Americans may worship success, but we’re also good at failing. Nearly three-quarters of all Americans have considered starting their own businesses — compared to fewer than half of Europeans. Silicon Valley executives highlight rather than bury their collapsed start-ups on their resumes. Our corporate and personal bankruptcy systems are the most generous in the world, and New Deal-era financial safeguards let banks collapse without destroying sound institutions or personal wealth. But has the latest economic crisis left us longing for a failure-free system — one in which some organizations are too big to fail, and one that is immune from the natural and corrective cycles of the market? New America Foundation fellow and Atlantic magazine business and economic editor Megan McArdle visited Zócalo to explain why failure — and the ability to do it gracefully — is an essential part of the American economy.

As college degrees become an ever more essential qualification for earning a living, students are going further than ever before to get them — and creating a new and rapidly changing worldwide marketplace for higher ed. Nearly three million students leave their home countries to pursue college degrees, a 40 percent increase since 1999. American institutions have set up shop in over 40 countries and are accepting more international students than ever before — with USC leading the pack in matriculating foreigners. College rankings are internationalizing, which could mean American universities won’t stay at the top of the heap. How will worldwide competition for the best minds transform education as we know it, and does it mean the end of American leadership in the field? Education expert Ben Wildavsky, author of The Great Brain Race: How Global Universities Are Reshaping Our World, visited Zócalo to explain what globalized education means for students, the U.S., and the world.

John A. Pérez, a former labor leader and the first openly gay Speaker of the Assembly in California, ascends to the seat at a particularly challenging time for the state, and with only a year's experience. Not only has California been struggling with a devastating budget crisis, but federal policies expected to assist the state might fail. Transportation and education dollars slated for California haven't been able to blunt layoffs and service cutbacks; and national healthcare reform, whatever its merits, could hurt the state budget. How should Pérez and the legislature address California's problems? Pérez, who represents Los Angeles and is a cousin of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, visited Zócalo to discuss his plans for the state.

The landscape that defines Los Angeles also threatens it. For decades, the mountains and hills that encircle the city have trapped pollution in its basins and valleys, leaving low-hanging brown clouds. Teeming with cars, home to the nation’s largest port complex and the world’s seventh largest airport, and trailing behind other cities in annual rainfall, Los Angeles has always been uniquely vulnerable to pollution, and uniquely poised to fight it. Fifty years ago, Angelenos rallied against air pollution, and the city ambitiously began to reduce it. Today, pollution levels are lower than they have been in more than 75 years, but challenges remain as the world begins to confront the specter of climate change. Though Los Angeles has launched an aggressive effort to address global warming, how will the city survive a future of droughts and rising oceans?  Zócalo hosts a panel of experts — including CalTech Professor of Environmental Science Tapio Schneider, UCLA Associate Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Alex Hall, Pulitzer Prize winning environmental writer Usha McFarling, and moderator Paul Wennberg — to discuss the challenges Los Angeles faces as temperatures rise, what we can do to address global warming now, and to ask, if Los Angeles and the world continue on their current path, how the city might survive a hotter future.

 This event was made possible by a generous grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation of Los Angeles.

Since the 1960s, the U.S. prison population has increased fivefold. Prisons today hold one inmate for every one hundred adults — a record rate in American history, and one unmatched by any other country. But despite the high prison population, crime has stopped falling. Punishments can seem random in their severity and implementation, minorities and the poor still disproportionately become victims and inmates, and enforcement — particularly of probation and parole — is haphazard. How can crime be controlled? UCLA Public Policy professorMark Kleiman, author of When Brute Force Fails, visited Zócalo to offer a new strategy for cutting crime, reducing the prison population, and still enacting swift, certain, and fair punishment.

This event was made possible by a generous grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation of Los Angeles.

Mexico and the United States share a centuries-long history, a dynamic border region and a vibrant economic relationship. The interconnectedness of the U.S. and Mexican economies is undeniable. When the North American Free Trade Agreement was implemented on January 1, 1994, the two neighbors, along with Canada, created one of the world's richest and largest trading blocs. Mexican-Americans are an influential and prominent part of U.S. society and presidents of both countries have encouraged good neighborly relations. But the flow of undocumented immigrants from Mexico has provoked sharp controversy, prompting the U.S. to fortify its southern border and crack down on workers and employers as lawmakers in Washington stalemate on comprehensive immigration reform. Unprecedented bilateral cooperation on border security and intelligence since 9/11 has been overshadowed by the struggle both countries are waging against drug-related crime as Mexico in particular leads an intense fight against organized crime. In the early 21st century, Mexico and U.S. are as important to one another as ever before. At a time when greater collaboration is vital, Arturo Sarukhán, Ambassador of Mexico, visits Zócalo to examine this unique relationship and discuss shared challenges and opportunities of the future.

Keywords: zocalo, public square, lecture series, lecture, mexico, ambassador, Arturo sarukhan, u.s., America, American, border, nafta, immigration, drug, organized crime, calderon, obama, economy, trade, health, swine flue, h1n1

Discovering John Fante is like tasting garlic for the first time. He is a quintessential Los Angeles writer. H.L. Mencken, John Steinbeck, Charles Bukowski, Robert Towne and Francis Ford Coppola number among the many fans who swear by Fante, who might have turned 100 this year. A panel of fans and scholars -- including Fante biographer Stephen Cooper, KCRW’s Frances Anderton, Esotouric co-founder Richard Schave, and Fante’s children Victoria Fante-Cohen and Jim Fante -- visited Zócalo along with moderator David Kipen to celebrate the work of John Fante.

If any single mood characterizes the emotional climate of the 21st century, it’s anger, particularly media rage—indignant cable news pundits, rancorous bloggers and the apoplectic comments they engender. Our society appears to be choking on the bile of its own discontent. Dick Meyer, author of “Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium,” and Time magazine writer Lev Grossman visit Zócalo to discuss the new anger.