As the economy slowly rebounds, we need to ask what kind of recovery we want in Los Angeles.
Experts point to tourism as a key industry poised to help drive recovery and growth in our region. The potential is certainly there. Tourism is the largest employer in Los Angeles, accounting for one in ten jobs. And hotels in particular have recovered past pre-recession levels, with projections for strong growth. Industry analysts PFK Hospitality Research forecast revenue per available room in Los Angeles to grow by an average of 5.6 percent per year over the next five years – on top of an 11.7 percent increase this year. (For comparison, the long-run average is 3.3 percent.)
However, jobs in hospitality and tourism come in very different shapes. Some of our large hotels succeed while paying good middle-class wages and benefits. Others offer only poverty jobs that leave workers struggling to support themselves,
» Read more about: The Economy Improves — Will the Minimum Wage? »
This past year saw an election cycle in which democratic voting rights were in question to a very troubling extent, despite claims by proponents of voter ID laws and limitations on early voting –however implausible–that they were concerned with the integrity of democracy. At least Californians could take some comfort in the fact that the state defied national trends and made it easier to register, not harder (or impossible) to vote.
So for me, as an Angeleno, it was both jarring and eye-opening to hear the recent debate surrounding a mail-in election on new taxes to pay for a streetcar loop in downtown Los Angeles. I say jarring and eye-opening because some of the arguments combined a modern confusion with a very, very old prejudice about democracy. It was a reminder that we should never assume democratic principles are secure and beyond doubt.
A little background is in order.
Every year I watch A Christmas Carol on TV to remind myself not to give in to the frustrations born of shopping, traffic and rushing from one holiday gathering to the next. Whether we are religious or not, the holiday season is an opportunity for all of us to be grateful for what we have and to share our good fortune and good will.
Oh yes, it’s a timely story, but I’ve also often taken comfort in the fact that it’s a story from a bygone era—19th century England, with all the horrors of the economic injustice characteristic of the pre-union Industrial Revolution. Thank God we’ve progressed to a better time than that!
Or have we? Imagine my surprise when I heard about the response of some Long Beach hotel owners to that city’s new living wage law for workers at the city’s largest hotels (100 rooms or more).
Labor 411’s Test Kitchen is just in time for the holidays! We’re sharing a recipe for Homemade Eggnog, which is THE traditional holiday beverage. We’ve got a recipe to make it using all union-made ingredients – and you’ll find the union brands listed next to each item. This quintessential holiday beverage is perfect to share with your friends and family.
Be forewarned: This recipe contains a little bit of alcohol. Do not consume alcohol if you are underage.
Eggnog Ingredients
6 eggs (separated) – Alta Dena, Horizon
3/4 cup sugar – Domino Sugar, Sugar in the Raw
1 pint heavy cream – Alta Dena, Horizon
1-1/2 (1.5) quarts milk – Alta Dena, Horizon
(or 1 quart milk + 2 cups whiskey) – we suggest Knob Creek
½ cup rum – Bacardi
Directions
Beat egg whites until fluffy,
A few years ago, I was pulled over by the police. I’d reported my car stolen some months earlier and they’d never taken that report out of the system after I’d gotten it back. It was a minor error on their part, but it resulted in a fairly scary moment.
I pulled into a parking lot and noticed a police car behind me, lights on. The officer told me to put my hands out of the car, and open the car from the outside, like on television. When I got out, his gun was pointed at me, and I was handcuffed and placed in the backseat of his car. A few minutes later, he brought me my three-year-old son.
My son, understandably, was terrified, and though the officers cleared up the mistake in a few minutes and bought him a toy (a miniature police car) at the toy store we were going to,
» Read more about: L.A. Schools: Under the Gunman's Shadow »
Today The New York Times dropped the other shoe of its investigation into charges of Walmart bribery in Mexico. In some important ways, that second shoe is going to sound even louder than the first. This past April The Times reported how, in 2004, a former Walmart employee became a whistleblower and informed the retail giant’s top brass that systemic bribery had been Walmart de Mexico’s default mode when it came to obtaining building permits and other forms of government cooperation. The executives in Bentonville, Arkansas ordered an internal investigation – but cut it short after the whistleblower’s charges were proved true.
Now The Times’ own investigation, which picked up where Walmart’s was unceremoniously canceled, reveals how the company showered bribes on Mexican officials to overcome zoning prohibitions against building a Walmart supermarket close to that country’s cherished pyramids at Teotihuacán.
» Read more about: N.Y. Times Story Reveals More Walmart Bribery »
The looming fiscal cliff has prompted renewed debate over the idea of a carbon tax – a way of putting a price on the carbon pollution that leads to climate change. Some say a carbon tax would raise funds that would create jobs and boost the American economy while helping to tackling climate change. Others warn it would give government too much control over the energy sector.
Here in California, we didn’t wait for the folks in Washington to make up their minds – we’re already implementing a carbon price. Our landmark clean energy and climate law, AB 32, led to a successful first auction of greenhouse gas pollution credits that raised $290 million for the state in November. These funds will go to a variety of investments in energy efficiency, greener infrastructure, clean energy jobs, and other priorities that focus on making life better for all Californians.
It was the centerpiece of the president’s re-election campaign. Every time Republicans complained about trillion-dollar deficits, he and other Democrats would talk jobs.
That’s what Americans care about—jobs with good wages.
And that’s part of why Obama and the Democrats were victorious on Election Day.
It seems forever ago, but it’s worth recalling that President Obama won re-election by more than four million votes, a million more than George W. Bush when he was re-elected—and an Electoral College majority of 332 to Romney’s 206, again larger than Bush’s electoral majority over Kerry in 2004 (286 to 251). The Democratic caucus in the Senate now has 55 members (up from 53), and Republicans have eight fewer seats in the House than before.
So why, exactly, is Washington back to obsessing about budget deficits? Why is almost all the news coming out of our nation’s capital about whether the Democrats or Republicans have the best plan to reduce the budget deficit?
» Read more about: Congress: Create Jobs Instead of Cutting Debt »
» Read more about: "We Didn't Vote to Cut Medicare and Social Security!" »
Mother Jones has unearthed another video in what might be called the One Percent Behaving Badly genre. While not as awesome as the magazine’s previous discovery of footage of Mitt Romney bad-mouthing the half of America who are shiftless parasites, this one will nevertheless fill you with holiday cheer. It shows AIG honcho and white rapper Robert Gifford at a company party in New York, flowing freestyle about his street cred — Wall Street cred, that is. AIG, of course, was the recipient of more than $182 billion of government bailout money in 2008.
Sample lyric, sung to Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind:”
Concrete jungle where attitude reigns supreme
There’s nothin’ you can’t do
Now you’re in GRE (GRE!)
Big write offs will inspire you
Preparing business cases will make you feel brand new
» Read more about: Yo Yo Yo! AIG's Definitely in the House! »