Trump's 'cruel' measures pushing US inequality to dangerous level, UN warns

[Willie Pep]

I am not sure if this has been posted here yet but the United Nations special monitor on extreme poverty has warned that Trump's policies will be devastating for the poor and middle-class.

Donald Trump is deliberately forcing millions of Americans into financial ruin, cruelly depriving them of food and other basic protections while lavishing vast riches on the super-wealthy, the United Nations monitor on poverty has warned.

Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur who acts as a watchdog on extreme poverty around the world, has issued a withering critique of the state of America today. Trump is steering the country towards a “dramatic change of direction” that is rewarding the rich and punishing the poor by blocking access even to the most meager necessities.

Full article: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/01/us-inequality-donald-trump-cruel-measures-un

Alston made a point to say that these policies will not just hurt the poor but will also harm middle-class Americans. DUers should pass this info on to people who are on the fence about who to vote for this year. I think too many Americans think Trump and the GOP only hurt the so-called "welfare bums" but the truth is they are coming for everyone who is not rich.

[Beartracks]

1. Republicans are okay-dokey with punishing the poor, because...

... they don't think of themselves as poor even when they're lower-income and in hard times, and they don't think of their friends as poor even when they get laid off for extended periods, and they don't think of their neighbors as poor even if they need assistance from the government or their church to feed the kids. They simply think "being poor" is what happens only to OTHER people.

===========

[Achilleaze]

2. Republicans pissing on the poor

and the teachings of their Bible. Sick and sad.

[Chemisse]

3. It's scary.

And cruel is the best word for what he is doing to eliminate 'safety nets' for people who are struggling.

[Chemisse]

4. A Korean analyst said Kim Jong Un wanted his people to be destitute.

Because then they don't have the resources to resist the oppression.

I wonder if that is what Trump is thinking.

[Arkansas Granny]

5. I have never lived in poverty, but I've been poor. Unless you've been faced with

having to "make do" or do without what most people consider to be basic necessities, you can't understand the stress it adds to one's life, especially if you have children.

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer and now we have a president and Congress that rewards the rich and penalizes the poor.

[heaven05]

6. this is a vicious, cruel country

that has always treated the poor and POC as pawns in the power games of the rich. First eradicate, in a completely genocidal manner, the First-americans. Then bring slaves into ameriKKKa to help with our cash crops and provide whipping boys, children and women for our enjoyment as racially superior people, creating a permanent underclass to force into our military to be slaughtered in far off places pursuing ameriKKKan empire for PNAC.

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/pnac.htm.

Keep racism alive no matter what. It keeps that underclass at each other's throats while we loot the treasury. Yes, keep encouraging black and white poor animosity against each other, using fear and general white racism, perpetuated, first by the religions of ameriKKKa, now fox news, alec jones. This has always been the M.O in the hands of the upper class of ameriKKKa. It has been wielded usually over jobs, wages, housing ect by giving the nod to white people, leaving brown people scrambling for crumbs from "ameriKKKan exceptionalism" cupboards.

https://www.theroot.com/ https://www.theroot.com/man-who-called-cops-on-black-women-golfing-to-911-othe-1826484941

I'm just sick of ameriKKKan wypipo and their bullshit.

[Arkansas Granny]

7. America's poor becoming more destitute under Trump: U.N. expert

Poverty in the United States is extensive and is deepening under the Trump administration whose policies seem aimed at removing the safety net from millions of poor, while rewarding the rich, a U.N. human rights investigator has found.

Philip Alston, U.N. special rapporteur on extreme poverty, called on U.S. authorities to provide solid social protection and address underlying problems, rather than "punishing and imprisoning the poor".

While welfare benefits and access to health insurance are being slashed, President Donald Trump's tax reform has awarded "financial windfalls" to the mega-rich and large companies, further increasing inequality, he said in a report.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1IY0C3