The last big recession to hit California was in the early 1990s and largely centered in Southern California, as the aerospace industry was clobbered by the end of the Cold War. Los Angeles County alone lost 437,000 jobs between 1990 and 1994, at least half of them directly tied to military spending. The result was a massive exodus out of the state. Read More

At the start of every economic downturn in memorym there has been a chorus of voices saying that recovery is just a matter of “confidence.” Supposedly all we have to do is pick ourselves up and “not talk ourselves into a recession.” Politicians, particularly those in power, are the ones who adhere most fervently to the confidence hypothesis. After all, it couldn’t possibly be the failure of their policies that is the cause of economic distress. Read More