Wealth inequality and social mobility news

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[wjfox]

I think you've been creating too many new threads lately. Do we really need this one?

You're often the only one posting in them.

Also, your titles are becoming way too long, such as this one. Please keep them more succinct. For instance, not every thread has to have "news and discussion" tacked on the end. And "Helping and improving the lives of" could have been shortened to just "Helping".

Or just call it something like "Wealth inequality and social mobility".

[weatheriscool]

I wanted to make a thread for good news as nearly everything else is bad or messed up. I'll stop making threads for a few months.

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How Blue Houston Decreased Their Homelessness By 60%
This editorial outlining how Democratic-led Houston, despite a red state government, decreased their homeless population by 60%, should be a model for the nation:

Opinion: How Houston’s homelessness breakthrough could be a national game-changer

We should note that homelessness got worse here before it got better. In 2011, the Houston area had one of the largest homeless populations in the country. With the threat of homelessness only increasing, and dismay over decades of substantial investments without results, our community was propelled into action.
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This became particularly critical during Covid-19, when homelessness became a present danger to many people who were already living on the brink. As challenging as it was, we reframed this crisis as an opportunity to do more to assist them. The city of Houston and Harris County strategically invested federal pandemic aid, alongside contributions from private philanthropy, allowing our system to house, or offer homelessness diversion services to, more than 12,000 people during the pandemic. We housed the most vulnerable people first. When the average person sees someone experiencing homelessness and struggling with mental illness, they assume that individual is dangerous or needs hospitalization. Our experience is that most of these folks stabilize in housing with the appropriate level of services. We have also found that housing with supportive services is the solution to encampments — sites where unhoused people set up groups of tents. We have holistically decommissioned dozens of encampments by placing close to 400 people on the path to housing.
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We are doing this difficult work not just because it is the moral thing to do, but also because it is the fiscally responsible thing to do. It is less expensive to house an individual and provide services (we estimate about $18,000 per year) than the multiple of costs of putting people in jail or allowing them to suffer on the streets and being forced to make regular use of our emergency rooms (which national estimates range from $30,000 to $50,000 and up).
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Since 2012, more than 28,000 people who have experienced homelessness in the greater Houston area have been housed. This has resulted in a more than a 60% decrease in overall homelessness in just over a decade.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/08/opinions ... index.html

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Putting this piece of good news here too!

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Rent is falling in America for the first time in years

By Alicia Wallace, CNN
Published 6:35 AM EDT, Mon June 26, 2023

Minneapolis (CNN) — Some welcome news for renters: The US median rent in May fell from May 2022, the first annual rent decline in at least three years, according to a Realtor.com report released Monday.

In May, the national median asking rent was $1,739, which was up a skosh ($3) from April but down 0.5% from May 2022. It’s the first decline since Realtor.com started tracking the year-over-year data in March 2020.

“This is yet another sign that rental-driven inflation is likely behind us, even though we may not see this trend in official measures until next year,” Danielle Hale, Realtor.com’s chief economist, said in a statement. “Although still modest, a decline in rents combined with cooling inflation and a still-strong job market is definitely welcome news for households.”

{snip}

— CNN’s Anna Bahney contributed to this report

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/26/economy/ ... index.html

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Low-income St. Louis families to get $500 per month for 18 months
Source: NY Daily News

October 11, 2023 at 11:28 p.m.

A new program in St. Louis will give $500 a month to low-income families for 18 months, an effort to help prevent the root causes of crime, city officials said. The city’s Mayor Tishaura Jones announced Tuesday that the funds will go to hundreds of households across the city, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“St. Louis’ guaranteed basic income will give hundreds of St. Louis families the resources they need to lift themselves out of poverty, giving them a strong foundation to grow and to thrive,” Jones said during a news conference. A website is already available for those interested and will begin taking applications later this month. The city plans to start doling out the money in December through debit cards.

About 540 St. Louis households are expected to receive the benefits, with the money going to parents or guardians of children enrolled at city public schools. Those eligible include families making 170% of the federal poverty line or less, which comes to roughly $42,000 for a family of three.

The program, launched after Andrew Yang popularized universal basic income during his failed 2020 presidential campaign, was approved last year by St. Louis’ Board of Aldermen.

Read more: https://www.nydailynews.com/2023/10/11/ ... residents/

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Biden administration focuses on converting commercial properties to residential use in new affordable housing steps

Source: CNN Politics

Published 6:02 AM EDT, Fri October 27, 2023

Washington CNN — The Biden administration announced new steps Friday to ensure access to affordable housing, launching a slew of resources to convert high-vacancy commercial buildings to residential use. The effort is an attempt to address what the administration says is a dearth of much-needed, affordably priced, conveniently located and energy-efficient homes.

Last week, CNN reported that – with mortgage rates nearing 8%, steadily rising home prices and historically low inventory of homes for sale – the housing market has been getting consistently worse for two years, and there appears to be no end in sight.

Home sales dropped in September to the lowest level since the foreclosure crisis as surging interest rates and climbing home prices made buying a house unattainable for a growing share of would-be buyers. Historically low inventory of homes for sale continued to push prices up and rates that crossed over 7% in August have pulled sales down to their lowest level in 13 years, according to a monthly report from the National Association of Realtors.

As part of Friday’s announcement, the Department of Transportation will release new guidance on more than $35 billion in lending available for transportation-oriented development projects. According to a fact sheet shared with CNN ahead of the announcement, the administration estimates the guidance “will increase housing supply, while encouraging state and local governments to improve their zoning, land use and transit-oriented development policies.”

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/27/politics ... index.html

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Minimum-wage workers in 22 states will be getting raises on Jan. 1

Source: NPR

December 26, 2023 5:32 AM ET

Minimum-wage workers in 22 states are going to see more money in their paychecks in the new year.

Those increases will affect an estimated 9.9 million workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), which estimates that those bumped wages will add up to an additional $6.95 billion in pay.

In addition to those 22 states, 38 cities and counties will also increase their minimum wages above state minimums on Jan. 1. According to the Department of Labor, 20 states will maintain the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

And according to EPI, of the 17.6 million workers earning less than $15 an hour, nearly half live in those 20 states that continue to stick to the federal minimum wage — which has not changed since 2009.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2023/12/26/12215211 ... ises-jan-1

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[wjfox]

World's first trillionaire predicted within a decade

16th January 2024

The world's first trillionaire is predicted by UK charity Oxfam to happen within the next 10 years. Meanwhile, the global eradication of poverty will take until the mid-23rd century to achieve.

Read more: https://www.futuretimeline.net/blog/202 ... decade.htm

[firestar464]

I'm not sure how we have poor posthumans? I guess this is under current trends, which will undoubtedly change

[Powers]

I'm not sure how we have poor posthumans? I guess this is under current trends, which will undoubtedly change

-Augmented-Ascended hobos.

[caltrek]

Tax Cuts for Corporations and the Super Rich Are Killing State Revenues
by Wesley Tharpe
January 24, 2024

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) As the 2024 legislative season starts, state policymakers again face a critical choice when it comes to tax policy: whether to pursue policies that ensure wealthy households and corporations pay their fair share and that vital public services are funded adequately, or to continue the recent trend of costly, regressive tax cuts that undermine their ability to meet people’s needs or invest in the future. With state revenues weakening and other risk factors on the horizon, states should reject calls for additional tax cuts and instead protect and raise revenues to support public services that help families and communities thrive.

Over the past three years, a wide swath of states have taken a counterproductive tax-cutting path: using the cover of temporary budget surpluses stemming from federal COVID-19 relief and the subsequent economic recovery to enact costly, regressive, and permanent cuts to their state income tax systems. But the federal relief has expired, and states have mostly spent the fiscal aid.

The fallout in lost revenue could be substantial. As our recent report detailed, 26 states cut personal and corporate income tax rates over the past three years. Those states stand to collect an estimated $111 billion less over the next five years than they otherwise would have, with the price tag in lost revenues hitting nearly $30 billion a year by 2028 (see graphic provided in article linked below). The damage is already starting to show up on some state balance sheets.

Tax cuts on that scale could translate into serious harm, especially at a time when state budgets are under increasing strain from a host of factors, including expiring federal relief funds and a modestly cooled economy. Shrinking revenues will jeopardize current levels of state support for vital public services like schools, health services, and income support programs. They will also constrain states’ future potential by limiting policymakers’ ability to make new investments to tackle unmet or emerging needs and issues, such as child poverty, the health of pregnant or postpartum people, or housing affordability.

Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/s ... -the-rich

caltrek's comments: The good news, as discussed further down in the article and not cited above, is that some states are taking steps to rectify this lopsided situation. Discussed examples include Massachusetts, Minnesota, Washington State, Colorado, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and the District of Columbia.

[caltrek]

American Oligarchy
January 2024

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) The Russian invasion of Ukraine triggered an unprecedented crackdown by the United States and other Western nations on the mansions, megayachts, and bank accounts of Russia’s ultrawealthy tycoons. Yet targeting Russia’s oligarchs surfaced some uncomfortable questions about our own political and financial systems and the people who shape them. So we thought it was time for a good, long look in the mirror. For our January + February 2024 issue, Mother Jones explores the rise and power of the emerging class of billionaires—fueled by the monopolistic growth of Big Tech—who are remaking America in their own decadent and extractive image. Their bored whims and futuristic fantasies shape how and where you live and work, even as their own worlds are increasingly siloed off from the rest of us. Welcome to the American Oligarchy.

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... ligarchy/

caltrek’s comment: It should be noted that the provided link in turn leads to links of other articles arranged in chapter like fashion. Together, it looks more like a small book than a magazine article. I just paid an incredibly low price of $10 for my 2024 subscription to Mother Jones. Hopefully, I will be getting my hard copy of the cited issue in the mail any day now.

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