Gov. Gavin Newsoms free diaper plan is full of you-know-what

California families are struggling to afford housing, electricity, insurance, gasoline, groceries, childcare — and now even diapers.Gavin Newsom’s answer?A government-branded box of free diapers handed out at the hospital.Under Newsom’s new Golden State Start program, California will provide 400 diapers to families with newborns leaving participating hospitals.Sounds generous.Until you do the math.A newborn can go through eight to 10 diapers a day.

So 400 diapers lasts roughly five weeks.The cost to taxpayers is about $12.4 million this year alone, following on from the $7.4 million allocated in last year’s budget.Newsom calls this “what affordability looks like.”No.It is what dependency looks like.Diapers are expensive.

For struggling families, every dollar matters.There is nothing wrong with churches, synagogues, charities, neighbors, or extended families helping new parents through a difficult season.But that is not what this is.This is Sacramento taking taxpayer money, running it through government, partnering with a politically connected nonprofit, and handing some of it back as a “free” benefit.The real question is why so many California families are financially cornered in the first place.California has spent years making ordinary family life harder to sustain.Housing costs have exploded.

Utility bills keep climbing.Insurance costs are surging.

Taxes, fees, fuel mandates, labor mandates, and regulation chew up more and more of the household budget.Then Sacramento acts surprised when families cannot afford the basics.Instead of lowering the cost of living or letting families keep more of their own money, the state creates another program.Another announcement.Another press release.Another photo op.The diapers will be provided through Baby2Baby, a high-profile LA nonprofit with deep ties to Hollywood, corporate philanthropy, and California politics.The group says it can manufacture diapers far below retail cost.Maybe it can.But that does not...