Wealth inequality and social mobility news

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[firestar464]

No doubt the right will jump on Portland being a "tent city"

They seem to be obsessed with Portland for some reason

[Powers]

No doubt the right will jump on Portland being a "tent city"

They seem to be obsessed with Portland for some reason

I thought that was San Francisco or Los Angeles and "their smell".

[weatheriscool]

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[caltrek]

No doubt the right will jump on Portland being a "tent city"

They seem to be obsessed with Portland for some reason

I thought that was San Francisco or Los Angeles and "their smell".

Anything urban and on the "left coast" draws their disdain.

[Powers]

No doubt the right will jump on Portland being a "tent city"

They seem to be obsessed with Portland for some reason

I thought that was San Francisco or Los Angeles and "their smell".

Anything urban and on the "left coast" draws their disdain.

I would amplify that to anything urban.

[wjfox]

[Powers]

Good luck in trying to resolve that.

[weatheriscool]

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[caltrek]

G20 Leaders Reach 'Landmark Commitment' for Global Tax on Ultrarich
by Julia Conley
November 19, 2024

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) Acknowledging that "the era of the billionaire" is still in full swing across the globe, economic justice advocates on Tuesday applauded a "landmark commitment" by G20 leaders at the group's annual summit in Rio de Janeiro, where delegates agreed to cooperate on efforts to ensure the richest households in the world are taxed fairly.

The final communiqué out of the G20 Summit includes a commitment from 19 countries, the European Union, and the African Union, to "engage cooperatively to ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed."

"Cooperation could involve exchanging best practices, encouraging debates around tax principles, and devising anti-avoidance mechanisms, including addressing potentially harmful tax practices," reads the communiqué. "We look forward to continuing to discuss these issues in the G20 and other relevant forums, counting on the technical inputs of relevant international organizations, academia, and experts."

(See linked article for Twitter feed).

The final text was brokered by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, commonly known as Lula, and the E.U. Tax Observatory noted that Argentina's right-wing president, Javier Milei, "failed to convince other G20 countries to block the communiqué."

The meeting took place less than a year after economist Gabriel Zucman, director of the E.U. Tax Observatory, published a report titled A Blueprint for a Coordinated Minimum Effective Taxation Standard for Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individuals, which informed G20 finance discussions leading up to the summit.

Read more here (including links to the Zucman report): https://www.commondreams.org/news/glob ... 669945403

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US homelessness up 18% as affordable housing remains out of reach for many people


AP News link: https://apnews.com/article/homelessness ... 3b73abf75f

The United States saw an 18.1% increase in homelessness this year, a dramatic rise driven mostly by a lack of affordable housing as well as devastating natural disasters and a surge of migrants in several parts of the country, federal officials said Friday.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said federally required tallies taken across the country in January found that more than 770,000 people were counted as homeless — a number that misses some people and does not include those staying with friends or family because they do not have a place of their own.

That increase comes on top of a 12% increase in 2023, which HUD blamed on soaring rents and the end of pandemic assistance. The 2023 increase also was driven by people experiencing homelessness for the first time. The numbers overall represent 23 of every 10,000 people in the U.S., with Black people being overrepresented among the homeless population.

“No American should face homelessness, and the Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring every family has access to the affordable, safe, and quality housing they deserve,” HUD Agency Head Adrianne Todman said in a statement, adding that the focus should remain on “evidence-based efforts to prevent and end homelessness.”

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Trump administration halts program that keeps aging affordable housing livable

Source: ABC News

The Trump administration is halting a $1 billion program that helps preserve affordable housing, threatening projects that keep tens of thousands of units livable for low-income Americans, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press.

The action is part of a slew of cuts and funding freezes at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, largely at the direction of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, that have rattled the affordable-housing industry.

Preserving these units gets less attention than ribbon-cuttings, but it's a centerpiece of efforts to address the nation's housing crisis. Hundreds of thousands of low-rent apartments, many of them aging and in need of urgent repair, are at risk of being yanked out from under poor Americans.

The program has already awarded the money to projects that would upgrade at least 25,000 affordable units across the country, and details of how it will be wound down remain unclear.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tru ... -119700773

[wjfox]

Trump administration halts program that keeps aging affordable housing livable

Source: ABC News

The Trump administration is halting a $1 billion program that helps preserve affordable housing, threatening projects that keep tens of thousands of units livable for low-income Americans, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press.

The action is part of a slew of cuts and funding freezes at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, largely at the direction of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, that have rattled the affordable-housing industry.

Preserving these units gets less attention than ribbon-cuttings, but it's a centerpiece of efforts to address the nation's housing crisis. Hundreds of thousands of low-rent apartments, many of them aging and in need of urgent repair, are at risk of being yanked out from under poor Americans.

The program has already awarded the money to projects that would upgrade at least 25,000 affordable units across the country, and details of how it will be wound down remain unclear.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tru ... -119700773

Unfortunately, the Trump administration has no choice here.

Clearly, a much bigger priority is giving extraordinarily wealthy people even bigger tax breaks, and these cuts will help towards that.

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Food banks scramble after USDA halts $500 million in deliveries

Source: CNN Politics

Published 8:19 AM EDT, Sat March 22, 2025

CNN — In the coming weeks, the shelves at dozens of food pantries in California’s Fresno County will be a little emptier. Visitors won’t be able to take home as many groceries, and their bags will contain fewer nutritious items like chicken, eggs, milk and cheese.

That’s largely because the US Department of Agriculture has halted $500 million in deliveries to food banks nationwide that the Biden administration announced last year, multiple food banks told CNN.

The Central California Food Bank, which distributes food to 60 pantries in the county, recently learned that 13 truckloads of groceries – worth $850,000 – set to be delivered between April and July were canceled. It comes at a time when many residents are struggling to afford food since supermarket prices remain high, said Natalie Caples, the food bank’s co-CEO.

“My food bank in Fresno can’t magically come up with $850,000 and 500,000 pounds of food to backfill that cancelation,” Caples said, noting that the nonprofit is already running at a deficit. “It means neighbors are getting less food when they show up at these distribution sites, and they’re getting a lesser variety of foods.”

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/22/politics ... index.html

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'Going to be a lot of hungry people': Food banks, farmers across US decry federal cuts

Source: USA Today

Published 8:01 a.m. ET March 31, 2025

The abrupt cancellation of government funding for programs to help food banks distribute healthy, local food is being felt across the country, as some already strapped organizations turn to their local communities for help. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it was cutting more than $1 billion in funding for the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement programs for 2025.

The money was designed to pay farmers to provide food to schools and food banks, giving a boost to local producers while giving fresh options to children and communities. Then, food banks were hit with another blow when they were informed that scheduled deliveries of food through the USDA's Emergency Food Assistance Program were being halted or cut back. The cuts come as President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency target a long list of government programs and federal jobs for sweeping cuts in recent months.

The USDA told USA TODAY that the LFPA cuts were a "return to long-term, fiscally responsible initiatives." Food producers and food banks that participated in the axed programs say they will have less food to give to their communities. And rural communities will be hit the hardest because they depend the most on USDA-funded programs for the food distributed by food banks, said Vince Hall, chief government relations officer of the nonprofit Feeding America.

"The reality is that the food banking system is stressed to the breaking point right now because we're seeing record-high demand and diminished resources," Hall told USA TODAY. "Folks who came to us during the pandemic have found it impossible to ease out of dependency on food banks because inflation has made so many of their monthly budget essentials more expensive than ever."

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nat ... 705776007/

[firestar464]

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