Economic Crisis

The Villaraigosa Hangover

Thanks to the mayor's $700 million union deal, L.A. faces a $216 million deficit next year. Here's what happened

Los Angeles Ranks High Among Cities With Young Adults Slacking at Home

Now we understand why so many young Angelenos can afford iPhones, glasses without lenses and pool parties at the Standard hotel rooftop. Turns out nearly a third of you are living at home with mommy and daddy. A new study about young adults (those 20-34) living with their parents during this Great ... More >>

Waning Support for Jerry Brown Initiative to Raise Taxes

Gov. Jerry Brown's ingenious and inventive plan for California's budget woes is to raise taxes. He wants your support for an initiative that would increase taxes on the mildly rich and on retail items. He's bringing a ballot initiative to you, but the support you've shown for this appears to be wa ... More >>

City Council Unanimously Passes Occupy L.A. Resolution -- Protesters Struggle to Distance Themselves From Democrats, Unions

Los Angeles TimesCity Council President Eric Garcetti shows his support.​Just now, the L.A. City Council unanimously approved a joint resolution to officially "support" the Occupy L.A. demonstration and "demand accountability and results from the banks we invest taxpayer dollars in." (Full tex ... More >>

Rose Gudiel, Valley Resident Facing Foreclosure, to 'Occupy' Offices of Mortgage Giant Fannie Mae

Update: Gudiel was arrested, along with her mother and seven other protesters, at the Fannie Mae offices yesterday, about an hour into the sit-in. However, her supporters quickly bailed her out. The group is currently gathering for a march downtown, where Gudiel is planning to make "an announcement. ... More >>

Class Warfare Reaches West Coast: 'Occupy L.A.' Demonstrations Over The Weekend

Occupy L.A. Facebook​The push-back on the economic crisis from the working class and the left has now reached the West Coast. The nearly two-week-strong movement called Occupy Wall Street -- a call to arms to point fingers at bailed-out investment bankers for the real estate meltdown and subs ... More >>

Nearly Half of All Young Americans, 6 Million Californians, Officially Living in Poverty

​So the Great Recession has been over for nearly two years, huh? The latest U.S. Census data indicates the United States has more people living in poverty than, oh, ever. Well, almost ever. The 46.2 million of Americans below the line are as many as have been recorded in the 52 years governme ... More >>

'No Recovery in Sight,' Says UCLA Anderson Forecast

Adam TinworthShop for America.​Things were looking up there for a second, right? Unemployment was creeping down, people were starting buy houses again, you got the new iPhone. And then, boom: Housing prices went toilet-bound again, unemployment barely budged, and the stock market is experie ... More >>

Phil Angelides' Financial Crisis Panel Is In Crisis

Phil Angelides can't catch a break​Remember Phil Angelides? He ran a "Revenge of the Nerds" campaign for governor in 2006 and got shellacked by a then-still-popular Arnold Schwarzenegger.You'd think that experience might have soured him on public service. But no. He's back, and he's chairing the F ... More >>

You Can Be Thankful For An Improving Economy, Says L.A. Business Journo Mark Lacter

You can spend a little easier. Maybe.​This recession (despite being officially over) has been dragging like a hangover from hell. If you've had enough and you're shopping like it's 1999 this holiday weekend, you might have a reason to be optimistic. Corporate profits are up, hiring seems to b ... More >>

One Out Of Five In California Unemployed, According To '60 Minutes'

CBS'60 Minites' asks how many in this room full of jobless folks have degrees.​In a Debbie Downer of a story about California's jobless masses (yeah, we heard, the recession is over), CBS' 60 Minutes on Sunday dropped this bomb: Twenty-two percent -- more than one out of every five people -- ... More >>

Do You Drink Up When The Economy Is Down? Booze And Bad Times Go Hand-In-Hand (Sort Of)

mydrunkbuddy.comDo you drink up when the economy is down?​Got the Great Recession blues? Maybe you could use a drink? A single malt perhaps? No, you're a Sparks gal, right? You're not alone. Drinking is at a 25-year-high, even though spending on alcohol has declined sightly, according the Cal ... More >>

Inside Job: Greed, Interrupted

Part meltdown memoir, part essential finger-pointing, Charles Ferguson's latest will make you seethe

Does Your Wallet Feel Empty? You're Not Alone: Nine In 10 Californians Say The Economy Is Bad

​When headlines beamed last month that the Great Recession was not only over, but that it had taken its last breath in June, 2009, did you scratch your head too? We thought so. If the recession is over, why does it feel worse now than when it started in 2007 and dive bombed in 2008? A new Fie ... More >>

Frat Boys Rejoice: California Legalizes Free Alcohol Samples At Grocery Stores

​Ah, the California legislature. It can't balance a budget to save the state's life. Nineteen million plastic bags in landfills, waterways and gutters each year? No prob for this bunch. And one-third of all bills in Sacramento have special-interest sponsors and are twice as likely to pass as t ... More >>

Pomona Cops Dodge a Bullet

Accepting severe pay cuts, a police department survives to patrol another day

Arizona Congresswoman Urges L.A., Other Cities To Back Off Boycotts Of Her State

​An Arizona congresswoman has asked the city of Los Angeles and other governments and organizations to back off their boycotts of Arizona, arguing that the actions only "punish the wrong people," including hotel workers (translation: "Latino immigrants") in an already bad economy. In a letter ... More >>

Blue Skies Forecast For L.A. Trade

Port of Los Angeles.​2008 and 2009 were described as "dismal years" for international trade at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. But 2010 and 2011 are looking up, according to a report from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.

Number Of Illegal Immigrants Decreased By One Million Since 2007

​The number of illegal immigrants in the United States was down about 800,000 last year compared to 2008, reportedly as a result of the recession and fewer job opportunities. The decrease from 11.6 million undocumented workers in 2008 to 10.8 million in 2009 was reported by the U.S. Department ... More >>

Oh, Camelot!

The Pasadena Playhouse takes a final bow. Again

Council Committee Recommends Cuts To Police, Fire Departments

​Getting down to serious business, the Los Angeles City Council's Budget and Finance Committee on Monday recommended that cuts be made to the police and fire department -- sacred cows in city budgeting -- as well as to council offices, including the mayor's. The city is operating $208.5 milli ... More >>

Another Bank Bites It: First Federal Of Santa Monica To Be Taken Over

​The UCLA Anderson Forecast, the president and the stock market (on some days) say the recession is over, but banks keep going bust. The latest victim was Santa Monica-based First Federal Bank, which was closed Friday by the federal Office of Thrift Supervision. Pasadena-based OneWest Bank an ... More >>

UCLA Anderson Forecast: Economic Growth - Yes; Job Growth - No

​We'll give you the good news first: The recession is officially over and the economy will continue to grow according to the latest UCLA Anderson Forecast. The bad news? Job losses in California will reach a record high of nearly 13 percent by the end of the month and that figure won't get bac ... More >>

Hollywood's Catered Stimulus

Why $23 million creates just 21 jobs

L.A.'s Rag Trade Faces Grim Outlook

Today's L.A. Times Business section has an alarming story about the downturn in the city's garment industry. The plight of L.A.'s rag trade seldom gets the spotlight that, say, Hollywood's shifting fortunes receive, and even though their industry provides a powerful economic generator for the county ... More >>

MOVING SALE

Capitalism: A Love Story's Awful Truth

Michael Moore sells the same old shtick

Raise Your Arms, Flick Your Bic, and Close Your Eyes

Solutions for the Freshly Freelance

The "I don't love the inside of my car that much" edition

At Reopening Party for Weho Caviar Seller Petrossian: Redefining the New "Affordable" Luxury Trend for Recessionary Times

There was a time when phrases such as "economic downturn" would have had no place at the West Hollywood outpost of the exclusive luxury-edibles seller, but Petrossian quietly re-opened its Robertson Boulevard boutique about a month ago with a new look and attitude designed to attract a broader clien ... More >>

Meltdown No Mo'

The general economic meltdown, alas, can have quite literal implications in the Los Angeles restaurant world. Local grilled cheese Meltdown grilled cheese restaurant in Culver City recently closed.

Ten Successful Industries Discovered!

Listen up everybody! Los Angeles-based research group IBISWorld has actually found 10 industries that are making a buck in our freefalling economy. The hard-headed bunch at IBISWorld are not types given to cheery assessments ("Rotten Eggs For Retailers This Easter" is one of their recent reports), ... More >>

Where Are All the Lawyers Going?

If the recession's exploded one myth it's that lawyers will always be employed, boom or bust. Today's L.A. Business Journal reports that Gibson Dunn & Crutcher has sacked 36 "support staff workers" in its nine offices due to the downturn -- seems individuals and businesses are shying away from l ... More >>

Dodgers Kill Stadium Shuttle

No one's saying Manny Ramirez's $45 million signing had anything to do with it, but Curbed LA and Streetsblog both ruminate over an L.A. Times report that the Los Angeles Dodgers will not be paying for shuttle buses to take fans from Union Station to  Chavez Ravine this season. (A summer for wh ... More >>

Luxury: It’s What’s For Breakfast

The Day the Muzak Died

Muzak has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection -- but it doesn't put the blame on illegal downloads of its marzipanny melodies. Instead, the company pointed to longstanding debt and the cancellation of contracts by companies put out of business during the recession. A New York Times notice men ... More >>

Snakebit L.A.: Lupoe family massacre, one-way freeway carnage

Is Los Angeles snakebit? It feels that way today, with the city falling apart in epic proportions, harder hit by home foreclosures and unemployment that almost any other area of the West, and now leading the official Bad News segments of national and global news organizations. It seemed to come to a ... More >>

Teachers' Union Marches Thursday

Last week A.J. Duffy, the president of the 48,000-member United Teachers of Los Angeles, appeared impatiently pleased. He'd just heard the news that school superintendent Ramon Cortines had decided not to decide who would be cut from the payroll in order to balance the L.A. Unified School District's ... More >>

Another one bites the dust: Illuminations

Fancy candle store Illuminations is the latest to close down their retail stores "in response to the unprecedented economic challenges." Looks like it doesn't matter if they burn 100 hours and smell like Peppermint Eucalyptus, aromatherapy candles are the first to get cut in shoppers' budgets during ... More >>

Jordan Belfort: The Wounded Wolf of Wall Street

Still howling

Trash Talking

Just before dawn this morning I lay awake trying to talk myself into getting up. There would be, I promised myself, a newspaper waiting in the driveway, a choice of toast or bagel. My favorite coffee mug would be hanging from a hook. I may even turn the heat on. Then I heard it -- the shudder of an ... More >>

Music for the Depression: Motorhead, Now More Than Ever

This press release arrived in our inbox and elicited expressions of disappointment among our staff: 2009 MUSINK TATTOO AND MUSIC TOUR CANCELEDMUSINK producers have announced that the 2009 tattoo and music tour hasbeen canceled due to the current economic climate.  The U.S. tour wasscheduled ... More >>

Election '08: Happy Days Are Here Again!

BY MARC COOPER Let's see Lehman Brothers goes bust, Merrill Lynch auctions itself off to B of A, WaMu circles the drain along with countless other banks, Wall Street itself is in the balance and with it the entire global economy teeters on the abyss. Other than that... Alan Greenspan, former Fed C ... More >>

I.O.U.S.A.: Market Scare

Don't put too much stock in this panic-inducing documentary

Flora, the Red Menace

Anyone Seen an Economic Policy?

The GOP has a new team and the same old bad ideas. The Democrats are still pondering.

One-Trick Party

In war and peace, Republicans replenish the rich

October Demise

Five Big Ideas

Global Vision

IMF is bad medicine for Asian flu