Daily Business Report: Wednesday, January 21
Newsom’s Latest Disaster: A Davos Tantrum
By Richie Greenberg | California Globe
Mr. Newsom is in Davos, Switzerland this week, not for a ski holiday, but to attend the 2026 World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting.
His latest appearance exemplifies the petulant, sore-loser mentality that plagues him, the California legislature, and the national Democratic Party post-2024. Newsom is using the global stage not for constructive dialogue but to shockingly lambaste world leaders for their supposed “complicity” in dealing with Trump, urging them to instead “buck up” and “grow a backbone” against the president’s assertive policies. His crude metaphors, likening Trump to a “T-Rex” that “mates with you or devours you,” and joking about bringing “knee pads” for kneeling leaders, reveal a bitterness unbecoming of a statesman.
Some background:
The fight over how to pay for Medi-Cal puts pressure on Newsom to raise taxes
By Maya C. Miller & Jeanne Kuang| CalMatters
California health care advocates, labor unions and progressive lawmakers are urging the governor and the Legislature to find new money to fund medical care and other social services for millions of low-income and disabled Californians.
Their coalition, known as “Fight for Our Health,” demanded Wednesday on the Capitol steps that the Legislature and soon-to-be lame duck Gov. Gavin Newsom take action to backfill funding cuts that President Donald Trump and Republicans approved last year.
The dilemma over how to respond to billions of dollars in cuts to social services — particularly to the budget for Medi-Cal, the state’s nearly $200 billion Medicaid program — foreshadows a showdown that will dominate both the 2026 legislative session and the midterm elections.
Federal Audits Demand California Repay Over $1 Billion in Misused Medicaid Funds for Illegal Aliens
By Megan Barth | California Globe
In a major escalation of federal oversight, audits by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under the Trump administration have determined that California must repay more than $1 billion in improperly claimed federal Medicaid funds tied to healthcare for illegal aliens. The findings highlight California’s role as the “biggest culprit” among several blue states—including Illinois, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and the District of Columbia—that collectively face demands to return $1.35 billion in questioned reimbursements.
The revelation, first highlighted in a Fox News alert on Monday, underscores the ongoing fiscal strain caused by the state’s decision to extend full Medi-Cal coverage to all “undocumented migrants”, a move that has ballooned costs to the near point of fiscal insolvency.
