UN REPORT, PHILIP ALSTON *INTERVIEW: Trump Policies Worsen Inequality, Poverty (DN!)

- UN Rapporteur on Poverty Philip Alston discusses the new UN Report with Amy Goodman, June 15, 2018. Excellent.



A group of top Democrats are demanding the Trump administration present a plan to Congress to address growing poverty in the United States, following an excoriating report by the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty, Philip Alston. Alston slammed the Trump administration’s policies for worsening the state of poverty in the United States.
The report details how 40 million Americans live in poverty, and 18.5 million Americans live in extreme poverty.
It also details how the United States has the highest rate of income inequality among Western countries and one of the lowest rates of intergenerational social mobility. We speak with Philip Alston, the U.N. special rapporteur on extreme poverty. He will be presenting his report next week in Geneva.



>Transcript: (This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form).
AMY GOODMAN: A group of top Democrats are demanding the Trump administration present a plan to Congress to address mounting levels of poverty in the United States, following an excoriating report by the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty. In the letter, sent to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey and other top lawmakers write, quote, “We believe the massive levels of deprivation outlined in the report—as well as the [immense] suffering this deprivation causes—are an affront to any notion of the unalienable rights to [life], liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” unquote.

This comes after United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty Philip Alston slammed the Trump administration’s policies for worsening the state of poverty in the United States. The report states, “[T]he 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.”
The report details how 40 million Americans live in poverty and 18.5 million Americans live in extreme poverty. It also details how the United States has the highest rate of income inequality among Western countries and one of the lowest rates of intergenerational social mobility.
Joining us here in New York is Philip Alston, the U.N. special rapporteur on extreme poverty. He’ll be presenting his report next week in Geneva. *Welcome to Democracy Now! Lay out your findings.

PHILIP ALSTON: Well, I was looking at two different aspects, in a way. One is what you’ve described now—in other words, the economic statistics, the extent to which vast numbers of people are left living without enough to get by on, the 40 million living in poverty, the figure of 5.3 million, which has been estimated of people who live in, quote, “Third World conditions” in this country. And you’ve got a trend which is designed to—in terms of policies being adopted and put forward by the current administration, to— Continued, https://www.democracynow.org/2018/6/15/blistering_un_report_trump_administrations_policies