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Title: Unaffordable Housing in America
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Published: May 26, 2016
Author: Stephen Lendman
Post Date: 2016-05-26 11:42:33 by Stephen Lendman
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Views: 794
Comments: 28
Unaffordable Housing in America by Stephen Lendman According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) report, titled “Out of Reach 2015,” income inequality in America makes housing increasingly unaffordable. “(I)n no state, metropolitan area, or county can a full-time worker earning the prevailing minimum wage afford a modest two-bedroom apartment,” it said. At $7.25 an hour, the federal minimum wage, it would take 112 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, meaning all work and sleep with no time for anything else. Stagnant wages, declining benefits, high inflation (8.8% according to economist John Williams, not the phony 1.1% CPI), and protracted Main Street Depression conditions created a deplorable situation for growing millions. Not only isn’t America beautiful, modestly priced housing is increasingly unaffordable. According to NLIHC president and CEO Diane Yentel, “(t)he federal government has the resources to end the shortage of housing affordable to the lowest income families.” “It is simply a matter of how those resources are allocated. Instead of subsidizing the mortgages of higher income people, we must invest in making rental housing more affordable and available to those most in need of assistance.” Trillions of dollars go for warmaking and benefits for America’s privileged class. Most others are increasingly on their own. Millions are one lost paycheck away from hunger, homelessness and despair. The world’s richest country cares little about its most disadvantaged, why poverty is a growth industry and one in four working aged Americans have no jobs. Potemkin village illusion conceals reality. In contrast, million dollar book deals and 6-figure speech payments await Obama when he leaves office in January - already very rich, about to become super-rich, cashing in on serving monied interests throughout his tenure, waging class war on most others. Problems affecting ordinary Americans don’t concern him. An affluent lifestyle awaits. Reportedly he’ll move into an 8,200 square foot, 9-bedroom luxury home in Washington’s upscale Kalorama neighborhood, two miles from the White House. Former Clinton aide Joe Lockhart owns the mansion. Obama will pay $22,000 in monthly rent. It would take an average low-wage US worker up to 12 or more years to cover its annual rental cost - provided he or she didn’t eat, own a car or have medical, transportation, or utility expenses. The community is home to Washington’s political elites. Former presidents William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt lived there. In March, Obama said he’ll remain in Washington at least until his youngest daughter finishes Sidwell Friends School - uncaring about the global human misery he caused, unaccountable for war crimes too appalling to ignore. Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III." http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.
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#2. To: Stephen Lendman (#0)
Anybody is free to move to Detroit and buy a fixer-upper HOUSE for less than $100
#3. To: NeoconsNailed, BTP Holdings, Lod, Artisan, X-15, (#2)
What we need a Free Trade Zone law for urban areas. We exempt Chinese companies from US laws so they will employ Americans and ship products to China to make our trade deficit look better. Venezuela is doing that with farm land so they are shipping out their rice and beans while the natives are rioting for food. We can have an Urban Trade Zone for whites to colonize Detroit. We could buy up 10,000 homes at less than $1,000 each. Exempt the new residents from US laws regarding segregation, firearms, vaccinations and education. That way they could have segregated schools and allow white 8 year-olds with training to carry weapons. The whites would be exempt from Detroit and Michigan taxes. Maybe we could post snipers at the entrance areas and shoot into black Detroit at anyone bothering whites. Or have white soldiers on patrol in black Detroit who would treat the locals exactly like Israelis treat Palestinians. To have this work whites who take SSRIs and other dangerous drugs could not move in.
There's a reason it's that low -- it's unlivable due to crime etc. But you'd think that at some point 20 or 30 families would band together and decide to do it as immediate nabers, mebbe with their own ongoing naberhood patrols. Oh, that's it -- liberals don't go near the ghetto for any reason, and conservatives can't keep marching in a straight line together for 10 feet. But I like this idea -- in theory it could grow from there and reclaim a whole inner city. Some developer could make out like a bandit! There are blocks of abandoned stores and warehouses in our old downtown just waiting to be turned into a chic urban naberhood, but it never happens. It's not that large an area. They're brick, too! One is built with dramatic exposed wooden framing inside -- monster timbers forming what could be a the ultimate great room. Wish I had the money to adapt, cool and heat such a space.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest“(I)n no state, metropolitan area, or county can a full-time worker earning the prevailing minimum wage afford a modest two-bedroom apartment,” it said.
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#4. To: X-15 (#2)
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