A SoCal Perspective

Southern California offers a crystal-clear case study in the hard logic of modern capitalism. A huge triangular metroplex has exploded into life in just one century, spanning 150 miles of coast from Santa Monica to Tijuana, reaching inland 100 miles to Riverside. The region reached an official population of nearly 18 million in 2005, making the region home to one of every 17 Americans. SoCal is U.S.'s gateway to the Pacific Rim and it sits on the border with the country's third largest trading partner. With a gross regional product of nearly one trillion dollars per year, SoCal is one of the largest economies on the planet. It is a land of shining contradictions, with the world’s densest concentration of millionaires living alongside millions of undocumented immigrants, many getting by on a few dollars a day. Writing from SoCal makes it possible to think globally from a sharply focused local perspective.