Poverty, by America - In conversation with Matthew Desmond
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- Опубліковано 12 бер 2023
- In this discussion, Matthew Desmond presents his new book and is joined by leading UK experts to discuss what can be done to eradicate poverty in both the UK and United States, in the historic Toynbee Hall.
Panellists
Chaired by Dr Omar Khan, Director, TASO and incoming chair of Trust for London
Matthew Desmond, sociologist and the Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology at Princeton University
Shami Chakrabarti, Labour Peer, former shadow AG and former director of Liberty, and human rights campaigner
Peter Brierley, assistant director, Citizens UK
"Some lives are made small so that others can grow"
@14:10 Yes! This is why I liked Bernie Sanders - he bridged this divide, until anti-socialist propaganda crept in. As a progressive with Tea Party & MAGA family members this was always conspicuous common ground. We definitely need to be leaning into it.
Bad government affects all people rich and poor, urban and rural. The new Supreme Court decision on affirmative action has got me thinking that it is the right decision but what matters always is how things shake out on the ground. As far as bad government goes, it is inefficient and expensive. Unfortunately the fuels that spur capitalism and make it "better" also reinforce the separation between the rich and poor. The way to get government to improve is to take back control of the monies so that compensation depends on performance. A bag ask!
Just read the book. Glad to see this.
YES, THINGS ARE BEING DONE, TO US. TREACHEROUS, HEINOUS THINGS. WE DO NEED TO BE THERE WHEN "THEY" ARE DECIDING THESE THINGS. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. COME OUT OF THE SHADOWS...USE YOUR OWN AGENCY...I AGREE...
If there is a will, there is a way. The problem is that politicians and the rich don’t have the will ti change things. So, this issue keeps rolling until we the people become activists and organize around ending poverty.
The key point that Desmond made is that our homes are our primary storers of wealth. This leads to restrictive zoning and encourages land speculation that drives up the cost of housing. Any gains we make in higher wages are seized by the landlords, so much so that in places like San Francisco and London can make six figures and still live below the poverty line.
In the US the limit to qualify for section 8 housing is 100k. So when I hear people bragging about making 100k a year, I laugh to myself.
So true and poignant. As a renter it is true that the landlords where I live are completely detached from the the residents here and so atttached to extracting the maximum possible revenues. Over many years this apartment complex has been incredibly resistant to any improvements to comfort, safety, or energy efficiency. These apartments were at one point available to middle income renters and the owner was not interested in max profit but rather in fairness and stability. He sold them and the fate was sealed as a magnet for the poor who would pay more and serve as temporary residents with lots of trash going into the dumpsters.
@@perpetualgains6559 uh 100k is still a great salary in large swathes of the US.
When we look at “if there’s a will, there’s a way,” we do best to also see that where there is a way, there’s a will.
@25:40 Excellent commentary in general, and I think this point sums it all up. It’s the continuity of moral failings.
..and If Musk says otherwise, the problem is his words are worthless.
Speakers did a good job of describing problems but not one good idea on how to solve them.
This is a problem with so many of our leaders and political candidates - the analysis is great - they have stunning clarity on the "why's;" what they don't put forth are the answers. I think it's because solving poverty would necessistate some cost to the rich, and they are both completely unwilling to make even a very small sacrifice in their power and privilege, and they are very powerful, so nothing happens without their approval.
@@hollywoodartchick9740 I don't believe it would require more taxes. The federal government issues the currency and can issue as much as they want. They don't need taxes to pay for things. See Modern Monetary Theory. What is required are policy changes, the right policies make all the difference. E.g. West and East Germany. Same people, different policies, vastly different outcomes.
@@jacque4697 Government printing of money is basically a tax on everyone.
We don’t care about race colour or creed
Background
We are all good natured people
First do not Harm
Duty of Care
For all Life People/Planet
Dream Big
WWG1WGA
Matthew Desmond is addressing issues that have haunted me my whole life through my own observations and experiences, that have long and frustratingly been normalized by virtually everyone I know. I’m grateful.
IF I MAY SUGGEST, GET TO KNOW DIFFERENT KINDS OF PEOPLE.
@12:18 Thank you for commenting on MLK’s three ideals. Americans mostly forget his whole vision and concern with poverty/labor rights and war.
Great discussion, but please go through and remove the audio spikes. My ears are still ringing from one of them.
...only now they have made it inaudible in general, like they put a muffler on the entire thing. I wonder if the acoustics of this location are awful or if the recording equipment was faulty?
"Everyone always wants to ask about the causes of poverty, but poverty has been the normative human condition throughout all of history. We should stop asking about the causes of poverty, and instead ask about the causes of wealth." Thomas Sowell (my paraphrase)
Sowell is wrong, and he generally is a token who defends the powerful...
The norm for humans was hunter-gathering who only worked 30 hours a week and did so with family and community. There was no social stratificatiom caused by money and the relentless pursuit of it, or the authoritarianism caused by selling yourself for money and taking orders all day
No one cares what Sowell thinks. A person that is too stupid to realize he is nothing more than a show prop and shill by those on the right simply because he is black.
Levels of inequality rise and fall according the world events and economic policy. I suggest "Capital in the 21st Century" by Thomas Picketty. Thomas Sowell doesn't really study economics, he's more of a conservative moral philosopher/idealogian.
@@ryerye9019 Relative poverty (inequality) is certainly something to pay attention to, and I would agree that world events and economic policy are contributing factors to both relative and absolute poverty. But the Sowell quote (and his larger work) point at the fundamental truth that is ignored by individuals like Desmond, wealth is created by individuals who are able to meet the needs of others through their innovation and effort.
I am not all that familiar with Piketty's work, but he seems to recognize the importance of developing the individual capacity to create wealth. Desmond seems to be blind to the importance of this need.
Desmond is right but....our politicians (both parties) simply do not care about the poor or their housing issues or education or job/careers or future. That is the problem. The same government that can find all the money and tax loopholes it wants for the rich then turn around and ignore the plight of the poor.
They do care. They cannot fix it within a democratic framework: Meaning, NIMBYism, regulations and cost disease.
The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.
G.K. Chesterton. Currently the rich in both declining nations hide their wealth overseas. Comical yet tragic to know both nations proclaim Christianity guides their nations. Of course neither wants to read or govern by the Gospels of the Prince of Peace. Choosing instead for old testament worship of the Golden Calf. Only fifty years ago US had most even distribution of wealth in it's history. Then Reaganomics, Milton Friedman, and all these years later over $7 trillion in wealth has been transferred From the many to the few. Governments take??? It's all the fault of our enemy dujour which this year is China. Never take responsibility for your own nation's corruption cruelties inhumane crual policies always find an old testament scapegoat to blame. In our world of 8 billion precious humans with 80 million net new precious humans joining us annually this corruption must become history. Civilization will not survive our current course.
Fixed poverty in & of itself is a malignant act of violence. How is poverty fixed? It is fixed by the faulty poverty line.
The truth is the income of the working class, poor, working poor (& even the disappearing middle class) does not pair up with rent rates & the actual cost of living (decent, bare basic). The problem is the faulty poverty line.
When Mollie Orshansky (1960), formulated the basis of the poverty line, it was fixed upon meal plans of peanut butter (or the cheapest no frill emergency diet possible),for 3 meals a day.
This was an emergency diet, not a sustainable one. Thereby, the poverty line is fundamentally flawed.
As said the poverty line is based on the cost of an emergency diet, and it does not apply to every day life, neither is it sustainable.
Many Americans are struggling to pay rent, grocery, utilities & transportation expenses, at minimum.
However, if the poverty threshold line is corrected to reflect the actual cost of living, wages & support would increase for many everyday Americans.
Including more common sense supportive programs in place for small businesses, average households & college tuitions.
One solution could be for support (well supervised, audited support) be federally provided to qualifying employers, (this would be especially useful to small business owners) so that they can pay their employees an actual living wage that is relevant & reflective of the cost of living in real time.
People are scratching & struggling to survive, they’ve been robbed of hope & many are not going to go to work, at the risk of losing federal support, if they know that they cannot (on their own), meet the bare essentials to shelter, see a doctor when needed & feed themselves and their children.
No one should be forced to choose between being housed (having their rent paid through governmental aid) or choosing employment. The work wages will not pay for rent & basic needs.
Impoverished Americans are neither lazy nor crazy, it's called survival.
The bottom line is the stronger the working & middle classes are, the bolder the lift of the entire economy bearing down on their backs and shoulders will be.
Please make it a priority to address that the poverty line reflects actual, humane cost of living expenses (reflective of the respective city / state cost of living expenses).
Don’t make wages minimum, make them relevant (relevant wages are wages that are reflective of actual rent & mortgage rates & a healthy-basic cost of living).
We also need a proliferation of vocational training for youth and abled adults (of all ages).
I personally would like to see as many buses for (quality) vocational-training-sign-up as I did for COVID-19 vaccines, especially in low income areas.
The problem is that far too many Americans are ignorant to the poverty vacuum:
ua-cam.com/video/D9N7QaIOkG8/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/-ptHavHrDuE/v-deo.html
Whoever was coughing into the mic… EFF YOU. Otherwise a great talk
Collaboration between people who care
Proven past experience and success
Listen and working with the local communities
Much more cost effective than private Monopolies
We see you
Really invest in your People
No one is left behind
WWG1WGA
THE POVERTY LINE WILL KEEP DIPPING, DUE TO GREEDY PPL
To the camera man who coughed.
Thanks for the heart attack
Much of Desmond's argument is really about the South. The extreme poverty and economic and political marginalization he describes is concentrated in the South. If the Northeast or West Coast were separate nations, they'd have no more problem with poverty than France. We must remember that there are 340 million people in the US.
Sounds like you have never been to Los Angeles. The wealth gap here is embarrassing. Skid Row is overflowing with wasted humans and human waste while gated communities thrive on the labor of maids and gardeners crammed into multifamily homes that still cost too much, but the landlord is willing to ignore how many people it takes to pay their huge rents.
@@hollywoodartchick9740 I've spent a few months there. Poverty works very differently in California. the problem on the west coast is housing costs. The problem in Mississippi is low wages and lack of public services.
@@3506Dodget’s the same in the D.C. area (including northern VA, Baltimore etc). In fact, it’s true in virtually every city, regardless of location. Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, Boston, etc.
@@ili626 the numbers show Southern poverty to be worse in every way. Education, health, crime are all worst in the South.
This type of segregation is also prevalent in Great Britain. It was there before it was here. The upper five percent own the majority of land there.
In the United States, you can buy land and build your own shack. You can get a good education. You can live a good life.
England has food shortages, unaffordable housing, a monarch spending millions on their coronation.
One in 50 blacks are millionaires here. Can GB say the same?
How much does it cost to dine out there? Several hundred pounds???
It’s not a competition lol … the idea is that both are having similar problems
@@beadmecreative9485 No, you have a British person criticizing the United States when he needs to be taking care of his own problems.
@@onestarabove7027 you are mad another person calls out your country’s problems? Get over yourself lol
@@beadmecreative9485 I am sick and tired of other people from other countries thinking they have some right to try to explain our country when their own country is a cesspool. You are one of those I am sure. Take a flying leap.
@@beadmecreative9485 the problems in England are not similar to the problems here. Your ignorance is amazing.
Well anyone that is unable to work they think is garbage people with disabilities even seniors people that may have worked and paid taxes for years just don't matter anymore even Veterans with ptsd or injuries have to fight for their "benefits" and pensions sometimes. The poor are just stigmatized people don't even care how they came to be poor or why there is no social responsibility to them.
In addition to poverty US in 2022: 72,000 drug deaths. 40,000 dead 80,000 wounded by guns. #1 killer of children, guns. Largest , most expensive, industrial scale prison system. Healthcare systems twice as expensive of any of our peers yet producing poorer outcomes and sliding life expectancy. Largest homeless population of any industrialized nation. Primary education in decline. $31 trillion in debt yet spending $1.5 trillion on forever wars. Thanks for the video!
These are insane figures. Ty for reminding us. It makes me question democracy.. how much does a vote matter if you have to be alive to vote and the people suffering keep dying? They have no voice
Population of 335 million puts that into perspective. Also, I'm not sure what stays you're using, but the "children" stat likely includes people up to 19 years old for some reason.
Meh
Hh