Walters: Silicon Valley flexes financial muscle in governor’s race and wealth tax battle

Over the last half-century, digital technology has reshaped the daily lives of people everywhere and created vast new industries. But no spot on the globe has been more affected than its birthplace.

The transformation of the Santa Clara Valley from a bucolic grower of fruit into the technological powerhouse of Silicon Valley — thanks largely to Stanford University’s presence — fueled a dramatic evolution of California’s economy, growing it into the fourth largest in the world, were it a nation.