Politics > Politics-USA > We got plenty of money for wars and tax cuts for the rich and corporaions.
| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Sogobia" |
| Date: |
22 May 2004 12:56:13 PM |
| Object: |
We got plenty of money for wars and tax cuts for the rich and corporaions. |
Bush/GOP compassionate conservatism is a lie typical of 90% of their
political propaganda.
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Affordable Housing in Crisis
Published: May 22, 2004
House Republicans who authorized cuts in federal housing subsidies for the
poor are now fuming over the bad publicity about the cuts. It's strange that
anyone was surprised at the negative reaction. The cuts place tenants in
some cities at risk of losing subsidized housing, and financial institutions
are beginning to express doubts about continuing to participate in the kinds
of development projects that have built much of the nation's affordable
housing.
If the lawmakers really regret the damage they have done, there is still
time for them to undo it. The recent promise by the Department of Housing
and Urban Development to shovel an extra dollop of money into the current
program won't do the trick. HUD needs to rethink its hostile approach to
paying for the critical Section 8 program, which furnishes rent subsidies
for two million of the country's most vulnerable families.
Section 8 has survived the generation-long assault on public housing because
it is based partly in the private sector. Rather than building affordable
housing itself, the government has guaranteed subsidies for rents in the
private market. Families, most of them living at or below the poverty level,
pay 30 percent of their incomes toward rent, and Section 8 vouchers pay the
remainder. Developers used the Section 8 guarantees as backing when they
raised money for low- or mixed-income developments.
But despite its theoretical commitment to the private market, HUD has gotten
tired of meeting the fast-rising housing prices in some markets. It
announced recently - with Congressional blessing - that it would no longer
pay the full cost of the vouchers. It froze federal funds at the level of
August 2003, plus an adjustment for inflation.
This is a tactic the Bush administration has used in other areas as it tries
to halt open-ended commitments for federal funds in favor of set block
grants. A "block grant," however, is simply a cut by another name. Neither
the poor nor the local housing authorities have the power to make rents
conform to those dictates. In high-cost areas like New York and San
Francisco, officials will have trouble finding landlords and builders who
will accept Section 8 tenants because the vouchers will no longer provide a
predictable level of support. Families who have been lucky enough to get
Section 8 help may wind up having to pay more rent.
Perhaps worst of all, the financial community has begun to react. A New
England bank has scrapped an innovative home mortgage program aimed at
promoting home ownership through Section 8. Wall Street bond traders have
warned that the cuts could cause the bond market to lose faith in Section
8-related programs, undermining the bonding process that makes it possible
to build affordable housing.
The incomes of the poor do not expand just because real estate values do. If
these ill-advised cuts are allowed to stand, a public-private partnership
that has been producing affordable housing since the Nixon years will wither
and die.
http://nytimes.com/2004/05/22/opinion/22SAT2.html
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Most US workers saw their earnings fall or stagnate last year, with those at
the bottom of the income scale hit hardest.
The trend, coming alongside a slack job market, explains why many Americans
feel left out of the economic recovery - and why President Bush faces a
tough sell with his campaign-trail message that there is "good strong
growth." Democratic rivals point to "two Americas," one for the rich, one
for the poor.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0211/p03s01-usec.html
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| User: "Asmodeus" |
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| Title: Re: We got plenty of money for wars and tax cuts for the rich and corporaions. |
01 Jun 2004 02:44:38 PM |
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"Sogobia" <windriver2000@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:a8b2d239672b2ea315be886b76802538@news.teranews.com:
Affordable Housing in Crisis
Handouts aren't nearly in enough crisis.
--
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