San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco today represents the ultimate expression of a new kind of urban area -- the ephemeral city. This urban form, dominated by the nomadic rich, the restless young and those living off them, has emerged across the advanced industrial world, but perhaps nowhere more clearly and arguably nowhere more successfully than in the city by the bay.

The ephemeral city differs dramatically from traditional urban centers. No longer populated mainly by middle class families and a diverse set of… more

Cesilia Bueso, a San Francisco teacher and single mother, won't attend the public hearing in San Francisco Thursday on reforming the tax code to make it "simpler, fairer, and more pro-growth." But the panelists have much to learn from her -- and from a San Francisco effort to help low-income people receive larger tax refunds and then save some.

Tax refunds provide most Americans with their best shot to save. By April 15, more than 100 million Americans will have… more

For much of urban history, major cities have enjoyed a remarkable monopoly of technology, information and economic power. Today, that stranglehold is being threatened in unprecedented ways that threaten the long- term health of large metropolitan economies, such as that of the Bay Area.

Ironically, this shift is being accelerated largely by the spread of telecommunications technology, which has been nurtured in places like Northern California, but which now provides great opportunities for companies far from the urban core.… more

California's strength in knowledge-intensive industries is so great that many policy-makers take it for granted. By some indicators, California has more top-ranked universities than Europe and Japan combined. It is also a world leader in transferring new knowledge from the lab to the marketplace, thanks to a skilled, entrepreneurial workforce and a heavy concentration of venture capital.

The result for decades has been a virtuous cycle of development in which the excellence of California's higher education system attracts more and… more

Politicians who embrace California's pioneering spirit hold the key to leading a rapidly changing electorate to a brighter future

One sign of what ails California is that the state that gave John Kerry nearly a double-digit margin two months ago is hemorrhaging Democrats. And Republicans shouldn't take any comfort in their opponents' misfortune.

Since 1990, when more than half of voters here were registered Democrats, the party's share of the electorate has dropped to just 43 percent today.… more

What if you could pay the modest sum of $20,000 and end up with lifetime employment at a salary of $158,000 annually plus the best health and retirement benefits, frequent travel to Washington, D.C., and staff and paid expenses, all on the public's dime? What a deal, eh?

As the most recent election results show, that's the plum situation for California's congressional delegation as a result of gerrymandering their own legislative district lines in 2001.

The Democratic incumbents paid $20,000 apiece… more

In the litany of lessons emerging from the Enron debacle, three of the most important concern financial democracy (i.e. the rights and responsibilities that people have in managing their money), transparency and most crucially, the trust that underpins global finance.

In America, the supposed land of the free, many employees still do not have the freedom to choose how to invest for retirement. In most companies, this means that the company offers them a list of acceptable mutual funds for… more

A few months ago, politicians in Washington were arguing over what to do with the federal budget surplus, projected to total some $5.6 trillion over the next 10 years.

In recent weeks, the discussion has degenerated into a partisan food-fight about whether there is going to be one at all.

Due to the slowing economy, the federal government last week revised the 2001 surplus, figured as recently as January to be $281 billion, down to $160 billion.

Now, Democrats charge… more

You can almost hear the screeching, 180-degree turn in political strategies in Washington.

With Vermont Sen. James Jeffords'… more

The President was right to veto the marriage penalty legislation Congress sent to him, but not for the reasons he stated. The chief shortcomings of the bill are not that it is … more