Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County
Lawyer and Deputy Director of Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County and member of the community organizing group, One LA
PROFILE
Yvonne Maria Jimenez
Guest
FROM Yvonne Maria Jimenez
Which Way, L.A.?
Will a Federal Foreclosure Deal Help Californians? President Obama announced a $26 billion settlement today with 49 state attorneys general and five major banks. He said it will "end some of the most abusive practices of the mortgage industry and begin to turn the page on an era of recklessness." California's Attorney General, Kamala Harris, was one of the last to get on board. We hear from her and from Yvonne Maria Jimenez, Deputy Director of Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, which is advising families facing foreclosure in the North San Fernando Valley.
Which Way, L.A.?
Do America's Movers and Shakers Live in a (Beltway) Bubble? Washington, DC has now replaced California's Silicon Valley as the wealthiest metropolitan area in the United States. Is that putting policymakers, politicians and journalistic pundits out of touch with the problems of ordinary Americans? Is that why they've been so slow to address the housing crisis and unemployment?
To the Point
Do America's Movers and Shakers Live in a Bubble? Metropolitan Washington, DC now boasts the highest median income in the United States, taking the place of Silicon Valley, the center of high-tech prosperity. In the nation's capital -- packed with lawyers, lobbyists and contractors -- unemployment and home foreclosures are low; housing prices are high. What does that mean for the politicians and journalists who try to assess the rest of the country and help ordinary Americans cope with a faltering economy? Will it really help to cut government jobs, or will that devastate the hinterlands, leaving Washington itself unscathed?
Which Way, L.A.?
Homeownership and the American Dream Six years ago, George W. Bush declared that, “owing a home lies at the heart of the American dream.” Yesterday, President Barack Obama said that home foreclosure means losing a “foothold in the American Dream,” an idea that dates back to the Great Depression. But there’s a downside, and it’s come to a head in the current recession as millions of homeowners are losing their homes to foreclosure. Why should tens of billions of taxpayer dollars help people get back into housing they can’t afford? What’s wrong with renting?
To the Point
What's Wrong with Renting? Six years ago, George W. Bush declared that, "owing a home lies at the heart of the American dream." Yesterday, President Barack Obama said that home foreclosure means losing a "foothold in the American Dream," an idea that dates back to the Great Depression. Politicians virtually equate homeownership with patriotism, and government subsidies include the mortgage-interest exemption. But there's a downside, and it's come to a head in the current recession. Millions of homeowners are in big trouble. Why should tens of billions of taxpayer dollars help people get back into housing they can't afford? As the author of Don't Get Caught with Your Skirt Down : A Practical Girl's Recession Guide asks, what's wrong with renting?
Recommended
To the Point
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
To the Point
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?
To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.