Sep

6

Moving California Forward: A How To Guide

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Moving California Forward: A How To Guide

Moving California Forward: A How To Guide

READY! AIM! FIRE!!!

READY! AIM! FIRE!!!

The Republican Juggernaut Fires the Grover Norquist-Shell

The Republican Juggernaut Fires the Grover Norquist-Shell

"That's How WE move California Forward!"

"That's How WE move California Forward!"

Aug

30

Pledge to Grover > California Constitution

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Pledge to Grover > California Constitution

Pledge to Grover > California Constitution

Aug

17

Victory for Grover Norquist and Republicans = Loss for California

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Grover Norquist, Republicans and California's Future

Grover Norquist, Republicans and California's Future

Grover Norquist, Republicans and California's Future Down the Toliet

Grover Norquist, Republicans and California's Future Down the Toliet

Grover Norquist, Republicans and California's Future Down the Toliet

Grover Norquist, Republicans and California's Future Down the Toliet Continues

Victory for Grover Norquist and Republicans = Loss for California's Future

Victory for Grover Norquist and Republicans = Loss for California's Future

Aug

17

What is this for?

Filed Under California, Doodles, Political Participation | 2 Comments

"What is this for?"

"What is this for?"

"I could control spending with this, right?"

"I could control spending with this, right?"

Big $ Hole =

Big $ Hole =

Eureka!?

"Eureka!?"

Aug

16

La La Land

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Budget Bill is in La La Land

Budget Bill is in La La Land

Aug

14

No Vote Yet

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A budget vote, only 48 days into the fiscal year — Cancel those Sunday plans: The Assembly and the Senate have tentatively scheduled floor votes on a budget bill that day. It does not mean a deal is imminent. Kevin Yamamura SacBee Capitol Alert John Myers Capitol Notes weblog JUDY LIN AP — 8/14/08

There has been no floor vote on the state budget yet. I do not understand why someone would choose to not use the public process to draw the public’s attention to a public matter of such critical importance as the state budget.

We are in the dark about the budget.

I have my family and friends calling me asking what is going on with the state budget? Have they voted on the budget yet? What’s holding up the budget? Any idea on when it’s going to be passed? I heared X about the budget, is it true? And a whole string of other questions.

There are 120 legislators. Two houses of the legislature: Senate and Assembly. Each house has a majority party and minority party leader. The 4 legislative leaders and the governor normally hammer out the budget and move on. But these folks are not even talking to each other. There has been a total breakdown in communication.

Lack of communication is the reason why we are in the dark.

May

18

Hard Line, Always

Filed Under California, Human Development, Personal, UC Merced, United States | Leave a Comment

I just had a conversation with Juan Carmen, Associated Students of UC Merced Director of Student Advocacy about a recent article in the Merced Sun-Star where he is quoted as saying:

Student Juan Carmen, 20, from Los Angeles, said he wasn’t surprised about the fee increase, mainly because of the state’s budget crisis. “I’m just glad it wasn’t like 10 percent or more,” Carmen said. “It’s still an increase, but it’s not like a major one.”

7.4% is a major increase! $490 is 50+ hours of work. Such fee increases places an additional burden on a students who have to pay for their education, housing and other living expenses.

We cannot continue to believe that moderation is the best approach to the issue of student fee increases.

The time has come where we have to be hard line, always. This continued march to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from 200,000 or so students over the past decade must end.

Apr

27

Hot and Sticky

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Here in Sacramento, it is hot and sticky. I am spent most of the day in the house, cooking lunch for the upcoming week (Mayra helped a lot), participating in 3 conference calls and coping with the weather. Right now, we are cooking a stuffed bell pepper with ground beef and making macaroni salad.

I like to relax on weekends and Sundays in particular. There is something to be said about calm before the week storm. It is also important to be able to find shelter in the form of meditation, exercising or cooking throughout the stormy week. It helps maintain some degree of sanity.

Over the past few days, I have been trying to figure out how I can explain to people my views on representative government. Specifically, how I think we should increase the size of the California state legislature from 120 to something greater (I am shooting for 360 or 480 for the sake of “ranging” the debate).

The National Conference of State Legislatures has a page about this very issue. The size of the state legislature affects just about everything.

I do not believe we can depend on 40 and 80 people (or 120 total) to effectively represent the diverse geographic, political, economic, social and fiscal interests of a 35+ million person state. What has been rattling my brain the past few days is how to construct and deliver a convincing argument for increasing the size of the legislature.

Jan

28

7 Days and Counting

Filed Under California, Election 2008 | Leave a Comment

In about 7 days we are set to experience a “watershed” moment in history. In a conversation with the Lt. Governor, we discuss state and national politics and pondered what Tuesday, February 5 would bring.

Change is what next Tuesday is going to bring. A change in our state politics; a change in our national politics and a change in the hearts and minds of people.

On Saturday, Senator Obama rocked the South Carolina Primary. I was in Yosemite at the time. Reception was poor enough so I did not learn of the results until Mayra and I left the snow-covered park and returned to Merced.

I was happy to spend the day with Mayra in the place John Muir called “The Yosemite.” A majestic place of absolute amazement.

Standing with Mayra in the frigid air, looking at the snow-capped Half Dome and basking in the glow of the sun, I was at peace.

Jan

1

Television, Mortgage Crisis, Recession?

Filed Under California, Economy, United States | Leave a Comment

This year, I am going to spend more time synthesizing and sharing my thoughts through my blog.

Frankly, I am disenchanted with television and how it repeats the same news story over and over. The news at 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 is nearly the same; new information is rarely presented within that six hour window and arguably a person can read more in one hour than they can watch in six.

Normally, when I return to Bellflower to spend time with my family, the television is on. I remember a few years ago I came home from school and I became extremely frustrated with the news cycle. I did not go so far as to hurl the remote at the television, though the thought did cross my mind and I laughed, that was a defining moment for me: I turned off the tube.

This winter break, I got my toxic dose of television. Each newscast mentions the holiday cheer, the seemingly excessive mall shopping and what looms ahead in 2008. The topic that taints the hourly news is the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

I first heard of the impending sub-prime mortgage crisis from Professor Gary Dymski at the UC Center at Sacramento in early summer 2007. An unfamiliar topic of seemingly import garnered my undivided attention. As Professor Dymski described the crisis, I became intrigued, although somewhat confused, with the topic. As time passed, the sub-prime mortgage was mentioned more and more in the print press and I have been following it every since.

My understanding of sub-prime mortgage is limited but basically how I understand it is that a whole bunch of people sold a whole bunch of loans to other people (we are talking hundreds of thousands if not millions of folks) whose rates would increase like the face of a cliff in a few years. In other words, as you walked through desert flats, another traveler encouraged you to continue walking knowing that you would face a vertical climb in the near future and neglected to make that abundantly clear.

Now, a whole bunch of people are starting to reach the base of the cliff and have no idea how to climb it. The government (both federal and states) are trying to help by throwing ropes down but only a few folks have the gloves to hold on; the others are out of luck.

Some argue that the government should do more to help those in need, others contend that that is the nature of markets: some win, some lose. Others argue that the government should work towards ensuring that those who point people to continue to walk through the desert should make it very clear that they will have a cliff to climb; and still others emphasize that travelers should be weary of advice given from strangers.

In sum, the range of options is from action to no action, strong action (punish companies) to weak action (individually responsibility next time), strong-independent action (individual should empower self with knowledge) to weak-dependent action (seller should empower buyer with knowledge) and so on and so forth. We can break it down into a million options.

The main argument being advanced by mainstream media is that the sub-prime mortgage crisis may lead to a recession of the economy.

The logic appears to be as follows: people can’t afford to pay for their homes, so they spend less elsewhere (like on goods and services); less people can afford homes, so the demand for (too costly) homes decreases; as demand for homes decreases, those who build homes layoff workers and those workers are now unemployed. As unemployment increases, consumer spending decreases, and less money is exchanged throughout the economy and this results in a slow down and may eventually lead to a recession or a prolonged period of slower-than-average economic growth.

I believe our economy will not enter a recession.

The sub-prime mortgage crisis is being way overblown in the mainstream media and there are several mitigating factors that weaken the perceived strength of the crisis.

For one, more people participate directly in the economy through the Internet. People are making/saving pennies, nickels and so on from selling/buying through the Internet. Our economy is becoming less representative meaning that there are less firms that employ a significant segment of the population. Thus, if a firm performs below expectations, then the ensuing shock in confidence does not reverberate as strongly because people are not as close to the firm (employed, a family member is employed, or a close friend is employed). In other words, our economy is diversifying and the Internet is helping promote such diversification.

The second mitigating factor is the amount of information available. As the mainstream media continually reinforces and seemingly increasing weakness of the economy, people have look to other sources of information that argue otherwise. On the world wide web, there is a healthy debate over the impacts of the sub-prime mortgages. Some argue doom and gloom and others argue that we will weather the storm. Somewhere in between lies the truth and I think there are more and more people who seek more credible sources of information to help them determine whether or not one source of information is true or not true.

The final mitigating factor is our increasingly educated society. As more and more people obtain higher levels of education, whether formal or informal, their critical thinking, information collection and analysis abilities, and overall understanding of the world is more complete than it was in the past. The idea is that in no other time in human history has society had as much information available to it so readily. Access to information has increased, production of information has increased and ultimately our capacity to effectively process mass amounts of information has increased. This is an idea to really be in awe of. Each time I think about it, I say “Wow” and ponder the future.

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