Dave, California and Greece

So I had an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times yesterday in which, inter alia, I compared Britain’s fiscal position with Greece’s (but at least we have the Elgin Marbles…) and the lack of faith in the political process to California’s own dysfunctional system. Matt Yglesias thinks this exaggerated and, well, “pretty flawed”

For one thing, while it may be true that the British public has a California-esque level of faith in the political process, the fact is that the British political process is very different from California’s. Realistically, the next UK government’s fate will hinge on its ability to deliver economic growth. And while the next UK government may be in hock to bad ideas and fail to deliver such growth, it will face few structural impediments to implementing its ideas about what needs to be done. This is very different from California (or, indeed, the US in general) where mere possession of a sound policy agenda doesn’t get you very far.