A few years back, a profile in LA Magazine described me as an
“accidental anarchist” — a label that I never really understood until
now.
As I look at what is going on in the nation’s capital, the
state capital and in Los Angeles, I am starting to wonder how government
ever worked at all.
In Washington, Democrats and Republicans are
playing a game of “chicken” that is pushing the country to the brink of
defaulting on our staggering $14 trillion in debt, a sum that grows by
$125 billion a month and will reach the cap on borrowing next month.
That
makes California’s mere $25-billion budget deficit seem like chump
change, but the impact of Sacramento’s perpetual political gridlock and
gamesmanship is big time in terms of dangerous felons freed from prison,
tens of thousands of teachers fired, aging infrastructure
deteriorating.
Cities like Burbank and Glendale have their own
financial problems and are at least trying to develop long-term
strategies — unlike the mega-city next door, where Los Angeles officials
still believe in the fantasy that good times are just around the
corner.
It isn’t going to happen.
We don’t generate wealth
anymore. We consume it in the form of manufactured goods made in China
and India and Argentina and dozens of other faraway nations.
We don’t create good jobs anymore. We create low-paying service and retail jobs.
For
the last two decades, middle-class people of every race have been
exercising their power to exit the L.A. region for better lives in
communities with better schools and healthier neighborhoods, even as the
cities compete ferociously to steal business from each other to bolster
their own economies.
It is a futile exercise that doesn’t create
more jobs. It only moves them around, leaving the regional unemployment
rate far higher than that of the nation or state.
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We all know that we need government in our lives. What happened to government service being of a higher calling? All these attacks on government employees is just undermining the morale of workers who we rely on to keep our city safe and clean. We need to reinvigorate government service and appreciate those who show up and do their jobs. Politicians are the worst role models for city staff. We need to have transparency at the level that staff can feel empowered to do their jobs without political interference. Once again, a platform for progress is needed and candidates for Mayor need to be asked to sign on.