Extreme Poverty in the US Is A Political Choice of the Powerful

[G_j]

https://portside.org/2018-02-10/extreme-poverty-us-political-choice-powerful

Following his US fact-finding mission, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights concluded extreme poverty in the US “is a political choice made by those in power. With political will, it could readily be eliminated.”

February 10, 2018 Kenneth Surin

In December last year, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Professor Philip Alston, issued a statement on his 15-day fact-finding mission of some of the US’s poorest neighbourhoods. Alston, author of the quoted phrase in the subtitle above, is an Australian who is professor of law at New York University. During his mission he visited Alabama, California, West Virginia, Texas, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico.

Alston’s statement on American poverty and inequality has been overlooked by most of the mainstream media.

Alston has a record of consistent impartiality, which makes his statement on American poverty all the more credible.

—-

Alston began his statement on the US by saying that “in practice, the United States is alone among developed countries in insisting that while human rights are of fundamental importance, they do not include rights that guard against dying of hunger, dying from a lack of access to affordable healthcare, or growing up in a context of total deprivation. . . at the end of the day, particularly in a rich country like the USA, the persistence of extreme poverty is a political choice made by those in power. With political will, it could readily be eliminated”.

He then said of his visit:

“I met with many people barely surviving on Skid Row in Los Angeles, I witnessed a San Francisco police officer telling a group of homeless people to move on but having no answer when asked where they could move to, I heard how thousands of poor people get minor infraction notices which seem to be intentionally designed to quickly explode into unpayable debt, incarceration, and the replenishment of municipal coffers, I saw sewage filled yards in states where governments don’t consider sanitation facilities to be their responsibility, I saw people who had lost all of their teeth because adult dental care is not covered by the vast majority of programs available to the very poor, I heard about soaring death rates and family and community destruction wrought by prescription and other drug addiction, and I met with people in the South of Puerto Rico living next to a mountain of completely unprotected coal ash which rains down upon them bringing illness, disability and death”.

..more..

[Doodley]

1. I am from Britain, and I can tell you that the US media do not care about poverty. Where is the

outrage? Where are the examples of people who have died because they have no healthcare? What Americans might think is liberal media is actually to the right compared to what European nations experience.

[G_j]

2. certainly true

American media loves to report “shocking” stories while ignoring some of the most shocking stories of all.

People died in my state because of its refusal of Medicare expansion. Very few are even aware of this. That is just one small example of our national blind spot.

[blm]

13. It's been designed that way. The RW spent the 80s and 90s buying control of all available broadcast

media and the remaining ink press.

[alarimer]

28. Well "poverty porn" in the media is kind of a thing

Where they report on it, but in a sensationalized way:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/19/camden-new-jersey-america-poorest-city-poverty-porn

It's never very in depth and the reporters act as if they are reporting from a war zone.

[Doodley]

30. Thanks for the link. Yes, it is very superficial. CNN can spend nearly a whole hour talking about

what Donald Trump has said or Tweeted or what he didn't say or Tweet that he should have, but not mention that he is dismantling important programs that are there to help those most in need. If they ever mention poverty, it is like something from the strange news section - fascinating entertainment. I would also like to see the evangelicals held to account and forced to explain what is Christian about taking away healthcare and taking away aid for the poor. When I meet them, I do that and they don't like it. It is as if they have never been confronted by their own hypocrisy.

[hunter]

3. Yes they are. Whenever the workers they abuse complain, they'll point to the homeless people...

... and say, "You don't want to be them, do you?"

The undocumented have it even worse. They can't complain at all for fear of being deported, even when the working conditions they suffer are blatantly illegal -- less than minimum wages, sexual assault, dangerous and toxic workplaces, etc..

[AwakeAtLast]

4. FAKE NEWS!

For those who need it....

[byronius]

5. So painfully, obviously true. And I find it utterly unAmerican.

[pandr32]

6. It is our shame

The idea of America has been perverted. This land is no longer of opportunity, but of exploitation.

[Hortensis]

8. I don't feel shame but horror and disgust for all who

enabled this.

Pandr, in 267 days we can take control of congress and many state legislatures and start righting what has gone so wrong.

Strangely, I wonder if Trump wouldn't rather have a Democratically controlled congress. He's emphatically not a liberal, but his lack of any ideology beyond a sort of knee-jerk protective white nationalism has shown him a number of times to be open to common sense solutions to most problems. The kind a large faction of Republicans could support before the Reagan era marked the beginning their slide into extremism.

[Motownman78]

10. In his book "The America We Deserve"

published in 2000, Trump said he supported Universal Healthcare and the AWB on guns.

[Hortensis]

18. Written by someone with an attention span,

but yes.

I remember when he pointed out in an interview that the nation did better economically during Democratic administrations. An idea he heard from others, of course, but it is the simple, proven truth and it registered enough for him to repeat.

[pandr32]

11. Well, we know Trump is not a politician

He is hopelessly unqualified and has lived a life that never encouraged interaction with people not rich or influential. Greed is the only 'ideology' he has. He has no clue.
We need to support each other and show up to vote in droves. We can expect the kitchen sink to be thrown at us in every way again.

[Hortensis]

7. Banana Republicans.

[blm]

9. This is a MUST read. I had my teen daughter read it so she could take it up in class.

.

[blm]

12. I printed this and my daughter is taking it to her AP Gov and Human Geography classes.

I encourage all DU parents of high schoolers to do the same.

[G_j]

15. I agree

This is exactly what young people need to know about. We will need them for the solutions.

[blm]

17. I just added an OP directing DU parents to your thread.

Thanks for finding it and bringing it here. It's scary how Trump's tweets and craziness are used as distraction to keep this report and its information from being noticed by the majority of the American people.

[G_j]

19. Youre welcome

Every American should be aware of this.

[blm]

20. No kidding -

we can all do our best to spread this extremely important analysis.

[Hekate]

14. KnR, with shame

[JI7]

16. Not just the powerful unless you mean middle class among powerful

There aren't 60 something million wealthy powerful in the country.

The ones voting for Paul Ryan aren't all wealthy and powerful.

[hfojvt]

21. is it really that easy to eliminate?

After all, in some years and in some places, Democrats are in power. It would take massive amounts of political will, and another big group of people who don't care all that much - a good portion of Americans who are above the median income.

Just try proposing that families who make $80,000 a year pay $200 more in taxes.

You will hear howling about that proposal even on DU, even IF it is part of a plan to increase taxes on ALL those making $80,000 or over.

[maxsolomon]

23. Well, I live in Ground Zero of the Homelessness Crisis

in a city controlled by liberals, in a county controlled by liberals, in a state controlled by liberals.

the homeless population in King County is >10,000 people. the waiting lists at Housing Authorities here and in every surrounding county are years-long. funding for housing involves fighting over scraps from the feds and the state and cobbling together tax-credits. add in the hottest construction market in America, and many projects take 4-5 years to get executed. and then, that's only a 100 or so units.

there are people sleeping in tents all over downtown. side streets in industrial areas have beat to shit motor homes lining them. the shelters are full. beggars are at exit ramps & downtown corners. I've seen some of the same people for over a decade. I got hit up for bus fare in an office building elevator last week.

we have passed levies targeted at solving the crisis. they're band-aids on a sucking chest wound.

my conclusion is that there is no will to address this crisis at the federal level. why? easy: republicans.

they get to send their problems to the big cities, then turn around and blame those cities for coddling the desperate, and laugh at anyone who proposes a universal basic income..

[blm]

25. Absolute fact!

.

[alarimer]

29. Far too many Democrats and liberals are complicit in exacerbating poverty.

NIMBYS. They vote against housing the homeless in their neighborhoods; they move their kids into "better schools" (more white), etc.

And the Democrats are in thrall to Silicon Valley, whose businesses are pricing people out of their neighborhoods, raising the cost of living, while using public infrastructure (but not paying for it) and encouraging cities to compete in a race to the bottom to secure their headquarters (Amazon). And, in the most liberal city in the US, placing boulders to discourage the homeless from camping. Instead of, you know, paying for housing.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/12/20/boulders-san-francisco-interchange-homeless/

"Liberals" by whatever definition are not going to solve the problems. Real progressive taxation schemes and programs have a much better chance.

[hfojvt]

32. except that there does not seem to be much voter support

for "real progressive taxation schemes and programs".

Seems to me it is more than just "the powerful" who are preventing soliutions

but again, I do not believe there is a simpler solution.

[smirkymonkey]

22. We are the shame of the developed world.

There is no reason such abject poverty should exist in a country as wealthy as ours. Only the heartlessness and cruelty of the republicans allows this situation to exist.

[blm]

24. The UN study hit the nail on the head and all Americans need to hear the truth.

.

[maxsolomon]

27. they won't

it's a shout into a hurricane.

[blm]

31. Well, we can keep spreading it so it does get more eyeballs.

.

[Bayard]

26. Let them eat cake

Most Americans have no idea how many of their fellow citizens go to bed hungry every night. If they have beds.