27% of LA County living in poverty (real estate, apartment, insurance)

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by yby1

South LA. I live in an area called West Athens, near the Gardena border. Paid around $350,000 for a house here. lol. Honestly, I can't complain about where I live. My biggest complaint is that it's not walkable, but that's because of the crime (which is improving) and lack of nearby retail and dining (which goes back to the crime). Everything is about a 5-10 minute drive away. It's getting better though and you are seeing new housing communities and shopping centers popping up. You also have realtors constantly banging on your door to try to get you to sell.

Interesting, I don't live in South L.A but I feel the same way about my area in the North Hollywood area away from trendy and gentrifying 'NoHo Arts' district.

Not walkable which is a negative for me and the crime.

Hard to say if this particular area will turn around, I don't see it happening for a while.

There is definitely a lot of poverty in L.A . It still amazes me the huge differences between neighborhoods .

Not sure if this will change. Many people born poor often stay poor. Many ,but not all.

Having the middle class leaving , can cause even more problems over time.

The people in poverty are just surviving because of welfare and various social programs, of course not all people making low wages are on these programs.

In my area so many places accept EBT they should just have a sign if they don't accept it.

I think the gap between rich and poor is embarrassing in the country in general.

Compared to Europeans , we work the most, have a lot less vacation and still have so many poor people.

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by jm1982

Interesting, I don't live in South L.A but I feel the same way about my area in the North Hollywood area away from trendy and gentrifying 'NoHo Arts' district.

Not walkable which is a negative for me and the crime.

Hard to say if this particular area will turn around, I don't see it happening for a while.

There is definitely a lot of poverty in L.A . It still amazes me the huge differences between neighborhoods .

Not sure if this will change. Many people born poor often stay poor. Many ,but not all.

Having the middle class leaving , can cause even more problems over time.

The people in poverty are just surviving because of welfare and various social programs, of course not all people making low wages are on these programs.

In my area so many places accept EBT they should just have a sign if they don't accept it.

I think the gap between rich and poor is embarrassing in the country in general.

Compared to Europeans , we work the most, have a lot less vacation and still have so many poor people.

On one hand I agree with your post. Wages are stagnant, cost of living has skyrocketed. The rich have been getting richer, the poor have stayed the same. Most poor people work their asses off for nothing.

At the same time the poor in this country have it incredibly well. This is mostly due to government aid. They are well fed, clothed, sheltered, hydrated, tend to have cars, tend to have Iphones, and generally make some sort of life for themselves. This is in contrast to the poor in Latin America, parts of Asia, Africa.

I'll take the US over Mexico or most of Africa, where about 0.1% are obscenely rich and most people are starving.

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by disgruntled la native

On one hand I agree with your post. Wages are stagnant, cost of living has skyrocketed. The rich have been getting richer, the poor have stayed the same. Most poor people work their asses off for nothing.

At the same time the poor in this country have it incredibly well. This is mostly due to government aid. They are well fed, clothed, sheltered, hydrated, tend to have cars, tend to have Iphones, and generally make some sort of life for themselves. This is in contrast to the poor in Latin America, parts of Asia, Africa.

I'll take the US over Mexico or most of Africa, where about 0.1% are obscenely rich and most people are starving.

Yes that is true I agree. The US is most likely a better place to be poor versus Mexico and Africa

But, we are usually not comparing ourselves to Mexico or African countries .

If you look at the gaps between rich and poor in the U.S versus countries like Germany .

It's about twice is bad in the USA (the gap between rich and poor) versus these European countries.

[hipcat]

Originally Posted by majoun

Nobody wants to invest somewhere in which that sort of thing happens on that level. Of course, the communist like attitudes of city government and hostility to business have made matters worse.

Why is the city government so hostle to business? I've never understood that.

[hipcat]

Originally Posted by pwright1

I lived in a few cities and LA seems by far the most rich/poor and no in between. I was a home owner in Seattle but will probably never be one here. Homes are so overpriced and incomes just don't match. And no matter where I go around here there's always a reminder of poverty and homelessness. Men and women asking for money with signs. Homeless people sleeping on bus stop benches. Overloaded shopping carts sitting on the curb. As I walk up to the library on Santa Monica Blvd at this very moment there are 3 homeless men sleeping in front, two with shopping carts filled to the brim. It's really sad.

You can also see it in public transportation around this county. I saw alot more middle class people riding on the buses and metrorail. While in the LA area, it's usually immigrants and homeless people. Everytime I ride the Blue Line to Downtown. I always see someone asking for money.

I also see alot of hustler types selling incenses, CD's or whatever they have around the area. Haven't seen much of this in other cities.

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by jm1982

Yes that is true I agree. The US is most likely a better place to be poor versus Mexico and Africa

But, we are usually not comparing ourselves to Mexico or African countries .

If you look at the gaps between rich and poor in the U.S versus countries like Germany .

It's about twice is bad in the USA (the gap between rich and poor) versus these European countries.

Exactly. People tend to compare us to an under developed nation and not developed nations with a high development index.

That's why ppl accept a lowered standard of living standards.

What people in the US need to figure out is that a lot of nations aren't super dirt poor anymore. Yes there is grinding poverty still out there, lots of it, but there's also a lot of people just stuck working check to check barely making ends meet. They're just subsisting.

We shouldn't compare ourselves to the extreme poor of other third world nations. We should compare ourselves to the working class of those nations and you will see that the differences are starting to dwindle. Life as a lower class worker in the US is becoming only marginally better than being a worker in Russia or Poland or chile, three nations that mirror the US in terms of economic outlook.

We still have protections and government aid that help us but those are becoming harder to come by and they place so many restrictions.

By comparison to Sweden the US is third world. By Mexicos standards the US is doing well

The point is that I've been to third world nations and plenty workers have gadgets, TVs and shiny clothes. That stuff is actually cheaper than life's necessities such as housing, higher education, health care and good food.

So that iPhones in the ghetto argument is spurious and tired. Why do right wingers even use that as an argument still?

[disgruntled la native]

Originally Posted by jm1982

Yes that is true I agree. The US is most likely a better place to be poor versus Mexico and Africa

But, we are usually not comparing ourselves to Mexico or African countries .

If you look at the gaps between rich and poor in the U.S versus countries like Germany .

It's about twice is bad in the USA (the gap between rich and poor) versus these European countries.

The US is far larger than any of those tiny, mostly homogenous european countries. We do better than nations of comparable size and population like russia and brazil.

[Californiagirlatheart]

Originally Posted by jm1982

Interesting, I don't live in South L.A but I feel the same way about my area in the North Hollywood area away from trendy and gentrifying 'NoHo Arts' district.

Not walkable which is a negative for me and the crime.

Hard to say if this particular area will turn around, I don't see it happening for a while.

There is definitely a lot of poverty in L.A . It still amazes me the huge differences between neighborhoods .

Not sure if this will change. Many people born poor often stay poor. Many ,but not all.

Having the middle class leaving , can cause even more problems over time.

The people in poverty are just surviving because of welfare and various social programs, of course not all people making low wages are on these programs.

In my area so many places accept EBT they should just have a sign if they don't accept it.

I think the gap between rich and poor is embarrassing in the country in general.

Compared to Europeans , we work the most, have a lot less vacation and still have so many poor people.

This is true ..I know so may people who are getting welfare or on section 8 or living with a bunch of people just to get by

[OptimusPrime69]

Glad I'm not one of them!
*takes a sip of Jamba Juice with a protein boost.

[Ingenere]

if only they would stop spitting out children they can't afford.