greed, as put forth by Gordon Gekko in the 1987 film
Wall Street. It comes from our economic system’s DNA, regardless of our personality types.
This is obvious when we place Los Angeles under the microscope. Separate decisions by thousands of institutional and private investors, supported by City Hall enablers and cheered on by advocates and apologists, are bringing LA to its knees.
True, these local officials have been dealt a bad hand, which they then played badly. Enormous political and economic forces have buffeted the entire country, including Los Angeles. These dedicated operatives of the Urban Growth Machine, played their part well in this drama, unconsciously ushering in three devastating crises.