Whoever said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result was probably thinking about the California initiative process. We keep on putting initiatives on the ballot thinking it will solve all our problems and we keep getting the same results: either the initiatives don’t pass […]

To the extent that the immigration debate gets any coverage in the media these days, it seems to be about the way the proponents of human rights are shouting past the xenophobes and vice versa. Meanwhile, Europe and Japan both are giving serious consideration to what it will do for their economies as the number […]

Today, Politico asked, “What does Obama gain by calling bankers ‘fat cats?’” Here was my response:
When I was Deputy Corporations Commissioner for the State of California, I learned that if there was one thing that our licensees wanted from their financial regulator, it was consistency. The number of players and moving parts in the financial […]

Politico has an on-line debate called “The Arena,” a place where they ask political professionals about the day’s news. Today, they asked me and others about the meaning Obama’s declining approval ratings (chart above). Here was my response:
The predictive value of Obama’s declining job performance numbers is not deep. All the numbers say is that […]

A few numbers that jumped out at me from tonight’s election in LA:

Size of the L.A. City Budget: $7 billion
L.A. City Council Salary: $178,789
Population of 2nd City Council District: 277,531
Estimated Vote Eligible Population (VEP): 211,756
Ballots in Tonight’s 2nd City Council Race: 19,170
Mail Ballots: 10,988
Poll Ballots: 8,182
VEP Turnout: 9 percent