Comments

2

UN officials don't have much clout anymore, which in the final analysis is a good thing.

3

It's inevitable as long as republicans win a lot of elections. And that's inevitable as long as gerrymandering, "Citizens United" money flows, and, voter ignorance via the likes of fox-news, predominate.

4

@1: Don't rewrite history. The major regulations that could have stopped the 2008 crash were repealed by the Clinton administration and never put back into place.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass%E2%80%93Steagall_legislation

Just for a laugh, what exact regulations were you referring to?

5

@Teddy

Don't try to rewrite history Teddy.
The Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (GLBA) was written by Republicans.
Yes, it's true, Bill Clinton signed the bill into law, but the bill was written by Republicans.

Trying to pin the blame on the Clinton Administration is more than a little disingenuous. At the very least, you would have to say that both Republicans and the Clinton administration were responsible.

6

@4 Do be careful when you are soliciting laughs there ace.

Republicans have been quite busy rolling back Dodd-Frank. Have you been in cryogenic sleep for the past 2 years? And the role the repeal of Glass-Steagall played in the crash remains debatable (which does not mean it was a good idea).

7

"Homelessness on this Scale is Far from Inevitable"
It is also largely a feature of cities governed by the Left.
Don't lay this on America or Trump or the GOP.

8

@5: That act was intended to replace the Glass-Steagal act, and its signing was the repeal of the act.

I simply said that it was repealed under the Clinton administration, which is fact. There are enough things to argue about on the internet without you making things up, I am sure.

@6: You are basically arguing that allowing banks to gamble with people's money did not lead to the financial crash, but allowing banks to gamble with people's money will certainly lead to a financial crash.

By the way, the rollback on the Dodd-Frank act was a fairly bipartisan bill, at least in our current climate.

10

@8 Eh, no that's not what I am 'essentially arguing'. What @1 said, in somewhat garbled phrasing, is that regulations aimed at preventing another crash are being dismantled by Republicans. This is in fact true. And it is also true that the role Glass-Steagall repeal played in the crash is debatable. For one thing the contagion that led to the crash started with financial institutions that were not part of the large hybrid banks that the repeal allowed to form.

11

@Teddy

You didn't say it was repealed under the Clinton administration, you said:
"were repealed by the Clinton administration".

That's not me making things up Teddy, that's you trying to spin things.

Just to be clear, the Republicans who wrote the GLBA we're not part of the Clinton administration.
Would you agree?

12

@9 And look who the state government was controlled by for most of that time, Jackoff?

Quite frankly, I'm a little bit sad that people felt the need to descend into the partisan trenches even for this (although #1 wasn't wrong).

This problem has been brewing for decades, under every elected official's stewardship.

14

@10: Except that claim that the GOP is dismantling laws that are keeping a financial crash at bay depends on the idea that Dodd-Frank would help keep a financial crash at bay. The point of the Dodd-Frank act was to do similar to the Glass-Steagall act by restricting how banks could invest people's money.

You can't argue in good faith that Dodd-Frank could stop a financial crash and also argue that Glass-Steagall could not.

@11: Did you need an electron tunneling microscope to see that hair so you could split it? Who was the executive holding the pen that signed the GLBA into law?

I can't wait to see you arguing that Trump shares no responsibility for the bills that he signs because congress passed them. But that will never happen, will it? That would take some form of consistency and introspection.

16

@11: Oh, and for added fun, here is Clinton's statement on that evil GLBA that he was forced to sign at gunpoint by the GOP:

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=56922

17

@15: I don't know what is more pathetic, how mad you are that other people comment who are not like you, or that you actually think anyone here really cares about you, or anyone else.

Get over yourself and lighten up Francis. We are all just here to kill time.

18

@Teddy

"I can't wait to see you arguing that Trump shares no responsibility for the bills that he signs because congress passed them. But that will never happen, will it? That would take some form of consistency and introspection."

Trump is a republican. His Congress is Republican. They are working together, therefore he is as responsible as they are for any legislation they pass together.

You should also know that I never said Clinton was against the GLBA.
In fact, here's exactly what I said:
"At the very least, you would have to say that both Republicans and the Clinton administration were responsible."

I named all the guilty parties in my first post, while you are still attempting to make it look as if this was all the work of Bill Clinton's administration.

Did I say Clinton called the bill evil? No.
Did I say he was forced to sign the bill? No.

All you have to do is admit the truth Teddy.
The GLBA was written by Republicans and signed by Bill Clinton.
As long as you refuse to acknowledge the fact that the GLBA was written by the Republican party, then you are the spin doctor and the hair splitter Teddy, not me.

19

@Teddy

One more quick thing about this:
"I can't wait to see you arguing that Trump shares no responsibility for the bills that he signs because congress passed them. But that will never happen, will it? That would take some form of consistency and introspection."

As soon as Trump passes a bill that was written by Democrats, I will give him shared credit or shared blame, depending on the outcome of said bill.

20

@Teddy

Comment number 17 was hilarious as hell dude.

First of all, no one gets as mad as you do about comments people post here.
When I call you on your BS, you trip balls.
The other day I made a joke about you slacking off at work, and you got so butthurt you couldn't shut up about it until it was time for you to punch out.
Which brings me to point number 2.
You're at work right now dude, you shouldn't be trying to kill time.
I'm not joking this time either, you are a slacker.
Get back to work before your boss realizes just how useless you really are.

21

The Democrats are 100% complicit in all of the problems caused by income inequality in this country. There is no left in the U.S. There is a right wing party and a far right wing party.

22

Outstanding reporting by both the rappoteur and Ms. Groover. Thanks Heidi.

24

Not as bad as bad as Paris, but there is a very large pond between ourselves and most of the migrant populations on earth - same with poison Island.

As someone who used to transfer on skid row in LA, well, I think we’d have to literally criminalize homelessness and round them up to fix that one.

I’ve never encountered the levels of human shit on the sidewalks as I did in NY, but I haven’t frequented SF recently.

I’m still glad I’m not Australian :/

Q: What lies between recession and depression?

A: Greatness.

25

"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." Not their job.

"In Washington, criminalizing poverty ranges from laws about panhandlingto parking restrictions."- everyone is subject to parking restrictions.

"Cities enforce laws against sitting or sleeping in public places, panhandling, public urination, and other behaviors"- as they should.

26

America, supposedly a "christian" nation founded on Judeo-Christian values, stinks of hypocrisy in its treatment of the poor.

Jesus would send this entire country of self-centered, "I got mine," greedy pricks straight to hell.

America is the most christian-professing yet non-christian-acting country on the planet.

28

The best part of this report was the bit about our unwillingness to tax ourselves in America. This is our failing in the modern age. We used to heavily tax the rich; we don't anymore. We used to promote 'the general welfare'; now it's every person for themselves. We used to agree across party differences that there is a minimum level of need for government, infrastructure and community; now, any talk of raising taxes is instantaneously shot down, most definitely by the right who seem to want to destroy government completely and, more than ever, by the left because of 'fiscal responsibility' that has been the norm over the last 30-40 years of cutting government to the bone and has made any other position politically impossible. We gotta get money from the top to the bottom, somehow, and tax is an established way to do it. The private sector WILL NOT build roads, transit systems, etc because they are inherently unprofitable. It seems like such a losing fight at this point. (This post obviously completely ignores the glut of money our country spends on war compared to the rest of the world...I guess we could pull from that pot before we put the rich to task, but, yeah, right...)

29

@20: You're projecting.

@25: The statement about the policeman is not really about claiming the police should be responsible for that person, more just a statement about a society that demands homeless people go away, but gives them few or no options. More of a microcosm of the issue.

30

@Teddy

You're deflecting.

I love it when you passive-aggressively give up.

31

Clearly the UN was busy 5, 6, 7 or more years ago to notice until now. Besides, what has the UN done for the US except bleed us dry. Believe me, the coincidence of this report and Trumps spending restrictions on the UN are not going unnoticed by the majority that know better. Next-

32

The gist of this report is that income/class disparity in this country has been increasing for several decades as the oligarcs ("1 percenters" and those who follow on their coat tails) continue to entrench their power. Their insatiable drive for profits directly repress the mobility of working families and even communities who are frequently pushed into poverty. American oligarcs (and their followers) govern to build wealth and entrench power the monied classes...that is all that matters. The nurturing of humanity (hopes, dreams, love...oh yeah food, health care, and housing) are seen as expenses cutting into their profits.

Also key in this report is the observation that lower economic and working classes don't vote. Personally I doubt that social, political, and economic justice/equality is part of our DNA so if you want it you must participate...at the very least VOTE!

33

The problem is the very rich for starters.


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