The night of Feb. 8 was one to remember for the supporters of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Despite many polls predicting the party would win a comfortable majority, the result was a victory that surpassed every optimistic expectation. Celebrations broke out in local party offices throughout the nation once it was announced that the […]
Tag: public policy
“Too Old to Drive”: Addressing California’s Senior Driving Crisis
Whenever a senior driver creates hazards on the road, the typical response is to demand license revocations or mandatory drive tests for older folk. Reddit user UCSDDropout rants, “This is why old people should have to take a driver’s test annually or something… Almost got into a crash with a grandma.” In the same post, […]
Political Risk and Who Pays: Infrastructure Finance as Loss Allocation
Politicians and project-sponsors often present infrastructure projects as promised growth, mobility, jobs, or cleaner energy. After the ribbon-cutting a harder question remains: who pays when something goes wrong? In infrastructure and project finance, advisors and lenders describe this as a technical question of “risk allocation.” And in politics, it surfaces as corruption scandals, fiscal crises […]
The Euro Problem: Is Further Integration the Solution?
Twenty-five years after its launch, the eurozone is failing its citizens. In Spain, the unemployment rate sits at 10.29 percent. In Greece, 26.9 percent of people are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. Meanwhile, Italy’s public debt has climbed to 137.9 percent of GDP, the second highest in the euro area after Greece. The […]
Education Is Not The Great Equalizer
We have all been fed a lie: “Education is the great equalizer.” That line dominates the public discourse on K-12 public education. However, it’s certainly not true in the Bay Area nor in California. Piedmont High School and Oakland High School are less than 3 miles apart. Yet the academic performance of their students couldn’t […]
Political Innovation: Taking a Page from the Business Playbook
We live in a world marred by uncertainty. Each day it seems that more and more crises are coming to the fore: incoming climate disaster, rampant xenophobia, growing economic discontent. Yet the approach by many political leaders to this rapidly-changing environment is the same as it has been for decades: maintain stability, keep law and […]
The Rent Is Too Damn High: A Guide On What Not To Do When The Rent Is Just Too Damn High
If you don’t know who Jimmy McMillan is, you’re missing out. McMillan is the founder and currently one of three members of The Rent Is Too Damn High Party, where he ran as a gubernatorial candidate in New York in 2010. At the gubernatorial debate that year, McMillan was then quoted on live television shouting, […]