holy. LA cuts all non-essential city services 2 days/week

[rudder]

This is what happens when there are more people using resources than paying into the sytem (*cough* illegal immigrants getting paid cash *cough*).

Edit: Theflyingpig also noted this... so everyone indeed knows this now.

 

[JeepinEd]

your denial is massive. as massive as the number of south of the border, border jumpers that pour in every night. then sign up for public assistance come sun rise.

I feel like a broken record but here goes:


L.A.'s current problem is just like the whole state's problem.......

1.) Unions
2.) Pensions
3.) Special Interest (see Unions)
4.) Collective bargaining agreements (see pensions *and* unions)
5.) Administration filtering money out of otherwise legitimate civil agencies (education, etc.)

It's not that we don't take in enough tax. We take in a sh!tload of taxes!!!

There is just too much "entitlement" within the system. If we cut out 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.....this state would be a friggin' surplus goldmine.

This whole state needs to get into bankruptcy......SOON!!!

Add to this a stupid mayor, who at the start of the economic downturn, hired thousands of new city employees and gave out raises as if we had a trillion dollar surplus. To top it off, he is now trying to implement his own CO2 reduction scheme, by forcing electric companies to use (I believe) 20% "green" energy. Since LADWP has no major green energy generating plant, it's forced to place bids for green energy from other companies, which greatly increases costs. This is why DWP is now trying to tack on huge rate increases.

WTF is wrong with these people.

For those of you who think the unions have nothing to do with this, CA is now estimated to be $500 BILLION in the hole for union pensions.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...re-500-billion-short-stanford-study-says.html

 

[Genx87]

I cant wait until govt has total control of our healthcare and they for budgetary reasons close health services 2 days a week.

 

[dainthomas]

kill the anchor baby crapola. who gives a crap if they are knocked up. Just pretend it's another abortion.

I thought conservatives liked the constitution?

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

Imagine if the economy had crashed instead of the Feds bailing out the banks?
It would have been disaster. I mean a disaster of biblical proportions.

The only hope is that the Obama adminstrations actions will not only rescue us from the brink of disaster, but most importantly, get real income rising agains after 8 piss poor years under Bush.

Sorry if that's too P&N for you, but those who fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.

Wasn't it Bush that bailed out the banks and prevented a "disaster of biblical proportions"? Obama was the one who gaves us nearly $1 trillion of pork spending to 'stimulate' the economy. Please try to keep your facts straight.

 

[Fern]

PEOPLE were not doing better, some people (top 10%) percent were doing better due easy access to credit and various asset bubbles. I don't blame Bush personally, although it did happen while he was sleeping on his watch. It's just bad governing overall...

Oh yes they were.

I'm a CPA in a small town. I see what businesses make now as compared to then.

For restaurants and retailers revenues have been falling an average of 30%.

For contruction companies & other builders you're looking at declines of 90% or more with many out of business.

We've got national distribution companies, they're down by about 50%.

Auto dealers? Way down and lots of layoffs. (I don't have of them as clients so can't quantify it).

And I'm in an area that has not been hit as hard as many others.

Fern

 

[Trianon]

Oh yes they were.

I'm a CPA in a small town. I see what businesses make now as compared to then.

For restaurants and retailers revenues have been falling an average of 30%.

For contruction companies & other builders you're looking at declines of 90% or more with many out of business.

We've got national distribution companies, they're down by about 50%.

Auto dealers? Way down and lots of layoffs. (I don't have of them as clients so can't quantify it).

And I'm in an area that has not been hit as hard as many others.

Fern

And all that "growth" was not organic, it was due to cheap credit!!! And now came time to pay the piper... I am no CPA and I saw disconnect between earning and spending 6 years ago...

 

[Fern]

And all that "growth" was not organic, it was due to cheap credit!!! And now came time to pay the piper... I am no CPA and I saw disconnect between earning and spending 6 years ago...

Where I'm at we have a large retiree population.

They have fixed incomes and they've no need of credit.

Generally when the stock market is up, and there are no economic fears, they buy. When the market's down and/or there are fears, they don't. There's a very strong correlation here to the stock market and their purchasing habits.

Because of real estate market problems elsewhere, retirees wanting to move here can't because they can't sell their old homes elsewhere. So it's not so much lack of credit, it's the stagnant housing markets elsewhere (which is maybe somewhat influenced by lack of cheap credit, that and fallen home values) Thus contruction/building is suffering badly.

I suspect tourism is off too.

However, regardless of the reasons businesses were doing much better back in the period b4 2008

Fern

 

[Trianon]

Where I'm at we have a large retiree population.

They have fixed incomes and they've no need of credit.

Generally when the stock market is up, and there are no economic fears, they buy. When the market's down and/or there are fears, they don't. There's a very strong correlation here to the stock market and their purchasing habits.

Because of real estate market problems elsewhere, retirees wanting to move here can't because they can't sell their old homes elsewhere. So it's not so much lack of credit, it's the stagnant housing markets elsewhere (which is maybe somewhat influenced by lack of cheap credit, that and fallen home values) Thus contruction/building is suffering badly.

I suspect tourism is off too.

However, regardless of the reasons businesses were doing much better back in the period b4 2008

Fern

We can go at it ad infinitum, if you don't accept the concept that business "growth" was caused by people spending beyond their means due to easy credit and cash out-refinance, then I don't know what else I can add, the evidence has been around for quite some time.
Where you are those modes of spending maybe were not as evident in last 10 years, but where I lived it was all over the place, imaginary "wealth" from "ever-appreciating" real estate converted into cash via HELOC. After all very little is still produced in the US of A, so we could not be making all that much money by selling products with added value. I am in defense related manufacturing and this is the only thing that was not outsourced much today, everything else that was not bolted down was moved overseas(some of the stuff that was bolted down as well. So once again, my point is, people were not doing better, the incomes hardly grew, the buinesses were making money, that's right, only because people chose to live beyond their means thanks to different forms of "easy credit".

 

[Fern]

business "growth" was caused by people spending beyond their means due to easy credit and cash out-refinance

Yes, I accept that.

Fern

 

[StageLeft]

California lol

 

[Jaskalas]

one of the most liberal cities in the country with massive tax revenue and they don't have a pot to piss in.

Quick, lets emulate their successful liberal utopia. This sort of progressive prosperity should be shared with the rest of the nation.

 

[her209]

I cant wait until govt has total control of our healthcare and they for budgetary reasons close health services 2 days a week.

I don't know many doctor offices open on the weekends.