Although it’s 3,000 miles away, Washington D.C. has direct impact on how business gets done in Los Angeles. But do people really pay attention to the doings of the federal government, or are they too busy and too focused on what’s going on in their own backyard? The Business Journal forum asks:

Do you follow the news out of Washington?

James A. Proehl

Sr. Vice President, Management Services

PM Realty Group

Absolutely. I specifically watch to see how the news is going to affect the economy in Southern California. What Washington does affects our trade, so you have to watch really carefully to see what they’re doing with China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. In my business, it’s important to keep up with the capital gains tax laws and the impact that will have on the real estate industry. And I watch the deregulation of the utilities and the impact that will have on commercial real estate in Southern California and the rest of the country.

Phyllis Samhaber

Co-owner

Samhaber and Associates

Yes. Naturally the political news. As business owners, we are definitely interested by the trends and what we hear from Washington. Certainly, our main focus is to see how it might relate to our business.

Victor Drai

Owner

Drai’s restaurant

No. I do not follow the news that comes out of Washington. Frankly, I’m so focused on running Drai’s that I have little time for anything else.

Sally Parker

Business Development Director

W3-design Inc.

I keep in touch more with the economic news, definitely anything that has to do with interest rates anything on that level. Also, I focus on what’s important to me, my lifestyle and my business. Anything having to do with Web censorship, security and privacy with regard to the Web is of great interest to me, as is any information that is technology-related. And I definitely keep up on the stock market, especially since technology-related stocks are so strong, yet so volatile. But the domestic squabbling between Republicans and Democrats is of no interest to me.

Stephen D. Bomes

Shareholder

Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe

I follow the news that relates to my practice including the materials that the Feds turn out, but typically, more from the New York Feds than Washington. Of late, I’ve been watching the Bureau of Tobacco and Firearms also. I do read general headline stuff and when it gets interesting, I go ahead and dig in. I read several newspapers a day including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

Diana Zimmerman

President

Creative Meeting Services

Yes. Usually what the markets or politicians are doing. For me, I love the Sunday morning news shows and they give me an opportunity to catch up on the politics of the week before. Politics is a huge interest of mine so I follow it quite closely.