Unintended Consequences: Junket Cuts Hurt; Los Angeles Arts High School; Defense Budget - Military Rethink?; America's Culture of Outsiders
Unintended Consequences: Junket Cuts Hurt
Americans were outraged to learn that companies such as AIG took bailouts and then turned around and spent hundreds of thousands on luxury junkets. Industries have been cutting down their junkets…but this leads to unintended consequences. The leisure industry, so important to the economies of many cities, is taking a major hit. Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas lost $131 million worth of business this year. The Four Seasons hotel in Los Angeles has taken a 15 percent hit in its meeting business. This translates into lost jobs for hotel staff and suppliers. Does this change how you think about junkets and their significance? Tell Larry what you think.
Los Angeles Arts High School
Less than six months before its planned opening in September, the Los Angeles Unified School District's downtown arts high school still lacks a principal, and concern is rising over its direction. Several critics are calling for the district to turn over control to a charter school organization, and philanthropist Eli Broad reportedly said that the school was "deemed to be mediocre and a failure" otherwise. Also at issue is the district's plan to reserve most of the school's seats for students from the surrounding neighborhood instead of for the most talented students throughout the district. Despite the criticism, Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines has stated that he won't consider turning the school over to a charter organization until after its opening. Larry Mantle finds out what this means for the future of LA's downtown arts school.
Defense Budget - Military Rethink?
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has released his budget: the Pentagon will end the F-22 fighter jet and White House helicopter programs run by Lockheed, but would increase production of the company's Joint Strike Fighter. There's also a call for more unmanned aircraft and more money for treating traumatic head injuries and psychological scars from returning veterans. What will it all mean for the armed forces? Larry gets all the details on the military's new budget.
America's Culture of Outsiders
Reporter Evan Wright has always been fascinated by outsiders. In his new book "Hella Nation", he collects 12 profiles of people with one thing in common- they don't fit in. From anarchists in Oregon, to sex workers in Porn Valley, to runaways in Hollywood working as corporate skateboard promoters, Wright reveals the stories of people for whom "the American dream is either just out of grasp, or something they've chosen to reject altogether". Larry Mantle talks with Evan Wright, bestselling author of "Generation Kill", about his new book.