10.05.2005

Stickin' it to the poor.

One of the first effects of the Supreme Court's June ruling on eminent domain may be felt by the poor, mostly black residents of a small Florida town. City officials in Riviera Beach may displace 6,000 residents to make room for a 400-acre, billion-dollar yacht club. In the SCOTUS ruling, a community's economic interests were given as grounds for government seizure of private land, and the City Council may claim the acreage where 2000 houses now stand for the housing and yachting complex.

Back in Washington, Congress is eyeing food aid for the poor and farmers to cut spending. While plans to repeal the estate tax are still a high priority for the GOP, Republicans want to slash $574 million from food stamps (which would boot some 300,000 people from the assistance program) and a billion dollars each for farmer subsidies and conservation programs.

The war in Iraq has cost over $198 billion to date and is rising at a rate of about $200 million per day.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is a great post. Consise and biting.