EVENT: Open Forum on CSW LA Gay Pride Parade and Festival Wednesday, Oct. 30

Come tell CSW what you think of LA Pride. Think about your position and tell them what you want, how you feel and what you love about LA Pride.

The City of West Hollywood’s Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board Seeks Community Input

WEST HOLLYWOOD – The City of West Hollywood’s Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board will hold an open forum on the Christopher Street West (CSW) LA Gay Pride Parade and Festival at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 30, 2013, in the Community Room at the West Hollywood Library. Community feedback and input regarding CSW’s annual Pride Parade and Parade and Festival will be heard during open community forum. The goal is to hear from the community at-large on what improvements may be made to make the annual event more engaging and inclusive. Input will be conveyed back to the West Hollywood City Council and the all-volunteer board of directors of Christopher Street West LA Gay Pride.

West Hollywood has been the home of the annual LA Gay Pride Parade and Festival since 1979, and has been official host and partner of the celebration since the City’s incorporation in 1984. Planning is currently underway for the 44th annual Celebration, which is scheduled for June 6-8, 2014.

The forum will be moderated by the Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board Co-Chairs (Amy Ruskin and Robert Gamboa) and the Transgender Advisory Board Chair (Karina Samala). Everyone will have an opportunity to speak for 3 minutes. There will be no cross talk and feel free to share in a non-biased environment. Say whatever it is you want to say about the event, positive or negative. All comments will be collected by staff and submitted to LGAB, City Council and CSW. For those unwilling to speak in public, there will be paper to write down your comment. If you need more than three minutes to speak, you will need to wait another turn. As always, please be respectful of others.

For more information on the forum, please contact Jeff Book, staff liaison for the Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board, (323) 848-6471. For press inquiries, please contact Kaitlin Egan at (323) 848-6431. 

Feature: United States of Division- A View of the Ugly American Nightmare

Photo by Franco Folini

The United States of America has many problems, but there is no problem more harmful to the American people than poverty. Everyone sees the effects of poverty every day in cities all across our country. From the homeless man on the street begging for change, to the people collecting cans out of alley trash cans. In Barbara Ehrenreichs’ non-fiction book, Nickel & Dimed, she steps out of her middle-class journalist life, and works at minimum wage jobs all across the country. She collects information about the conditions of these low wage jobs, and studies the ways that poverty affects minimum wage workers in the United States. Ehrenreichs’ work is an emotionally charged expose that makes a very valid point; America’s low wage working conditions make life almost unbearable for those who are poverty stricken. In Herbert Gans Essay, “The War Against the Poor Instead of Programs to End Poverty,” he gives a factual look at what poverty can do to some Americans. Gans brings to light the repercussions caused by the U.S. government and the view of the poor from upper class citizens. What becomes clear throughout both texts is that; Poverty creates a myriad of issues that most Americans will take years to recover from--if they recover at all.

       Being poor darkens the lives of many Americans and causes a separation by class. The upper and middle class become apathetic about the problem, and even see the poor as miscreants. Gans says that the rich need to, “try to reduce unwarranted fear and anger toward the poor—with hope that they would then be more positive about reviving anti-poverty efforts.” The lower class receives 1.1% of the nations wealth while the upper class receives 35% of the nations wealth. The upper and middle class turns a blind eye towards the poor because a restructuring plan may give them a smaller piece of America’s wealth. There is clearly a dividing line that has been slowly destroying the way wealth is distributed in our country for many years, and if this problem isn’t addressed soon--America could become the next third world country.

Photo by Richard Masoner / Cyclelicious

     Poverty shouldn’t be defined as just a lack of monetary value, it is much more broad definition, because of all of the facets of life it has a negative effect on. Poverty is driven by apathy, and greed. Over 46.2 million Americans are impoverished. 15.7% of the country is scratching by, paycheck to paycheck, with little chance of ever feeling secure. These poor Americans live their lives, handing over almost every dollar they earn, just to survive. It becomes easy for any impoverished person to feel victimized by their plight, causing them to break away from the other classes in society. Ehrenreich experienced this first hand, stating,“…I’m not a victim of poverty but of prosperity. The rich and the poor, who are generally thought to live in a state of harmonious interdependence—the ones providing the cheap labor, the others providing low-wage jobs—can no longer coexist.” When poverty is studied, it simply cannot be seen as equitable. It becomes something much worse than just not having money. The upper class would rather believe that the poor have caused their own problems, and don’t try to solve the situation. Gans believes the rich need to, ”…try to reduce unwarranted fear and anger towards the poor—with the hope that they would then be more positive about their antipoverty efforts.” Poverty is seen as something dirty, something undignified. It is seen as someone else’s problem, when in reality it’s everyone’s problem. Poverty would be better defined as misery perpetuated by the apathy and greed of the government and middle to upper class citizens.

      Many people might say that, “Where there is a will, there is a way.” While this may be true, when it comes to rising out of poverty, the “ways” they speak of may not be good. The conditions of poverty lead to a gateway of temporary solutions. Many problems are temporarily solved by thievery and substance abuse. The problem isn’t solved by simply finding a better job, ”There are no secret economies that nourish the poor; on the contrary, there are a host of special costs.” These costs lead to many poor people becoming thieves while whatever legal job they may or may not have is providing them not more than $11,406 dollars a year. Without money, depression sets in, and may lead to drug use to escape reality. The drug use just perpetuates all of the other cycles one may get stuck in because of poverty. “It is common, among the non- poor, to think of poverty as a sustainable condition--austere, perhaps, but they get by somehow don’t they?”

Photo by Ed Yourdon

       Poverty is leading America into a dark age, where we may end up being the next third world country. In 2012, the top 1% of wage earners received a 6% pay increase, while the bottom 10% received little to no change in pay. The number of impoverished citizens is at it highest in more than half a century. With the median dropping, and unemployment rates at a very slow decline, many are turning to other means of financial stability. Is it fair for the American Government to dictate who gets the wealth and who doesn’t? Without legislative changes, poverty may be the next Hitler.

    
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Census finds 46.2 million impoverished U.S. citizens as median drops in 2012. That's 15.7 % of the country.

That makes the current amount, the highest amount of impoverished U.S. citizens in more than half a century.

One-in-15 American households earned less than $11,406, the second highest percentage since 1967. More than one-fifth of those under 18 were in poverty. 25.3 percent of Hispanic Americans were in poverty. 27.6 percent of Black Americans were in poverty.9.8 percent of White Americans were in poverty. Unemployment rates are improved in 2012 to 9.6 % from 8.6% in 2011. Women continued to earn 77% of what men earn.

Last years poverty line was an annual income of $23,021 a year, the median is dropping in 2013.

Social Security has lifted over 14.5 million senior citizens out of poverty.

Americans without health insurance is 48.6 million people, 9.4 percent of children do not have health insurance.

The top 1% of wage earners received a 6% increase in pay over the last year, while the income at the bottom 40% remained nearly unchanged. The bottom 10 % of earners made the same amount of money in 2011 as they did in 1994.

Film Review: Inside Job (Documentary)

By Matthew Mullins

At the beginning of the film “INSIDE JOB”, Iceland is used as an example of how deregulation can hurt an economy. The entire island was almost destroyed by it’s financial district “bubble” compromised of three large banks.

     In Sept 2008, Iceland’s economy tanked and the homeless population tripled. This was all caused by the deregulation and privatization of their financial district.

    The collapse in Iceland was partly triggered by the bankruptcy of Lehmann Brothers and AIG on Sept 15, 2008. This caused a global recession costing over 10 trillion in investor losses.

     Since the 1980s the US financial industry has been raking in money while causing the common person financial woes. The investment banks went public causing Wall Street professionals to become rich. Deregulation began to unfold quickly. This was just the beginning of the greed and corruption of Wall St.

    In the late 1990s, the use of derivatives became a common way that banks could bet on investments either being successful or failing. Commonly, they would bet on failing investments to create profit for themselves. The regulation of derivatives were thwarted was defeated by Alan Greenspan and several other high profile Wall St. officials and lobbyists. Greenspan among many others continued to deregulate through President Clinton’s term.

By 1997, Citigroup and other large banks began to merge into conglomerates. The fewer the banks, the more hold they would have over the money of common investors, homeowners and the American people.

     In 1998, the investment banks invested in internet companies they knew would fail. This failed investment scam cost 5 trillion dollars in investment losses. The financial district has been caught cooking books, defrauding customers, tax fraud, giving themselves ridiculously large bonuses, supplying laundered money to support drug cartels and continuing the deregulation by use of derivatives. The banks involved in the scams were fined 1.4 billion and promised to change their ways.

    In 2001, George Bush Jr. was elected president in a controversial election. The financial district began to merge. Five investments banks, two financial conglomerates, three securities insurance companies and three rating agencies were linked by the securitization food chain , which was a large combined pool of home buyers, lenders, investment banks and investors. This “food chain” connected trillions of dollars of mortgages and other loans with investors all over the world. Before the money would go to a lender Investment banks created complex derivatives. Banks combined mortgages with other loans and debts into collateralized debt obligations called CDOs. CDOs were sold to investors and given ratings to help a consumer choose which loan was the best idea for them.

        These rating agencies often gave CDOs the highest rating dubbed AAA. These “Subprime” loans led to a lot of predatory lending. Often a bank would give homeowners loans they couldn’t repay. Subprime loans began to become a huge deal and were gambled on by investment loaners and banks. The securitization chain caused prices of homes to skyrocket. Countrywide, a well known investment firm, made 11 billion off over 200 billion in loans.

     In 2007, a recession began in the United States CDO lending became swallowed by debt causing a freeze in the global market. The banks, one by one became insolvent over a few weeks. The government took over AIG.

        Carl Paulson asked Congress for $700 billion in bail out money to save the banks involved in the CDO scam as unemployment rose to 10%    in the US. The banks foreclosed in record amounts and many US citizens became homeless. Many Wall St executives were given billions in bonuses after the bailouts. Many US citizens were homeless, jobless and penniless.   

      The criminal activity that was allowed to happen through deregulation is truly mind numbing. It just astounds me that anyone could be that cold and calculated while allow their fellow man to suffer under the guise of helping them. This film was brilliantly put together and full of ideas that really improved my understanding of the American economic crisis.

       It is also obviously a catapult to the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street protest. There is only so far you can push someone until they break and fight you back. OWS has risen to cities all across the globe. A peaceful protest may turn into something else entirely if something isn’t done. I hope that many people see “Inside Job” to gain a greater understanding of what our future may hold if we continue to allow the continuation of deregulation and the corruption of the worlds financial market.