Save them the trip

Today's LA Times includes "Future for Los Angeles' middle class is uncertain." It mentions a symposium at the Southern California Association of Governments titled "The Middle Class on Life Support." UCLA's Anderson Forecast just published "Solutions for Our City" (full disclosure: I wrote one of the 40 short pieces). Many of the essays start with a problem (traffic, housing affordability, schools, health, etc.) which can easily be traced to a government failure and immediately propose various new government programs as fixes.

The data favored by the hand-wringers has been challenged often and widely. But the Times writer sees, "an LA area that finds itself deeply divided among class lines, with 250,000 millionaires, 1.6 million poor people ... and those in the middle facing a miserable squeeze."

It gets better. "Once the paragon of the American dream, Los Angeles in the last 25 years has become a place where the level of income inequality doesn't look too much different from what's found south of the border or in any number of developing nations."

The illegal immigration problem is not a matter of more fences or border agents. Just translate the writer's wisdom into Spanish and leave in kiosks conveniently placed near the crossing points favored by illegals. Save them the trip and the trouble.

Several papers that are useful antidotes to the silliness are at the NCPA website.