Poverty

WSJ Celebrates Making It Harder For Poor People To Access Food

June 10, 2023 Conor Smith, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Educate! Debt Ceiling, Hunger, Poverty, Wall Street Journal

After holding the economy hostage for months, some Republicans are going through a bit of a depressive slump. “We got rolled,” is how one Republican congressmember (Roll Call, 6/6/23) described the outcome of the debt ceiling negotiations. “It was a bad deal.” But don’t cry too much, guys! The Wall Street Journal is here to cheer you up, and remind you that, though you didn’t get all the austerity you wanted, you did get to hurt the poor a bit. Maybe not as much as you wanted, but life’s not always fair, is it? As the Journal’s editorial board (5/30/23) recently wrote: “One reason the deal is worth passing: The provisions on work and welfare are incremental progress the GOP can build on.”

Can We Move Beyond Philanthrocapitalism?

June 8, 2023 David Bollier. Educate! Capitalism, Philanthropy, Poverty, Tax Breaks

While the many philanthropies of the world address social injustice, gender discrimination, and countless other issues, there is one topic that is off-limits to most of them: changing the capitalist system itself, the source of many problems that philanthropy aspires to solve. This conundrum is the focus of a new book, Post Capitalist Philanthropy, by Alnoor Ladha and Lynn Murphy, which is a bold inquiry into what they call “philanthrocapitalism." As Ladha puts it, “A few people have amassed so much wealth that they're now determining the agenda for a civil society. Ostensibly, we're told that this is for social benefit, but actually they're getting huge amounts of tax breaks, social and political power, and undermining democracy itself.

Nigeria Labour Congress Issues Ultimatum Over Fuel Subsidy Repeal

Nigeria - Last week, in his inauguration speech, the new Nigerian President Bola Tinubu announced that the widely-supported fuel subsidy would be removed. The Nigeria Labour Congress responded immediately, writing: We at the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) are outraged by the pronouncement of President Bola Tinubu removing the “fuel subsidy’ without due consultations with critical stake holders or without putting in place palliative measures to cushion the harsh effects of the ‘subsidy removal’. The President's announcement sparked a rush on fuel purchases resulting in long lines at fuel stations. Al Jazeera reports that the removal of the subsidy will double or triple the price of gasoline in the nation where 133 million people live in poverty.

Nigeria Labour Congress ‘Outraged’ That New President Ends Fuel Subsidies

May 30, 2023 Joe Ajaero, Nigeria Labour Congress. Resist! Fuel Prices, Inflation, Nigeria, Poverty

We at the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) are outraged by the pronouncement of President Bola Tinubu removing the "fuel subsidy' without due consultations with critical stake holders or without putting in place palliative measures to cushion the harsh effects of the ‘subsidy removal’. Within hours of his pronouncement, the nation went into a tailspin due to a combination of service shut downs and product price hike, in some places representing over 300 per cent price adjustment. By his insensitive decision, President Tinubu on his inauguration day brought tears and sorrow to millions of Nigerians instead of hope. He equally devalued the quality of their lives by over 300 per cent and counting.

Can Guaranteed Income Prevent Gentrification?

May 30, 2023 Oscar Perry Abello, Next City. Create! Gentrification, Guaranteed income, Housing, Louisville, Poverty

Louisville activist Cassandra Webb has been working to curb violent crime in her city for years. Cities United, the national nonprofit with which she works, has taken on the mission of violence reduction in the city from seemingly every angle: working with youth leaders at the ground level, convening a network of urban leaders and stakeholders, advancing place-based initiatives to align public and private resources with Louisville residents’ vision for reversing disinvestment in their communities. But increasingly, Webb says, it’s become clear to her that some of these problems can only be solved through money – specifically, cash flowing directly to Louisville residents every month through a guaranteed income program.

The Ugly Truth Behind ‘We Buy Ugly Houses’

May 12, 2023 Anjeanette Damon, Byard Duncan and Mollie Simon, ProPublica. Educate! Homebuyers, Housing, Poverty, Predatory Capitalism

Cory Evans was well-versed in the HomeVestors of America playbook when he arrived at a suburban Los Angeles home on Nov. 4, 2016. His franchise with the “We Buy Ugly Houses” company had executed more than 50 deals in the preceding two years. Patriot Holdings would soon become one of the company’s most successful franchises by following HomeVestors’ strategy of finding homeowners in desperate situations, then convincing them to sell quickly. The homeowner, Corrine Casanova, had bought the three-bedroom Baldwin Park bungalow with her husband in 1961 and now owned it outright. After raising three children there, she was days away from leaving it for an assisted living facility and had called the number on a HomeVestors ad.

The Poverty Trap

May 11, 2023 Jeffrey D. Sachs, Consortium News. Educate! Class Struggle, Debt, Finance and the Economy, Poverty

The key to economic development and ending poverty is investment. Nations achieve prosperity by investing in four priorities. Most important is investing in people, through quality education and health care. The next is infrastructure, such as electricity, safe water, digital networks and public transport. The third is natural capital, protecting nature. The fourth is business investment. The key is finance: mobilizing the funds to invest at the scale and speed required. In principle, the world should operate as an interconnected system. The rich countries, with high levels of education, healthcare, infrastructure, and business capital, should supply ample finance to the poor countries, which must urgently build up their human, infrastructure, natural and business capital.

The United States Is Literally Sucking The Blood Of The Poor

March 19, 2023 Lee Camp, Mintpress News. Resistance Report Capitalism, Class Struggle, Human Rights, Poverty

You already know things are not good for a lot of people in the United States. As of two months ago, 64% of the country said they’re living paycheck to paycheck. Even if we exclude the million or so homeless across the U.S., recent data shows that approximately 5.3 million households are behind on their home mortgage payments. Another report from 2018 showed that around 130 million people in the U.S. admitted an inability to pay for basic needs like food, health care, housing, or utilities. And those numbers are before the pandemic began, which is like saying it felt hot in here before a fire burned down the building.

New Report: The Dollar Store Invasion

March 6, 2023 Stacy Mitchell, Kennedy Smith, and Susan Holmberg, Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Educate! Communities, Dollar Store, Finance and the Economy, Poverty

Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Family Dollar are targeting vulnerable communities, opening stores at a breakneck pace in urban and rural areas alike. It’s tempting to assume that these chains simply fill a need in cash-strapped places. But the evidence suggests that dollar stores are not merely byproducts of economic distress; they are a cause of it. Through predatory tactics, the dollar chains are killing off grocery stores and other local businesses, leaving communities with fewer jobs, diminished access to basic goods, and dimmer prospects for overall well-being. As these losses mount, dollar stores are facing a rising tide of grassroots opposition.

Richest 1% Took 2/3rds Of Global Wealth Since 2020

January 18, 2023 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy Report. Resistance Report Global Economy, Poverty, Taxes, wealth inequality

In the past decade, the richest 1% of people on Earth sucked up half of all new wealth. In 2020 and 2021, the richest 1% took nearly two-thirds of all new wealth – six times greater than the wealth made by the poorest 90% of the global population. “Since 2020, for every dollar of new global wealth gained by someone in the bottom 90%, one of the world’s billionaires has gained $1.7 million”, wrote Oxfam. In the meantime, global poverty is getting worse, not better. These shocking statistics were published in “Survival of the Richest“, a report authored by Oxfam, an international humanitarian organization dedicated to fighting poverty and hunger. The document details how, while hundreds of billions of working people across the planet suffer from hunger, insecurity, rising costs of living, and decreasing wages, “The very richest have become dramatically richer and corporate profits have hit record highs, driving an explosion of inequality”.

Martin Luther King Day Special Encore Program: Restructuring The Edifice That Produces Poverty

January 16, 2023 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. Podcast - Clearing The FOG Green New Deal, Human Rights, Martin Luther King Jr, Poverty

In celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, Clearing the FOG brought back an interview from ten years ago with Cheri Honkala of the Poor People's Economic and Human Rights Campaign and Robert Pollin of the Political Economy Research Institute. The program is centered on Dr. King's speech before the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in August 1967, "Where Do We Go From Here?" The guests, along with co-host Kevin Zeese discuss the current economic challenges and efforts to bring transformation at the local and national levels. That conversation is relevant today as we continue to face multiple crises, including climate chaos, the pandemic and a global war. King's warning that it is the system that must be changed reminds us of the important task at hand.

The Poor, Squeezed By 10 Trillion Dollars In External Debts

December 21, 2022 Baher Kamal, Inter Press Service News Agency. Educate! Class Struggle, Debt, Finance and the Economy, Poverty

The external debt of the world’s low and middle-income countries at the end of 2021 totalled 9 trillion US dollars, more than double the amount a decade ago. Such debt is expected to increase by an additional 1.1 trillion US dollars in 2023. Moreover, the debt-service payments, projected to top 62 billion US dollars in 2022, put the biggest squeeze on poor countries since 2000, according to the World Bank. As defined by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), debt service refers to payments in respect of both principal and interest. Actual debt service is the set of payments actually made to satisfy a debt obligation, including principal, interest, and any late payment fees. Scheduled debt service is the set of payments, including principal and interest, that is required to be made through the life of the debt, OECD goes on.

Abahlali baseMjondolo’s Fight For Dignity And Land, 17 Years On

December 5, 2022 Tanupriya Singh, People's Dispatch. Organize! Land Rights, Poverty, South Africa, State Violence

17 years ago, the residents of 12 informal settlements in the city of Durban came together and formed Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM), or ‘shack dwellers’ in Zulu. The movement emerged at a time of widespread mobilizations against the ruling African National Congress’ failure to fulfill its promises to provide services and housing for the poor in post-apartheid South Africa. “What do we want?” AbM’s founding member and president, then 30 year-old S’bu Zikode had asked in 2005, “The basics. Water, electricity, sanitation, land, and housing.” Over the following years, AbM grew into a militant collective with more than 100,000 members, fighting for dignity and land for the urban poor in the face of deadly repression by state forces.

Haiti: A Political Economy Perspective On The Urgent Crisis Of Imperialism

November 26, 2022 Tamanisha John, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Caribbean, Haiti, Poverty, US Imperialism

Often, when you mention Haiti in conversation and the anti-imperial struggle that has consistently been waged by the Haitian people against imperialist forces for centuries, you are met with minor acknowledgement and some confusion by the listener. Even in cases where there are those who understand Haiti’s battle against imperialist interventions and incursions – many people are still unclear about: “why Haiti.” This is especially true in the present, where there exists a propagandized belief that there are no broader imperialist aspirations in the Caribbean, insofar as those interests cannot be tied to interests in Latin America, and especially to Cuba. Persistent myths about Haiti and confusion about the nature of politics in the Caribbean have allowed systematic investigations into (neo) imperial enterprises in the broader region to go largely uninvestigated.

Liberating Africa Requires Changing Power Relations With The West

November 21, 2022 Ramzy Baroud, Mintpress News. Educate! Africa, Inflation, Pandemic, Poverty, Western imperialism

Soon after arriving in Oslo, my taxi zigzagged through the city’s well-organized streets and state-of-the-art infrastructure. Large billboards advertised the world’s leading brands in fashion, cars, and perfumes. Yet, amid all the expressions of wealth and plenty, an electronic sign by a bus stop flashed the images of poor-looking African children needing help. Over the years, Norway has served as a relatively good model of meaningful humanitarian and medical aid. This is especially true compared to other self-serving western countries, where aid is often linked to direct political and military interests. Still, the public humiliation of poor, hungry and diseased Africa is still disquieting. The same images and TV ads are omnipresent everywhere in the West.

«1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 »

Daily movement news and resources