Personal Finance

Richard Riordan Backs Wendy Greuel As His Third Choice For Mayor Of L.A.

Former Mayor Richard Riordan has had a rough go of it in this year's mayoral campaign. First, he enthusiastically backed Austin Beutner, whose campaign fizzled on the launchpad. Then, he threw his clout behind a former radio talk show host, Kevin James, who lost in the March 5 primary. (In betw ... More >>

How Richard Riordan Blew $800,000 on a Failed Try at Pension Reform

Proposition 32 Union Campaign Contribution Limits: Hitler Endorsed!

OK, so the late Adolf Hitler hasn't officially endorsed Proposition 32, the ballot measure designed to stop corporations and unions from deducting political contributions from employee paychecks. But based on the flurry of over-the-top attack mailers arriving in the last two days, it's surely only a ... More >>

Richard Riordan Pension Reform Surprise

He throws a lightning rod into the 2013 Los Angeles mayoral race

Barbarians in the Ivory Tower

America's for-profit colleges use students in their greedy quest for federal bucks -- then leave them holding the debt.

Minorities Paid More For Wells Fargo Home Loans in L.A? Feds Settle For $175 Mil

Since before the days of Ronald Reagan's "welfare queen," the racist's take on the American minority is often that she is a moocher, a taker of food stamps, and "living on the dole." The reality, of course, is that life is often harder for American minorities, who sometimes pay more for stuff but g ... More >>

L.A. Effect Of Healthcare Ruling: 1.7 Million County Residents Will Have Access to Insurance

The Supreme Court's ruling today upholding the healthcare reform law will have a major effect close to home. In Los Angeles County, some 2.2 million people do not have health insurance. Thanks to the ruling, 1.7 million of them will have access to coverage, according to a statement from Mitchell Kat ... More >>

Occupy L.A. Is Mad About Supreme Court's Obamacare Ruling

Who knew? Occupy Wall Street (and its Los Angeles faction) hates Obamacare. That's because, though your run-of-the-mill Westside liberal is likely to applaud the "health care for all!" initiative, the more skeptical end of the 99 percent sees it as just another victory for corporate America:

Minimum Auto Insurance For $2278? Only in L.A.

If you ever thought that your car insurance company pretty much charges you whatever it can get away with, you might be right. A new survey by Consumer Federation of America (CFA) reveals that good drivers in moderate-income areas are sometimes charged more than $1,500 a year for minimum liability ... More >>

Justin Combs, Diddy's Rich Son, Defends Taking UCLA Scholarship

Following our viral coverage of Justin Combs' full-ride scholarship to UCLA (despite his father Diddy's wealth and his own $300,000-plus car, and at a time of dire state cuts and rising tuition costs), Justin Combs took to Twitter yesterday to defend his rich self. He said: Regardless what the cir ... More >>

Diddy's Son Justin Combs Gets Full Scholarship to UCLA as Many Students Struggle

Updated at the bottom with UCLA noting that its athletic scholarships come from non-taxpayer funds. First posted at 8:05 a.m. Should a multimillionaire's son be able to get a free-ride scholarship to a state school that has been struggling with budget cuts and raging student protests? If that son ... More >>

Comment: Murder Most Foul

Former Ms. Pakistan And Husband Accused of Scamming California Families With Home Loan Modification Scheme

By Andra Lim A former Mrs. Pakistan World beauty queen and her husband allegedly scammed Californians out of thousands of dollars and contributed to some losing their homes. Saman Hasnain, who won the pageant in 2008, and Jawad Hasnain have been charged with conspiracy to commit grand theft for o ... More >>

DREAM Act Application Goes Live: Undocumented California Students Can Now Apply for Financial Aid

It's here! The day Republicans have been dreading and undocumented California students have been fighting for since 2001. College kids without U.S. citizenship can now apply for "conditional permanent residency" via the official DREAM Act application, which will allow them access to state financial ... More >>

African American Men Have 7 Fewer Years to Live Than Whites

Sure, history has turned a corner for African Americans. There's that one president. (And he might just get reelected if gas stays below $8 a gallon). There's multimillionaire Hollywood mogul Tyler Perry. And basketball sensation Jeremy Lin. Wait. He's what now? Oh, you get the picture. But UCLA ... More >>

Employed Americans Take $1,000 Worth of Coffee Breaks a Year

R.E.~/FlickrAmerican workers spend about $1,000 a year on coffee​If one of your resolutions this year is to save more money, you might want to start with your coffee budget. Staffing firm Accounting Principals surveyed 1,000 employed Americans about their work-related spending habits and foun ... More >>

Angenette Thomas, L.A. Probation Officer, Bilked Federal Gov Out of Unecessary Student Loans, Kept Cash, U.S. Attorney Says

zazzle.com​Talk about a naughty school girl. With handcuffs, no less. As if the L.A. County Probation Department doesn't have enough problems comes word that an officer allegedly applied for federal student aid she didn't appear to need and pocketed more than $135,000. According to the U.S. ... More >>

Laugh & Cover

Worst Legislator in California, Part II

Charles Calderon lets special interest groups ghostwrite his laws

Los Angeles: Broke and Broken

City Council clueless about vast, hidden costs in Villaraigosa's $6.9 billion budget

Nick Pacheco Employee Carlos Lira Says Fellow Workers Pressed to Contribute (Illegally) to Rudy Martinez's L.A. City Council Campaign

Rudy Martinez.​Updated after the jump: Nick Pacheco responds, says his firm did not reimburse employees and that the accuser has a history of retaliating against employers. A man who worked for Rudy Martinez supporter Nick Pacheco says the former city councilman's company had employees write ... More >>

Stop Making Payments to Win Loan Modification?

JPMorgan Chase customer finds himself in loan mod hell for following bank's suggestion

Meg Whitman Won't Touch Police Pensions, Predicts Union Prez Alan Barcelona

Ted SoquiMeg Whitman​The head of a state law enforcement union predicted Tuesday that Meg Whitman won't cut police pensions if she is elected governor."I wouldn't think that would be on her radar," said Alan Barcelona, president of the California State Law Enforcement Association, which is backing ... More >>

Thousands Who Waited Hours At Los Angeles Convention Center For 'Save The Dream' Foreclosure Help Are Still Likely To Lose Their Homes

via KCETA weekend of illusions?​Up to 30,000 homeowners crammed the L.A. Convention Center in recent days seeking help at the "Save the Dream" event -- from which Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa repeatedly tweeted about the efforts by the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America to save peop ... More >>

Loan Mod Torture Defendant Takes Plea, Is Released From Jail

Eric Bowman​Mary Ann Parmelee, who was accused of torturing two loan modification consultants who had scammed her last year, has accepted a plea deal and has been released from jail.Parmelee and her partner, Daniel Weston, formed a Bonnie-and-Clyde pair who built a real estate empire in La Canada ... More >>

City Budget: Mayor Villaraigosa Touts Concessions By Engineers And Architects Union

​The Engineers and Architects Association, a union representing 5,000 city workers, ratified a contract that would have the employees pay about five percent of their monthly health-care premiums, up from zero. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraiogosa's office hailed it as an unprecedented and m ... More >>

UCLA: More Angelenos Without Health Insurance

​Nearly 29 percent of residents of L.A. County younger than 65 didn't have health insurance at some point last year, according to a new UCLA study. That's a staggering 2.7 million people and was significantly higher than the statewide average of 24.3 percent. Researchers blame the recession, ... More >>

Southern California Awards Honor Mischievous Pets

​Southern California-based Veterinary Pet Insurance Co. is holding its second annual competition for the most unusual pet insurance claim of the year. The twelve finalists of the "VPI Hambone Award" were named on Monday. The award is named after a VPI-insured dog that got stuck in a refrig ... More >>

A Three-Card Monte Bust. This Is What Our Detectives Are Doing. Really.

Busted!​ Via L.A. Downtown News, a story worthy of The Onion: Police detectives really working it to clean up the scourge of ... three card monte. Really, isn't there some punk at UCLA with a pyramid scheme who needs to be caught and prosecuted? Or perhaps LAPD should fly to Lagos to catch a ... More >>

Salaries Gone Wild: Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo Could See Nearly $1.5 Million In Annual Retirement Payments

​That city manager of the small southeastern L.A. County municipality of Bell who's been in the hot seat for drawing a near-$800,000 salary could see nearly $1.5 million in annual pension and Social Security payments if he leaves the job. Some residents and city officials have called for the ... More >>

Unclaimed $45 mil fortune in Los Angeles: Does the tax assessor owe you hundreds of dollars?

Does Los Angeles County own you a piece of $45 million? You could easily be one of the 25,200 people the county can't "find" who got screwed shortly after the last California housing bubble collapse in 1991. If you don't know the squirmingly familiar lessons from that disaster, read "Unreal Estate" ... More >>

Los Angeles Residents Have Less Debt Compared To People In Other Big American Cities

​Yesterday we told you about how global trade at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is looking up. More good news: L.A. ranks at the bottom of the top 20 metropolitan areas in the United States when it comes to personal debt.

Torture, Lies and Louis XIII Cognac

A tale of falling home prices

Health Care Legislation Could Be A Mixed Blessing For L.A.

​Passage of President Obama's health care package over the weekend could mean health insurance coverage for 32 million uninsured Americans, but it might not mean much for L.A.'s big, public hospitals. An official at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, which runs County-USC M ... More >>

Group Files Suit Against Blue Cross' Massive Premium Hikes

​A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Anthem Blue Cross in California over the health insurer's planned rate increases, some as high as 39 percent, in the Golden State. Consumer Watchdog, a Santa Monica-based nonprofit, announced the suit Monday, stating that the insurer "used enormo ... More >>

Tax Preperer Sentenced For Helping Clients Score Unreal Deductions

​A Gardena man who told clients he was a former Internal Revenue Service worker and found them too-good-to-be-true deductions was sentenced to six years in federal prison Monday in part for costing the government $2.7 in tax revenue that he illegally shaved from customers' returns through thos ... More >>

FEMA Backs Off South L.A. Flood Zone

File photo.​Suddenly the fictitious flood waters of South Los Angeles are receding: The Federal Emergency Management Agency has backed off its expanded flood zone map that added 876 homes to an area it said was prone to a "hundred-year flood." (Info and revised map). The flood-zone expansion m ... More >>

Parts Of South L.A. Are Flood-Prone?

File photo.​Quick, when's the last time you remember flooding in South Los Angeles? Stumped? So are we. Which is why it's so strange that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has forged ahead with new flood-zone maps that show parts of South L.A. in low-lying, flood-prone areas. The result ... 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 >>

Scoundrel Time: Alleged Mortgage Frauds Increasing

Today flyers posted on telephone poles advertising mortgage fixers are as ubiquitous in L.A. as gardeners' business cards. The collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market, combined with a plummeting economy and a questionable sense of rescue created by the Obama administration have led many Californi ... More >>

Todd Barry Funny

Los Angeles Median Home Value: $380,000

Amazing story in this week's Los Angeles Business Journal, which has been beating the hell out of the Los Angeles Times in reporting on all the billionaires in L.A. who have lost vast sums — including Kirk Kerkorian, Sumner Restore, Eli Broad — or those whose companies have vanished or might get ... More >>

Gramm Cracker Crust: John McCain's Surrogate Trouble

Indy Mac implodes and Johnny Mac's exposed, as econ guru suffers from recession of the brain

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Week Day 4: Searching For the Elusive Identity of the "Ghetto Cowboy"

I actually own this on CD-single, which is either keeping it real, or keeping it really retarded. From the first moments of the reel, one can immediately infer that the film is going to be of quality. Why? The stamp of quality from Mo' Thugs Family Features. Like the ill-fated male fortunetelle ... More >>

10 (+1) WAYS TO PAY YOUR WAY THROUGH SCHOOL

Preying for Money

L.A. considers law to slam door on unethical loans

SHYLOCK 2000

MOVIN' ON UP

How Lee Baca bought a $750,000 house with no money down