AMY GOODMAN: The New York Times has a piece, "The Next Crisis for Puerto Rico: A Crush of Foreclosures." And it says, "Now Puerto Rico is bracing for another blow: a housing meltdown that could far surpass the worst of the foreclosure crisis that devastated Phoenix, Las Vegas, Southern California and South Florida " If the current numbers hold, Puerto Rico is headed for a foreclosure epidemic that could rival what happened in Detroit, where abandoned homes became almost as plentiful as occupied ones." Professor Alston?
PHILIP ALSTON: So, what you've got is, the very poor -- and I visited a lot of areas where people have no electricity still and are living in rubble, essentially -- they won't be going anywhere. They'll be staying in their homes. Those who are reasonably well-off will be fleeing, because they can't make it in Puerto Rico. They don't have the electricity. They don't have the economic support. And so there's no point in staying. That housing market will then be terribly uninteresting for investors and others.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Could you talk about the positive side of your report, those areas that you saw communities organizing themselves and trying to deal with their problems directly?
PHILIP ALSTON: Well, I did -- and particularly in Puerto Rico, it has to be said, I visited some of the cooperatives where people are really trying to reclaim the land in San Juan, trying to dredge the old canal that's grown over. I met with a lot of people living around power plants who are very severely impacted by the daily flow of coal ash and so on. They're really organized. They're really focused. And that was terrific.
I think, in many other parts of the country, as well, what I saw was, you know, community health collectives in West Virginia. I saw the homeless in Skid Row in Los Angeles and so on. There is a real element of organization. But the bottom line, unfortunately, is that if you don't have essential government services being provided, these people can't do it on their own.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we want to thank you very much for being with us. In 30 seconds, can you summarize -- I mean, you're not from this country. You've lived here for a long time. But you now take this different kind of tour, and you're the special rapporteur on extreme poverty. Your thoughts on the United States after this two weeks?
PHILIP ALSTON: Well, the United States is unique. First of all, it doesn't recognize what we call social rights at the international level -- a right to healthcare, a right to housing, a right to food. The United States is unique in that, saying these are not rights.
Second, the issue with elimination of poverty always is around resources: "We don't have the money." The United States, again, uniquely, has the money. It could eliminate poverty overnight, if it wanted to. What we're seeing now is the classic -- it's a political choice. Where do you want to put your money? Into the very rich or into creating a decent society, which will actually be economically more productive than just giving the money to those who already have a lot?
AMY GOODMAN: And what the tax bill does?
PHILIP ALSTON: That's what the tax bill does, from what I've seen.
AMY GOODMAN: Philip Alston, United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, a professor at New York University Law School, just completed a two-week tour examining extreme poverty and human rights in the U.S.
When we come back, the seven banned words, according to staff at the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control. Is this true that people at the CDC, when writing up budgets, are not supposed to use words like "transgender" or "science-based" or use the word "fetus"? Stay with us.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
