America’s health care is at or near the top of the list of issues that voters prioritize in most surveys. California voters are no exception, and with good reason. Following the passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) and its new regulations and taxes, Americans saw massive increases in insurance premiums and a disappearance of insurance options across the country. In its first four years, ACA insurance premiums for individuals doubled and for families increased by 140 percent. This occurred even though insurance deductibles increased by over 30 percent for individuals and by over 97 percent for families, according to eHealth.

Performance of students in California has recently improved, but large numbers of students still remain poorly equipped to face a world of automation and economic change. Moreover, California’s economic future is in jeopardy, especially if the high cost of living impedes the flow of skilled in-migrants to the state.

Pension liabilities are one of the most important, and most poorly understood, fiscal challenges facing California. Unfunded pension liabilities are a large and growing fiscal burden for the state government and for local governments as well. For the state government, the share of pension contributions in the budget has increased by 350 percent since 2002. 

An American crisis of confidence, augmented by effective Chinese propaganda, has driven the narrative of the end of the “American Century,” replaced with a Chinese one. An analysis of such metrics as demography, social stability, geography, the environment, economics, military strength and capability, and soft power belies the concept of American decline and shows that China is beset with substantial internal and international challenges that indicate continued United States dominance in world affairs.