Los Angeles Needs to Grow Up

Major cities throughout the world are noted for their skyscrapers. Los Angeles lacks that distinctive architectural image.

The tallest building in Los Angeles today is the 73-story U.S. Bank Tower, which rises 1,018 feet (310 m) in Downtown Los Angeles and was completed in 1989. Among the next nine tallest buildings none are more than 858 feet (262m) tall. They are 52 to 55 stories high. Among that group of ten the last one was completed in 1992. Among the 34 buildings that are at least 400 feet (122 m) tall two were completed in this century and the rest were primarily completed in the 60’s, 70, and 80’s.

Korean Air’s $1-billion hotel skyscraper. Rendering of the 73-story Wilshire Grand hotel and office building to be constructed in downtown Los Angeles. (AC Martin Partners)

Cities either grow or shrink. Los Angeles has filled its land space with low rise structures. If we are to grow it must be up. When you add the new Korean Air 73 story building to new high rise developments in Hollywood and elsewhere you know the city is in growth mode. These new structures will be magnets for more new business. Most of us want to be part of a growing economy.

A proposal for two skyscrapers that would flank the Capitol Records tower in Hollywood gained the approval of the city’s planning department Tuesday despite push-back from dozens of disgruntled residents.

An artist’s rendering of the project near the Capitol Records building in Hollywood. (Handel Architects)

Those who continuously fight against tall buildings, public transportation and other elements of large metropolises are dreaming of another time when land was plentiful and the idea of big city life was something that only those east of the Mississippi could appreciate. Los Angeles has the second highest population in the nation. Metropolitan Los Angeles encompasses more than 10 million people. It’s time we started acting like a very big city.

Impact of Technology on the U.S. Economy

If only businesses would start re-hiring all those people who lost their jobs in the Great Recession everything would be as it was. It won’t happen like that! Globalization and technology have changed everything.

The Mobile World Congress is a show of the latest cell phone and tablet technologies. It will occur February 24 to February 28 in Barcelona, Spain. The facility used is a new state of the art convention centre called Fira Gran Via consisting of eight halls. With over 1,500 exhibits, it is a reminiscent of CES and Comdex that have been held at the Las Vegas Convention Center. This is a wake-up call that the United States is not necessarily the center for new technologies.

The Gran Via Convention Centre

No business will hire employees in the western world when the job can be done for far less in developing countries. Workers in China, Mexico, and elsewhere are willing to work for $1USD an hour. Workers in the United States, Canada, U.K., Germany and other industrialized nations cannot pay their bills on that rate of pay.

Businesses of all types try to solve their employment needs by looking for automated equipment rather than hiring. The benefit is lower cost for services rendered where ever labor is needed.

From cars to bread, robots dominate modern production

On-line Digital Camera Review owner/editor Jeff Keller, “The smartphone became the preferred photo tool for many.” The web site closed down effective December 31, 2012.

Newsweek’s final print publication mailed out on December 24, 2012. The final issue is dated December 31, 2012. The cause was a decline in advertising revenue. The magazine’s owner will attempt a digital version that will be available only to subscribers.

Borders bookstores have closed. Barnes and Noble stores are closing too. E-readers are this year’s sought after device. Barnes and Noble’s Nook is one of those readers.

Modern manufacturing isn’t based on human labour; it’s based on the robot. Still, most people cannot grasp the breadth of automation in factories. We still picture plants full of human workers toiling to make our cars and furniture, just as we imagine our meat comes from animals in a barn. The truth is much more awe-inspiring, perhaps even frightening. The factories of today have some human workers, but huge portions of assembly lines are 100% mechanized. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics expects automotive jobs to decline 18% by 2018 despite expected increases in production. Robots eliminate the need for more workers.

What is the United States doing to sustain its lead in technology and grow its economy? Arguing about gun control, immigration, and government debt.

Los Angeles – Long Beach Harbors Resume Operations

Work resumed today, Wednesday, at the nation’s busiest port complex after a crippling strike was settled, ending an eight-day walk-off that affected thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in cargo.

Is everybody Happy? Today the answer is YES but the future is looking bleak for these import facilities. This is a serious situation for the 10,000 dock workers.

Los Angles cargo terminal, photo taken on April 29, 2011 at 2:30PM . 1/50 second at f7.1 using Panasonic DMC FZ28 camera. The sky was that blue and cloud free. The sea was that blue. Hey, It’s Los Angeles!

The immediate effect was the redirection of ships to other ports. One of those ports is Ensenada, Mexico. Ensenada is in Baja California lying 125 kilometers (78 mi) south of San Diego on the Baja California Peninsula. With a population of more than 279,000 people a major part of its economy depends upon tourism. It also has a deep water port for commercial shipping that received more than 3 million metric tons of freight in 2010. When cargo is unloaded in Ensenada it is not done using unionized workers. Truckers are not unionized. When the goods are transported into the USA there are no tariffs thanks to NAFTA. So why won’t some shipping companies continue to use Ensenada rather than the Los Angeles area ports now that the ships have been diverted?

Currently Hyundai makes shipboard cargo containers and truck trailers at its nearby Tijuana plant, and two other Korean conglomerates–Samsung and Daewoo–make TVs and other electronic products at plants in Tijuana and San Luis Rio Colorado near Yuma, Arizona. Daewoo and Samsung have announced plans to expand their manufacturing operations in Baja California, and Hyundai has told the Mexican delegation that it is mulling the possibility of building a steel plant in Mexico.

I am guessing that ever more business will not be returning to the California ports.

There is another more serious threat to the Los Angeles-Long Beach port facilities. The Panama Canal Overhaul. When completed some of the largest ships in the world will be able to traverse the canal. The canal’s new set of locks will allow a ship with a 160-foot beam to pass with ease. The current canal can accommodate only ships that are no more than 106 feet wide and 965 fee long. Some of the largest ships in this category, with containers stacked seven-deep on their decks, look like they’re barely able to squeeze through today’s locks. Currently vessels traversing the canal can carry a maximum of 5,000 20-foot containers. With the new locks completed the canal will be able to handle ships three football fields long that hold 13,000 containers.

The result of the enlarged canal locks will mean ships from China, Japan and other Asian nations can more easily set their destination on the Atlantic and Gulf costs of the United States. When those Panama Canal improvements have been completed who will be shipping their cargo to California?

Vice Presidential Debate

It was a Draw!

Vice President Joe Biden did what he does so well. He was the attack dog. Congressman Paul Ryan was the calmer deliberate speaker who adequately supported Mitt Romney.

The differences between the parties could not have been more stark. Both men offered some inaccurate information and both offered some accurate info.

I suspect Joe Biden’s eye rolling and silly grins were all intentional and well practiced. Even after giving a serious response to Raddatz or Ryan he returned to those big smiles and surprised facial expressions.

Martha Raddatz was an excellent moderator. She wins the award for performing an outstanding job in a difficult situation.

For those of us who are undecided the decision is yet to be made. Too little time was spent on the job of creating jobs in America. Biden skipped the topic and Ryan restated the Romney contention that their election will result in 12 million jobs being created in the next four years. How exactly will that be done? Biden or Raddatz should have asked Ryan that question.

My recent purchase was two beautifully tailored shirts that were made in China. That is the country that also makes iPhones, Dell computers, and other more expensive high tech devices.

Perhaps the next debate will provide some further reason to vote for one of these candidates.

Politics and Cesar Chavez

Cesar Chavez was the leader of the United Farm Workers (UFW). He led the famous Delano Grape Workers Strike that lasted five years. Many Latinos admire him for his organizing skills. He died in 1966. However he was not very successful in his endeavors.

His supporters say his work led to numerous improvements for union laborers. His birthday, March 31, has become César Chávez Day, a state holiday in three US states. Many parks, cultural centers, libraries, schools, and streets have been named in his honor in cities across the United States.

The truth is that farm worker are still woefully underpaid. It is well-known that many are illegal aliens because the United States does not have a program for allowing Mexicans into the country for picking food.

A UC Davis report on harvesting strawberries says, “Harvesters in 1996-97 were reportedly paid $4.50 to $4.70 an hour in the Watsonville-Salinas area, plus $0.65 to $0.75 a tray.” While choices.org includes this paragraph in their article about strawberry harvesting.

“Core tasks of picking and plant cleaning must be performed while bending, kneeling (usually with one knee on the raised bed), or crouching. Workers use both hands to gently grab, twist, and snap off the berries they select. Although they shift from one side of the row to the other, occasionally stand up for a breather, and often change positions in other ways, most of their picking time is spent in postures that are widely seen as physically demanding. Union leaders and other worker advocates have expressed great concern about long-term effects of these postures and workers’ repetitive task motions on their bodies, especially backs. Bills that they have sponsored in the California legislature would prohibit “weeding, thinning, and hot-capping in a stooped, kneeling, or squatting position” (i.e., by hand), except in narrowly defined circumstances. A petition to similarly restrict these activities through administrative regulation is under consideration by a Cal/OSHA advisory committee.”

The legal Latino population is a primary group supporting Barack Obama. To further seal that group to the Democratic Party the president visited the Cesar Chavez home and declared it a national monument.

Walter P. Reuther was one of America’s great labor leaders. Reuther was president the United Automobile Workers union (UAW) between 1946 and 1970. Under his leadership played the union played a major role in the liberal wing of the Democratic party, including the civil rights and anti-Communist movements. The UAW was especially known for gaining high wages and pensions for the auto workers. As a prominent figure in the anti-Communist left, he was a founder of the Americans for Democratic Action in 1947. He became president of the CIO in 1952, and negotiated a merger with George Meany and the American Federation of Labor immediately after, which took effect in 1955. In 1949 he led the CIO delegation to the London conference that set up the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions in opposition to the Communist-dominated World Federation of Trade Unions. He had left the Socialist party in 1939, and throughout the 1950s and 1960s was a leading spokesman for liberal interests in the CIO and in the Democratic party. Walter Reuther appears in Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. There is no national monument honoring this man!

Groveling for votes. Can Barack Obama sink any lower?

No Real change in the Unemployment Rate

Try Crunching these numbers!

President Obama received some good news last night. The unemployment rate has dropped to 7.8%. As Chris Mathews and others have said repeatedly, no president has been re-elected when the rate was over 8% since FDR. Market Watch has questioned whether the books have been cooked. I prefer to believe the data is accurate. After all, the government could have provided false data over the past year and apparently did not. How could the unemployment rate decline? More people stopped looking for jobs than those obtaining new jobs.

The problem is the focus of the data. The BLS trumpets the unemployment rate rather than the number of unemployed. It’s only after extensive reading did I learn about another piece of data that tells the real story. Table A-15 (Alternative measures of labor underutilization) of the BLS monthly report on Line U-6 provides a more accurate reflection of the true unemployment situation. That line provides “Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force.”

That number is 14.7% for this past month. At its peak in December 2010 the percentage had reached 16.6%.

The president is silent on his plans and Mitt Romney has said he will create 12 million jobs in four years. There are no details on the plans. No wonder! No one employs more help without demand. Lower taxes are wonderful for the pocket book but will that make a difference in hiring?

I don’t think so!

Why I believe Mitt Romney Will Win the Election

Are Americans stupid or just plain desperate?

I have never voted for a Republican for president. I could not discern the differences between Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey in the first time I voted. I was correct in saying there was little to differentiate the two. Nixon imposed price controls on the economy and that was a decidedly Democratic Party kind of regulation. Richard Nixon supported a national health care plan that the Democrats refused to support.

Now we have Mitt Romney promising to “create 12 million new jobs over the next four years.” He won’t tell us how that will be done. Without the details his words are meaningless. However, Americans are desperate for a recovery so they will buy his promise.

Americans vote for the person who can offer us the promise we want to hear. Proof? “Hope and Change” but no details enabled Barack Obama to win the election four years ago.

Despite the poll trends, I believe Romney will win. It will be mostly about those jobs and the economy. He won’t win CA, NY, IL or MA. He will win a majority in the battleground states.

The result will be that four years from now we will vote for the Democratic challenger.

Romney Didn’t Make the Sale

Larry Kudlow, Finance guru and TV host on CNBC, says so!

You have probably seen Larry Kudlow on television. He is a well educated and well spoken finance expert that is hard to ignore. He is the opposite of Jim Cramer. Mr. Kudlow provides his own opinion along with interviews with many really smart guests. Kudlow’s doubts are my doubts.

In summary here is the gist of his post on townhall.com.

Did Mitt Romney make the economic sale at the Republican National Convention? Did he convince people who are living at the margin or unemployed and discouraged that he has the answers to the economy? Frankly, I don’t think so.

he (Mitt Romney) did not talk about his 20 percent across-the-board personal tax cut plan that would help the middle class enormously. He never mentioned it, and he went into no detail on the business tax cut plan.

He talked about a jobs tour. I frankly have no idea what a “jobs tour” is.

I didn’t hear anything new. I didn’t hear anything specific, and it troubles me.

ON BIG BUSINESS: I think he needs to be more specific. It’s not about big business — it’s really about small business.

Bill Kristol, Fox News Pundit, Questions Tax Cut for the Wealthy

Back in 2001 and 2003 President George W. Bush pushed his income tax reduction laws through Congress. The theory behind those tax reductions was the government was running a surplus and the economy needed a boost. What was the result? Higher net income for business and the loss of American jobs to China, India, and other nations. The result is that business leaders tell the American people we are no longer a manufacturing society, we are now a service society. Those services translate to lower paying jobs for the middle class. What middle class? Those jobs are the jobs of the poor!

Even Bill Kristol is now questioning the idea of even lower taxes for business.

By Igor Volsky of Think Progress on Aug 11, 2012 at 3:42 pm

Bill Kristol, who had predicted that Mitt Romney would name Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running-mate, expressed some concern Saturday morning that Republicans may have a hard time defending the GOP budget, which disproportionately cuts taxes for the rich.

“It’s the tax cuts for the wealthy, where Republicans have not done a particularly good job of defending it and I think you’ll see Democratic attacks focus on that side of the equation,” he said. The Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore agreed, but noted, “who’s better to defend those policies that Paul is, I mean he knows this stuff better than anyone.”

Paul Ryan’s infamous budget — which Romney embraced — replaces “the current tax structure with two brackets — 25 percent and 10 percent — and cut the top rate from 35 percent.” Federal tax collections would fall “by about $4.5 trillion over the next decade” as a result. To avoid increasing the national debt, the budget proposes massive cuts in social programs and “special-interest loopholes and tax shelters that litter the code.”

But 62 percent of the savings would come from programs that benefit the lower- and middle-classes, who would also experience a tax increase. That’s because while Ryan “would extend the Bush tax cuts, which are due to expire at the end of this year, he would not extend President Obama’s tax cuts for those with the lowest incomes, which will expire at the same time.” Households “earning more than $1 million a year, meanwhile, could see a net tax cut of about $300,000 annually.”

Manufacturing in the U.S.A.

Can manufacturing thrive in the United States? Consider the cost of labor in China, Mexico, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Hourly rates are 50 cents USD to $1.00 USD. My contention is that even with lowered income taxes those other countries will continue to provide products that cannot be put together in the USA at competitive costs.

However, PC World has run this article that indicated there is a possibility the USA can still compete.

By Karen Haslam, Macworld-U.K. Jun 30, 2012 1:15 pm

Apple’s been criticized in the past for not manufacturing its products in the U.S., and has given a number of excuses when pressed on the matter. However, Google has now proven that high-tech goods can be produced in the U.S., the company’s new Nexus Q is “Designed and Manufactured in the USA” according to the inscription on the device.

There are a number of reasons why Apple manufacturers products in factories in China and other Far East countries, not only are workers cheaper, but overseas factories offer more flexibility, diligence and industrial skills. A report has also claimed that Apple has to manufacturer the iPad in China in order to get access to rare earth materials.

When asked why Apple isn’t manufacturing the iPhone in the US, Apple’s late-CEO Steve Jobs told U.S. President Barack Obama in February 2011: “Those jobs aren’t coming back,” complaining that there is a massive skills shortage in the US prohibiting the manufacturer of such goods there.

Google’s Andy Rubin said that the company had made a conscious effort to test the possibility of manufacturing in the U.S. with this product: “We’ve been absent for so long,” he said, referring to manufacturing not happening in the U.S., and added: “We decided, ‘Why don’t we try it and see what happens?'”

The report in the New York Times notes that consumer electronics manufacturers will be closely watching this case, to see if it disproves the accepted wisdom that consumer electronics products can no longer be made in the United States.

However, Google’s device has a high price than similar devices manufactured outside of the country, notes the report. The report also notes that Google is not disclosing details about where components of the device were manufactured.