California hit $6.16 a gallon for regular gas as of Friday, May 9 — the only state in the country above $6, according to AAA. The national average was $4.54. That $1.62 gap doesn't appear out of thin air: California's own lawmakers, economists, and energy officials confirmed at a state capitol hearing this week that the state's environmental taxes and fees are a major driver of that spread.

Asked by KCRA 3 whether he'd consider even a temporary suspension of the gas tax, Newsom shot back: "Is Donald Trump promoting that? Why isn't Donald Trump providing a federal gas tax holiday?" Asked whether he had any regrets about his administration's approach to oil and gas, he said: "No, quite the contrary. I'm proud of our leadership."

UC Berkeley economist Severin Borenstein told the same hearing a temporary tax adjustment "could help consumers" — no qualifier. Two California refineries shut in the last six months as regulators tightened clean-air rules. Working folks filling the tank aren't a line item in Newsom's 2028 launch strategy. They're the ones covering the bill.

A CNN/SSRS poll from late March shows Trump's approval among white non-college graduates has flipped underwater — 49 percent approve, 51 percent disapprove. A separate survey of nearly 2,000 Trump voters found one in five won't back a Republican in 2028, and pollsters say that departure is "concentrated among his working-class voters."

The White House answer: a TrumpIRA executive order, "no tax on tips" folded into the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a proposal to ban mega investors from buying single-family homes, and a credit card rate cap floated in January — and apparently stalled. Said Senator Elizabeth Warren in a letter to bank regulators: "The president's deadline is long past, the big banks have predictably refused to act, and Americans still face average credit card interest rates of roughly 25 percent."

Vanderbilt political scientist Larry Bartels put it plain: "These voters are not reading policy briefs... They will respond to how their lives feel at the time of the election." Housing, groceries, gas — all still climbing. The boardroom hasn't blinked. Working folks are watching.

Congestion pricing was sold as a green fix for New York City. One year in, a Columbia University and South Bronx Unite study of 19 air quality sensors found four locations in the Bronx showing significant increases in fine particulate matter — the kind the EPA links directly to cardiovascular disease, respiratory failure, and premature death.

The South Bronx was already called 'Asthma Alley' before the toll launched. City health data puts adult asthma rates at 20.7% there — versus 14.2% citywide. About 1 in 5 kids in Mott Haven–Port Morris has been diagnosed with asthma. The scheme generated $526 million in its first year, which MTA chief Janno Lieber called proof it's 'already succeeding.' Success for who?

The boardroom got cleaner air below 60th Street. Working-class families in the Bronx got the diverted truck traffic and the bill. That's not a policy failure — that's how rigged policy works.

A proposed class action filed Friday in Portland federal court says Nike charged customers $5–$10 extra per pair of shoes and $2–$10 more per apparel item to cover tariff costs — then made no commitment to pass refunds back after the Supreme Court struck down those tariffs in February.

The complaint is plain: "Nike stands to recover the same tariff payments twice — once from consumers through higher prices and again from the federal government through tariff refunds." Nike confirmed it paid roughly $1 billion in tariffs on imported goods. That's your money, working its way from your wallet to Beaverton boardrooms.

Nike joins Costco and EssilorLuxottica (Ray-Ban's parent) facing similar suits. Some say this is a tariff policy debate — the deeper issue is a $1 billion corporation that passed every cost down to working folks and is now angling to pocket the rebate.

While every other state used federal stimulus money to pay down its unemployment insurance debt, California spent it elsewhere — and now employers are eating the bill. California businesses will pay a 5.2% payroll tax, nearly nine times the rate in debt-free states, according to the California Business Roundtable.

Said State Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones: "Businesses that survived shutdowns, kept employees on payroll, and held their communities together will pay for Gavin Newsom's failures." California's Employment Development Department also paid out an estimated $20 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims during the pandemic — money gone, debt real, nobody held accountable.

Small businesses — 99.8% of all California businesses, supporting 7.6 million jobs — are first in line for the hit. Rob Lapsley of the California Business Roundtable warned the per-employee penalty could eventually top $400 if the debt isn't resolved. The tab got run up in the boardroom of state government. Main Street is being handed the check.

The LA County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to put Measure ER on the June 2026 ballot — a half-cent sales tax that would push rates past 10.25% countywide, the highest sales tax burden in the nation. The county projects $1 billion per year in new revenue, all flowing into the general fund with no legally binding restrictions, no independent audits, and no enforceable accountability.

Sound familiar? The city tried this play in 2022 with Measure ULA, the so-called mansion tax. Supporters promised up to $1 billion annually for housing. It pulled in $280–$350 million — and a Harvard, UC San Diego, and UC Irvine study found that between 63 and 138 percent of that revenue was wiped out by lost future property tax receipts. The tax may have cost the city money.

Said Aidan Chao, Chairman of the LA County Taxpayers Association: "You cannot ask families already paying over ten cents on the dollar and facing a cost-of-living crisis to hand another billion dollars annually to a general fund with no strings attached." A March poll put opposition at 47%. The boardroom always wants more. Working folks are done writing blank checks.