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# Ya Think?
June 20 2011
Written by Ken Alpern.
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**ALPERN AT LARGE** - As it becomes increasingly obvious that thinking outside of our self-imposed boxes (over 30 years in the making!) is necessary for our economy and society to survive. It’s amazing how tone-deaf the opposition to change has become.
Ex-L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan, who helped lead our fair city into this mess, is among many past and present political leaders who are warning of increasing budgetary insolvency risks both locally and nationally because he claims[ \[link\] ](http://www.bondbuyer.com/issues/120_116/richard-riordan-profile-1027933-1.html?zkPrintable=true) it will make it almost impossible to sell governmental bonds and establish economic stability.
Ya think?
Meanwhile, in Greece we’re seeing a Greek bureaucracy that is still struggling to make long-overdue cuts and get rid of inept officials to placate European neighboring countries willing to bail out that country as some Greeks riot suggesting that those rioting still “just don’t get it”.
Ya think?
And in this country, concerns over how we’re becoming all too similar to Greece and risk our own financial [Armageddon](http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20110609/ts_usnews/couldtheunitedstatesbecomeanothergreece) also suggest that Americans opposing change in how we operate over here “just don’t get it”, either.
Ya think?
And while the GOP and the Democrats fight to get our budgets into order, the problem still remains that healthcare costs still haven’t gone down despite passage of the Health Care Reform Act, and the number of jobless families relying on state-budget-destroying Medicaid obligations might bring up the question of whether we should focus on job creation before any other priority.
Ya think?
American joblessness drags on while we’re still unable to limit-set with employers justifying slave labor, and with political forces crossing moral boundaries to get power, so the consequences of foreigners intentionally having American-born babies might call into question when we’re going to respect the true intent of the 14th Amendment, which was to grant U.S. citizenship specifically for those descendants of kidnapped African slaves.
Ya think?
Worsening the joblessness is the recent business culture that emphasizes “getting mine” for those at the tippity-top of the corporate ladder—regardless of whether one earned a raise or bonus—over a culture of building something new which calls into question what anyone is doing to encourage job creation.
Ya think?
But there is a path out of our never-ending economic paralysis, which is predicated on good old-fashioned credibility and character and which Governor Brown displayed when he vetoed a smoke-and-mirrors budget from the Democratic Legislature in Sacramento thereby avoiding the same trap as pandering ex-Governor Schwarzenegger.
Perhaps the same credibility and character (and courage!) might get Governor Brown some more support for budget-balancing temporary tax hikes if he also limit-sets with Sacramento public sector unions that have bludgeoned California taxpayers for the past decade? Perhaps this sort of credibility is becoming more attractive to voters?
Ya think?
So perhaps the two folks running for Jane Harman’s seat in the House of Representatives can stop fighting an irrelevant left-right wing battle and give the locals an idea of who can best re-create an employment boom once enjoyed in LAX and the South Bay?
And perhaps we can all just focus on what we need to do, and not just what we want to hear?
Ya think?
Do ya …
…think?
*(Ken Alpern is a former Boardmember of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently cochairs its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at Alpern@MarVista.org. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.)* -cw
Tags: Mayor Riordan, Greece, bureaucracy, GOP, Democrats, jobs, joblessness, US citizenship
CityWatch
Vol 9 Issue 49
Pub: June 21, 2011
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