Poverty, Inequality and Justice A paper on the vanishing middle class in Southern California, presented at the Pat Brown Institute, California Agenda Public Policy Lecture Series. By Daniel Flaming, based upon a lecture presented on March 23, 2006 13 pages avail. in PDF
		Poverty, Inequality and Justice A slide presentation on the vanishing middle class in Southern California, presented at the Pat Brown Institute, California Agenda Public Policy Lecture Series. By Daniel Flaming, March 23, 2006 27 slides avail. in PDF

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The survival of a city depends on at least three things:

1. People who are willing to live and work together
2. A reasonably healthy economy
3. An effectively organized government

- Museum of London

Topics Covered in the Talk

• Is LA’s economy healthy? 
• How did it get the way it is? 
• What can we do about it?
• LA’s Economy: Scraping by in an Affluent City - Acute poverty is the most powerful predictor of homelessness.
• Changing of the Guard: The Problem of a migrating work force solved, new problems emerge
• The Informal Economy is LA’s Economic Growth Engine

Policy Recommendations:

How Can LA Improve its Economy? Use the modest tools of local government to consistently nudge the economy in the right direction:

1. Understand and protect the region’s economic strengths
   1. Green technology industries
   2. Durable manufacturing
   3. Linkages between innovation and production
2. Ensure that residents who work can lift their families out of poverty
   1. Adopt living wage ordinances
   2. Respect the value of unions
3. Have a plan
   1. Understand the risks and payoffs from investing in different industries
   2. Develop community-specific plans that build on local opportunities and goals
   3. Use economic development, redevelopment and job training funds for these strategies
4. Use our infrastructure and regulations to benefit local residents
   1. Leverage local jobs by adding value to goods moving through the ports
   2. Buy green products from local businesses – use green technology to create local jobs.
   3. Make land use decisions (zoning, permits) that support growth of a sustainable economy
5. Eliminate predatory work conditions – curb the informal economy
   1. Enlist city and county prosecutors in collecting back wages from underground employers
   2. Enforce labor laws in partnership with immigrant rights organizations
6. Whenever and where ever possible, help LA workers to upgrade their education and skill