Los Angeles: Is a good reference for America's downfall (medical, license, NAFTA)

[faith10]

Believe me, it's coming to your state if you haven't yet seen how bad it can get. In L.A. Calif. for over half a century, I've seen a sharp decline in our way of life here. The middle class are going down hill to poverty, slowly or quickly, and most are struggling financially more and more. PLEASE KNOW that whether these illegals become legal OR not, Americans WILL STILL be getting POORER EVERY YEAR, IF these immigrants do stay in America! Californians are desperately trying to hang on to their homes and their way of life. The very high cost of living here is SOLELY DUE to the massive numbers of illegals since the 80's. Only 11% of Californians can afford to buy ANY house now. Our poor are in increasingly worse shape, and many have died. It's hard to watch the PBS documentaries of the 50% rise in homelessness since last year, and see on TV and in person these smart people living in their vehicles and on streets; families/old people.

You see India and China and they are LEGAL residents, yet the large number of people there causes miserable poverty and SUFFERING each and every day. America cannot handle the massive number of illegal immigrants since the 80's and so every state/county/federal system suffers: Medical, CHILDREN's SERVICES, welfare, education, criminal, jail, prison, justice, enforcement, charities, etc. I see now why our government has abandoned us and our pleas for action: MONEY/GREED. Big busness control is finally ruining our country and Big business is finally destroying our climate, eco system and life. Liberals are also controlled by Big business it appears, they sure aren't helping our citizens where it counts in the wallet. THE ONLY THING THAT WOULD CHANGE OUR GOVERNMENT'S ACTIONS 'MAY' be IF ENOUGH OF THEM HAD TO SUFFER SEVERE FINANCIAL LOSS. OR, SEABEE? poster here said to take half of truckers OFF WORK for a WEEK concerning the Nafta super highway. What if also GOV. WORKERS and PRIVATE SECTOR workers took a few weeks off work? Would that do it?? Gov. is counting that we would be too poor to do it, but those that can save evey penny to do it, then we citizens would be listened to.

[beachroad]

I agree. Los Angeles has become this over polluted arm pit of minorities who only believe in breeding and increasing their numbers. They can barely afford to survive or feed their offspring or each other and yet that doesn't stop them. You get on any freeway or road in L.A. and about 75% of them are of a foreign or minority descent. And the roads are packed, you can't move anymore, you can't go anywhere anymore. I don't know when someone of power is going to wake up and realize that they've just created and contributed in a big way to the world's downfall.

[ArizonaBear]

Let me chime in here:

30+ years ago: whenever I say a New York license plate while still living in the Wash DC area; I used to bristle with hostility--------------OTOH, a California plate on a vehicle would cause me to relax.

Today: whenever I see a Calif plate------------I react almost as badly as I did to NY tags back in the mid 1970's. Even more ironic is that word has it that NYC has improved dramatically today.

[Icenet]

Agree 100%. I have been a resident since 1992. The new taxes just past by the legislature are the beginning of the end. I hope to move out before it's too late. How does a state prosper by increasing it's number of poor, unskilled workers and losing the educated? It doesn't and becomes what Los Angeles is today.

[that1guy]

Well, looks like somebody doesn't know the cause of the economic downturn. The cause is not because of illegal immigrants. On the contrary, it was casued due to legal residents. Many of them left the cities to the suburbs to have the giant house that they could not afford. Exotic loans and bidding wars drove up prices.

The reason why LA was in decline (if you've been to downtown, KoreaTown, Silverlake, Hollywood, Wilshire, Westwood in the past 5 years, you'd know that LA was actually booming), was because of paranoia and lack of industrial jobs. Integration of LA neighborhoods did not go over well. So the first outflux of the 1950s-1970s was the reaction of racial mixing in the inner suburbs (Compton, South Gate, Lynwood). The 1950s-1990s saw a huge hit to the aerospace industry as well as manufacturing in general. Again, not due to illegal immigration. By the 1980s-1990s many middle class Black and Hispanic families left for the IE. This was due to rising crime as well as high home prices in LA county. Whites in the IE moved for the same reason that they moved to the IE in the first place (my neighborhood is now about 40-50% non-Hispanic White...down from 70-75% in the late 1980s which is down from about 90% when the tract was first built in the 1970s.)

California is still economically vibrant. It still has a very high average income and a high per capita. What will help California is people putting an emphasis on inner city schools, vocational educaiton, cheap colleges, better mass transit, and better ESL programs. We need better adult education and more of an incentive to keep manufacturing in California. What we need less of is people who complain that there are too many illegals that aren't integrated. Those same people, ironically, do nothing to help them integrate. Why not have free classes to help people become legal citizens? We should tighten the borders, but we should also be compassionate for the people that are here.

As for the comment of LA being 75% minority, does it matter? I mean, really? Why does it bother you? So what if they don't have the same skin color? C'mon...are you seriously that superficial and afraid that you seriously feel that having that many minorities and non-Americans will lead to the destruction of LA and society as a whole. Wow, that's a sad life. Plus, my dad grew up in SoCal. Even in 1959, the freeways were packed.

[that1guy]

For a better description of America's "downfall" (there is no downfall)...see Detroit, Dayton, or any other rust belt city.

[ArizonaBear]

Being that California is damn near broke: that does not constitute being 'vibrant'.

[that1guy]

Originally Posted by ArizonaBear

Being that California is damn near broke: that does not constitute being 'vibrant'.

Actually seeing the fact that the California economy, prior to the fall (too much reliance on construction and finance), was doing very well...and still has better demographics than say Arizona I'd say vibrant (higher educated population, higher median income, higher per capita, higher average income, more tech sector jobs, more influence on the global economy). Look, face it, California is the biggest economy. It wouldn't change for a long time.

[Rakin]

Do you recall the movie "Escape from LA" starring Kurt Russell ? May have been fairly accurate and a predictor of things to come.

Escape from L.A. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[FormerCaliforniaGirl]

Originally Posted by faith10

Believe me, it's coming to your state if you haven't yet seen how bad it can get. In L.A. Calif. for over half a century, I've seen a sharp decline in our way of life here. The middle class are going down hill to poverty, slowly or quickly, and most are struggling financially more and more. PLEASE KNOW that whether these illegals become legal OR not, Americans WILL STILL be getting POORER EVERY YEAR, IF these immigrants do stay in America! Californians are desperately trying to hang on to their homes and their way of life. The very high cost of living here is SOLELY DUE to the massive numbers of illegals since the 80's. Only 11% of Californians can afford to buy ANY house now. Our poor are in increasingly worse shape, and many have died. It's hard to watch the PBS documentaries of the 50% rise in homelessness since last year, and see on TV and in person these smart people living in their vehicles and on streets; families/old people.

I'm as anti-illegal immigration as you can get, but I have to take issue with your statement. The high cost of living in Los Angeles is not "solely' due to illegal immigrants. That's ridiculous...and it's inaccurate statements like that which hurt our cause. Please get your facts and data straight before posting.

Los Angeles has always had a high cost of living compared to many other cities. The weather, the high number of jobs, the ocean, the diverse topography, (mountains, ocean, desert), cultural activities, etc., make it a very desirable place to live. The illegals HAVE (most definitely) put a huge strain on California's budget, and they are a drain to local economies, but they are not what makes L.A. so expensive.