A Tragedy of Two Cities Times Headlines (Los-Angeles begins to sink)

Los Angeles is home to multimillionaire movie execs and billionaire developers. When it comes to the overall value of its goods and services, L.A. County does better than Switzerland, Sweden or Austria. It is also the poverty capital of the nation.

To measure the widening gap between the region's haves and have-nots, the United Way of Greater Los Angeles crunched numbers from dozens of government and private studies. Its recently released report, "A Tale of Two Cities: Promise and Peril in Los Angeles County," found that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

Everyone is familiar with studies showing that wages increase with education and English fluency, but lack of formal learning is not the sole reason for the gap. The United Way study found that wages for those with the lowest level of education are actually declining.

Some industries never recovered from the recession of the early 1990s. Many high-paying aerospace jobs disappeared for good. Seven of the 10 fastest-growing occupations -- retail sales clerk, security guard and cashier among them -- pay less than $25,000 a year.

An estimated 811,000 residents work off the books as day laborers or nannies, earning substandard wages and no benefits. Almost 2 million people -- more than in any other metropolitan area -- eke out an existence on less than $18,100 a year, the federally defined poverty level for a family of four. The majority of these in the greater LA are of Latin American ancestary. The burden is even greater in this area, topped only by New York City and San Francisco in cost of living.

In a time when lack of education increasingly means a life of poverty, over 30% of county residents over 25 have never finished high school. Among the 36% who are foreign-born in L.A. County, many are immigrants from Latin American countries with very low levels of education.

The worst-case scenario is that Los Angeles becomes a city divided between ghettos and gated communities (very likely). But the United Way study also paints a city of promise, where immigrants contribute youth and vitality to the workforce and forge a multiethnic, multilingual version of Los Angeles that has strong links to an ever more global economy. The way to get from peril to promise is for all of Los Angeles to recognize the benefits of narrowing the rift between very rich and very poor, (Very Unlikely).

United Way supports literacy classes, quality child care, affordable housing and other ladders to the middle class. And a strong middle class makes the best bridge between what would otherwise be two cities doomed to isolation and fear of "the other."

Thanks for the ping. LA begins to sink? Begins? What's new about this? I have avoided LA like the plague since the 60's crowd got in there and started tearing up the only decent things about it.....including what Tom Hayden managed to do to Santa Monica. I use to live in Santa Monica, more than 30 yrs ago. It WAS a good place to live. I wouldn't go there now if my life depended on it. Urban sprawl has taken many of the drug problems to the new Eastern communities where housing is cheap and crime follows. The small desert communities have joined with the inner cities to be the havens for meth labs and dealers. Who do we blame? My generation who burned their bras and protested the wars and decided that authority needed to be broken down and diluted unless it was their own brand of authority that caters to the movie crowd and the low-life...but spits upon the efforts of the middle class to survive.

If there were still any Americans in Cali, they should take the State Supreme court out and hang them for their treasonus supplanting of their vote to protect themselves from the mess that is there now.

M.A.P., I'm an American in Cali and agree our state Supremes are pretty bad. But they're not responsible for the flouting of the voters' will as expressed in Proposition 187 -- a claim I often seen expressed here. For your own safety and survival please note that these very bad decisions were made by a FEDERAL JUDGE, as noted below. California can't win this battle when the federal government, which is charged with protecting our borders from illegal invasion, won't help us.

Since it was passed, Proposition 187's constitutionality has been challenged in five different actions that were consolidated as a class action suit in the United States District Court, C.D. California. Consequently, a temporary restraining order enjoining sections 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9 was entered by the Court on November 16, 1994, and a preliminary injunction was granted for the plaintiffs on December 14, 1994.

On May 1 1995, the League of United Latin American Citizens ("LULAC") and another of the original plaintiffs sought summary judgment, stating that Proposition 187 is unconstitutional because it is preempted by the Federal government's exclusive constitutional authority over the regulation of immigration, Congress' exercise of that power through the Immigration and Nationality Act, and other federal statutes.

On November 20, 1995, U.S. District Judge Pfaelezer ruled that the Court granted in part and denied in part the plaintiffs' motions for summary judgement. Since this ruling did not dispose of the case in its entirety, the preliminary injunction remains in effect until further order of the Court.

I believe our current Gov. Gray Davis dealt Prop. 187 a death blow by removing California as a litigant from the action. Case closed.

This same problem will be coming to other states soon, and will continue until someone has enough sense to close the border to Mexico and start deporting the millions of illegal aliens who are sucking our system dry. Bush doesn't seem to care.

It doesn't seem like Bush cares at all. I'm really troubled by what seems to be appeasement towards Mexico regarding the amnesty issue. I live in an area where, when you cross a certain major street, you can inhale and think you're in Tijuana. During last years soccer match ( you all know the one I'm talking about), people drove around with full size Mexican flags affixed to their car hoods.

I don't want to say that no Mexican national or his/her family will assimilate. A better way of putting it is that illegal immigrants have no need or incentive to embrace our culture. I said this on another thread maybe yesterday, change the law granting automatic citizenship to anyone born in this country. If you are here illegally, your baby is here illegally also.

There is a lot I don't know about how a Mexican national would apply for a permanent visa, to enter legally. Is this process so difficult that they would rather jump the fence? Isn't this a job for "Homeland Security"?

**It doesn't seem like Bush cares at all. I'm really troubled by what seems to be appeasement towards Mexico regarding the amnesty issue. I live in an area where, when you cross a certain major street, you can inhale and think you're in Tijuana. During last years soccer match ( you all know the one I'm talking about), people drove around with full size Mexican flags affixed to their car hoods.**

> Of course Bush does not care, and your right I can't understand, why our Nation, the Richest and Most poweful in the world, is getting down and SUCKING, and dirty 3rd world cesspool ridden country like Mehico. Whats up with our leaders. Many "NOT" all seem very weak in the face of this MEXICAN invasion and to a lesser extent the Central-Am invasion. Personally the "Other" Hispanic/Latin Nationals are Okay. But the Mexicans hate and Despise America, they come here to work for sub-standard wages, leech of the welfare and s/security system and swithc Pueblo (Rural Povery) to Barrio (Urban Poverty). Many people have said Los-Anageles is already lost, for the most part I agree, however I believe the Afflunt American parts of LA should Secede from Greater LA, just like the Valley and Hollwood are going to.

**I don't want to say that no Mexican national or his/her family will assimilate. A better way of putting it is that illegal immigrants have no need or incentive to embrace our culture. I said this on another thread maybe yesterday, change the law granting automatic citizenship to anyone born in this country. If you are here illegally, your baby is here illegally also.**

> Yeah your right Many Mexicans and in particular their US Born Kids Do assimilate, its just that this Massive Illegal population in CA, and the Border States, are hurting the Legal ones, and their kids who try to assimilate and succeed in the Nation. In fact in the US, over 1 in 3 Mexicans-American & Hispanics speak little or No Spanish, and and are well assimilated into Americas mainstream. Per the US-Census 2000 there are 16.5-17.0 Million Spanish Speakers (over-whelmingly Immigrants), its jut that the Latino Activist Lump the other 19 Million Americans with Latin Ancestary with the immigrants, therefore they occasionally quote figures that there are 36 Million Spanish Speaker thats TOTAL Bull-Sh*t. The Assimilate Mexicans are fellow Americans, but its just our damn Liberal Media and the "Latino Activists" who lumps them in with the illegal Mexican Trash (LOL) that comes over the Border, quite frankly you can't compare the two.

> Many Mexicans and Central-Ams will simply never succeed in the USA. They were unable to succeed in their own, countries, they Speak little or No English, have No Education, and are Semi or Illiterate, in their own language as well. I would go with the many people on this thread who stated that they will live in many generations of poverty, and they will because of their own stupidity, arrogance, and ignorance. As one "Latino" AKA MEXICAN Journalist said, many Mexicans SELL-OUT by Getting a Well Paid Job and Inter-Marrying with Non-Mexicans (AKA Mostly Whites, ever watched Mexican TV, you'd think it was in Scandanavia, there are more Blondes/Fair Haired Girls on Mex-TV than US-TV). The journalist was Ruben Naverrete (what a fool), who stated this point in the Dallas Morning Star. Anyway When was getting a GOOD JOB, and Inter-Marrying Selling out ? Selling out What, the Gang Banging, Loud Music Culture ?

There is a lot I don't know about how a Mexican national would apply for a permanent visa, to enter legally. Is this process so difficult that they would rather jump the fence? Isn't this a job for "Homeland Security"?

> The Legal Route has limits, thus rather than waiting another 6 months or 1 year they follow the advice of the ir Corrupt Government, and jump the fence and "Hope for Amnesty" - I personally think Amnesty won't come. They'll be several more 9-11s in the relatively near future the Government knows this.

Thanks !!!

Presently, 12% of all employed people are immigrants --legal and illegal. In some areas this is up to 30%:and most likely this would fit LA. Further, the calculations by quintile of income are always off because there is no correction for two people working in the top quintile, high taxes in the top quintile and unreported income in the form of subsidized housing and health care in the lowest quintile.

Any person can prove egalitarian myths if they choose to falsely report income data. Incidentally, while the top quintile works more than 4000 hours per year (more than two jobs), the bottom quintile works less than 900 (less than one full time job). Finally, because income reported is household income the top quintile is usually 26-27% of the populaton and the lowest quintile is less than that.

All together, you need good data and good inductive reasoning before you make conclusions such as the author above made.

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