It is time to think about Thanksgiving 2016

Thanksgiving is upon us once again and there are many folks that don't have much to be thankful for but you can make this more than just another holiday season and do more than just "phone it in", stuff your face with a nice meal, at a nice table, in a nice house .... with a roof .... and heat ... and walls ... and a bathroom ... and running water ...

Please feel free to share this link with as many folks as you can.

The number of homeless on the streets has increased  once again regardless of what the reports of the economy tell the masses.  I have watched the street population rise every year since I started counting folks in 2009.

The economy and increase in homelessness has impacted URM again this year, regardless of what the media reports.  When my involvement started with URM in 2009 the price per meal was $1.84.   You can check out some of the photos from 2011 and 2012 and see how much URM provides for less than half of what one pays for a you pay for a burger and fries at your local fast food place at the links just below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/myles111us/sets/72157628055910983/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/myles111us/sets/72157632036286632/

I think you would be amazed at the meal they provide.

Many of you have seen the post asking you to help the folks at Union Rescue Mission over the last years.  My original post can be seen at http://la-economy.blogspot.com/2010/11/help-me-provide-thanksgiving-meals-at.html  The people who provided meals in 2010 and 2011 are listed in that piece.

Below is a bit of past information.  In 2014 I stopped counting meals as things became more depressing as I watched the media report on how things were improving .... as the situation became worse.  Bottom line ... by any count, the situation has not improved.  Feel free to contact URM directly if you want to know the figures on meals provided for past Thanksgiving meals.

In 2010 our dinner count was 1,465 dinners!

In 2011 the count from our group was over 1,700 of the approximately 7,000 meals served

2012 the best year yet! - 1,861 meals donated this year!

2013 - Over 4,000 meals were served.

(not counting those who asked to remain anonymous and some cell phone donations) 

Los Angeles continues to hold the title of the homeless capitol of the United States.  Take a look at the two links below for some recent information.

Homeless is not a label which is reserved for people who have mental problems, drug or alcohol problems or have personality disorders.  There are people on the streets like you and me.  People who were a productive part of society who have lost their jobs due to the economy.  People who have lost their homes.

http://la-economy.blogspot.com/2012/08/skid-row-july-2012.html
http://la-economy.blogspot.com/2012/06/homelessness-there-are-individuals.html

Union Rescue Mission is the oldest and largest of the Los Angeles missions.  They are highly organized, very efficient and have a track record of long term recovery that goes back over 100 years.

Sponsor a table at Union Rescue Mission or 

provide a meal for a family or individual

I am asking my friends for help.  There are a number of ways you can help.  The bullet points below hit the high points.  Further down in this piece there are additional details.

• Go to the URM website at http://www.urm.org/ and click on the donate tab
• You may contribute in ANY amount.  Even a few dollars helps
• All contributions are 100% tax deductible
• All credit cards are accepted on a secure site
• You may also donate via paypal from the main donation page
• In a hurry? Donate $10 (feed a family of four people) via a text message from your cell phone

The cost of a meal is only $2.41. No credit card? No pay-pal? Do you have a 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. This will supply five Thanksgiving dinners

For $48.20 you can sponsor a table at Thanksgiving.  The table is for 20 people.   You can also sponsor partial tables.  You can donate in any amount.  

Click on either image for a larger presentation.

2011 dinner plate

Pie for dessert.  Not seen in this shot was the four different choices of
ice cream to accompany your pie.

This is a collective effort.  By passing along the link to this piece you help spread awareness.  

If you donate to Union Rescue Mission using any method, please feel free to send me your name or company.  Your supplied information will be included in this piece. How you are listed is optional.  It does not have to be your own name.  The donation can be in the name of a loved one, family member, organization, company, your dog, a cause of some type or just about anything you wish.  Those who have helped in the last two years are listed in the 2010/2011 piece.

Optionally, it helps me if you send me a note or message with a donation amount or meal count.  The amount will not be published.  I use the data to get an idea of the meal count we have raised.

Any contribution goes a long way.  A few dollars helps.  Many of you have spare change sitting in your paypal account.  That "$8.43" that may not enough to buy a book off Amazon or a cool effects pedal off  Ebay may be just the ticket for a better holiday for some folks. The salt alone for the stuffing could be paid for by one small donation.  Here is Chef Larry's recipe for stuffing; for 4,500 people :)

250 pounds crusty bread

32 pounds butter

500 onions, diced

500 celery stalks, diced

63 cups minced fresh parsley leaves

62 table spoons salt

125 table spoons ground black pepper

500 cups chicken broth

500 large eggs

Below, a slide show of the 2011 and 2012 event. Thank you all again.   2011 Event 2012 event

Myles Rose is the founder of Guitar Amplifier Blueprinting which provides support services and training for touring bands and individuals as well as blueprinting services.   You may contact me from the link.  My direct contact information is provided as well as links to two of the Internet forums where I answer technical questions.  You may also ask questions in any post in this blog by using the comment application on each post.

When I am not doing something related to music I do what I can to support the homeless of Los Angeles either directly on the streets at night or through my good friends at Union Rescue Mission.

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.

AT&T - so wrong in every way part II

This post has gotten so long it is hard for blogger to save.

I am continuing this post here.  Scroll to the bottom of this piece for the latest, most current, information as this is an ongoing audit trail.

Part 1 can be viewed at http://la-economy.blogspot.com/2010/11/at-so-wrong-is-every-way.html

July 27, 2012

A new problem.

Click "read more" to continue.....

Skid Row in June. An inside view.

June was a busy month on skid row in downtown Los Angeles.  The number of people living on the streets increased.  The number of violent crime incidents increased.

The number of families on the street increased.

The number of "permanent" dwellings on the street increased.  

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:

• 123 people were seen by the mental health clinic at URM
• 436 people were seen by the doctors on site at URM from UCLA
• 570 people were seen by the dentists on site at URM from USC
• 55 people were seen by the legal staff at URM for legal assistance
• 4,293 hours were spent by volunteers
• 20,931 nights of shelter were provided by individual
• 2,501 night of shelter were provided to families
• 70,185 meals were served.  In one month. In June.

In reference to that meal count.  At the end of last month URM was half way through the calendar year.  At that point 920,867 meals had been served.  Looks like by the end of this month (July) they will pass 1,000,000.

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.

A night on the streets of Skid Row in Los Angeles

Los Angeles has the highest population of homeless people living on the streets in the nation.

This is one night on the streets of skid row with Andy Bales, the CEO of Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles.  You can learn more at www.urm.org if you wish.

What does the Daily Grill have to do with the homeless?

I generally don't post my Yelp reviews here.  In this case I am making an exception.

Last night I went out with a few friends for dinner and drinks.  I published my review on Yelp.

If I were to base my rating on the food, selection, service or organization of the location in Burbank it would rate a solid four stars based on value for the dollar and the usual criteria.  But .....  the elusive "but" ....

The complete story can be seen in my Yelp review at

http://www.yelp.com/biz/daily-grill-burbank-2#hrid:gpEzTdwpa3XLzScnourzeQ

Mr. President, Senate, Congress ... take a bow.

June 21, 2012

Click on either image for a full size display.

On the financial side:  It seems as if a "well done" or congratulations are NOT to be expected by the financial minds that head our country.  It appears your latest plan failed.  Not much of a surprise.

The Dow is not an accurate indicator.  We have all seen layoffs continue at the rate of over 350,000 per week.  There are other ways to look at a more broad picture of our true economic picture. 

America - a Nation Of No Direction - or a downward direction from another viewpoint

On the employment side:  In the week ending June 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 387,000. The 4-week moving average was 386,250, an increase of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average of 382,750.  Rough concept ... more than a quarter of a million people but less than a half a million people lost their jobs in one week.  

Democrats, Republicans, Senators, Congressmen and government officials, please take a bow.  Don't bother to stand back up.  You do not deserve much of anything other than contempt and a lack of respect from the people of this nation.

Our government leaders continue to argue with each other.  Our government comes up with one plan after another which have done nothing to improve the problems in our nation for a number of years at this point.

It does not matter whether times in Europe are good or bad, if fighting moves from one country to another or any of the reasons for a lack of movement in any direction are considered as they change.  This nation is a nation with no direction and your efforts have been directed toward anything but working together or helping this great nation.

In closing I will repeat again what I wrote above:  Democrats, Republicans, Senators, Congressmen and government officials, please take a bow.  Don't bother to stand back up.  You do not deserve much of anything other than contempt and a lack of respect from the people of this nation.

Homelessness. There are individuals within the statistics.

Each day most of us are subjected to news.  News on the radio, television, newspapers, on the Internet.

The news supplies statistics.  Fires in Colorado which have consumed tens of thousands of acres.  Unless your house or a house belonging to somebody important to you was lost in one of those acres that burned we tend to turn a blind eye to the news.

How many people were killed or injured in Afghanistan this week?  Unless one of them was somebody you loved you probably did not have your life changed much if at all.

How many people lost their homes to foreclosure?  I am sure you understand my point.

When the word Homeless is heard by many individuals their thought process may create mental images of people who are mentally ill, who may be  alcoholics, people who have substance abuse problems or are just people that do not want to work and expect a handout.

There is much more to this story.  Click "read more" below for the more complete story.