Some California Democrats are calling for increased spending now that the state's revenue outlook has improved. But should the state save for a rainy day? Then, a dining double standard? Chefs say Los Angeles food critics favor Mexican street food over high-end cuisine. Next, a look at how California's nursing shortage is compounded by a shortage of nursing educators. Then, we discuss a troubling trend of mistrust among Americans and speak with author Diane Francis, who makes the case for a merger between the U.S. and Canada.
Will California budget surplus spur Sacramento to spend or save?
California's growing surplus could lead to Democrat-on-Democrat budget battle in the coming months. Governor Jerry Brown has made cautious estimates about the state's finances, but the bean-counter-in-chief, Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor, projects year-over-year increases up to a nearly $10-billion surplus by July 2018. Plus he predicts the growth will head into 2020 at least.
Much of the current surplus will go to education spending, and while there are other government-financed programs in need and hard-hit by the recession (child care and welfare, for instance), some argue the extra cash should be saved for leaner years.
What do you want legislators to do? If voters are given a chance to expand California's reserve stash, will they?
Guests:
Mac Taylor, Legislative Analyst, State of California
Chris Hoene, Executive Director, California Budget Project
Autumn Carter, Executive Director, California Common Sense
Do restaurant critics have a double standard for Mexican cuisine?
Street food vs. fine dining: some Mexican chefs argue food critics are biased against high-quality meals in favor of small, humble, places or hole-in-the-wall, street-cart-style fare.
Those are seen as authentic, while higher end Mexican places are dismissed as “inauthentic.”
When you go out for white-tablecloth meals, do you default toward French or Japanese instead of considering Mexican? If you normally pay a buck-fifty for a taco or tamale, would you shell out $15 or $20 if it used top-notch ingredients, organic and local to boot?
Guests:
Ricardo Cervantes, Proprietor, La Monarca Bakery; President of the Taste of Mexico Association - a restaurant association created in 2010 by LA’s top native Mexican restaurateurs.
Jonathan Gold, Restaurant Critic, Los Angeles Times; Pulitzer Prize winning food writer
Nursing school applicants turned away in droves while nursing shortage is dire
Thousands of nursing students are turned away from schools each year, not because they’re unqualified, but because there aren’t enough staff members to teach them. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, in 2011 more than 75,000 qualified applicants were turned away from nursing schools across the U.S. The same organization found nearly 1,200 staffing vacancies at 662 nursing schools last year.
Colleges in California are especially feeling the shortage. Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Northridge, CSU Chico and CSU San Marcos all admitted 20 percent or less of applicants this past fall.
Part of the problem is that nurses who are qualified to teach are asked to do more for less money. A faculty nurse earns about $20,000 less than those who do clinical or hospital administration work.
How can we get more qualified nurses to become teachers? How will the healthcare system cope with a shortage of nurses as the system expands from the Affordable Care Act?
Guests:
Martin Gallegos, Senior Vice President of Healthcare Policy and Communications at Hospital Association of Southern California
Asma Taha, program director of the nursing program at Cal State University, San Bernardino
Mistrust growing among Americans, poll finds
You might try to live by the old adage, "love thy neighbor," but do you trust him? According to a new AP-GfK poll, trust among Americans is waning to record low levels. Now only one-third of Americans think most people can be trusted, down from 50 percent in 1972.
The trend is troubling to social scientists, who say "social trust" helps make a cooperative and productive society. On the other hand, they say mistrust breeds corruption and leads to a less open society.
What's behind our growing mistrust in one another? Can this downward trend be reversed? How does technology and income inequality factor into this decline?
Guest:
Jennifer Agiesta, Director of Polling for the Associated Press
Should Canada and the U.S. become one superpower? Author makes case for a country merger
America has had it rough over the past decade. The nation is over $17 trillion in debt, the middle class is shrinking, and the country’s dysfunctional political system is getting in the way of solving the myriad of economic crises at hand. What’s a country to do? Merge, says geopolitics expert and author Diane Francis.
In her new book Merger of the Century: Why Canada and America Should Become One Country, Francis argues that both the U.S. and Canada have a lot to gain from joining forces. America would have access to the vast natural resources to the north, including land, water, oil, and gas -- something that would greatly help in paying down the nation’s debt.
Canada in turn would be able to draw upon the U.S.’s immense military, capital, and workforce. Together, the two countries would have an economy larger than that of the European Union, or of the economies of Japan, China, Germany, and France combined.
While Francis recognizes that an official merger might be a pipe dream, she points out that change of some kind needs to happen soon. At their current trajectories, both nations stand to lose out to the growing superpower to the east: China.
Could we be saying “U-S-Eh” anytime soon? Are you convinced by Diana Francis’s economic argument that the U.S. and Canada should merge? If not, would you at least support a joint venture between the two nations?
Guest:
Diane Francis, journalist, broadcaster, entrepreneur, and author of Merger of the Century: Why Canada and America Should Become One Country. She’s also a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada.