Skid Row, July 2012

July begins the new fiscal year for Union Rescue Mission.

The homeless situation is not getting better but many of you reading this helped more than words can express.  Here is a bit of a snapshot of last year:

July 2012 was the hottest month on record in the history of the United States and in Downtown Los Angeles.  When the temperature climbs above 85 degrees downtown the folks at URM pass out cold water bottles to those on the street.  These bottles cost money.  Feel free to help the folks at URM with a donation.

July is also the first month in the fiscal year for the folks at Union Rescue Mission so I will keep some of the figures from the last month of last fiscal year in this piece as information.

The number of families on the street increased.

The number of "permanent" dwellings on the street increased.  My definition of "permanent" is tents, shopping carts, cardboard on the street used for bedding, etc.  These items that one can find in the same place night after night.  

All I can do is count the people I see in a specific geographic area.  I don't have any "hard" facts and figures although some folks downtown in some government offices seem to listen to me.

I can however, give you a bit of a snapshot from June from the folks over at Union Rescue Mission, the largest mission in the USA which sits at ground zero in the middle of what is the highest homeless population in the nation.

By the way, if after you read some of the below figures feel free to visit www.urm.org and look at the many ways you can help.  Even $10 will feed a family of five.  The folks at URM accept any credit card on their donation page and even accept paypal.  In a hurry?  You can feed five people in less than a minute from your cell phone.  To donate $10 to Union Rescue Mission, text the letters URM to 85944. You will receive a confirmation text message. Reply with the word YES to complete the transaction. 

A few pieces of data for the month of June and (July 2012.  increases in red font)

• 123 people were seen by the mental health clinic at URM (124)
• 436 people were seen by the doctors on site at URM from UCLA (508)
• 570 people were seen by the dentists on site at URM from USC (605)
• 55 people were seen by the legal staff at URM for legal assistance (43)
• 4,293 hours were spent by volunteers (4137) Volunteer hours were down as were donations
• 20,931 nights of shelter were provided by individual (24,095)
• 2,501 night of shelter were provided to families (2,700)
• 70,185 meals were served.  In one month. In June. (73,580)

Services provided continue to increase.  Donations continue to decrease.  Please think about what you might be able to do to help and please pass along the link to this piece.

In the past I have posted Andy Bales status updates in another post which has gotten quite large.  I also have commented on Andy Bales as an individual.  In the future, Andy's latest video update will be seen in a new post such as this post with figures of interest in the post.

For those who want a bit of insight on Andy Bales from some of my past writing see the two links below:

http://la-economy.blogspot.com/2011/02/perhaps-most-impressive-person-i-have.html
http://la-economy.blogspot.com/2011/06/real-deal-directly-from-andy-bales.html


Here is the latest for August status update video from Andy Bales, CEO of Union Rescue Mission.

The American Economy. A Turnaround?

I have written many pieces on the economy in this blog.  One of my past pieces even found it's way into the Speaker of the House's blog.

Click on this image for the full size image

I have spoken about the government and my observation on the ineffective way they have addressed problems in our nation.  I have pointed out issues with both parties.

There has been a big push to the issues of Medicare.  Perhaps the Republicans no longer wish to point a spotlight on the economy. You can talk about some issues from either side.  You can assert that the current administration was handed a disaster while others assert it was all the fault of the current administration.  I will do my best to avoid retreading old ground.

In the past I have posted a financial model which has now been running for over 500 days.  Rather than focus on Wall Street in reference to the Dow, S&P or NASDAQ, my model uses a mix of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs and Gold.  I feel it is a more diverse picture of the economy.

If you look at the chart below, yesterday on August 22, 2012 our nation crossed the high line for the first time since April 29,2011.  Things look to be improving.

The employment situation is still dismal.  There are millions who are no longer counted in the unemployed figures.  They are the 99ers.  Their benefits have expired and they have dropped off the roles of those counted.  But, the numbers of new claims are decreasing.  We still may be much like an airplane headed toward the ground but our rate of decent is slowing.  Perhaps it is slowing enough that the Republican Party is worried.  Perhaps this is why Medicare is being addressed rather than the economy.

Rather than debate these issues, just take a look at the chart on the financial picture and the chart from the current employment figures and take it or leave it.  Draw your own conclusions.

Click on the above image for a more clear image
Look at the total for last year versus this year in the last line

Click on the image for a more clear picture
511 days of up and down
Only time will tell if this is an ongoing trend or just .....???

If a picture is worth a thousand words ...

Below are a few random photos in a random order taken from August 1, 2012 during the first half of this month (August 15).

All are snapshots.  I do not consider any of them photographic artwork.

There are a few military photos in the batch as August 8, 1969 was my discharge date from the military and I thought a few old shots from that time in my life were nice to post.

If you want an explanation on any of these they are all posted on my facebook photos and many do have explanations.

If you click on any of the photos below many of them will become larger in size.

Click on "read more" for the complete post.