Los Angeles Times - Opinion

Americans' money worries are growing, L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll finds

Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

For the first time since 1993, the percentage of people who say their finances are very or fairly secure falls below 60%, the survey shows.

Donald Fleckenstein lives comfortably in retirement, but higher food and energy costs still prompted him to trade down from a big American car to a small Honda, to cancel plans for a European vacation and to worry more about how the next generations of his family will fare.

Pork, not policy

Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The House-blessed farm bill is a wasted opportunity to update agribusiness and cut waste.

After more than a year of wrangling over the farm bill, this is the best our tireless reformers in Congress could do to trim agricultural subsidies: Farm couples making more than $1.5 million a year will no longer receive taxpayer money. In other words, a historic opportunity to end this country's most wasteful and economically ruinous corporate welfare system has been lost.

Budget gimmickry or innovation?

Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's revised plan needs a few modifications.

Aline separates innovative thinking and all-too-clever gimmickry, but that line is often difficult to see, especially when an idea nuzzles as close to it as does Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's revised budget plan. The governor has either developed an ingenious way to make some quick cash and bail the state out of an enormous and potentially destructive budget shortfall, or he is frantically moving around the shells in the same game that got California into this mess in the first place. The plan as it exists today is a provocative conversation starter, but it must be modified to move it unmistakably to the responsible side of the line.

Protecting polar bears

Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

They're the first species to make the threatened list because of global warming, but the Interior secretary is undercutting his own decision.

Under legal pressure, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne officially -- and historically -- added the polar bear to the threatened-species list, the first time a species has made the list because of global warming. His action Wednesday was extraordinary. Even more remarkable was Kempthorne's blatant undercutting of his own decision with regulatory shenanigans that will almost certainly mean no new restrictions on carbon emissions and no need to scale back on drilling for Alaskan oil.

Steeling Obama

Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Recent controversies have only strengthened his campaign.

Conventional wisdom suggests that these last two months have been bad news for Barack Obama. He hasn't been able to close the door on Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, who swept West Virginia on Tuesday. He's been dogged by controversies over his words and associates. Meanwhile, Republican John McCain has been getting a jump-start on the fall campaign.

Do we vote or strike over Prop. 98?

Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The sneaky anti-rent control measure is an example of everything that's wrong with the ballot initiative process.

Janitors in West L.A. went out on strike. Autoworkers in Kansas went out on strike. An entire Spanish pro soccer team just went out on strike. California voters should hit the picket lines too.

Remember 'go outside and play?'

Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Overbearing parents have taken the fun out of childhood and turned it into a grind.

Can you forgive her?

When you read

Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Whenever I have been privileged to visit the Los Angeles Central Library, I have been struck by the words inscribed on its facade: "Books alone are liberal and free. They give to all who ask. They emancipate all who serve them faithfully."

Should the U.S. help broker peace?

Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

George E. Bisharat says the U.S. injected itself into the peace process by serving as Israel s abettor of Palestinian suffering. Judea Pearl replies that Palestinians ought to be honest about what they want be it one state or two states.

Today's question: Should the goal of the peace process be a lasting peace or management of the stalemate? Does the U.S. have a role? Click here to read previous exchanges of this week's Dust-Up.

Literacy begins at home

Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

School programs like Reading First can't do the job until parents do theirs.

In " Bush’s reading program doesn’t pass ," The Times editorial board said that the Reading First program didn't work the way it was intended.