ZagatBuzz

After years of declining and flat-lining, Beverly Hills home prices are going up.

This could either be a good sign that this Debbie Downer of an economy is turning a corner, or it could be another example of how, even in tough times, the rich are getting richer while the rest suffer.

We're going to cross our fingers and go with good sign:

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Tricia Wang

What if we told you we knew of a place where you could save about $1.46 a gallon on gas -- today?

What if we told you, while you were in the neighborhood getting your cheap gas you could also dine on meals that have the foodie nation buzzing, get a huge discount on your prescription drugs, and take a picture with a zonkey (that's a zebra crossed with a donkey, but not really)?

You'd say we sound like a cheesy salesman using the "what if we told you" ruse? Yes, but other than that you'd be all about this.

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@SDivall via Twitter

Welcome to the Jungle: an aerial view of crowd gathered outside the sold-out Guns N' Roses Board of Education meeting.

LAUSD's Board of Education issued a stay of execution for the district's adult education programs today at a meeting that could almost pass as star-studded.

The event was so crowded that hundreds were barred from entering; they waited outside chanting "Save our Schools." Those who did make it inside to speak on behalf of adult ed and other programs on the chopping block included assorted Los Angeles-area city council members and mayors, several veterans of Iraq, a world-famous choreographer, and the drummer from Guns N' Roses.

The budget drama, which has built for weeks to today's crescendo, seemed almost too choreographed, leaving some to wonder if it was all political theater orchestrated by district officials to galvanize support for a $270-a-year parcel tax proposed by LAUSD for the November ballot.

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Rich district, poor district: LAUSD spent wildly on the plush Robert. F. Kennedy Community Schools.

When it came time to make cuts for the 2012-13 LAUSD budget, Superintendent John Deasy passed on the scalpel, opting for a chainsaw to hack away at a $557 million deficit.

LAUSD's youngest and oldest students are targeted in the wide-ranging cuts that aim to protect the most vital organs: K-12 education.

If adopted by the Board of Education today, the budget eliminates the adult education programs and the School Readiness Language Development Program, which prepares the smallest and most needful students for kindergarten, to save $134.5 million and $45.4 million. Grade school arts education would also be wiped out, saving $18.6 million.

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Screw science; I'm just in this for the boobs.

ABC's super-lame new sitcom "Work It" -- basically the "White Chicks" of family television, in which guys dress up as girls to find jobs -- has been criticized by everyone from LGBT advocates to entertainment critics for its drag costumes and artistic merits, respectively.

But a less likely group of naysayers has also jumped on the hater train: economists.

"ABC's contribution to Bad TV may whip up resentment among men who believe women are taking their jobs," wrote a she-blogger from U.S. News last month. "It would only be divisive and offensive if it were true, but it's factually inaccurate."

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These hard times have manifest in such hit cable shows as Pawn Stars, Hardcore Pawn and Storage Wars -- television programs about used crap.

But don't think the folks of Beverly Hills are immune to the Great Recession. The gilded city also has folks who want to sell stuff for quick cash. It's just that their stuff is way better. And the quick cash they get for it is way more.

Beverly Loan Company, a pawn shop by any other name, reports this week that ...

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KCET

Antonio Villaraigosa with other people's money.

Thankfully, we have CitywatchLA explaining how Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spends bundles of cash on pointless gestures. His trip to Asia, which will have zero effect on the Los Angeles economy, is burning $30,000 a day.

Villaraigosa says he's going to create jobs by going to China. Villaraigosa, a long-struggling politician, has no clue how to create jobs.

L.A. relied, insanely, on constructing buildings for its jobs in the 2000s. It was mad group behavior. Books one day will tell how the obsession by speculators, lenders and politicians caused L.A.'s bubble and burst, leaving ugly 13 percent unemployment. The obsession's grinning cheerleader was the badly educated, barely business-savvy Villaraigosa:

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treehugger.com

BYD comes to L.A.

L.A. leaders like to say how business-friendly our city is and that the big bucks taxpayers invest in billionaire and corporate moves here (Eli Broad's $52 million museum parking lot, architectural firm Gensler's $1 million bonus for doing what it had plannned already -- moving downtown) are worth it.

The latest grand pronouncement about bringing jobs to L.A. came from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was psyched about Chinese carmaker BYD opening its North American headquarters in L.A. this week.

The mayor via LA Biz Observed:

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Jon Sittner

L.A. is No. 7

L.A. city leaders like to make much of how business friendly they are, what with the bending over backwards for a proposed NFL stadium and the $1 million of your money being given to a rich architectural firm that would have relocated downtown anyway.

But for all the hot air that comes from the City Hall podiums, our fair burg still ranks middle-of-the-pack when it comes to small-business-friendliness.

That, at least, is according to American Express' latest OPEN Independent Retail Index:

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Pete Zarria

A motel on Route 66 in San Berdoo.

We sometimes marvel at the amount of wealth found in Southern California. Using Forbes' figures, we noted in spring that "if California were a nation, it would rank fourth, behind the U.S., China and Russia, in billionaire population (a lucky 88)."

Many of the Golden State's billionaires are right here in SoCal.

But ... the San Bernardino Sun newspaper looked at the latest U.S. Census figures and found that some of the poorest people in the nation live right in the city of San Bernardino:

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sdr515

Occupiers.

Look alive people. The Occupy Wall Street movement that swept New York over the past two weeks finally gained a foothold in L.A. over the weekend.

And now participants of Occupy L.A. are marching on the financial district downtown at traffic hour (5 p.m.) today -- and they have events lined up throughout the week, says co-organizer Ian Thompson.

Over the weekend ...

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PaulS

Occupado.

The folks who are fighting back against a conservative onslaught of class warfare (no taxing the rich the same way working class folks are taxed?) are taking over City Hall this weekend.

Well, maybe "taking over" is a bit of an exaggeration. After all, this is L.A., and, 1992 not withstanding, our revolutions are a bit laid-back.

We noted that at the last "Occupy Los Angeles" event ...

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Green: Who backed Proposition 13 in 1978. Red: People who watched a ball game instead.

Wow, this is pretty definitive: With all kinds of California newspapers bashing Proposition 13 (often inaccurately claiming that it has starved the state budget -- which has skyrocketed since 1978 even as compared to inflation), 63 percent of California voters are telling Governor Jerry Brown to keeps his hands off the venerable property tax reform.

The Field Poll today found: "(63% to 29%) voters say that if Prop. 13 were up for a vote again today they would endorse it. By a five to four margin (50% to 41%) voters also oppose the idea of amending Prop. 13 to permit business and commercial property owners to be taxed at a higher rate than residential owners." That's another wow.

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So the Great Recession has been over for nearly two years, huh?

The latest U.S. Census data indicates the United States has more people living in poverty than, oh, ever. Well, almost ever. The 46.2 million of Americans below the line are as many as have been recorded in the 52 years government officials have been tracking the number (that doesn't include the Great Depression).

Nearly one in six of the people around you is now officially poor. In California, it's worse:

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hotgirlswithiphones.com

The urge to merge is on-hold.

Republicans are going to have a field day with this.

A day after AT&T announced it would be creating 5,000 much-needed jobs as a result of its merger with T-Mobile -- including local openings in Anaheim Hills and Cerritos -- President Obama's Department of Justice declared that it was challenging the corporate marriage.

No iPhones for T-Mobile customers ... yet:

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Eden

Credit's nearly frozen, so it's hard to buy a house. And heck, even with the real estate meltdown, they're still overpriced around here compared to what you earn, right?

So what to do? You ride it out. You rent. And so does everyone else. And their mother. Which brings us to ...

... 11 straight months of rising rents in Southern California. Awesome, right?

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Them bullions -- so hot right now.

There's a little press in Torrance called the Coin Dealer Newsletter -- though its three editions are better known as the Greysheet, Bluesheet and Greensheet. It's unseen by most of the world, but essential to those who've turned a hobby of coin collecting into a full-time trade.

However, Coin Dealer staff writer Derik, 28, who's been collecting since he was 12, says the crowd of coin hunters is rapidly expanding, and diversifying, as precious metals surge in value -- a panicky reaction to the Great Recession.

Right now, gold is at a record-high $1,850 per ounce...

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'The Jerk'

We hope you're enjoying the economic recovery, what with the stock market taking a stage dive, a real estate Ice Age and yes, lots and lots of people out of work. Good thing 2008 is in the rear view, right?

Wait, California just announced state unemployment has hit 12 percent. That's more than one in 10 people without a job, not counting those who have just given up (that might put us closer to one out of five).

That rate is up from 11.8 percent in June. And in L.A. it's even worse:

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MatM

A free ride for some millionaires?

Southern California has more millionaires than just about anywhere else in the nation, with L.A. coming in at No. 1, Orange County at No. 4, and San Diego ranking No. 6 in cities with the most seven-figure-plus households in 2008.

So maybe we should feel a little guilty, especially as President Obama and the GOP are headed toward draconian federal cuts, the United States' credit rating is down a notch, and the stock market is diving like a conservative congressman in a bathroom stall.

Because many millionaires and billionaires, it was revealed today, don't pay taxes like you and me:

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Temari 09

Reach for the sky, L.A.

So the unemployment rate in America is not quite as bad as we thought, and Wall Street is slightly happy but still schizophrenic.

Because nearly 1 in 10 people out of work this summer is sort of okay, comparatively, and maybe better than last year, but not really (and, in reality, almost 2 out of 10 Americans and maybe more are part of the "long-term unemployed").

Anyway, stop your whining. There's plenty of work out there for you, L.A., and we're not just talking about that temp job you found after standing outside Home Depot, or late-night deliveries to Charlie Sheen's house. A quick glance at Craigslist finds some stellar jobs just waiting for your perky ass:

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