Filmed on 13 October 2017

• VIDEO BY ALICE
• SUMMARY OF THE VIDEO
  • On Reducing Landfill by Reusing Road Repaving ‘Scrabble’
  • On Reusing Substandard Thrift Store Fabric as Clothing and Blankets for the Los Angeles Homeless, Rather than Sending It to Other Countries
  • The Hidden Cost of Not Providing Immunizations and Infectious Disease Care for Illegal Aliens in Los Angeles
  • The Importance of Counselling Centers for the Los Angeles Homeless, to Assist Them in Returning to a Productive Life
  • The Hidden Cost of Hiring Illegal Aliens in the Outlying Areas of Los Angeles, Such as the Farming Community
  • The Upward Spiral of Goods and Utilities, and the Downward Spiral of Living Conditions for Those Paying into Our Tax Base
  • On Resigning Ourselves to the Future Prospect of Sustainable Living, Similar to That in Our Grandparents’ Time
  • On the Prospect of a Shift in Attitude, by Those Who Have Achieved Citizenship, Toward the Issue of Illegal Immigration
  • On Starting Where We Find Our Feet to Be Standing

Hello, Dear Ones,

Here are thoughts on the Los Angeles economy. There’s a Summary after the video; new text is in green font.

VIDEO BY ALICE

SUMMARY OF THE VIDEO

Hello, Dear Ones, It’s Alice. I Am of the Stars.

I had a few thoughts about the current economy in Los Angeles, and also in Colorado and New Mexico.

On Reducing Landfill by Reusing Road Repaving ‘Scrabble’

I was watching the roads being scraped up in preparation for being repaved today, here in Los Angeles. And I wonder if the scrabble that’s scraped up from the roads might be used on dirt roads to improve them. That would save on landfill expenses in landfills, and it would also improve the dirt roads in outlying areas if it’s nontoxic and doesn’t cause too many problems.

I feel as if it’s worth looking into. And also, I’m thinking, other large landfill issues: If there are items that are being used for landfills a lot, let’s look at the ways to recycle them and use them to improve our lives here in Los Angeles.

On Reusing Substandard Thrift Store Fabric as Clothing and Blankets for the Los Angeles Homeless, Rather than Sending It to Other Countries

For instance, the thrift stores, such as Goodwill and Salvation Army, I think, take substandard clothes and ship them off to other countries. But yet, here we have a great problem with homeless people here in Los Angeles.

Why not use those clothes for the homeless here in the Los Angeles area? And why not use the fabric that’s otherwise unusable to make blankets for the homeless?

The Hidden Cost of Not Providing Immunizations and Infectious Disease Care for Illegal Aliens in Los Angeles

Also, with regard to the homeless, I have read that there are many homeless people that aren’t eligible for health care, such as HIV care and hepatitis care, and care for all of the infectious diseases.

My feeling is that those that are not eligible, because of, say, citizenship, or whatever, are most likely in danger of infecting the homeless people who do have health care here in the Los Angeles area … I think there are 6,000 homeless people here in the San Fernando Valley; 60,000 in Los Angeles County, and probably many more. (1)

The cost to us, in the long term, is great, for not providing health care to those, say, undocumented aliens and so forth, that don’t qualify for health care. This is because they’re living with other homeless people who do get health care, and those people get sicker.

The Importance of Counselling Centers for the Los Angeles Homeless, to Assist Them in Returning to a Productive Life

Also, I feel, … I was talking to a friend about this, and I agree … I think that counselling for the homeless is a major, and perhaps overlooked issue here in Los Angeles.

It is vitally important that the homeless here in the San Fernando Valley have centers available … small, local centers would be best; but even one center or two centers in the San Fernando Valley would be good … that help people get back on their feet by providing information about shelters (of which, I feel, there are very few), and also, especially, about jobs and substance abuse programs, and so forth.

The Hidden Cost of Hiring Illegal Aliens in the Outlying Areas of Los Angeles, Such as the Farming Community

I had one other thought regarding the economy all over the United States and the issue of illegal aliens. Here in Los Angeles, in the outlying areas and farming communities, and so forth, there’s a tendency to hire illegal aliens because their labor is cheaper, right?

I was thinking this over the other night, and it occurred to me that the money that we’re paying as United States citizens … the taxes that we’re paying, that help support the indigenous homeless population, and from which, often, this labor is drawn … these taxes that we pay for welfare, and so forth, for these people are increasing the burden of tax expense of those who employ the homeless … and of everyone else.

And so, our salaries do not stretch as far as they used to, because of the increased tax burden.

And in addition, products have increased in price … Maybe because of this. Because, basically, we’re employing cheap labor, and there are hidden costs. And one of the hidden costs consists of the taxes that we pay for the welfare of the people that aren’t paying into the taxes.

In other words, this whole homeless population is not paying into taxes. Yet, our tax dollars are helping to support them, in terms of health and housing, and so forth.

So there is a hidden cost in employing illegal aliens. So why not hire, locally, people who are citizens instead?

The Upward Spiral of Goods and Utilities, and the Downward Spiral of Living Conditions for Those Paying into Our Tax Base

The thing is that, overall, this country is based on the notion that most people will get jobs, and will pull their own weight and contribute to the economy, you see. And pay taxes and so forth.

So that that smaller percentage of people who are down on their luck and can’t get work for a while, will be able to get by. And, for instance, mothers will have enough milk for their children through the milk program, and so older people who don’t have a safety net financially, will have a minimum amount that they can get by with.

So the whole notion … that most of the people in this country will pull their own weight financially, and will provide taxes … is critical to our situation right now.

What we have is an influx of many, many people who aren’t in a position to pull their own weight. And so, taxes go up.

And so, more people come in, who are willing to work for very little, because they’re not paying taxes. And then, the people that attain citizenship during this process … they begin to bear the burden of, and begin to see the trouble that’s caused by the people who are immigrating illegally into this country.

We’re in a spiral, right now, of higher and higher prices of goods. And very few people are able to afford very much.

The utilities … the water, electricity, gas, and trash collection … are going up immensely here in Los Angeles as well.

On Resigning Ourselves to the Future Prospect of Sustainable Living, Similar to That in Our Grandparents’ and Great-Grandparents’ Time

So we need to look at sustainable living. We need to step out of the system, insofar as possible, and make friends with our neighbors, and try and get by with a lot less, as was done in the days of my grandparents. That’s what I think.

On the Prospect of a Shift in Attitude, by Those Who Have Achieved Citizenship, Toward the Issue of Illegal Immigration

And in the meantime, I feel that those people who have entered the country and attained citizenship, will become aware of, and their attitudes will shift with regard to illegal immigration into the country. I hope that’s the case, anyway.

On Starting Where We Find Our Feet to Be Standing

My own feeling is that the place to start with improvement in the economic lives of a people is at home … in one’s own country. Why should economic opportunities be scarce, south of the border? Why are they now scarcer and scarcer in Los Angeles? 

We must start where we are, where we live; speak with our friends and neighbors, and do what we can to change what must be changed, and to find innovative means of subsistence for ourselves, for our families, and for our communities.

In love, light and joy
This is Alice B. Clagett.
I Am of the Stars … and so are you!

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FOOTNOTE

(1) Link: “Homelessness in LA County Spikes 23 Percent: Nearly 60,000 Residents Are Now Homeless,” by Elijah Chiland, 31 May 2017, 12:51 p PDT, https://la.curbed.com/2017/5/31/15720470/la-homeless-count-results-increase-affordable-housing ..

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). Attribution: By Alice B. Clagett.
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social issues, homelessness in Los Angeles, illegal aliens, economy, sustainable living, employment, economics, immunizations, landfills, recycling, jobs, homeless counselling, illegal immigration, citizenship, tax base, social benefits, medical care, immunization, infectious diseases, inflation, utility prices, welfare, health care, community health,