Business

California’s housing crisis is a hot current topic but it has been developing for decades and there are no magic solutions for it. Californians — particularly politicians and we in the media — talk a lot about the state’s housing crisis and how it could be resolved.

Robotic vacuum cleaners wouldn't start. Doorbell cameras stopped watching for package thieves, though some of those deliveries were canceled anyway. Netflix and Disney movies got interrupted and The Associated Press had trouble publishing the news.

California cities and counties didn’t permit nearly enough housing last year to keep pace with the state’s production goals, and much of what they approved wasn’t affordable to most residents, a new “report card” shows.

The world and world leaders are working on turning away from gas powered mode of transportation and especially investing in electric vehicles (EV) as a solution to lower emissions. To keep up with the growing demand for electric vehicles, more lithium mining will be needed. Lithium is a metal used to make rechargeable electric vehicle batteries—but the extraction process is often tied to hurting underrepresented communities.

As California contemplates how to create more and better high-paying jobs, our dominance in high-technology industries provides a unique set of tools to provide residents with economic opportunity. But the Golden State risks squandering its advantages without new approaches to developing and retaining innovative talent, particularly as high-tech industries are drawn to incentives in other locations.