"Califorina Poverty Increasing", no mention of illegal aliens

Dan Walters may be one of the few honest people left at the Sacramento Bee (Ess), but there are even limits to his honesty.

Los Angeles County has been the epicenter of California's socioeconomic transformation over the last couple of decades. The collapse of the aerospace industry sent hundreds of thousands of Angelenos fleeing to other states, while at least as many immigrants filled the gap, spectacularly altering the county's dynamics....4.7 million Californians lived in poverty in 1999 and a third of them lived in Los Angeles County, with Latinos by far the largest single poverty-stricken ethnic group. Latinos were a quarter of the Californians in poverty in 1969, a third in 1979, 44 percent in 1989 and more than 50 percent in 1999, reflecting both rapid growth in the state's Latino population and the simple fact that so many are immigrants with little education.

Oh sure, he mentions "Latinos" and "immigrants", but NEVER does the word ILLEGAL appear, even though that is the overriding reason for the rise in the state's poverty rate, from an estimated 11.1 percent in 1969 to 14.2 percent in 1999 to 17.7 percent now. Not only are they net takers of social and public services, they also have driven wages down in a good many economic sectors.

I think Mr. Walters knows this, but he dare not write it, given the editorial pages of the pro-illegal alien Sacramento Bee (Ess).

We want to reduce poverty? I have one simple solution: STOP IMPORTING IT!

Note I said simple, not easy. Because building the necessary barrier walls / fences, and beefing up border patrols, will be difficult. But it must be done.