L.A., California Streets Crumbling, Will Need Billions To Fix, Report Says

@abramsrl according to you..every thing and everyone is on the verg of absurd except you!

Now that is just absurd!

@erikkengaard @abramsrl  You have verged into the absurd.  Over-populated?  Who is over populated?  America? California? Los Angeles? Hollywood which lsot 26,198 people between 2005 and 2010 (Garcetti's Hywd Com Plan, FEIR p 3.1)

"Controlling the borders" is a buzz word with no real meaning.  The undocumented workers who come to the USA thru uncontrolled border are good for us.  The criminals associated with the drug trade are bad for us, but we are the ones who made the drug trade into a multi-billion industry controlled by criminals.  Like the dumb Sequester, Congress created this problem and it could end this problem tomorrow by legalizing and regulating the drug trade.

@erikkengaard  Gee whiz, that sure sounds like bigotry or is it just old fashion greed or is it ignorance.  The policies which you promote do not bring prosperity.  The South could never understand why it continued to be poor while other parts of the country were zooming ahead.  They wanted to preserve benefits for themselves and THEIR families.

@erikkengaard @abramsrl All businessmen want to keep down costs while charging more for their products  There is no reason it should be different for labor.  Lowest initial costs as opposed to lowest overall cost, however, can be a myopic strategy.

Your comment about density and the cost of homes seems to be searching for some point, but it is not clear what point you want to make.  Are you complaining that workers' real wages have not risen as much in the last 30 and 40 years as housing prices?  If so, the problem is not the cost of a home, but the transfer of wealth to 1%.

One way wealth is transferred from the middle class and even the upper middle class is via Transit Oriented Districts [TOD's].  Crowding "growth" to these small areas makes certain that growth is directed onto a few parcels of land which is owned by the 1% who then get the city to create community plans creating TOD's.  Then, the city declares the need for subways to handle the density and naturally another mega-wealthy developer is there to construct a subway.  Then, the city discovers that the subway has operating costs way beyond its fares and requires public subsidies and then the call goes out for more TOD's which then results in calls for more subways.  It is an endless cycle of fraud.

Without TOD's like Bunker Hill, Century City and Hollywood, business would be spread through the entire city and middle class and upper class land owners would find their properties worth more, but the 1% would find their TOD's worth a lot less.

@ abramsrl - and its not about bigotry, its about self (as in selfish) interest, preserving benefits for ourselves and OUR posterity.

@abramsrl  What does the GOP have to do with the essential issue - we are overpopulated. And who said the undocumented were at fault? We are at fault for not controlling our borders, allowing in those who will make major contributions, and excluding all others. 

@ abramsrl - this isn't about undocumented aliens. It's about immigration and population density.

@abramsrl - American business wants cheap labor. As for elementary economics, it, and our experience, tell us that when the population density exceeds a certain point, the cost of land for comfortable residences is priced beyond the reach of the middle class. Do you doubt that houses in Mill Valley, CA, once affordable, are now beyond reach of the middle class? Come on, I watched it happen!

@erikkengaard @abramsrl Johnny's point, however, is not well taken.  One does not look solely at a "cost" without looking at the "benefit."  Under Johnny's view, people should not shop at Ralphs because before they leave the store, Ralphs gives them a bill to pay. Such complainers would ignore the fact that they are taking home a lot of food and other necessities for life.

 Studies have shown for decades that the undocumented workers add far more to the economy than they subtract.  To an extent, undocumented workers add to the population density and density contributes to most of L.A. problems.  One needs to take an overall view and when we do elementary economics tells us that we are far better off with undocumented workers than without them.

Since undocumented workers are like the Sequester, a dumb idea which Congress could end tomorrow, the fault for the situation rests with American law makers and not the undocumented workers.

It is interesting that so many GOP'ers are anti-undocumented workers,while they vigorously complain about any government regulation which interferes with the free market.  People come to America to work because American businesses pay them to come and American businessmen pay the undocumented to come to the USA because it is good for their businesses' profitability.