help in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks to seeing America as a threat Russia’s security, and the challenges of serving as NATO’s deputy secretary general during the first Trump presidency.

It’s all chronicled in her new book, Security Through Cooperation: Space, Nuclear Weapons, and US-Russia Relations after the Cold War, a must-read for history buffs and students of the enigma that is Putin and the Russian mindset. 

Like Oil and Water? Free-Market Environmentalism with Terry Anderson

America, a land rich in growth and prosperity but also blessed with an abundance of natural beauty, faces a quandary: how to keep its economy flourishing while at the same time safeguarding its environment. It’s the topic of the Hoover’s Institution’s upcoming “Markets vs. Mandates” conference. Terry Anderson, Hoover’s John and Jean De Nault Senior Fellow (adjunct) and one of the founders of “free-market environmentalism”, discusses what’s on the agenda at the Hoover symposium (tariffs, AI, federal-to-state regulatory shifts) and why tradeoffs are the key to America’s future, be it protecting resources, meeting energy needs and keeping the nation on the cutting edge of technology. Anderson points to different regions of the US where markets and mandates butt heads, including his native Montana and nearby Wyoming, Virginia’s embrace of energy-guzzling data centers, and a potential lithium bonanza in the Carolinas and parts of New England.    

California Update: (Self-Inflicted?) Pain at the Pump; Governor’s Race in Flux; A Cannabis Black Market

The war in Iran finds its way to California in the form of higher fuel prices, but how much of the Golden’s State “pain at the pump” is driven by geopolitics versus decades of arguably misguided state energy policies? Meanwhile, a gubernatorial primary unique in its lack of a clear frontrunner becomes more muddled after former Rep. Eric Swalwell abruptly quits the race following accusations of sexual misconduct. Also muddled: post-COVID California and news that Golden State’s population centers haven’t fully bounced back six years after the pandemic ( a reflection of changing workstyles and a lack of affordable housing). Finally, where’s the smoke, there’s . . . a flourishing cannabis black market in California a decade after voters legalized (and levied a heavy tax) on recreational marijuana.

Recorded on April 22, 2026.

A Matter of Trust: Macke Raymond on “Unheard Voices” in America’s School Communities

While America’s education system doesn’t lack for shareholders (parents, educators, political and policy leaders, as well as business and community activists), there’s a question as to whether all concerns are being heard and respected. Margaret “Macke” Raymond, a Hoover Institution distinguished research fellow and director of Hoover’s program on K-12 Education, discusses the findings of Hoover’s Unheard Voices report – Raymond and her research team engaged with nine communities across America, each one beset with underperforming schools. What they discovered: parents and community leaders want to become more involved in the lives of their schools but suffer from a lack of information and context – and, in some cases, educators are reluctant to listen to outside voices. 

Recorded on April 9, 2026.

David Shribman on Journalism’s Struggles, Restoring Institutional Trust, and Life After Trump

With the public’s trust in the media at historic lows and the industry trying to adapt to changing information-gathering tastes, what does the future hold for a struggling “Fourth Estate” (tradition news outlets) and an incipient “Fifth Estate” (bloggers and social media)? David Shribman, a columnist, academic and two-time Pulitzer Prize recipient, examines a changed landscape of print media ceding dominance to cable news networks, which in turn compete against an even speedier (and more reckless) social media. Also discussed: the Washington Post’s travails and how the New York Times one-upped its competitors by winning minds (puzzles) and stomachs (more food content); the future of political journalism without President Trump to entertain (and boost viewership and readership); the extent of bias within journalists’ ranks; understanding community concerns by reading (and replying to) letters-to-the-editor; what aspiring journalists should study during their college years (read the Bible, Shakespeare and plenty of history).

Recorded on March 10, 2026.