Next Round

Our annual former PRI speechwriters analyze President Biden's State of the Union Address: Senior Director of Education Lance Izumi was chief speechwriter to Gov. Deukmejian and Attorney General Ed Meese, Vice President of Marketing and Communications Tim Anaya was speechwriter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and numerous legislators and COO Rowena Itchon was a speechwriter for Gov. Pete Wilson and a...

Our guest this week is Rea Hederman, executive director of the Economic Research Center and vice president of policy at The Buckeye Institute, a free market think tank based in Ohio. Its new report, "Net-Zero Climate-Control Policies Fail Farmers and Families" looks at the impact the Biden administration's climate-control policies will have on farmers and families. Farm operating costs is estimate...

Our podcast guest this week is Steve Hilton, the keynote speaker at PRI's 2024 Sacramento Ideas in Action Conference.  Steve was a top advisor to UK Prime Minister David Cameron, a contributor at Fox News, and now running "Golden Together" a group focused on new ideas to increase affordable housing in California. Steve gave a rousing talk to our audience, rallying our guests to continue the fight...

Our guest this week is Paul Tice, a Wall Street veteran and now an adjunct professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. His new book The Race to Zer o provides a detailed rebuttal to the case for sustainable investing from the perspective of a long-time Wall Street analyst, investor, and now a finance professor. He argues that sustainable investing doesn't aim to generate high retu...

Our guest this week is Stanford University historian Jennifer Burns.  Professor Burns has just published her new book "Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative." Milton Friedman was a tremendous supporter of PRI and our work, giving lectures and attending many events. We invited Prof. Burns, who specializes in U.S. twentieth century history focusing on the state, markets, and capitalism and how thes...

Our guests this week are Steve Greenhut, director of PRI's Free Cities Center and Wayne Winegarden, senior fellow in business and economics.  The two have joined forces to produce PRI's latest mini book from the Free Cities Center, "Giving Housing Supply a Boost: How to Improve Affordability and Reduce Homelessness." They discuss the policies that have made homebuilding prohibitively expensive in...

Roger Simon wrote novels and screenplays before co-founding and becoming CEO of the pioneering blog aggregation and news and opinion website PJ Media (formerly Pajamas Media) in 2005. He's best known for the Moses Win e  detective series, which have won prizes from the Mystery Writers of America and the Crime Writers of Great Britain.  In his latest book, American Refugees:  The Untold Story of th...

Our guest this week is Jeff Anderson, president of the American Main Street Initiative, which publishes political and public policy research by scholars and writers.  Jeff has held many prominent positions in presidential administrations, including director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics at the Justice Department .   Jeff was also a professor at the Air Force Academy. We chat with Jeff about...

Listen as PRI's All Stars – Wayne Winegarden, Lance Izumi, Sally Pipes, and Steve Smith – respond to Gov. Newsom's much-anticipated 2024-25 state budget plan. They discuss Gov. Newsom's much lower state budget projection and spending priorities, the budget's impact on K-12 education, whether the Governor will suspend the controversial $25 health care minimum wage increase, and how it will affect e...

PRI's All Stars - Rowena Itchon, Tim Anaya, Lance Izumi, and Kerry Jackson - are back with their choices for 2023's biggest winners and losers, in our annual tribute to the McLaughlin Group.  We hand out our choices for best and worst ideas of the year, the bummest wraps, and give our predictions for who is destined for stardom in 2024.

  Calling all history buffs, this episode is for you!  PRI board member and Hillsdale College Associate Professor of Government Richard Samuelson joins us to discuss the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, the events surrounding the incident, and the lessons we can learn from the Boston Tea Party about today's politics.  Plus, Ro and Tim discuss California's $68 billion budget deficit and Kevin M...

Attorney, political analyst and "Get Out the Bet" podcast co-host Melissa Caen joins us to discuss all things politics. We discuss the latest on Mayor London Breed's re-election chances, Gov. Gavin Newsom's global travels, the California U.S. Senate race and the race for the White House. Plus Tim and Ro discuss the 10 Freeway fire in Los Angeles.

Our guest is Ben Judge, managing director of Monument Valley, a firm focused on adapting academic research for popular audiences. Ben is also the creator and executive producer of the documentary Right Makes Might: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates. We chat with Ben about his new book United and Independent: John Quincy Adams and American Foreign Policy. The father of early American foreign policy, we a...

The PRI holiday book gift guide has become an annual tradition.  This year's list has something for everyone on your gift list: politics, history, business, philosophy, mystery, horror, and good old-fashion whodunits.  Enjoy and happy holiday shopping.

Our guest this week is Scott Beyer, founder of the Market Urbanist, a website that reports and researches innovative free-market policy solutions to the myriad of problems many cities are facing.  Scott is the author of PRI's new mini book: Latin America's Urban Experience : How Markets Help Developing Countries Cope with Government Dysfunction . Scott is on a three-continent tour (Latin America,...

  Attorney, professor and master negotiator John Lowry, author of the new book "Negotiation Made Simple," joins us with advice for listeners on how to maximize your position whether you're haggling over an employment contract or the price of a new car.  He also shares his thoughts on some current negotiations generating media headlines.  Plus, Tim and Ro weigh in on Gov. Newsom's trip to China.

  Attorney, professor and master negotiator John Lowry, author of the new book "Negotiation Made Simple," joins us with advice for listeners on how to maximize your position whether you're haggling over an employment contract or the price of a new car.  He also shares his thoughts on some current negotiations generating media headlines.  Plus, Tim and Ro weigh in on Gov. Newsom's trip to China.

This is a special recording of a recent PRI dinner in San Francisco featuring Professor Charles Kesler, the editor of the Claremont Review of Books, offering his perspective on U.S. politics and the global situation in Israel and China.  Ro and Tim also weigh in on Gov. Newsom's trip to China and Israel.

  sddasdasOur guest this week is Emily Hoeven, opinion columnist at The San Francisco Chronicle . Before coming to the Chronicle, she wrote CalMatters' daily WhatMatters newsletter on California politics and policy and makes frequent appearances on TV, radio, podcasts, panels, and helped launch a weekly political segment on ABC 10. We chat with Emily on a variety of issues affecting San Francisco...

It's that time of the year when the Governor decides which bills to sign and which to veto.  Rowena Itchon, chief operating officer at PRI and Tim Anaya, vice president of marketing and communications have a round-up discussion of the major bills -- from health care to climate change to unemployment benefits for striking workers.  In addition, they give their take on the GOP move to remove Cong. K...

Our guest this week is PRI senior fellow Dr. Wayne Winegarden.  We discuss with Wayne his new study comparing the results of states that had very restrictive COVID-19 policies versus those that did not.  He concludes that while COVID-19 restrictions did lead to some health benefits, they were unfortunately negated by large economic and education losses.  We also discuss with Wayne the policy lesso...

Our guest this week is Kerry Jackson, PRI's senior fellow on California Reform.  Kerry has been following Gov. Newsom's and Attorney General Bonta's lawsuit on oil companies and its implications.  He also discusses SB 253, a corporate climate change disclosure bill; the federal and state push for electric busses including school buses, hydrogen cars, and "Climate Week."

Our guest this week is Clark Judge, founder and managing director of the White House Writers Group and Chairman of PRI.  A former speechwriter to Pres. Ronald Reagan, Clark is a veteran of Washington politics and presidential elections.  We chat with Clark to get his insights on California politics from his national perspective and what we can expect from the upcoming election cycle.

Our guest this week is Steve Greenhut, director of PRI's Free Cities Center and a veteran California journalist.  Steve recaps the legislative session with the highlights and lowlights (unfortunately for Californians, mostly lowlights). He also weighs in on the new Speaker Robert Rivas, the ever-controversial Public Safety Committee, and Gov. Newsom's political prospects.

Our guest this week is PRI senior fellow Wayne Winegarden who discusses his new study "The Free Cities Index."  Many of America's cities have been on the decline for years, while other cities have thrived and attracted more and more Americans.  Wayne examined a multitude of variables – taxes, crime, schools – and ranked the 50 largest U.S. cities in terms of livability and growth.  Not surprisingl...