French economist Gabriel Zucman has come to California bearing a familiar French solution to a fiscal problem: another tax.
Once based at the University of California, Berkeley, Zucman is back and campaigning for Proposition 40, which would impose an allegedly one-time 5 percent tax on the net worth of Californians worth more than $1 billion. Zucman, who coauthored the proposition, estimates that the tax could raise about $100 billion and claims that 90 percent of the proceeds would go to health care.
The California Legislative Analyst's office is far more cautious, saying it would raise only "tens of billions" and could cause a long-term loss of income-tax revenue as wealthy people leave the state with the companies they created.
I've written plenty about why wealth taxes are economically destructive, administratively nightmarish, and unlikely to achieve anything close to what their advocates promise. But Zucman's prescription is wrong for a more fundamental reason, as his (and my) native country shows: Raising taxes to fuel ever-larger demands for government spending is a recipe for disaster.
Unless you've been living in a remote cave recently, you've likely seen all the protests and destruction in France. But do you know why it's happening?
As another economist, Paul Krugman, rightly noted back in 2017, "France offers a social safety net beyond the wildest dreams of U.S. progressives: guaranteed high-quality health care for all, generous paid leave for new parents, universal pre-K, and much more."
For decades, France has answered any perceived desire with government spending, then responded to the resulting fiscal problem by seeking new revenue sources. Today, French government spending consumes roughly 58 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Krugman gloated that France wasn't suffering social collapse and speculated that it was due to all the spending. He certainly can't say that anymore. In fact, he is now worried that France may be on the precipice of a debt crisis. The truth is that France hasn't done well for some time, even when Krugman cheered its spending.
One of the groups in the street today, young people, has faced widespread unemployment for a long time. The youth unemployment rate in France (ages 15-24) has hovered between 17 percent and 27 percent since 2000. In the second quarter of 2026, it was 21.6 percent, against 14.8 percent in the Eurozone and 9.9 percent in the U.S.
French people also pay some of the highest taxes in the developed world, and they're not happy with the return. The government already takes more than 52 percent of the country's output in revenue, runs deficits exceeding 5 percent of GDP, and has accumulated debt approaching 120 percent of GDP. Nonetheless, French students complain that the government is shortchanging schools, while everyone sees that it is shortchanging its army and police.
The students aren't wrong to feel left out. At The Two Cents Substack, Hoover Institution scholar Hanno Lustig calculates that, between 1995 and 2024, spending on social protection and health (most of which benefits older people) rose from 53.1 percent to 58.7 percent of all French government spending. The share devoted to education, defense, and public order fell from 15.2 percent to 13.7 percent. Transportation fell from 5.3 percent to 3.8 percent.
In other words, France has built an enormous welfare state, much of it devoted to older citizens, while letting other state capacities and basic services fall apart. As transfers of wealth swallow a larger share of the budget, everything else gets squeezed.
That is the fiscal ratchet Californians should worry about when Zucman tells them Proposition 40 is necessary to "save" health care. Proponents claim Washington "cut" Medicaid, but that language is misleading. California's deficit started long before any Washington spending reductions. Besides, federal Medicaid spending isn't falling—not even close. The Congressional Budget Office estimates it will reach $708 billion in 2026, 8 percent more than in 2025. What Washington did in the 2025 budget reconciliation law was reduce Medicaid's future growth relative to previous projections, partly by changing eligibility and enrollment rules and financing arrangements.
This is how the ratchet works. Once the government projects a spending increase, anything less becomes a cut. And once Washington fails to finance the entire projected increase, Californians are told that Sacramento must backfill the missing money. And how should it do that? Conveniently, by creating an entirely new tax.
France has run this experiment for decades. It has an incredibly generous welfare state paid for with very high taxes; it's even tried a wealth tax and has a value-added tax, yet somehow it's never enough. Its welfare state has not eliminated scarcity. It has merely transferred the job of rationing scarce resources to politicians.
Zucman looks at California and sees hundreds of billions of dollars of private wealth waiting to solve a public finance problem. Californians should look across the Atlantic and ask a different question: What happens after politicians decide that every spending adjustment can be delayed until tomorrow by finding another pot of private wealth?
France should not be sending California tax advice. It should be sending a warning.
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The post France Is a Warning to California's Tax-the-Rich Crowd appeared first on Reason Magazine.
A série documental “Aeroporto: Área Restrita” está prestes a ganhar novos episódios e, desta vez, vai levar o público para além dos terminais de embarque e desembarque. A oitava temporada da produção estreia em 11 de novembro, no Discovery e na HBO Max, com operações inéditas de fiscalização na Tríplice Fronteira, em Foz do Iguaçu, no Paraná. As informações, assim como o trailer oficial, foram divulgadas com exclusividade à CNN Brasil.
Pela primeira vez, as câmeras da atração acompanharão o trabalho dos agentes da Receita Federal na região que conecta Brasil, Argentina e Paraguai, considerada estratégica no combate ao tráfico e ao contrabando.
Ao todo serão 12 episódios, que mostrarão operações envolvendo suspeitas de tráfico de drogas, apreensões de medicamentos utilizados para emagrecimento, ouro e outras mercadorias transportadas irregularmente pelo território brasileiro.
Além da estreia na Tríplice Fronteira, a produção continuará acompanhando os bastidores da fiscalização em alguns dos aeroportos mais movimentados do país, como Guarulhos, em São Paulo; Viracopos, em Campinas; Galeão, no Rio de Janeiro; e Pinto Martins, em Fortaleza.
Além da Receita Federal, a série acompanha trabalhos da Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (Anvisa) e da Vigilância Agropecuária Internacional (Vigiagro), responsáveis por fiscalizações relacionadas à entrada e saída de produtos, medicamentos, alimentos e outras mercadorias.
Com acesso aos bastidores das operações, a produção busca revelar como funcionam os procedimentos de fiscalização e os desafios enfrentados diariamente pelos profissionais responsáveis por combater atividades ilícitas.
A oitava temporada estreia no dia 11 de novembro, com dois episódios por semana, exibidos no Discovery, às 20h35, e disponibilizados na HBO Max.
Já o canal oficial do Discovery no YouTube disponibilizará o primeiro episódio no dia 12 de novembro, às 18h.
A série é uma coprodução da Warner Bros. Discovery com a Moonshot, com direção de Gustavo Nobrega e direção geral de Roberto d’Avila.
Caso PC Siqueira ganhará série documental na HBO Max; saiba mais
LeoPatrizi/Getty Images
Having a job doesn't always mean you have enough to cover daily living or savings goals.
A July survey of Americans by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and the behavioral economics firm Escalent found over 60% of respondents have worked outside their primary roles, largely because they needed to. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said work covers their expenses, but it's tough to get ahead.
"Employment remains essential for retirement security, but for many Americans, it is no longer sufficient," a Goldman Sachs Asset Management retirement report said.
Gen Zers were most likely to say they earn or have earned money outside their primary job; millennials followed closely behind. The report said that's despite most Gen Z and millennial workers reporting their jobs provide financial stability.
"Younger workers may feel stable in their main jobs while still seeing extra work as necessary," the report said.
Throughout the generations, a majority said they're doing gig or side work out of necessity or for financial security.
"The traditional full-time job may no longer be carrying the full weight of financial security," the report said. "For many, supplementing income appears to have become part of the baseline."
Some Americans are living paycheck to paycheck or adjusting their budgets to cope with rising gas prices and other everyday expenses. It can be hard to get ahead when wage growth has been consistently falling short of inflation, and it's tough to find a new job to try to earn more money.
Not feeling financially secure can lead to putting off savings goals. Eighty-three percent of Gen Z and 78% of millennials said they put major financial goals on hold. Forty-one percent of millennials have delayed emergency savings despite being employed, and 30% said they delayed housing or homebuying goals. For Gen Zers, the shares were 35% and 34%, respectively.
While some people may be working a part-time side job, others are "overemployed" and working multiple full-time jobs. One millennial has worked five full-time remote IT jobs, earning over $700,000 annually. As Business Insider's Jacob Zinkula reported, overemployed people use their extra earnings for different reasons, such as retiring early or paying down debt.
Having multiple income streams can also be considered a "portfolio career," where people piece together different kinds of work, such as writing a newsletter, doing a side gig, and holding an office job. It can be one way to try "stability stacking" to feel more secure about your career if, for example, you were laid off and lost an income stream.
"When you decentralize everything from one 9-to-5 and build a portfolio career, you protect yourself from the emotional and financial shock if and when business needs change at your 9-to-5," said career coach Janel Abrahami in a TikTok video.
And sometimes, working a side gig can become a complete career pivot. Harlan Rappaport, in his 20s, turned his email marketing side hustle into a full-time career after working as an investment analyst at a financial institution.
"I used to get really excited about the numbers, but over the last couple of years, I realized it's more about the freedom I've had in my life over the last couple of years as a freelancer," Rappaport said in an as-told-to essay. "I don't miss family events, can travel when I want, and can work from anywhere in the world."
The Ortiz family slept fully dressed in case their building caught fire that night. The Ortizs, or the Brennans, or the Washingtons — it didn’t matter, it could be any surname, it could be a surname just like yours, exactly like yours. They lived in the South Bronx, in nearly century-old brick buildings of four, five or six stories with no elevators, and they went to bed in the clothes they would wear the next day, with their shoes on — especially the children — because going down three flights of stairs in socks on a burning stairwell could mean the difference between living and dying. Mothers left a bag by the door with documents, a family photo, and whatever cash they had, always the same ready bag, like people who live near a war front. Because, in a way, New York’s decade of fire was a war front.
© Ricky Flores (Getty Images)
Desde que formaron Gobierno de coalición con el PP tras las elecciones andaluzas, los diputados de Vox se sienten más fuertes y envalentonados. Y entre esos parlamentarios hay uno que es además vicepresidente segundo, consejero de Turismo, Justicia, Desregulación y Administración Local. Se llama Manuel Gavira, fue candidato a la presidencia de la Junta por Vox, es abogado, es de Cádiz y tiene 57 años. En el primer pleno ordinario de la XIII Legislatura llamó “puteros” a los socialistas en el debate de una iniciativa presentada por el PSOE sobre la asistencia a las mujeres víctimas de violencia de género. Lo hizo desde el banco verde del Ejecutivo.
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On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Story Is,” Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA) said that he voted against tariffs that have raised costs, while his Democratic opponent “voted for a gas tax increase that has more than doubled the gas tax
The post Kiley: I Voted Against Tariffs That Raise Costs, My Opponent Voted for California Gas Tax That Raised Prices appeared first on Breitbart.
The PM is heard having a long discussion about crisps in the trailer to the show, which is in aid of Stand Up To Cancer
From ranking his favourite crisps in the pub to complaining about people watching TikToks out loud on the train, Andy Burnham has made efforts to show he has the common touch.
Now he will become the first prime minister to appear on the TV show Gogglebox, in a special charity episode on Friday.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Simon Dawson/No 10 Downing Street
© Photograph: Simon Dawson/No 10 Downing Street
© Photograph: Simon Dawson/No 10 Downing Street
On Wednesday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) responded to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg considering leaving the state over a possible wealth tax by stating that there are questions about having a one-time tax, but “it’s disappointing
The post Dem Rep. Kamlager-Dove on Zuckerberg Considering Leaving CA Over Wealth Tax: Need Federal Rules So People ‘Can’t Cherry-Pick States’ appeared first on Breitbart.
Aunque la historia de The Walking Dead está marcada por las muertes de alguno de sus protagonistas o la marcha de alguno de sus personajes, pocas despedidas hay más traumáticas para sus seguidores que la de Glenn Rhee.
El personaje interpretado por Steven Yeun encontró un final brutal a manos de Negan, una escena que marcó un antes y un después en la serie de AMC y que llevó a numerosos espectadores a abandonar la ficción. Sin embargo, uno de los detalles más dolorosos de su despedida fue que Glenn nunca llegó a conocer a su hijo, Hershel.
Ahora, Netflix ha encontrado una forma inesperada de reunir a padre e hijo. Yeun y Logan Kim, quien interpretó a Hershel Rhee en The Walking Dead: Dead City, compartirán reparto en Pagans, una nueva serie sobrenatural que permitirá a ambos explorar una relación familiar completamente diferente a la que nunca pudieron desarrollar en la franquicia zombi.
Steven Yeun y Logan Kim volverán a ser padre e hijo
Según ha adelantado Deadline, Steven Yeun ya estaba vinculado a Pagans para interpretar a Gus, un hombre que pierde trágicamente a su esposa y debe asumir en solitario la crianza de sus hijos. La incorporación de Logan Kim completa una reunión especialmente llamativa para los seguidores de The Walking Dead: el joven actor dará vida a Nate, un chico simpático, responsable y bastante convencional que, en ocasiones, siente que su familia lo deja de lado debido a la atención que recibe su hermana.
Detrás del proyecto se encuentra Joshua Zetumer, creador de la serie y responsable de las labores de showrunner y productor ejecutivo. El guionista ya trabajó en Say Nothing, ficción de Hulu que alcanzó un 94 % de valoración de la crítica en Rotten Tomatoes. También participó en los guiones de RoboCop (2014) y Patriots Day (2016), el thriller protagonizado por Mark Wahlberg sobre los atentados del maratón de Boston.
Para Yeun, Pagans supone otra colaboración con Netflix, plataforma en la que también ha participado en Beef, Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans, The Rip y Animals. Su trabajo en Beef le valió el Emmy al mejor actor protagonista en una miniserie o película para televisión. Tras abandonar The Walking Dead, además, fue nominado al Óscar por Minari.
Mientras tanto, Logan Kim retomó recientemente su papel de Hershel en la tercera temporada de The Walking Dead: Dead City, que obtuvo un 100 % de valoración de la crítica en Rotten Tomatoes. El futuro de este spin-off sigue sin estar claro, pero los seguidores de la franquicia podrán ver de nuevo a Kim junto a Yeun en una historia muy distinta. Por ahora, Pagans todavía no tiene fecha de estreno.
© Difoosion
Se acuerdan del famoso “¿Por qué no te callas?” El rey Juan Carlos se lo gritó a Hugo Chávez en 2007 durante una Cumbre Iberoamericana. El entonces presidente de Venezuela había llamado “fascista” a José María Aznar. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, entonces jefe del Ejecutivo español, defendió a Aznar: “Se puede estar en las antípodas de una posición ideológica y no seré yo quien esté cerca de las ideas de Aznar, pero fue elegido por los españoles y exijo ese respeto”.
© EPV
El portavoz de la Junta de Castilla y León, Carlos Fernández Carriedo (PP), ha respaldado al proyecto de su socio, Vox, de supeditar las ayudas a la creación audiovisual a que no haya contenido “ideológico”. Carriedo ha aludido a la “libertad y la calidad” para que los fondos autonómicos lleguen a los proyectos que lo soliciten y no ha explicado exactamente en qué criterios se apoyará el “comité” de funcionarios que según el consejero de Cultura, Alberto Díaz Pico, de Vox, evaluará si procede o no asignarles subvenciones. Este alto cargo también criticó al festival de cine Seminci de Valladolid, que este viernes inicia su 72 edición, porque “tiene mucho que mejorar en neutralidad ideológica”. El alcalde vallisoletano, Jesús Julio Carnero (PP), ha respondido con que el certamen “es un espacio de libertad” y ha negado que haya “cine ideologizado”, como proclama su socio en la Junta y en el Consistorio.
© NACHO GALLEGO (EFE)
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