U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley Nimrata (Nikki) HaleyRaces to watch in Tuesday’s primaries In Syria, Trump travel ban case is being watched closely Cheer the US exit from UN Human Rights Council — but demand more MORE on Thursday dismissed a poverty report by the United Nations, saying it’s “ridiculous” for the intergovernmental body to analyze American poverty.
“It is patently ridiculous for the United Nations to examine poverty in America,” Haley said in a letter to Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernard (Bernie) SandersTrump's move to halt family separations leaves questions unanswered Sanders: 'Democrats have been serious about comprehensive immigration reform' Races to watch in Tuesday’s primaries MORE (I-Vt.).
“The Special Rapporteur wasted the UN’s time and resources, deflecting attention from the world’s worst human rights abusers and focusing instead on the wealthiest and freest country in the world.”
Sanders, along with several Democratic lawmakers in both chambers, earlier this month sent a letter to Haley asking her to show President Trump Donald John TrumpJimmy Fallon responds to Trump: I'll donate to pro-immigrant nonprofit in his name South Carolina GOP candidate expected to make full recovery after car accident Official: US to present North Korea with timeline, 'specific asks' MORE the conclusions of the report published by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.
The report blamed poverty in the United States on politics.
“At the end of the day, however, particularly in a rich country like the United States, the persistence of extreme poverty is a political choice made by those in power,” the report reads. “With political will, it could readily be eliminated.”
The report said American democracy "is being steadily undermined" and provided several suggestions for how to alleviate poverty in the U.S. The recommendations said American citizens must realize taxes "are in their interest" and that the U.S. "must recognize a right to health care."
Sanders and the other Democrats called upon the Trump administration to provide Congress with a strategy to act on suggestions made in the United Nations report.
But Haley in her response to Sanders slammed the report as “misleading and politically motivated.”
“The report categorically misstated the progress the United States has made in addressing poverty and purposely used misleading facts and figures in its biased reporting,” Haley wrote.
“There is no question that poverty in America remains a serious concern, but it does no one any good to inaccurately describe its prevalence or its causes.”
Sanders quickly responded to Haley, saying he believes “it is totally appropriate” for the United Nations to publish a report on poverty in America.
“I hope you will agree that in a nation in which the top three people own more wealth than the bottom half, we can and must do much better than that,” Sanders wrote in his reply.
The senator told Haley he’d “love the opportunity” to talk to her about poverty when he is in New York.
kurfer on June 25th, 2018 at 05:38 UTC »
I used to be that guy that made fun of all these "This country is fucked" types but now my mind has gone 180. I am seeing people getting into my industry (an industry that is still booming and requires even more education/training/background than it did when I started). They are making so much less than I did back in 1999 it's scary and I couldn't imagine starting over today.
Seems like the average college graduates are getting locked into lifetime student loans for careers that may not even pay over 6 figures ever. I wish this country would stop buying into the stupid fucking game of "you need to go into financial ruin to be able to go to the most expensive school money can buy" thought process.
I am so nervous at what my kids will go through growing up. This current 20 something generation of newcomer professionals are so damn broke it's scary.
TheKolbrin on June 25th, 2018 at 02:59 UTC »
The Spanish Flu Pandemic started the conversation about paying people decent wages for housing and hygiene facilities (like soap and running water) as well as social assistance for the poor to keep them out of overcrowded hovels and off the street.
Hopefully it won't take something like that again to beat it into peoples heads that a healthy society does not exist for just 'some' of the people.
BiggRanger on June 25th, 2018 at 01:51 UTC »
Link to the UN document: http://undocs.org/A/HRC/38/33/ADD.1 The web viewer didn't work for me, in the upper right hand corner is a link to download the word doc.
Here are just two points in the overview, I strongly suggest reading all the points.
4. The United States is a land of stark contrasts. It is one of the world’s wealthiest societies, a global leader in many areas, and a land of unsurpassed technological and other forms of innovation. Its corporations are global trendsetters, its civil society is vibrant and sophisticated and its higher education system leads the world. But its immense wealth and expertise stand in shocking contrast with the conditions in which vast numbers of its citizens live. About 40 million live in poverty, 18.5 million in extreme poverty, and 5.3 million live in Third World conditions of absolute poverty.1 It has the highest youth poverty rate in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the highest infant mortality rates among comparable OECD States. Its citizens live shorter and sicker lives compared to those living in all other rich democracies, eradicable tropical diseases are increasingly prevalent, and it has the world’s highest incarceration rate, one of the lowest levels of voter registrations in among OECD countries and the highest obesity levels in the developed world.
5. The United States has the highest rate of income inequality among Western countries.1 The $1.5 trillion in tax cuts in December 2017 overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy and worsened inequality. The consequences of neglecting poverty and promoting inequality are clear. The United States has one of the highest poverty and inequality levels among the OECD countries, and the Stanford Center on Inequality and Poverty ranks it 18th out of 21 wealthy countries in terms of labour markets, poverty rates, safety nets, wealth inequality and economic mobility. But in 2018 the United States had over 25 per cent of the world’s 2,208 billionaires.2 There is thus a dramatic contrast between the immense wealth of the few and the squalor and deprivation in which vast numbers of Americans exist. For almost five decades the overall policy response has been neglectful at best, but the policies pursued over the past year seem deliberately designed to remove basic protections from the poorest, punish those who are not in employment and make even basic health care into a privilege to be earned rather than a right of citizenship.