Income Inequality

Re "Grand green dream," July 25 Having worked for 34 years at the L.A. Department of Water and Power's John Ferraro Building before I retired, I have seen numerous attempts to enhance the public area between the county's government office buildings in the Civic Center. All have failed because of the unattractiveness of the aforementioned office buildings. The latest attempt will probably be another failure for the same reason. The only viable solution is to build an enclosed mall - perhaps with a huge atrium - to block the view of the government office buildings.

IN 1999, United Way of Greater Los Angeles released a sobering report on Los Angeles County, borrowing Charles Dickens' title, "A Tale of Two Cities," to describe the growing divide between the area's haves and have-nots. From 1970 to 1998, the report said, the poverty rate rose to more that 20% from about 11%.

Re "Worries grow as health jobs go offshore," July 25 The outsourcing of nursing-related healthcare jobs is appalling. Though still in its early stages, it's easy to imagine corporate decision-makers chomping at the bit to transform the human body into a commodity subject to the same market forces as a common household object - a blender, for instance. My guess is that someday the idea of healthcare will no longer exist; instead, it will simply be considered an extended warranty.

Re "Is L.A.'s middle class coming back?" Current, April 8 United Way's Bill Pitkin rightfully questions the newly released UCLA Anderson Forecast, which reports that income inequality in Los Angeles declined from 2000 to 2005. Pitkin points out that L.A. vastly lags the rest of country in some important personal wealth measurements. He also states that the loss of aerospace jobs in the 1990s precipitated the loss of many middle-class jobs. Thankfully, I left the aerospace industry before the downturn.

Re "Politicians are playing chicken with economy," Column, July 24 David Lazarus writes: "According to FactCheck.org, the national debt rose 190% under former President Reagan. It rose 52% under President George H.W. Bush, 37% under Bill Clinton and 86% under Bush II. During his first three years in office, President Obama has presided over a 45% increase in the national debt. " Lazarus continues: "As these numbers make clear, Republicans are just as fond of government spending as Democrats.

California's late-1990s economic boom may be best known for creating swaths of dot-com millionaires. But it also helped to shrink income inequality and lift millions of residents out of poverty, according to a report released today.

NEW YORK - They linked arms, sat and waited for arrest at Zuccotti Park. As police - well, activists playing the role - yanked them into custody one by one, they began chanting: "The whole world is watching!" Occupy Wall Street's dress rehearsal this week came ahead of demonstrations in Manhattan and around the country Monday, when organizers hope to again draw attention to economic woes facing "the 99%. " On Monday, a year will have passed since activists took over the park near the symbolic heart of American capitalism, sparking a movement with offshoots in Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere around the world.

NEW YORK - Before the recession, Amie Crawford was an interior designer, earning $50,000 a year patterning baths and cabinets for architectural firms. Now, she's a "team member" at the Protein Bar in Chicago, where she makes $8.50 an hour, slightly more than minimum wage. It was the only job she could find after months of looking. Crawford, now 56, says she needed to take the job to stop the hemorrhaging of her retirement accounts. In her spare time, Crawford works with a Chicago group called Action Now, which is staging protests to raise the minimum wage in a state where it hasn't been raised since 2006.

At last, one ultra-famous artwork bought at auction by a super-rich private collector is not set to disappear from public view forever. Or even for long. The Museum of Modern Art in New York has announced that it soon will be displaying the 1895 version of Edvard Munch's "The Scream," which set a record for most expensive artwork ever sold publicly when it went to an anonymous bidder at Sotheby's in May for $119.9 million. The work will go on display at MoMA for six months, starting Oct. 24. Its owner is believed to be private equity giant Leon Black, a trustee on the boards of both MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. MoMA has not, however, confirmed any details about the source of its loan.

As new polls show him leading Mitt Romney in the Michigan primary, Rick Santorum visited the Detroit Economic Club and outlined his plan for economic growth, pledging to both cut the entitlements that were "completely consuming revenues" and help the very poor. The two pledges might seem mutually exclusive, but Santorum, who from the beginning of his campaign has emphasized the importance of two-parent families in economic stability, said that strong families and strong communities would help the poor get back on their feet.