Josh Harkinson

Reporter

Born in Texas and based in San Francisco, Josh covers the economy, corporations, and a wide range of political issues in California and the West.

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Family Feud Goes to Pot

—By Josh Harkinson

| Wed Feb. 9, 2011 11:17 AM PST

This Family Feud segment has been spreading across the internet faster than wild weed on Kentucky highway median:

The laughs, of course, come from acknowledging the pervasiveness of pot in the kind of mainstream "family friendly" environment that dares not speak its name. As far as pothead culture goes, it's a major breakthrough. It kind of reminds me of what happened when I was visiting my conservative extended family in Texas over the Christmas holidays, having just published a few marijuana-related stories in Mother Jones. An aunt of mine who'd read them not only confessed that she was a pot smoker; she pulled out a giant bag of weed and asked if I wanted some. Go figure. Sometimes the battle lines of the culture wars are only in our heads.

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Obama's Fruit Cake Détente With Chamber

—By Josh Harkinson

| Mon Feb. 7, 2011 1:09 PM PST

Today's takeaway from President Obama's address to the US Chamber of Commerce, his most powerful political foe, is that he and his next-door neighbors need to try harder to get along. "I'm here in the interest of being more neighborly," Obama told a crowd of CEOs at the Chamber's headquarters, which is across the street from the White House. "Maybe if we would have brought over a fruit cake when I first moved in, we would have gotten off on a better foot. But I'm going to make it up."

The irony of the fruit-cake quip might have been lost on the Chamber crowd, which isn't exactly known for its political empathy. Here is a president who mortgaged the future of America's middle class to bail out its corporate leaders from the recession that they caused, and yet in return, has been on the receiving end of an unprecedented corporate hissy fit in Washington. Imagine if the president of a homeowners association rescued the neighborhood from a wildfire but was voted out of office because he wanted the people living in mansions to do their fair share to prevent another conflagration. That's the prospect facing Obama.

It could well be that his only remaining option is to bake up the political equivalent of fruit cake—fruity ideas such as free trade agreements, regulatory cutbacks, and tax breaks for the wealthy. It might not taste very good to most of us, but maybe its saccharine combination of trickle-down economic concepts will be durable enough to last through the next election.

Updated 2/8/11 at 8:35 AM Pacific

Reagan's Toll on the Middle Class

—By Josh Harkinson

| Fri Feb. 4, 2011 6:12 AM PST

In the lead-up to what would have been Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday on Sunday, conservatives have been trotting out all manner of panegyrics to their patron saint and his creed of trickle-down economics. For 90 percent of the people in this country, here's what should matter:

Source: Economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez as cited by Politifact

Feds vs Oakland on Pot Farms, Round 2

—By Josh Harkinson

| Thu Feb. 3, 2011 2:43 PM PST

In the most strongly worded warning to date, a federal attorney has threatened to crack down on industrial-scale pot farms should Oakland move ahead with a plan to permit and tax them.

The Justice Department "is carefully considering civil and criminal legal remedies regarding those who seek to set up industrial marijuana growing warehouses in Oakland pursuant to licenses issued by the city," US Attorney Melinda Haag of the Northern District of California warned in a letter sent to Oakland's city attorney on Tuesday.

Since last year, when Oakland garnered national attention for its scheme to become the first city in the country to tax and regulate medical marijuana growers, it has repeatedly delayed the proposed law over legal concerns.

It's still too early to say that the pot farm plan has completely gone to pot. Oakland City Council Member Desley Brooks, who makes a cameo in my recent feature on "hempreneurs," has written a new draft of the Oakland ordinance that she thinks will pass muster. From today's Oakland Tribune:

The new draft has specific language establishing a "closed-loop" relationship between cultivators and distributors—which would keep the marijuana only in the hands of patients—as well as making the patient relationships more explicit, which Brooks said address some concerns under state law.

The Super Bowl's Homeless Problem

—By Josh Harkinson

| Thu Feb. 3, 2011 1:23 PM PST

On Sunday, James Jones, who spent much of the first 14 years of his life living in homeless shelters, will play in the Super Bowl. The Green Bay Packers' wide receiver has done a lot to raise the profile of homelessness through public appearances and his Love Jones 4 Kids Foundation, which helps homeless kids stay in school. But if you're expecting his made-for-Hollywood saga to provoke any national soul searching amidst all of the halftime hoopla this weekend, you're probably going to be disappointed. If anything, the big game at Cowboys Stadium in the Dallas-Forth Worth area is shaping up to be a textbook example of how the poor get the shaft.

In December, the Dallas City Council outlawed panhandling in the city's most prominent tourist areas, including several zones where big Super Bowl events are planned. For several weeks, the the city has been removing homeless people from the areas as it spruces them up for football fans. Anyone who sticks around to ask for handouts from all the high rollers and corporate junketers who'll be passing through could be fined up to $500.

"There's a certain sense of irony that you displace your own poor to welcome those who grew up in poverty"

"There's a certain sense of irony that you displace your own poor to welcome those who grew up in poverty," says Neil Donovan, the Executive Director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. "It would be nice if we could make the city as welcome and accommodating to the persistently poor as we do for the wealthy."

As far as the wisdom of giving to panhandlers goes, Donovan says he's "probably one of the most conflicted people you will ever meet." But he staunchly opposes the criminalization of panhandling, calling the decision to give someone else money "something very sacred and personal." He sees panhandling bans as symptomatic of "a movement towards compassion fatigue."

Donovan hasn't asked Jones to speak out against the panhandling ban; he doesn't think that NFL pros are obliged to make the game stand for anything more than football. (An email that I sent to Jones' foundation hadn't been returned as of Thursday morning). But, Donovan added, "it would be highly helpful and very symbolic if something like that were to happen."