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THE VIEW FROM HERE - Although it has been operating since mankind’s beginning, almost no one knows the economic law which brings prosperity. People go where there’s opportunity. That’s why we left Africa. That’s why millennia later, millions left Europe for the western hemisphere. That’s why people moved to the American West. That’s why people are leaving LA.
Although power tends to corrupt and a few men always want to own everything, over time they fail because people realize, “Hey, there’s opportunity over there.” That’s why Jewish film makers left The East and Edison’s New Jersey Trust.
Brief Recap: In 1908, Thomas Edison, of light bulb fame, and his buddies owned most the patents for making movies and they formed the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC) in New Jersey where most films were made. Their tyranny was simple -- their way or no way.
After the Seligman Affair in 1877, anti-Semitism had become common (so, what’s new about that?”). Wiki Anti-Semitism in the nascent movie business benefited the Jews because it nudged them to move to where merit counted. February 11, 2017 Thomas Alva Edison and the Jews, by Lawrence Bush Non-Jews did not have that extra shove out the door. Thus, a lot of non-Jews stayed in the East as Jews moved to LA where opportunity flourished.
Aside: Prejudice is a good thing, provided it is not too persistently lethal and those subject to it react with strength, vigor and intelligence, rather than becoming whinny crybabies. Each year for thousands of years, Jews celebrate being slaves. After the Holocaust, we re-committed to life, to tikkun olam, to working to perfect the world. L’Chaim, To Life, So, too with the Armenians. For them, 1915 the genocide lingers in Azerbaijan, but many have moved to opportunity elsewhere in the world and have the economic base to survive.
Components of Opportunity
Luck can be vital to opportunity. It was good luck that when we left Africa, dinosaurs did not occupy the rest of the earth or that another meteor did not crash into us. But, what factors are relevant to opportunity in our post-modern, complex technological society, which is about to enter the Artificial Intelligence (AI) era?
Opportunity requires a social structure so that the powerful do not kill off the people who are about to invent the wheel. If Edison had had his way, movies would still be limited to two reels. Society’s leaders must have enough power to create a proper context for people to be creative. That’s why we replaced the Articles of Confederation with the US Constitution. This balancing act consumes all societies. Western Civilization is built primarily on Greek philosophers and the mishmash of traditions found in the Bible, which inherited traditions from earlier cultures, e.g., Gilgamesh and Enkidu, Jacob and the El. All the ways which the ancient Israelites tried failed. After King Solomon died in B.C.E., for example, his kingdom was divided into Judah into the South and Israel in the north. The best opportunities for us Jews were (1) the Exodus ca. 1,300 B.C.E., and (2) the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E., which resulted in Diaspora, forcing us to move into the larger world. In order to remain a People, when most of us lived outside the homeland, we had to become people of the Mind, of The Law, of Freedom. While destruction would visit one community after another, there was always Diaspora held together by a peoplehood of intellect. Destruction of buildings does not destroy a mobile culture rooted in ideas.
These same principles apply to others. Mexicans who move north to LA from Zacatecas, Oaxaca, and Chiapas carry their traditions with them and apply their knowledge to keep Los Angeles and the rest of the southwest vibrant. Cesar Milan was born on a ranch in Culiacán, Sinaloa. Although humans perpetually migrate, searching for opportunity, many of us seem unaware of the relationship of opportunity to the Law of Prosperity.
Los Angeles Is No Longer the Land of Opportunity
Wall Street’s monetization of construction, residential as well as high rises, has turned Los Angeles City Hall and the courts into crimogenic institutions. The harder people work, the more the wealthy steal our productivity. In the 1950's, Myron Cohen could say, “Everybody’s gotta be somewhere.” Those who did not own houses, rented apartments, that is, until Wall Street created the third option: massive homelessness. Now, thousands of Angelenos’ homes are literally nowhere.
The Intentional Manufacture of the Homeless Crisis, That’s New
The crimogenic city council backed by the crimogenic courts fraudulently destroyed poor people’s homes while artificially aggrandizing the cost to purchase middle class homes. In 2016 when Angelenos had the chance to vote out Garcetti et alia and vote down the HHH and JJJ scams and at the same time to vote Yes on Measure S to restrain developer corruption, the voters chose corruption. Voters gave developers $1.2B and approved Spot Zoning. Faber est suae quisque fortunae – Each is the architect of his own (mis)fortune.
Even UCLA’s Luskin Institute, which was in the forefront of bringing LA to its ruin, has admitted that quality of life sucks. April 19, 2023, UCLA Luskin Institute, L.A. County Residents Express Second-lowest Satisfaction Ever with Quality of Life, by Les Dunseith The report starts with the most ironic photo of DTLA with homeless tents beneath high rises. Luskin is clueless that its promotion of densification caused the homelessness, which is the most visible symptom of LA’s demise.
The Positive Side of the Death of LA
The upside of LA’s decline is opportunity goes elsewhere, “Go East, young man.” Move from the fleshpot of Egypt and start new communities inland. When the 1% are stealing our productivity and depriving us average folks of a chance to accumulate equity, leave. America has gazillions of square miles of unpopulated land. Our new home has a name – the exurbs. The Law of Prosperity says that when the 1% have rigged the game and are robbing you blind, move. That’s the unknown law of prosperity -- Move!
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. You may email him at [email protected])
