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Financier and philanthropist Michael Milken tells Los Angeles Magazine's Giselle Fernandez that the Latino community of California, and especially of the LA area, is an economic giant that more business leaders, lenders and capitalists need to reach. "The future of California is tied to the future of the Latino community in California," he says. "If we don't make capital available to people with ability, who deserve it, then our country is poorer." Milken talks about being an early investor in major Latino media institutions such as Univision and Telemundo, and also says his life changed during the 1965 Watts riots when the economic disparities he saw led him to change college majors from math and physics to business.
The video is from the magazine's Big Shots series of videos hosted by Fernandez. Not hard-hitting stuff typically — she opens by praising Milken for "that magnificent genius brain of yours" — but the executives, politicians and other "big shots" she talks to sometimes have interesting things to say. This appears to be the end of the second season of "Big Shots." Her recent conversations were with Carlos Santana and the boss, Jeff Smulyan, president and CEO of Emmis Communications, the parent company of the magazine.
