473: Will Swaim—Don't Follow California
3/3/20261 hr 6 min
Mike talks with Will Swaim, CEO of the California Policy Center. California has long marketed itself as the future—a place where trends are born and the rest of the country eventually follows. But Swaim argues that when it comes to public policy, that's the last thing America should do.
Despite spending roughly $24 billion, California still leads the nation in homelessness. The state ranks near the bottom in education outcomes, while residents face the highest energy and gas prices as well as marginal income tax rates in America. Swaim argues these aren't accidents—they're the predictable results of bad policy choices.
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First 90 secondsMike Rowe· Host0:00
[bass music] What do you say, Will Swaim? Are you up for a, uh, for an ad hoc public service announcement that just might change, uh, and save America?
Will Swaim· Guest0:11
And change the trajectory of the entire planet. Yes, sir. Let's do it.
Mike Rowe· Host0:16
[laughs] Um, folks, I've invited, uh, Will Swaim on because i- I don't know of anybody who understands what's going on in California better on a policy level than you. Maybe your old boss, Ed Ring, he seems to be still plugged in. But as a resident here, I just feel like something has tipped, and I have no desire to open a big political can of worms. But I do think it's really important, in part because I just watched a, uh, a video from, uh, Fareed Zakaria, who talked, you know... A- and not a Republican, not, not even a conservative, but he spoke very plainly about what's happening in New York City, and I just was taken by it because all the way out here in California, it struck me as, as a kind of public service announcement 'cause our cities are in trouble, Will, and the trouble our cities are in sure seems to be a direct result of the policies that have been put in place. So I don't, I don't just wanna make it a big dog pile. I don't have any personal animus toward Gavin Newsom. But at every