Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael Hiltzik has written for the Los Angeles Times for more than 40 years. His business column appears in print every Sunday and Wednesday, and occasionally on other days. Hiltzik and colleague Chuck Philips shared the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for articles exposing corruption in the entertainment industry. His seventh book, “Iron Empires: Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America,” was published in 2020. His latest book, “The Golden State,” is a history of California. Follow him on Bluesky at hiltzikm.bsky.social, on X at twitter.com/hiltzikm and on Facebook at facebook.com/hiltzik.
Latest From This Author
Trump’s proposed 50% cut in NASA’s science budget would turn the agency into an empty shell. Who’s behind this?
- Voices
Hiltzik: Study finds removing school mask mandates contributed to 22,000 U.S. COVID deaths in a year
Critics of anti-pandemic measures prompted schools to end mask mandates, but doing so exposed millions to COVID infection, contributing to nearly 22,000 deaths.
- Voices
Hiltzik: MAHA report’s misrepresentations will harm public health and hit consumers’ pocketbooks
RFK Jr.’s ‘Make America Healthy Again’ report was an AI-generated embarrassment, but even the non-AI parts were lies and misrepresentations.
Investors are beginning to realize that Trump never follows through on his tariff threats, inspiring the TACO trade: ‘Trump always chickens out’
Plummeting sales at Target show that DEI is a lot more popular than businesses think.
AI ‘hallucinations’ are causing lawyers professional embarrassment, sanctions from judges and lost cases. Why do they keep using it?
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blames the Democrats for the air travel chaos, but while in Congress he voted against funds for the FAA.
- Voices
Hiltzik: Crypto was already in bad odor before jumping into bed with Trump. Now it smells worse
Trump’s cryptocurrency deals have even Republicans getting concerned about the potential — and possibly the reality — of conflicts of interest and unconstitutional transactions.
With his tariff ‘deals,’ President Trump leaves international trade relationships even more unsettled than before.
With a demand that vaccine boosters be tested against placebos, RFK Jr. puts an old antivaccine claim at the forefront of government health policy.