Class warfare?...


Update 3: The "cocos y mangos" guy is back. And it occurs to me that the most likely explanation of what happened to the recyclers is that the local homeowners association complained to the local precinct captain, and he had them chased away. Who knows?

Update 2: The guy who sells "cocos y mangos" at a busy intersection on my commute route is gone now, too.

Update: The regular recyclers have not returned (though I saw a guy in an big, shiny SUV doing it one night). Could it be related to this?

"The Obama administration has said it is on track to remove a record number of illegal immigrants this year..."


Last week there were no "recyclers" in my area. By recyclers I mean the folks who scavenge from recycling and trash bins before the City trucks arrive.

What happened to them? Arrested? Threatened with arrest? Aren't they in bad enough shape already?

And then the other night there was a police "checkpoint" in my area where the police checked for driver's licenses and sobriety.

Now, I'd rather that breathalyzers or some other method of deterring drunk driving were standard equipment in cars than that I be stopped by scary looking young men dressed in black and packing heat and sporting tattoos and shaved heads and badges. But the licenses? Were they trying to pop a few undocumented aliens after the Dodger game, too? Who else drives without a license?

Labels: class warfare

  ¶ 12:01 PM

  In which I feel validated...

Robert Reich says: We're in a recession because the rich are raking in an absurd portion of the wealth.

Well, I want to thank Robert Reich for that. As far as I know, no one but cranks like yours truly have been saying this so plainly. But has he been saying this for a long time and I just haven't happened to catch it? This isn't suddenly true. It's been coming on for a long time. It's looked like a recession to a lot of working class people for at least ten years.

Ian Welsh says: It’s really, really simple. The rich crashed the world economy. They were bailed out, with their wealth having almost entirely recovered and corporate profits likewise have pretty much recovered. Now, at the G10, the world’s leaders are discussing how to make regular people pay for the rich’s follies.

Yes.  ¶ 2:42 PM