Strong L.A. economy boosts income inequality in city, study says
A relatively strong local economy in Los Angeles, which is stoking the fortunes of its higher-income residents, is helping boost income disparity in the city, the Brookings Institution study shows.
By Walter Hamilton5:30 PM PST, February 21, 2014
Los Angeles has one of the highest levels of income inequality in the nation, but that's due in part to a relatively strong local economy that's stoking the fortunes of higher-income people, according to a new study.
Of the 50 largest U.S. cities, L.A. has the ninth-highest level of income disparity, according to the analysis by Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. The top three are Atlanta, San Francisco and Miami.
Inequality has become a flash point nationwide as the wealth of top earners surges while the middle and lower classes grapple with stubborn income stagnation. Politicians have clashed loudly on what's driving the dichotomy, and what steps, if any, should be taken to reverse it.
The study found, however, that rising inequality may simply be an unavoidable byproduct of robust local economies that plump the incomes of coveted workers.
Fast-growing industries with highly paid employees — such as technology, finance and entertainment — tend to cluster in large metropolitan areas, said Alan Berube, a Brookings researcher who specializes in inequality. And the ongoing gentrification of many cities, such as in downtown Los Angeles, is drawing wealthier people.
At the same time, big cities also draw large numbers of low-income people seeking lower-skilled jobs.
The study analyzed inequality in the 50 largest U.S. cities in 2012. It compared the earnings of a family exactly at the top 5% — that is, at the 95th percentile of all U.S. households — to one at the 20th percentile.
The average annual income of a top 5% family was 10.8 times higher than a bottom 20% household. For the country as a whole, the ratio was 9.1 to 1.
"It's not necessarily a bad thing that big cities are home to more rich and poor than the rest of the country," Berube said. "The question is how do cities and leaders navigate that but keep their cities diverse and able to provide opportunities for upward mobility."
In L.A., a top 5% household made an average $218,000. That was 12.3 times higher than a 20% household.
The study analyzed only the city of L.A. It did not include nearby areas with well-heeled residents, such as Beverly Hills or Santa Monica.
The inequality debate intensified after President Obama in December called it "the defining challenge of our time."
Critics worry that income imbalances weaken cities by hiving off rich from poor. Among other things, that can push out younger residents, lead to pockets of entrenched poverty and undermine school quality.
Even some extremely wealthy Americans acknowledge the threat of rising inequality.
"It's a genuine problem," Stephen Schwarzman, the chief executive of private-equity giant Blackstone Group, said in an interview with The Times on Thursday. "It's been growing for over 30 years. It's not recent. It's something that has to be addressed."
San Francisco illustrates the dynamic of a vibrant economy exacerbating the gap between rich and poor.
The tech boom has dramatically pushed up the earnings of those at the top.
The average $353,000 income for a top 5% household towered over that of every other city. Its inequality ratio was 16.6 to 1.
In Atlanta, a top 5% family took in $280,000, compared with less than $15,000 for a bottom 20% family.
Inequality tends to be lower in cities with less robust economies, where there is less of a gap between the highest and lowest paid, according to Brookings.
Altogether, 18 cities in the Brookings study suffered a statistically significant rise in inequality from 2007 to 2012. But that was due more to the bottom dropping out for low-income people in the last recession.
"Most were not places where the rich made astronomical gains, but where low-income households suffered most from the recession and weak recovery," the study said. "Many are Southern and Western cities — including Sacramento, Charlotte, [N.C.], Tucson, Fresno, and Albuquerque — where house-price collapses reduced work opportunities for poor households."
walter.hamilton@latimes.com
California’s homeless: Casualties of class warfare
Last November the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its 2013 Annual Homeless Assessment Report which found that southern California remains home to the largest homeless population in the country.
WELFARE COSTS FOR
CHILDREN OF ILLEGAL ALIENS IN L.A. COUNTY OVER $48 MILLION IN JUNE
LA RAZA LOOTING:
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2014/02/when-mexicans-loot-la-raza-corruption.html
Inside
the Cartel - First of four parts
Unraveling
Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel
As
drug smugglers from the Sinaloa cartel in
Mexico
sent a never-ending stream of cocaine
across
the border and into a vast U.S.
distribution
web in Los Angeles, DEA agents
were
watching and listening.
THE DEMOCRAT PARTY BUILDING THE LA RAZA MEXICAN WELFARE STATE OFF OUR BACKS. ARE THEY BUYING THE ILLEGALS’ VOTES??? You bet!
Maywood, California, then, with an estimated illegal
Of the 50 largest U.S. cities, L.A. has the ninth-highest level of income disparity, according to the analysis by Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. The top three are Atlanta, San Francisco and Miami.
Inequality has become a flash point nationwide as the wealth of top earners surges while the middle and lower classes grapple with stubborn income stagnation. Politicians have clashed loudly on what's driving the dichotomy, and what steps, if any, should be taken to reverse it.
The study found, however, that rising inequality may simply be an unavoidable byproduct of robust local economies that plump the incomes of coveted workers.
Fast-growing industries with highly paid employees — such as technology, finance and entertainment — tend to cluster in large metropolitan areas, said Alan Berube, a Brookings researcher who specializes in inequality. And the ongoing gentrification of many cities, such as in downtown Los Angeles, is drawing wealthier people.
At the same time, big cities also draw large numbers of low-income people seeking lower-skilled jobs.
The study analyzed inequality in the 50 largest U.S. cities in 2012. It compared the earnings of a family exactly at the top 5% — that is, at the 95th percentile of all U.S. households — to one at the 20th percentile.
The average annual income of a top 5% family was 10.8 times higher than a bottom 20% household. For the country as a whole, the ratio was 9.1 to 1.
"It's not necessarily a bad thing that big cities are home to more rich and poor than the rest of the country," Berube said. "The question is how do cities and leaders navigate that but keep their cities diverse and able to provide opportunities for upward mobility."
In L.A., a top 5% household made an average $218,000. That was 12.3 times higher than a 20% household.
The study analyzed only the city of L.A. It did not include nearby areas with well-heeled residents, such as Beverly Hills or Santa Monica.
The inequality debate intensified after President Obama in December called it "the defining challenge of our time."
Critics worry that income imbalances weaken cities by hiving off rich from poor. Among other things, that can push out younger residents, lead to pockets of entrenched poverty and undermine school quality.
Even some extremely wealthy Americans acknowledge the threat of rising inequality.
"It's a genuine problem," Stephen Schwarzman, the chief executive of private-equity giant Blackstone Group, said in an interview with The Times on Thursday. "It's been growing for over 30 years. It's not recent. It's something that has to be addressed."
San Francisco illustrates the dynamic of a vibrant economy exacerbating the gap between rich and poor.
The tech boom has dramatically pushed up the earnings of those at the top.
The average $353,000 income for a top 5% household towered over that of every other city. Its inequality ratio was 16.6 to 1.
In Atlanta, a top 5% family took in $280,000, compared with less than $15,000 for a bottom 20% family.
Inequality tends to be lower in cities with less robust economies, where there is less of a gap between the highest and lowest paid, according to Brookings.
Altogether, 18 cities in the Brookings study suffered a statistically significant rise in inequality from 2007 to 2012. But that was due more to the bottom dropping out for low-income people in the last recession.
"Most were not places where the rich made astronomical gains, but where low-income households suffered most from the recession and weak recovery," the study said. "Many are Southern and Western cities — including Sacramento, Charlotte, [N.C.], Tucson, Fresno, and Albuquerque — where house-price collapses reduced work opportunities for poor households."
walter.hamilton@latimes.com
California’s homeless: Casualties of class warfare
IN
LOS ANGELES, MEXICANS GET ALL THE JOBS, MUCHO WELFARE, AND LIVE IN THE $2
BILLION DOLLAR TAX-FREE MEX UNDERGROUND ECONOMY… THEY ALSO GET FREE MEDICAL,
EDUCATION AND EVERYTHING THEY VOTE FOR!
Last November the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its 2013 Annual Homeless Assessment Report which found that southern California remains home to the largest homeless population in the country.
latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-0109-2020-20140109,0,3366207.story
latimes.com
Editorial
How grim is L.A.'s
future?
The 2020 Commission
lays out a litany of problems. Now for the hard part: practical solutions.
By The Times editorial board
January 9, 2014
|
A new report put together by a dozen of Los Angeles' most
prominent business, labor and civic leaders offers a dire view of the city.
L.A. is "barely treading water," the report states somberly. It's a
"city in decline." Once a "beacon of innovation," L.A. is
now "becoming less livable."
The report of the Los Angeles 2020 Commission should serve as
a stark reality check for those Angelenos who believe that with the end of the
financial downturn, L.A. is poised for a healthy, happy recovery. The city,
according to the report, is afflicted with weak job growth; high poverty; bad
traffic; underperforming schools; weak, inactive government; red tape that
stifles economic development; crumbling infrastructure; unfunded pensions;
budget gimmicks and a disaffected electorate. Yes, L.A. has the
"ingredients" to be a great 21st century city, and yes, certain
promising first steps that have been taken, but all in all, the tone of the
report is that of an urgent wake-up call.
There's certainly value in compiling a list of L.A.'s woes,
even if many of them are already well known. The co-chairs of the commission,
former U.S. Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor and former L.A. Deputy Mayor
Austin Beutner, note that you can't solve a problem until everyone agrees there
is one. And the commissioners make a convincing case that L.A. is falling
behind other major cities.
But it is not enough to lay out the city's problems with
"candor," as the report purports to do. Nor is it sufficient to
declare a "crisis in leadership" and hope to shame L.A.'s political
leaders into action. The commission's real work — the difficult part — is to
come up with practical recommendations to change government and civic culture
to make Los Angeles competitive on the national and international stage.
For that, we must wait another 90 days. It turns out this is
just Part 1.
The commission was created last March at the request of City
Council President Herb Wesson after voters rejected a half-cent sales tax increase
to help balance the city budget. Its mandate was to figure out how the city
could create jobs, attract business investments and create financial stability.
It is made up of 13 members with very different viewpoints, representing
business, labor, public sector, not-for-profits, academia. If they can reach
consensus on, say, how to pay for public pensions and still have enough left to
pay for city services, or how to permit economic development without
compromising neighborhood and environmental concerns, their suggestions would
carry tremendous weight.
The commission has gone to great lengths to outline the
seriousness of L.A.'s problems. We hope the recommendations are as bold and
direct as the criticisms.
*
THESE FIGURES ARE DATED
OTHER
SOURCES: Similar figures LOS ANGELES TIMES reports that California spends 9
billion on social services for illegals. 60% of the counties in the United
States have serious meth problems. Meth that comes from Mexico. Part of
Mexico’s 5 billion dollar drug export business. An estimated 8,200 Illegal
Immigrants cross the border each day. 57,400 a week . 250,000 a month. 84
hospitals in California alone have closed or are scheduled to close due mostly
to rising costs of caring for uninsured Illegal Immigrants since 1993. It is
estimated that 50% of their services went to Illegal Immigrants who did not pay
their bills. According to the American Hospital Association the estimated
uncompensated cost of care in 2000 was $21.6 billion. Roughly 6% of total
expenses. The government allotted only $1 billion to help cover those costs.
Anchor babies account for roughly 10% of all US births. In 2003, anchor babies
accounted for 70% of all births in San Joachim General Hospital in Stockton,
California. US taxpayers spent an estimated $7.4 Billion in 2003 to educate
illegal immigrants. 34% of students in the Los Angeles school system are
illegals or children of illegals. Two thirds of Illegal Immigrants adults DO
NOT have a high school degree or equivalent. The illiteracy rate for Illegal
Immigrants is 2.5 times higher than that of US Citizens. Nearly 25% of all
inmates in California detention centers are illegal aliens from Mexico. 29% or
a whopping 630,000 convicted illegal alien felons fill our state and federal
prisons at a cost of $1.6 billion annually; not to mention the tragedies in
death, drugs, crime and misery they have caused American families.
L.A.County's $48 Million Monthly Anchor Baby
Tab
Last Updated:
Wed, 08/12/2009 - 11:24am
Taxpayers
in the nation’s most populous county dished out nearly $50 million in a single
month to cover only the welfare costs of illegal immigrants, representing a
whopping $10 million increase over the same one-month period two years
ago.
In
June 2009 alone Los Angeles County spent $48 million ($26 million in food
stamps and $22 million in welfare) to provide just two of numerous free public
services to the children of illegal aliens, which will translate into an annual
tab of nearly $600 million for the cash-strapped county.
The
figure doesn’t even include the exorbitant cost of educating, medically
treating or incarcerating illegal aliens in the sprawling county of about 10
million residents. Los Angeles County annually spends more than $1 billion for
those combined services, including $400 million for healthcare and $350 million
for public safety.
The
recent single-month welfare figure was obtained from the county’s Department of
Social Services and made public by a county supervisor (Michael Antonovich) who
assures illegal immigration continues to have a “catastrophic
impact on Los Angeles County taxpayers.” The veteran lawmaker points out that 24% of the county’s
total allotment of welfare and food stamp benefits goes directly to the
children of illegal aliens—known as anchor babies—born in the United States.
A
former fifth-grade history teacher who has served on the county’s board for
nearly three decades, Antonovich has repeatedly come under fire for publicizing
statistics that confirm the devastation illegal immigration has had on the
region. Antonovich represents a portion of the county that is roughly twice the
size of Rhode Island and has about 2 million residents.
Numerous other reports have
documented the enormous cost of illegal immigration on a national level. Just
last year a renowned economist, who has thoroughly researched the impact of
illegal immigration, published a book breaking down the country’s $346 billion annual cost to
educate, jail, medically treat and incarcerate illegal aliens throughout the
U.S.
*
WELFARE COSTS FOR
CHILDREN OF ILLEGAL ALIENS IN L.A. COUNTY OVER $48 MILLION IN JUNE
August 11, 2009—Figures from the
Department of Public Social Services show that children of illegal aliens in
Los Angeles County collected nearly $22 million in welfare and over $26 million
in food stamps in June, announced Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D.
Antonovich. Projected over a 12 month period – this would exceed $575
million dollars.
Annually the cost of illegal immigration to Los Angeles County taxpayers exceeds over $1 billion dollars, which includes $350 million for public safety, $400 million for healthcare, and $500 million in welfare and food stamps allocations. Twenty-four percent of the County’s total allotment of welfare and food stamp benefits goes directly to the children of illegal aliens born in the United States.
“Illegal immigration continues to have a catastrophic impact on Los Angeles County taxpayers,” said Antonovich. “The total cost for illegal immigrants to County taxpayers exceeds $1 billion a year – not including the millions of dollars for education.”
Annually the cost of illegal immigration to Los Angeles County taxpayers exceeds over $1 billion dollars, which includes $350 million for public safety, $400 million for healthcare, and $500 million in welfare and food stamps allocations. Twenty-four percent of the County’s total allotment of welfare and food stamp benefits goes directly to the children of illegal aliens born in the United States.
“Illegal immigration continues to have a catastrophic impact on Los Angeles County taxpayers,” said Antonovich. “The total cost for illegal immigrants to County taxpayers exceeds $1 billion a year – not including the millions of dollars for education.”
Calderon,
a Montebello Democrat, who faces up to 395 years in prison, allegedly took
kickbacks from former Long Beach hospital operator Michael Drobot, who
perpetrated one of the largest healthcare fraud schemes in California
history, U.S. Atty. Andre Birotte said Friday.
THE LA RAZA DRUG CARTELS IN LOS ANGELES
Inside
the Cartel - First of four parts
Unraveling
Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel
As
drug smugglers from the Sinaloa cartel in
Mexico
sent a never-ending stream of cocaine
across
the border and into a vast U.S.
distribution
web in Los Angeles, DEA agents
were
watching and listening.
As Maywood Goes,
So Goes the Country
Maywood, California, then, with an estimated illegal
population of 22,500, about half the city’s population, is a
microcosm of what happens when illegals become dominant
in a city.
http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-city-of-maywood-mexifornia-case.html
Extrapolating these two examples across the nation paints a frightening picture: Illegal aliens are not only weakening the country financially, but are also often enticed to come here because of governmental social-welfare programs that should not even exist much less be available to illegal residents. The cost to American taxpayers is billions of dollars.
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