Essays by Eric Hall
California used to build.
We moved rivers across deserts. We put a railroad over the Sierra. We built one of the best university systems in the world. Then, about fifty years ago, we stopped. Now we hold hearings.
I write about how we start building again.
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Why I write this
For most of its history, California did one thing very well. It built. A family could arrive with nothing, find work, buy a house on one income and expect their kids to do better. My family did exactly that. I’m a fifth-generation Californian. My grandson Pearce is the seventh.
Somewhere in the last fifty years, we lost our nerve. We ration water. We plan for blackouts. We call a housing shortage normal. We hold hearings, order studies, file lawsuits and call it progress, even when nobody ends up with a place to live.
I spent four years on the St. Helena City Council, two of them as vice mayor, so I know how those meetings go. I also spent thirty years in finance and real estate, where a project either pencils out or it doesn’t. Both taught me the same thing. Decline isn’t destiny. It’s a habit, and habits can be broken.
What you’ll find here
Most weeks I publish one essay. It’s built on history, real numbers and things you can touch: power lines, pipes, ports and houses. The question underneath is always the same: what would it take for ordinary people to do well here again?
- EnergyAI, electric cars and new factories need far more power than we’re planning for. Who builds it, and who pays?
- HousingWe’re one of the richest places on earth, and we still can’t house our own kids. The problem isn’t land. It’s process.
- Water, ports and roadsThe plumbing of a working state, and what it costs us when we don’t keep it up.
- New citiesBig ideas that die in committee, and a few that shouldn’t.
- California and the PacificOur ports, our trade and our oldest neighbor, Baja California.
- AI and workIf machines do most of the work, what happens to our jobs, taxes, politics and us?
- OwnershipCan we flip the script? If ordinary Californians are going to lose their wages, could they instead own a piece of what gets built? We’re tired of just paying for it.
Some ideas are practical. Some are a stretch. A few may make you uncomfortable. You don’t need to be a policy expert to read any of them. All I ask is that you bring your curiosity.
A few places to start
What Would We Fight About?
Nine of the 14 measures on this year’s ballot were about money. Picture a state where machines do most of the work. How much of the ballot noise is left?
Show Us the Megawatts
California says it leads in AI. The data centers and power plants AI needs are being built in other states. Why?
The California Abundance Fund
What if Californians owned part of the power plants and lines the AI economy needs, instead of just paying the bill?
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