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Homelessness neg
Inherency- Obama has already Solved ....................................................................................... 3
Harms- Other things cause homelessness ................................................................................... 5
Solvency Take Out ........................................................................................................................ 6
Gentrification Case Attack/Turn 1NC ........................................................................................ 9
Gentrification Disad Shell .......................................................................................................... 11
Link Uniqueness- No mobile vouchers now ............................................................................. 13
Links- Section 8 vouchers= gentrification ................................................................................ 14
Link Booster- Gentrification snowballs .................................................................................... 15
Impacts- Gentrification=violence .............................................................................................. 16
Impacts- gentrification turns case ............................................................................................. 17
Turns case- Gentrification makes things worse for the homelessness ................................... 18
AT- Gentrification Good ............................................................................................................ 20
AT- Were not gentrification, were redevelopment .................................................................. 21
AT- Gentrification solve suburban sprawl ............................................................................... 22
Philosophy of Homelessness – Case Attack/ Turn 1NC Frontline ......................................... 23
Philosophy of Homelessness – Kritik 1NC shell ....................................................................... 26
Link Poverty Representations ................................................................................................... 32
Link- Poverty Discourse as Otherizing ..................................................................................... 33
Impacts- the view of poverty fails to address capitalism ......................................................... 35
Impact- Calculation .................................................................................................................... 36
Impact- Spirit Injury .................................................................................................................. 37
Impact- Otherization= extinction ................................................................................ 38
Impacts- Kritik turns case.......................................................................................................... 39
AT- Permutations/ Link turns ................................................................................................... 40
AT- Action is key ................................................................................................................ 43
Alternative- reject their Otherizing discourse ......................................................................... 45
Spending DA shell ................................................................................................................. 46
Overview ...................................................................................................................................... 50
2NC Uniqueness—Inflation ....................................................................................................... 51
2NC Uniqueness—Inflation (AT Gov’t Spending Now) ......................................................... 53
2NC Uniqueness—Economy ...................................................................................................... 55
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Links- Housing Assistance/SEVRA hurts the economy .......................................................... 58
Links- Social services hurt economy ......................................................................................... 60
Links- Spending .......................................................................................................................... 62
Impacts- Imflation kills dollar primacy/ U.S. leadership ........................................................ 64
Internal Link- inflation cuases dollar sell off ........................................................................... 65
AT Keynesian Economics ........................................................................................................... 67
AT Spending Good...................................................................................................................... 68
Conditions CP 1NC ..................................................................................................................... 71
Conditions key to solvency ......................................................................................................... 73
Conditions solve for public housing .......................................................................................... 74
Conditions key when dealing with homeless ............................................................................ 76
Net benefit- quality of life ........................................................................................................... 77
AT- The CP is racist ................................................................................................................... 78
At- no linkage between conditions and Support for a policy .................................................. 79
States Cp 1NC ............................................................................................................................. 81
States CP Solvency Extensions .................................................................................................. 82
AT- states have no $ to do the plan ........................................................................................... 84
CP Links- Non Profits Solve for Homelessness Better ............................................................ 86
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Inherency- Obama has already Solved
Aff is non - inherent- the Congress has already taken comprehensive
steps to alleviate homelessness
US Fed News Service- May 20, 2009- CONGRESS PASSES SEN. REED'S BILL
TO HELP PREVENT HOMELESSNESS NATIONWIDE-. Onlinehttp://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1719306391&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientId=48453&
RQT=309&VName=PQD
Congress today approved U.S. Senator Jack Reed's (D-RI) bill to help communities
reduce homelessness nationwide. The Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to
Housing (HEARTH) Act of 2009 (S. 808) will provide $2.2 billion for targeted homelessness
assistance grant programs; increase current levels of funding for homelessness assistance
grants by $600 million; and allocate up to $440 million for homelessness prevention initiatives.
It also expands the definition of homelessness in order to help families on the verge of
becoming homeless and reauthorizes federal homelessness aid programs for the first time
since 1989. "I am pleased that Congress has approved this legislation with bipartisan
support and I look forward to having President Obama sign it into law. This bill will
make a real difference in preventing more families from becoming homeless and
allowing local communities to assist families in need. This bill invests $2.2 billion for
targeted homelessness assistance grants and provides communities with greater
flexibility to spend the money on programs that have a proven track record of
success," said Reed, a senior member of the Banking Committee, which oversees
federal housing policy. "This is a wise use of federal resources that will save taxpayers
money in the long run by preventing homelessness, promoting the development of
permanent supportive housing, and optimizing self-sufficiency." The HEARTH Act seeks to
address this growing problem by reauthorizing the landmark McKinney-Vento Homeless
Assistance Act of 1987. It would simplify and consolidate three competitive U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) homelessness assistance programs into one program
and allow more funding to flow to communities that can demonstrate a commitment to
accomplishing the goals of preventing and ending homelessness. It would also: * Allow up to
20% of funds or up to $440 million dollars to be used to for homeless prevention initiatives.
This new "Emergency Solutions Grant" program would allow cities and towns to serve people who
are about to be evicted, live in severely overcrowded housing, or otherwise live in an unstable
situation that puts them at risk of homelessness. * Require HUD to provide incentives for
communities to implement proven strategies to significantly reduce homelessness. * Provide
local communities with greater flexibility to spend money on preventing homelessness. *
Expand the definition of homelessness, which determines eligibility for much of the homeless
assistance funding, to include people who will lose their housing in 14 days (current practice is 7
days) and people fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, or other dangerous or life
threatening situations.
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The reauthorized McKinney-Vento act will solve homelessness
Shannon Moriarty- staff writer for change.org- May 20, 2009- Congress
Passes the HEARTH Act, Obama Expected to Sign Today- Onlinehttp://homelessness.change.org/blog/view/congress_passes_the_hearth_act_oba
ma_expected_to_sign_today
Today, President Obama is expected to sign into law a comprehensive
housing bill that reauthorizes HUD's McKinney-Vento program and contains
the HEARTH Act. The bill, S. 896, overwhelmingly passed by Congress
yesterday, will significantly increase the support available for homeless
families and individuals. While note perfect (which we'll delve into that in
future posts), the bill acknowledges the realities of modern homelessness in
America better than any homeless legislation to date. Here are a few of the
highlights of the bill:
* Increases priority on homeless families with
children, by providing new resources for rapid re-housing programs,
designating funding to permanently house families, and ensuring that families
are included in the chronic homelessness initiative.
* Significantly
increases resources to prevent homelessness for people who are at risk of
homelessness, doubled up, living in hotels, or in other precarious housing
situations through the Emergency Solutions Grant program.
* Continues
to provide incentives for developing permanent supportive housing and
provides dedicated funding for permanent housing renewals.
* Grants
rural communities greater flexibility in utilizing McKinney funds.
*
Modestly expands the definition of homelessness to include people who are
losing their housing in the next 14 days and who lack resources or support
networks to obtain housing, as well as families and youth who are
persistently unstable and lack independent housing and will continue to do so.
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Harms- Other things cause homelessness
Alternate causality for homelessness
Louisiana Weekly- 6/22/09- Pilot program successful in reducing homelessness
risk- Online- http://www.louisianaweekly.com/news.php?viewStory=1451
Homelessness occurs for many reasons, as the Recovery Corps’ High Risk of
Homelessness pilot program demonstrated. Many homeless families today
become homeless because of a catastrophic event, such as Louisiana’s recent
hurricanes. Families living paycheck-to-paycheck often cannot overcome such
situations, especially if their homes are damaged or destroyed, their jobs
are no longer available, or their ability to get to work is compromised.
Other major reasons for homelessness include catastrophic illnesses,
domestic abuse, and job loss, among others.
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Solvency Take Out
No Solvency- Savings from housing the homeless are inflated- plan causes
budget turf wars that undermine effectiveness
Florence Graves and Hadar Sayfan – Staff writers for the Boston GlobeJune 24, 2007- First things first- Online-
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/06/24/first_things_firs
t/
The savings are impressive, but some worry they may be inflated. Jim
Greene, who heads the city of Boston's Emergency Shelter Commission,
suspects that some of the success stories from around the country are
misleading, worrying that the people who ran the studies were selective
about who they enrolled. But the Massachusetts program has specifically
asked for the neediest and most challenging street people, according to Dr.
Jessie Gaeta, an MHSA Physician Advocacy Fellow and a clinician for the
Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program who is one of the study's
investigators. Still, she said, she will not consider any of the results to be
valid until they have at least a year's worth of data. Even if the program
does save money overall, it still poses a political problem: The agencies that
save money on health care, for example, are not the same as those that
spend money on housing and other services. That could lead to a budget turf
war.
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Housing fails as a solution to homelessness
Benedict Giamo & Peter H. Rossi- professor and published author on the
subject of homelessness- 1992- Beyond Homelessness - Frames of Reference
– Page- 7
ROSSI: Sort of, but on a very large scale. The major incentives for a
corporation are the profits and, for people, wages and salaries. That is a
very powerful theory. I think that the economic basis of homelessness is
often forgotten in the morass of pathology that we see day to day. But
there is no way that you can provide housing to people who cannot afford any
rent. I think that this cry for affordable housing is a misleading slogan. Five
million new housing units: if they charge $100 per month rent, none of the
homeless could afford it. The homelessness problem is more an income
problem than a housing problem.
Plan fails to solve the systemic racism that causes people to be homeless and
impoverished in the first place
Benedict Giamo & Peter H. Rossi- professor and published author on the
subject of homelessness- 1992- Beyond Homelessness - Frames of Reference
– Page- 14
GIAMO: In 1985, 40 percent of black males under the age of 35 were unemployed.
ROSSI: Well I think that we are seeing the end result of that 40 percent back
then. It is part of the isolation of the black community from the rest of society. If
you [Giamo] need a job, there is someone you know who can tell you where a job is.
If your friends and family are also persons who do not know of any jobs and they
might be looking as wellthen you are out of the network of referrals. I have
forgotten now who did this, but one's range of knowledge and acquaintance in the
world makes a difference. Researchers asked people certain questions like "Do you
know a doctor?" "Do you know someone who owns a factory?" "Or who owns a
business?" ''Or who works in the post office?" They found that blacks have a very
restricted range of acquaintances. GRUNBERG: Access? ROSSI: Information
access.
GIAMO: Other racial and ethnic minorities are also over represented
among today's homeless. ROSSI: That's right, Hispanics, and the American Indian
probably is the worst in this regard. The homeless in Minneapolis are something
like 20 to 25 percent American Indian.
GIAMO: We've talked about race,
gender, and ethnicity as being parts of the overall homeless picture, economics as
well, but what about culture?
ROSSI: I am sure it does fit in, I just don't know
how to conceptualize it. Certainly part of any person's culture is the extent to
which one holds obligation to kin. So, now, probably the most familistic of our
American ethnic groups are the Irish. The most familistic are the ones who can
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afford it. So the Irish are in the position where they have a very strong sense of
obligation to siblings, to nephews, nieces, parents, grandparents, children,
grandchildren, and the like; and they can afford it. They are now in a very affluent
position.
Blacks have an interesting kind of kinship set of obligations. (I am
talking here of research my wife and I have done for the last four or five years,
recently published as Of Human Bonding.) It is much flatter. Blacks feel a flatter
level of obligation to a wider network of kin. That is the basis of the black network
Carol Stack researched where people can very easily develop a kinship sense of
obligation in relationships with first, second, and third cousins. In a circumstance
where there is some affluence in there, it would be a fantastic way of getting
along. It would be like the Koreans who help each other and make fictitious kin, and
the like. But, without affluence, it can be like a maintenance network, rather than a
growth network.
GRUNBERG: Is the profile of Chicago's homeless similar to
other cities?
ROSSI: Yes, with the exception of the racial composition,
which may vary from place to place. Actually, ratios of races and ethnic groups vary
mysteriously in one sense. In Detroit, Chicago, and New York, blacks dominate the
homeless picture. But in Birmingham, Alabama? No, it's whites. Now what makes
for these differences? I do not know. Maybe there is subtle discrimination in the
shelter systems. Where do the black homeless go in Birmingham?
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Gentrification Case Attack/Turn 1NC
Uniqueness and Link- The credit Crunch has slowed the rate of gentrification,
but developers are trying to take advantage of low house prices to start it up
again – The plans expansion of mobile section 8 vouchers breaks down a key
barrier to this gentrification, allow developers to move poor people out
Eileen Markey- gotham gazette staff writer - Jun 22, 2009- Foreclosure
Threat Looms over Thousands of City Apartments- Onlinehttp://www.gothamgazette.com/print/2945
A spokesman for Urban America declined to discuss specifics of the firm's financial record. Doug Eisenberg, chief operating
officer of Urban America said in a statement that his company is in no danger of defaulting. "The properties are healthy, we
never take on debt beyond our means, and we are continuing to invest in these properties. Nor are we in the business of
pushing out our residents. We are committed to these buildings for the long-term, as we are to long-term residents," he
The private equity firms invested in the buildings because they thought the
apartments were undervalued. In rapidly gentrifying Harlem and elsewhere, the
new landlords thought they could command market rents. When his building left Mitchell Lama
said.
in 2005, Claude Johnson, a retired building maintenance man who lives at 3333 Broadway, saw rent on his one bedroom
Tenants and their advocates began to talk about
gentrification, about working class tenants being pushed out, about the erosion of
affordable housing. Responding to cries of forced gentrification from voters in Harlem, Bushwick, Washington
increase from $800 to $1,390.
Heights and elsewhere, the City Council passed an anti-tenant harassment law. At the May 28 rally, State Sen. Bill Perkins
of Harlem noted the irony of Schomberg Plaza being renamed The Heritage at a time when the historically African American
neighborhood was becoming whiter – and wealthier. "We have seen the worst of times and we are not leaving when the good
But now that
the boom has collapsed, the problem is a few degrees more complicated. The new
private equity owners couldn't actually make huge returns on the buildings, Levy argues.
It might be possible to harass a few Section 8 and rent-regulated tenants into
leaving and convert their apartments into high rent spaces, Levy said a few months ago. "But
these new owners can't actually get rid of everyone. There are layers and layers of subsidies that
keep the buildings in these programs," she said. "Thank God for that. We don't want
people priced out of their homes. But it means there is no way for these buildings
to perform financially."
times come. These landlords are in the process of disappearing us. We will not be disappeared," he said.
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Gentrification Turns and Outweighs case- It creates the city as a frontier,
where those on the wrong side of the tracks become dehumanized. It
replicates the capitalist and racist ideologies that makes all their harms
inevitable
NEIL SMITH- Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the City University
of New York. – 1996- THE NEW URBAN FRONTIER
Gentrification and the revanchist city- Page- 16
The nineteenth century and its associated ideology were “generated by the social
conflicts that attended the ‘modernization’ of the Western nations,” according to Slotkin.
They are “founded on the desire to avoid recognition of the perilous consequences of capitalist development in the New
World, and they
represent a displacement or deflection of social conflict into the
world of myth” (Slotkin 1985:33, 47). The frontier was conveyed in the city as a safety
valve for the urban class warfare brewing in such events as the 1863 New York
draft riot, the 1877 railway strike, and indeed the Tompkins Square riot of 1874.
“Spectacular violence” on the frontier, Slotkin concludes, had a redemptive effect on the
city; it was “the alternative to some form of civil class war which, if allowed to
break out within the metropolis, would bring about a secular Götterdämmerung”
(Slotkin 1985:375). Projected in press accounts as extreme but comparable versions of events in the city, a magnifying
mirror to the most ungodly depravity of the urban masses, reportage of the frontier posited eastern cities as a paradigm of
social unity and harmony in the face of external threat. Urban social conflict was not so much denied as externalized, and
whosoever disrupted this reigning urban harmony committed unnatural acts inviting comparison with the external enemy.
Today the frontier ideology continues to displace social conflict into the realm of
myth, and at the same time to reaffirm a set of class-specific and race-specific
social norms. As one respected academic has proposed, unwittingly replicating Turner’s vision (to
not a murmur of dissent), gentrifying neighborhoods should be seen as combining a “civil
class” who recognize that “the neighborhood good is enhanced by submitting to
social norms,” and an “uncivil class” whose behavior and attitudes reflect “no
acceptance of norms beyond those imperfectly specified by civil and criminal law.”
Neighborhoods might then be classified “by the extent to which civil or uncivil
behavior dominates” (Clay 1979a:37–38). The frontier imagery is neither merely
decorative nor innocent, therefore, but carries considerable ideological weight.
Insofar as gentrification infects working-class communities, displaces poor
households, and converts whole neighborhoods into bourgeois enclaves, the frontier
ideology rationalizes social differentiation and exclusion as natural, inevitable. The
poor and working class are all too easily defined as “uncivil,” on the wrong side of a
heroic dividing line, as savages and communists. The substance and consequence of the frontier
imagery is to tame the wild city, to socialize a wholly new and therefore challenging set of processes into safe ideological
focus.
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Gentrification Disad Shell
A. Uniqueness and Link- The credit Crunch has slowed the rate of
gentrification, but developers are trying to take advantage of low house prices
to start it up again – The plans expansion of mobile section 8 vouchers breaks
down a key barrier to this gentrification, allow developers to move poor people
out
Eileen Markey- gotham gazette staff writer - Jun 22, 2009- Foreclosure
Threat Looms over Thousands of City Apartments- Onlinehttp://www.gothamgazette.com/print/2945
A spokesman for Urban America declined to discuss specifics of the firm's financial record. Doug Eisenberg, chief operating
officer of Urban America said in a statement that his company is in no danger of defaulting. "The properties are healthy, we
never take on debt beyond our means, and we are continuing to invest in these properties. Nor are we in the business of
pushing out our residents. We are committed to these buildings for the long-term, as we are to long-term residents," he
The private equity firms invested in the buildings because they thought the
apartments were undervalued. In rapidly gentrifying Harlem and elsewhere, the
new landlords thought they could command market rents. When his building left Mitchell Lama
said.
in 2005, Claude Johnson, a retired building maintenance man who lives at 3333 Broadway, saw rent on his one bedroom
Tenants and their advocates began to talk about
gentrification, about working class tenants being pushed out, about the erosion of
affordable housing. Responding to cries of forced gentrification from voters in Harlem, Bushwick, Washington
increase from $800 to $1,390.
Heights and elsewhere, the City Council passed an anti-tenant harassment law. At the May 28 rally, State Sen. Bill Perkins
of Harlem noted the irony of Schomberg Plaza being renamed The Heritage at a time when the historically African American
neighborhood was becoming whiter – and wealthier. "We have seen the worst of times and we are not leaving when the good
But now that
the boom has collapsed, the problem is a few degrees more complicated. The new
private equity owners couldn't actually make huge returns on the buildings, Levy argues.
It might be possible to harass a few Section 8 and rent-regulated tenants into
leaving and convert their apartments into high rent spaces, Levy said a few months ago. "But
these new owners can't actually get rid of everyone. There are layers and layers of subsidies that
keep the buildings in these programs," she said. "Thank God for that. We don't want
people priced out of their homes. But it means there is no way for these buildings
to perform financially."
times come. These landlords are in the process of disappearing us. We will not be disappeared," he said.
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B. The impact is war on the streets. Gentrification replicates the America’s
militaristic foreign policy. The next wave of gentrification will be worse than
the first with “cavalry charges” of violence
NEIL SMITH- Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the City University
of New York. – 1996- THE NEW URBAN FRONTIER
Gentrification and the revanchist city- Page- 26-27
Immigrants come to the city from every country where US capital has opened
markets, disrupted local economies, extracted resources, removed people from the
land, or sent the marines as a “peace-keeping force” (Sassen 1988). This global
dislocation comes home to roost in the “Third-Worlding” of the US city (Franco
1985; Koptiuch 1991), which, combined with the threat of increasing crime and
repressive policing of the streets, invites visions of a predaceous assault on the
very gentrification that it helped to stimulate. In her research on the disruption of
the ways in which children are socialized, Cindi Katz (1991a, 1991b) finds a clear
parallel between the streets of New York and the fields of Sudan where an
agricultural project has come to town. The “primitive” conditions of the core are at
once exported to the periphery while those of the periphery are reestablished at
the core. “As if straight out of some sci-fi plot,” writes Koptiuch (1991), “the wild
frontiers dramatized in early travel accounts have been moved so far out and away
that, to our unprepared astonishment, they have imploded right back in our midst.”
It is not just the Indian wars of the Old West that have come home to the cities
of the East, but the new global wars of the New American World Order. A new
social geography of the city is being born but it would be foolish to expect that it
will be a peaceful process. The attempt to reclaim Washington, DC (probably the
most segregated city in the US), through white gentrification is widely known by
the African- American majority as “the Plan.” In London’s gentrifying Docklands
and East End, an anarchist gang of unemployed working-class kids justify mugging
as their “yuppie tax,” giving a British twist to the Tompkins Square slogan, “Mug a
yuppie.” As homes and communities are converted into a new frontier, there is an
often clear perception of what is coming as the wagons are circled around. Frontier
violence comes with cavalry charges down city streets, rising official crime rates,
police racism and assaults on the “natives.” And it comes with the periodic
torching of homeless people as they sleep, presumably to get them “out of
sight.” And it comes with the murder of Bruce Bailey, a Manhattan tenant activist,
in 1989: his dismembered body was found in garbage bags in the Bronx, and,
although police openly suspected angry landlords of the crime, no one was ever
charged. It is difficult to be optimistic that the next wave of gentrification will
bring a new urban order more civilized than the first.
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Link Uniqueness- No mobile vouchers now
The status quo fails to allow mobility for vouchers users
Will Fischer- Senior Policy Analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities- 06/04/09- Testimony: Will Fischer, Senior Policy Analyst, at the House
Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity-Onlinehttp://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=2833
A major reason is that the agency that first issues a voucher to a family
must continue to cover the cost of the voucher after the family moves,
unless the agency in the destination community voluntarily accepts the cost
by “absorbing” the voucher. This arrangement is administratively
cumbersome and can carry added costs for the issuing agency if the
community to which the family moves has higher rents than the community
the family left. For their part, destination agencies are often reluctant to
absorb portability vouchers because that would divert scarce resources
away from families on the agency’s own waiting list. SEVRA would direct
HUD to resolve this impasse by issuing regulations promptly after enactment
that eliminate or minimize the extent to which one agency must bill another
agency for the cost of a voucher for a family that has relocated, without
preventing each agency from assisting families from its own waiting list.
HUD could achieve this, for example, by requiring destination agencies to
absorb the vouchers while making those agencies eligible for funding to
cover the resulting costs. This solution treats both agencies equitably and
ensures that the portability process is not unnecessarily cumbersome.
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Links- Section 8 vouchers= gentrification
Section 8 vouchers empirically lead to gentrification, breaking down the
projects and moving their former residents out of the city
Kari Lydersen- Independent Journalist for LIP magazine- 03.15.99SHAME OF THE CITIES: Gentrification in the New Urban America- Onlinehttp://www.lipmagazine.org/articles/featlydersen_7_p.htm
In many cities, decrepit public housing projects stand on some of the most
valuable land. In other areas, project-based Section 8 (scattered site public housing)
units are earmarked for low-income residents, but landlords are realizing
they could be getting astronomically higher rents for these structures. Thanks
to original ill-conceived plans and shameful maintenance, much public housing is now virtually unlivable. Now federal
and state agencies are removing large public housing projects in every major city. The majority of residents are
given Section 8 vouchers and sent into the open market to find an affordable apartment. Yet the federal
government has also passed legislation that spells the near-total dismantling of project-based Section 8 housing.
Developers previously got low-interest mortgages to build apartments for Section 8 housing, with the tenants
landlords
have been allowed to buy out their 40-year mortgages early, get rid of
Section 8 tenants, and raise the rents to fit the market. If they don’ t do
this, there are always other means they can use. "We’re afraid that local HUD
offices will start enforcing quality standards on Section 8 buildings real
strictly in valuable areas," says Mike Foley of the Cleveland Tenants Union. "The buildings
won’t be up to code so they’ll lose the Section 8, then they’ll be demolished
or rehabbed for market rate housing." In Los Angeles, low-income housing advocates fear that
paying a third of their income toward rent and the government picking up the slack. But recently,
the demise of project-based Section 8 housing will be catastrophic. Already, L.A. has had 30 landlords buy out of
Section 8 mortgages since the law went into effect. "Venice is one of the last places in the country where lowincome people can live by the beach," said Larry Gross of the Coalition for Economic Survival in L.A. "We’re just
barely holding on to HUD-assisted housing there. But soon it will all be over and become condo conversions. In
The policies that have been enacted and the direction
we’re heading seem to spell disaster for low-income people." People
displaced from public housing and Section 8 will add even more strain to the
already tight affordable-housing markets. And their displacement from
gentrifiable areas will doubly help the gentrifiers. Not only have Section 8
and public-housing units been cleared for market rate units, but the removal
of the undesirable poor residents will instantly make the neighborhood
"better" and more attractive to wealthy residents. The racial element of the dismantling
general it’s a bleak picture.
of public housing is impossible to ignore. Public housing activists charge that, with the vast majority of public
housing residents being black and Latino, their high concentration in valuable areas is too much for city officials
and developers to bear. As public housing disappears, these minority residents are scattered.
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Link Booster- Gentrification snowballs
Any Risk of a Turn means you vote Neg- Gentrification snowballs into more
and more gentrification, meaning even the smallest risk of a link will have
massive impacts
NEIL SMITH- Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the City University
of New York. – 1996- THE NEW URBAN FRONTIER
Gentrification and the revanchist city- Page- 21
The economic geography of gentrification is not random; developers do
not just plunge into the heart of slum opportunity, but tend to take it
piece by piece. Rugged pioneersmanship is tempered by financial caution.
Developers have a vivid block-byblock sense of where the frontier lies.
They move in from the outskirts, building “a few strategically placed
outposts of luxury,” as Henwood (1988:10) has put it. They “pioneer”
first on the gold coast between safe neighborhoods on one side where
property values are high and the disinvested slums on the other where
opportunity is higher. Successive beachheads and defensible borders are
established on the frontier. In this way economic geography charts the
strategy of urban pioneering.
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Impacts- Gentrification=violence
Gentrification causes conflict when it occurs in areas of social polarization.
Then can spiral into violence, turning case
Eric Clark - Professor of Human Geography and Head of the
Department of Social and Economic Geography at Lund University.2005- Gentrification in a Global Context: The New Urban Colonialism-p. 261
This is as relevant in the 'new' urban post-industrial frontier as it is in the
'old' rural agricultural frontier. The dreams and visions of vagrant sovereigns
disembed and displace those of present users, a process powerfully facilitated by
the operation of land markets in capitalist space economies. Potential land rents
are boosted by how much vagrant sovereigns are willing to pay to realise their
dreams. Actual land rents are limited by how little present users can afford in
order to hang on to their dreams. Though the political economics of the rent gap
mechanism and its underlying structures are vastly more complex (Clark 1987,
1995, 2004; Harvey 1982; Sheppard and Barnes 1990), this simple relation of
conquest is essential to us workings. As long as ideas of a feasible and desirable
alternative to capitalism are in short supply, the possibility of capitalism within a
moral society becomes the next best thing to which to run. (Sayer 2001: 705)
Gentrification leads to violent conflict in many cities (N. Smith 1996). In
other places we can observe a 'more benign unwinding of the process' (Atkinson
200Th: 2343). I believe a comparative analysis aimed at understanding why this
process turns into tumult in some places and not in others would find two key
factors to be degree of social polarisation and practices surrounding property
rights. In places characterized by a high degree of social polarization. short on
legally practiced recognition of the rights of users of place and long on legally
practiced recognition of the rights of owners of space. the conflict inherent in
gentrification becomes in flamatory. Not so in places characterised by relative
equality and legally pract- ised recognition of the rights of users of place. If so,
this indicates a direction for political engagement aimed to curb the occurrence of
gentrificat ion and to change societal relations such that when it does occur (and
it will), conditions are established for more benign ends.
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Impacts- gentrification turns case
Gentrification is apartheid of both race and class- destroy power bases for
radical movements, turning case
Kari Lydersen- Independent Journalist for LIP magazine- 03.15.99SHAME OF THE CITIES: Gentrification in the New Urban America- Onlinehttp://www.lipmagazine.org/articles/featlydersen_7_p.htm
WHEN DAVID ARAGON WAS YOUNG, his family lived in the working-class
Mexican and Italian Taylor Street neighborhood in Chicago, just west of
downtown. Then the University of Illinois at Chicago was built, and Aragon’s
neighborhood was destroyed to make room for university buildings and more
upscale restaurants and apartments serving the students and faculty. His
family took refuge in Pilsen, a neighborhood slightly further west and south,
which had long been a haven for working-class immigrants and became largely
Mexican in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Today, Aragon is experiencing deja vu. His
neighborhood is once again in mortal danger, with the university having
decided the area is a perfect place for more student and faculty apartments
and the city set on redeveloping the area by providing subsidies to
developers marketing lofts to higher-income professionals. "They’re pushing
poor people out of the city and in the process breaking up the power bases
of their struggle," he says. "It’s gentrification, but you could also almost call
it apartheid by both race and class."
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Turns case- Gentrification makes things worse for the homelessness
Boston Proves Gentrification makes things worse for the homeless
David Abel- Globe Staff - January 20, 2008- As gentrification spreads, rich,
poor seek a balance- onlinehttp://www.boston.com/realestate/news/articles/2008/01/20/as_gentrification_
spreads_rich_poor_seek_a_balance/?page=1
But he and others worried that the shelter's plan to change its name by
dropping the word "shelter" and adding "center" reflects pressure from the
hotel. "You can change the name, but you can't hide that this is a homeless
shelter with 300 guys," Scribner said. Outside the Saint Francis House, now
surrounded by a newly expanded Emerson College, the renovated China Trade
Center, the luxury Archstone Apartments, and the looming Ritz, where a
presidential suite is available for $5,500 a night, Jay Tankanow, 49, said he
feels hemmed in by the new buildings and mistreated by those who look
after them. "They think we shouldn't be here," he said. "They don't even let
us stand on the sidewalk. I can't be here for 15 minutes without getting
pushed away." Drinking coffee at a year-old sandwich shop across the
Street from the Pine Street Inn on Harrison Avenue, Eric Pierce, 63, and
Earl Farnsley, 66, said they are allowed to sit at the shop and not be
bothered. "It's nice to be treated with respect and be allowed to sit down
and have a cup of coffee," Pierce said. "The problem is when we're down the
street, and we sit on someone's steps, and they tell us to go away."
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Gentrification turns case- Gentrification is an attempt to recolonize the cityNew York proves homelessness will be made illegal and the homeless will
literally be tossed aside
NEIL SMITH- Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the City
University of New York. – 1996- THE NEW URBAN FRONTIER
Gentrification and the revanchist city- Page- 26
The effort to recolonize the city involves systematic eviction. In its various plans
and task force reports for gentrifying what remains of the inner city, New York City
government has never proposed a plan for relocating evictees. This is stunning testimony to the real program. Denying any
City officials refuse to admit the possibility
that gentrification causes homelessness. Public policy is geared to allow the housed
to “see no homeless,” in the words of one Lower East Side stencil artist. The 1929 Regional Plan for the Lower
connection between gentrification and displacement,
East Side was at least more honest: Each replacement will mean the disappearance of many of the old tenants and the coming
in of other people who can afford the higher rentals required by modern construction on high-priced land. Thus in time
economic forces alone will bring about a change in the character of much of the East Side population. (quoted in Gottlieb
One developer justifies the violence of the new frontier: “To hold us
accountable for it is like blaming the developer of a high-rise building in Houston
for the displacement of the Indians a hundred years before” (quoted in Unger 1984:41). In
1982:16)
Burlington, Vermont, one restaurateur has taken seriously the mission of getting “those people” out of sight. The owner of
Leunig’s Old World Cafe, in the gentrified, cobblestone, boutique-filled Church Street Marketplace, became incensed at the
homeless people who, he said, were “terrorizing” his restaurant’s clients. Funded by donations from restaurateurs and other
local businessmen in the town, he began an organization called “Westward Ho!” to provide homeless people with one-way
Some have gone further in the effort to see no
homeless, hoping in fact to illegalize homelessness altogether: If it is illegal to
litter the streets, frankly it ought to be illegal…to sleep in the streets. Therefore, there is a
simple matter of public order and hygiene “in getting these people somewhere else.
Not arrest them, but move them off somewhere where they are simply out of
sight. (George Will, quoted in Marcuse 1988:70) This kind of vengeful outburst only lends more
weight to Friedrich Engels’ famous admonition of more than a century ago: the
bourgeoisie has only one method of settling the housing question…. The breeding
places of disease, the infamous holes and cellars in which the capitalist mode of
production confines our workers night after night are not abolished; they are
merely shifted elsewhere. (Engels, 1975 edn., 71, 73–4; emphasis in original) Evicted from the public
as well as the private spaces of what is fast becoming a downtown bourgeois
playground, minorities, the unemployed and the poorest of the working class are
destined for large-scale displacement. Once isolated in central city enclaves, they are
increasingly herded to reservations on the urban edge. New York’s HPD becomes the new
tickets out of town—to Portland, Oregon.
Department of the Interior; the Social Security Administration the new Bureau of Indian Affairs; and Latino, African-
one especially prescient
East Village developer was cynically blunt about what the new gentrification
frontier would mean for evictees as gentrification raced toward Avenue D: “They’ll all be forced out.
American and other minorities the new Indians. At the beginning of the onslaught,
They’ll be pushed east to the river and given life preservers” (quoted in Gottlieb 1982:13).
Towson Debate
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AT- Gentrification Good
All their impact turns are lies. Gentrification advocates create the “urban”
dilemmas they claim to solve. Quality of life and property values are actually
worsened during the process of genetrification
NEIL SMITH- Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the City
University of New York. – 1996- THE NEW URBAN FRONTIER
Gentrification and the revanchist city- Page- 22
Whereas the myth of the frontier is an invention that rationalizes the
violence of gentrification and displacement, the everyday frontier on which
the myth is hung is the stark product of entrepreneurial exploitation. Thus
whatever its visceral social and cultural reality, the frontier language
camouflages a raw economic reality. Areas that were once sharply redlined
by banks and other financial institutions were sharply “greenlined” in the
1980s. Loan officers are instructed to take down their old maps with red
lines around working-class and minority neighborhoods and replace them with
new maps sporting green lines: make every possible loan within the
greenlined neighborhood. In the Lower East Side as elsewhere, the new
urban frontier is a frontier of profitability. Whatever else is revitalized,
the profit rate in gentrifying neighborhoods is revitalized; indeed many
working class neighborhoods experience a dramatic “devitalization” as
incoming yuppies erect metal bars on their doors and windows, disavow the
streets for parlor living, fence off their stoops, and evict undesirables from
“their” parks.
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AT- Were not gentrification, were redevelopment
There is no distinction between gentrification and redevelopment- There view
is anachronistic
NEIL SMITH- Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the City
University of New York. – 1996- THE NEW URBAN FRONTIER
Gentrification and the revanchist city- Page- 37
In this regard, what we think of as gentrification has itself undergone a
vital transition. If in the early 1960s it made sense to think of gentrification
very much in the quaint and specialized language of residential rehabilitation
that Ruth Glass employed, this is no longer so today. In my own research I
began by making a strict distinction between gentrification (which involved
rehabilitation of existing stock) and redevelopment that involved wholly new
construction (N.Smith 1979a), and at a time when gentrification was
distinguishing itself from large-scale urban renewal this made some sense.
But I no longer feel that it is such a useful distinction. Indeed 1979 was
already a bit late for this distinction. How, in the larger context of changing
social geographies, are we to distinguish adequately between the
rehabilitation of nineteenth-century housing, the construction of new
condominium towers, the opening of festival markets to attract local and not
so local tourists, the proliferation of wine bars—and boutiques for
everything— and the construction of modern and postmodern office
buildings employing thousands of professionals, all looking for a place to live
(see, for example, A.Smith, 1989)? This after all describes the new
landscapes of downtown Baltimore or central Edinburgh, waterfront Sydney
or riverside Minneapolis. Gentrification is no longer about a narrow and
quixotic oddity in the housing market but has become the leading residential
edge of a much larger endeavor: the class remake of the central urban
landscape. It would be anachronistic now to exclude redevelopment from the
rubric of gentrification, to assume that the gentrification of the city was
restricted to the recovery of an elegant history in the quaint mews and
alleys of old cities, rather than bound up with a larger restructuring (Smith
and Williams 1986).
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AT- Gentrification solve suburban sprawl
There no empirical evidence to support this argument
NEIL SMITH- Professor of Anthropology and Geography at the City
University of New York. – 1996- THE NEW URBAN FRONTIER
Gentrification and the revanchist city- Page- 37
Having stressed the ubiquity of gentrification at the end of the twentieth
century, and its direct connection to fundamental processes of urban
economic, political and geographical restructuring, I think it is important to
temper this vista with a sense of context. It would be foolish to think that
the partial geographical reversal in the focus of urban reinvestment
implies the converse, the end of the suburbs. Suburbanization and
gentrification are certainly interconnected. The dramatic suburbanization
of the urban landscape in the last century or more provided an
alternative geographical locus for capital accumulation and thereby
encouraged a comparative disinvestment at the center— most intensely
so in the US. But there is really no sign that the rise of gentrification
has diminished contemporary suburbanization. Quite the opposite. The
same forces of urban restructuring that have ushered new landscapes of
gentrification to the central city have also transformed the suburbs. The
recentralization of office, retail, recreation and hotel functions has
been accompanied by a parallel decentralization which has led to much
more functionally integrated suburbs with their own more or less urban
centres—edge cities as they have been called (Garreau 1991). If suburban
development has in most places been more volatile since the 1970s in
response to the cycles of economic Is gentrification a dirty word? 37
expansion and contraction, suburbanization still represents a more powerful
force than gentrification in the geographical fashioning of the metropolis.
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Philosophy of Homelessness – Case Attack/ Turn 1NC Frontline
The plan would force homeless into interactions with the state where they will
be marginalized and stigmatized
LISTER– PROF LOUGHBOROUGH U- 2004- POVERTY,
The notion of "the poor' as Other is used here to signify the many ways in
which 'the poor' are treated as different from the rest of society. The
capital *0' denotes its symbolic weight. The notion of 'Othering* conveys how
this is not an inherent state but an ongoing process animated by the 'nonpoor'. It is a dualistic process of differentiation and demar¬cation, by which the
line is drawn between 'us* and 'them' -between the more and the less powerful and through which social distance is established and maintained (Bercsford and
Croft, 1995; Riggins, 1997). It is not a neutral line, for it is imbued with
negative value judgements that construct 'the poor' variously as a source of
moral contamination, a threat, an 'undeserving' economic burden, an object of
pity or even as an exotic species. It is a process that takes place at different
levels and in different fora: from everyday social relations through
interaction with welfare officials and professionals to research, the media,
the legal system and policy-making {Schram, 1995). Valerie Polakow, for example,
describes how, in the US, schools, teacher training institutions and research
institutes arc all 'implicated in the framing of poor children as other, and in
institutionalizing the legitimacy of their otherness status' (1993: 150, emphasis in
original). Othering is closely associated with, and reinforced by, a number of
related social processes such as stereotyping, somatization and the more
neutral categorization. Stereo¬typing is a discriminatory form of labelling,
which attains a taken-for-granted quality and serves to portray particular
social groups as homogeneous. It is a discursive strategy that magnifies and
distorts difference (Riggins, 1997). Michael Pickering writes that 'stereotypes
operate as socially exorcistic rituals in maintaining the boundaries of normality and
legitimacy' (2001: 45). He suggests that normally 'stereotyp¬ing attempts to
translate cultural difference into Otherness, in the interests of order, power
and control' (2001: 204). In contrast, in the case of 'the poor', stereotyping
functions to create cultural difference and thereby the Other. At the same time,
as we saw in chapter 3, those groups who are more likely to be poor - women,
racialized minorities and disabled people - are themselves groups that are
frequently Othered.
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IMPACT – The Internalization of stigma the plan causes the loss of self
dignity, which is fundamental to living a valuable life
LISTER 2004 – PROF LOUGHBOROUGH U
POVERTY, PAGE
Where the stigma of poverty is internalized, shame is a likely consequence
(Goffman, 1968). As noted in the Introduction, participatory research in the
South has underscored the centrality of shame and humiliation to the
experience of poverty. Narayan et al. note that, because of the stigma associated with poverty in eastern Kuropc as well as the South, 'poor people
often try to conceal their poverty to avoid humiliation and shame' ( 2000:
38). So too in some more affluent countries feelings of shame and
experiences of humiliation are recurrent themes when people in poverty are
asked what poverty and claiming welfare mean to them (Polakow, 1993;
Kempson, 1996). Indeed, in a report of a visit to the UK, two community
workers from south India, Stan and Mari Thekaekara, comment that 'the
stigma attached to being poor is far greater here in the UK' and observe a
strong 'sense of shame' (1994: 21). As Adam Smith recognized over two
centuries ago, clothing, as a key signifier of relative poverty (see chapter
1), represents a visible badge of shame and humiliation (Gilroy and Speak,
1998; C. C. Williams, 2002). This is particularly so for children. Ridge's
study of childhood poverty found that wearing the (unaffordable)
appropriate, fashionable clothing is crucial to 'fitting in*, friendships and
avoidance of both bullying and social exclusion. One child explained that 'if
you don't wear trendy stuff. . . not so many people will be your friend 'cos
of what you wear'; another that 'you've got to keep going with the trend
otherwise you kind of get picked on' (Ridge, 2002: 68). This study and
earlier research by Mid-dleton et al. (1994) underline the importance to
children and young people of clothing as an expression of their emergent
identities. More generally, the shame and humiliation associated with
poverty can be particularly difficult to bear for this age group. Willow
observes that discussions about poverty with children living in deprived
areas were all 'woven with the threads of stigma and shame' (2001: 12). This
is likely to be a contributory factor in the lower self-esteem of many
children who have grown up in poverty (Krmisch et al., 2001; Ruxton and
Bennett, 2002). The significance of shame and humiliation is not to be
underestimated. They play an important role in maintaining inequality and
social hierarchy. They are painfully injurious to identity, self -respect and
self-esteem, in other words to how we feel about ourselves (Rawls, 1973; I
lonncth, 1995). A participant in a UK Coalition against Poverty wor kshop
describes what the loss of self-esteem feels like: 'You're like an onion and
Towson Debate
3/7/16
gradually every skin is peeled off of you and there's nothing left .
25/86
Homelessness Neg
All your self-esteem
and how you feel about yourself is gone - you're left feeling like nothing and
then your family feels like that' (UKCAP, 1997: 12). Shame and humiliation
peel away self-esteem and negate the identity of many people who
experience poverty. In his study of social identity, Richard Jenkins suggests
that Goffman's analysis of stigma demonstrates how 'others don't just perceive our identity, they actively constitute it. And they do so not only in
terms of naming or categorising, but in terms of how they respond to or
treat us' (1996: 74). While labelling does nor determine identity in a fixed
way, Jenkins argues that 'public image may become self-image. Our own
sense of humanity is a hostage to categorising judgements of others' (1996:
57). Questions of identity have implications for the political agency of
people in poverty; these will be explored in chapter 6. Here, I simply want to
make a related link between iden- elected chairperson of a food co-op and
of how other volunteers 'respected me and it gave me more confidence'
(Holman, 1998: 45; see also Wood and Vamplew, 1999). According to John
Rawls, self-respect is 'perhaps the most important primary good' (1973:
440). Sen (1999) identifies self-respect as a key functioning (see chapter 1)
and its significance is explored in greater depth in the work of Nusshaum.
She includes in her list of central human functional capabilities: 'having the
social bases of self-respect and non-humiliation; being able to be treated as
a dignified being whose worth is equal to that of others' (2000: 79). The
achievement of this principle with regard to people living in poverty has
implications not just for how they are treated in everyday social relations
but also for the organization of society. This is acknowledged, in principle at
least, in the 1998 French Law against Social Exclusion. Article 1 states that
'the struggle against exclusion is a national necessity based on respect for
the equal worth of all human beings'. At European level, the EC has
recommended that Member States should recognize the right to a level of
social assistance sufficient to enable members 'to live in a manner
compatible with human dignity' (cited in Veit-Wilson, 1998: 86).
Towson Debate
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Homelessness Neg
Philosophy of Homelessness – Kritik 1NC shell
Links- First - THE POOR ARE OTHERIZED IN POLICYMAKING AND
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
LISTER– PROF LOUGHBOROUGH U- 2004
POVERTY, PAGE
The notion of "the poor' as Other is used here to signify the many ways in
which 'the poor' are treated as different from the rest of society. The
capital *0' denotes its symbolic weight. The notion of 'Othering* conveys how
this is not an inherent state but an ongoing process animated by the 'nonpoor'. It is a dualistic process of differentiation and demar¬cation, by which the
line is drawn between 'us* and 'them' -between the more and the less powerful and through which social distance is established and maintained (Bercsford and
Croft, 1995; Riggins, 1997). It is not a neutral line, for it is imbued with
negative value judgements that construct 'the poor' variously as a source of
moral contamination, a threat, an 'undeserving' economic burden, an object of
pity or even as an exotic species. It is a process that takes place at different
levels and in different fora: from everyday social relations through
interaction with welfare officials and professionals to research, the media,
the legal system and policy-making {Schram, 1995). Valerie Polakow, for example,
describes how, in the US, schools, teacher training institutions and research
institutes arc all 'implicated in the framing of poor children as other, and in
institutionalizing the legitimacy of their otherness status' (1993: 150, emphasis in
original). Othering is closely associated with, and reinforced by, a number of
related social processes such as stereotyping, somatization and the more
neutral categorization. Stereo¬typing is a discriminatory form of labelling,
which attains a taken-for-granted quality and serves to portray particular
social groups as homogeneous. It is a discursive strategy that magnifies and
distorts difference (Riggins, 1997). Michael Pickering writes that 'stereotypes
operate as socially exorcistic rituals in maintaining the boundaries of normality and
legitimacy' (2001: 45). He suggests that normally 'stereotyp¬ing attempts to
translate cultural difference into Otherness, in the interests of order, power
and control' (2001: 204). In contrast, in the case of 'the poor', stereotyping
functions to create cultural difference and thereby the Other. At the same time,
as we saw in chapter 3, those groups who are more likely to be poor - women,
racialized minorities and disabled people - are themselves groups that are
frequently Othered.
Towson Debate
3/7/16
27/86
Homelessness Neg
Second- The affirmatives focus on housing masks the more foundational issues
in society that cause homelessness in the first place.
Benedict Giamo & Jeffrey Grunberg- 1992- Beyond Homelessness - Frames
of Reference – Page- _xi
From the beginning of this project in January 1990, our belief has been
that, in order to confront homelessness, we needed to transcend popular
culture's incessant monologue on the topic. Repeatedly, the public has
been told that homelessness presents three problems, which serve as
solutions as well: housing, housing, and housing. Such single-minded
slogans, though having a very real basis in the lack of affordable, lowincome housing in this country, have foreshortened our perception of the
homeless and have stunted our conversation about their problems. This
masking of homelessness shapes individual and social perceptions alike. It
influences how we see the problem, how we name it, and how we respond
to it. In effect, it blinds us to the relationship between homelessness
and other pertinent problems of American society: the questions and
issues related to social change, class divisions, racial inequities, poverty
amid affluence, alienation, and personal crises in living. Only by moving
from a monologue to a dialogue will we be able to face some of these
broader questions and issues. How effectively we deal with the problems
of the homeless at this time in history will depend on just how well we
recognize the frames of reference which we use to explainand, at times,
to explain away homelessness. In the interest of going beyond such
frameworks to sound out other voices, we have interviewed nine individuals
who range across the humanities, social and medical sciences, and human
services, all in an attempt to bring new ideas and outlooks into perspective
and to challenge established misconceptions of the social problem. Such
misconceptions, by the way, are apparent on both ends of the political
spectrum. It is our hope that these conversations will stimulate debate on
public policy and private initiative and lead to a more comprehensive
sense of social reality and a reawakening of the moral imagination.
Towson Debate
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B. Implications- First is Self Dignity
IMPACT – SELF DIGNITY
LISTER 2004 – PROF LOUGHBOROUGH U
POVERTY, PAGE
Where the stigma of poverty is internalized, shame is a likely consequence
(Goffman, 1968). As noted in the Introduction, participatory research in the
South has underscored the centrality of shame and humiliation to the
experience of poverty. Narayan et al. note that, because of the stigma asso ciated with poverty in eastern Kuropc as well as the South, 'poor people
often try to conceal their poverty to avoid humiliation and shame' ( 2000:
38). So too in some more affluent countries feelings of shame and
experiences of humiliation are recurrent themes when people in poverty are
asked what poverty and claiming welfare mean to them (Polakow, 1993;
Kempson, 1996). Indeed, in a report of a visit to the UK, two com munity
workers from south India, Stan and Mari Thekaekara, comment that 'the
stigma attached to being poor is far greater here in the UK' and observe a
strong 'sense of shame' (1994: 21). As Adam Smith recognized over two
centuries ago, clothing, as a key signifier of relative poverty (see chapter
1), represents a visible badge of shame and humiliation (Gilroy and Speak,
1998; C. C. Williams, 2002). This is particularly so for children. Ridge's
study of childhood poverty found that wearing the (unaffordab le)
appropriate, fashionable clothing is crucial to 'fitting in*, friendships and
avoidance of both bullying and social exclusion. One child explained that 'if
you don't wear trendy stuff. . . not so many people will be your friend 'cos
of what you wear'; another that 'you've got to keep going with the trend
otherwise you kind of get picked on' (Ridge, 2002: 68). This study and
earlier research by Mid-dleton et al. (1994) underline the importance to
children and young people of clothing as an expression of t heir emergent
identities. More generally, the shame and humiliation associ ated with
poverty can be particularly difficult to bear for this age group. Willow
observes that discussions about poverty with children living in deprived
areas were all 'woven with the threads of stigma and shame' (2001: 12). This
is likely to be a contributory factor in the lower self-esteem of many
children who have grown up in poverty (Krmisch et al., 2001; Ruxton and
Bennett, 2002). The significance of shame and humiliation is not to be
underestimated. They play an important role in maintaining inequality and
social hierarchy. They are painfully injurious to identity, self-respect and
self-esteem, in other words to how we feel about ourselves (Rawls, 1973; I
lonncth, 1995). A participant in a UK Coalition against Poverty workshop
describes what the loss of self-esteem feels like: 'You're like an onion and
Towson Debate
3/7/16
29/86
Homelessness Neg
gradually every skin is peeled off of you and there's nothing left . All your
self-esteem and how you feel about yourself is gone - you're left feeling
like nothing and then your family feels like that' (UKCAP, 1997: 12). Shame
and humiliation peel away self-esteem and negate the identity of many
people who experience poverty. In his study of social identity, Richard
Jenkins suggests that Goffman's analysis of stigma demonstrates how
'others don't just perceive our identity, they actively constitute it. And
they do so not only in terms of naming or categorising, but in terms of how
they respond to or treat us' (1996: 74). While labelling does nor determine
identity in a fixed way, Jenkins argues that 'public image may become self image. Our own sense of humanity is a hostage to categorising judgements of
others' (1996: 57). Questions of identity have implications for the political
agency of people in poverty; these will be explored in chapter 6. Here, I
simply want to make a related link between iden- elected chairperson of a
food co-op and of how other volunteers 'respected me and it gave me more
confidence' (Holman, 1998: 45; see also Wood and Vamplew, 1999).
According to John Rawls, self-respect is 'perhaps the most important
primary good' (1973: 440). Sen (1999) identifies self-respect as a key
functioning (see chapter 1) and its significance is explored in greater depth
in the work of Nusshaum. She includes in her list of central human func tional capabilities: 'having the social bases of self-respect and nonhumiliation; being able to be treated as a dignified being whose worth is
equal to that of others' (2000: 79). The achievement of this principle with
regard to people living in poverty has implications not just for how they are
treated in everyday social relations but also for the organization of society.
This is acknowledged, in principle at least, in the 1998 French Law a gainst
Social Exclusion. Article 1 states that 'the struggle against exclusion is a
national necessity based on respect for the equal worth of all human bein gs'.
At European level, the EC has recommended that Member States should
recognize the right to a level of social assistance sufficient to enable
members 'to live in a manner compatible with human dignity' (cited in Veit Wilson, 1998: 86).
Towson Debate
3/7/16
30/86
Homelessness Neg
SecondThe impact is both biological and ontological extinction of humanity.
SIMONOVIC - Ph.D. in Philosophy - 2007
(Ljubodrag Simonovic, Ph.D., Philosophy; M.A., Law; author of seven books, 2007, A
New World is Possible, “Basis of contemporary critical theory of capitalism.”)
The final stage of a mortal combat between mankind and capitalism is in progress.
A specificity of capitalism is that, in contrast to "classical" barbarism (which is of destructive, murderous and
plundering nature), it annihilates life by creating a "new world" – a "technical civilization" and an
adequate, dehumanized and denaturalized man. Capitalism has eradicated man from his (natural) environment and has cut off
the roots through which he had drawn life-creating force. Cities are "gardens" of capitalism where degenerated creatures
"grow". Dog excrement, gasoline and sewerage stench, glaring advertisements and police car rotating lights that howl
By destroying the natural
environment capitalism creates increasingly extreme climatic conditions in which man is
struggling harder and harder to survive – and creates artificial living conditions
accessible solely to the richest layer of population, which cause definitive
degeneration of man as a natural being. "Humanization of life" is being limited to creation of microthrough the night - this is the environment of the "free world" man.
climatic conditions, of special capitalistic incubators - completely commercialized artificial living conditions to which
degenerated people are appropriate. The most dramatic truth is: capitalism can survive the death of man as a human and
For capitalism a "traditional man" is merely a temporary means of its
own reproduction. "Consumer-man" represents a transitional phase in the capitalismcaused process of mutation of man towards the "highest" form of capitalistic man: a robotman. "Terminators" and other robotized freaks which are products of the Hollywood entertainment industry which creates
a "vision of the future" degenerated in a capitalist manner, incarnate creative powers, alienated from man, which
biological being.
become vehicles for destruction of man and life. A new "super race" of robotized humanoids is being created, which should
clash with "traditional mankind", meaning with people capable of loving,
thinking, daydreaming, fighting
for freedom and survival - and impose their rule over the Earth. Instead of the new world, the "new man" is
being created - who has been reduced to a level of humanity which cannot jeopardize the ruling order. Science and technique
have become the basic lever of capital for the destruction of the world and the creation of "technical civilization". It is not
only about destruction achieved by the use of technical means. It is about technicization of social institutions, of
transformation of nature into a surrogate of
"nature", increasing dehumanization of the society and increasing denaturalization of man are direct consequences of
capital's effort, within an increasingly merciless global economic war, to achieve
complete commercialization of both natural and the social environment. The optimism of
interpersonal relations, of the human body. Increasing
the Enlightenment could hardly be unreservedly supported nowadays, the notion of Marx that man imposes on himself only
such tasks as he can solve, particularly the optimism based on the myth of the "omnipotence" of science and technique. The
race for profits has already caused irreparable and still unpredictable damage to both man and his environment. By the
such a
qualitative rise in destruction of nature and mankind has been performed that life
on the planet is literally facing a "countdown ". Instead of the "withering away" (Engels) of
creation of "consumer society", which means through the transition of capitalism into a phase of pure destruction,
institutions of the capitalist society, the withering away of life is taking place.
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The Alternative is to Reject the affirmatives notion of povety and homelessness
and to affirm
EDKINS AND PIN FAT 2005 – PROF’S INT’L POLITICS U WALES AND U
MANCHESTER
THROUGH THE WIRE, MILLENNIUM, VOL 34 NO 1
This article seeks to explore the question, most starkly posed by Giorgio
Agamben, of whether sovereign power can be challenged. By
deploying readings of Agamben and Foucault that complement and
illuminate each other, we propose that although sovereign power
remains globally predominant, it is best considered not as a form of
power relation but as a relation of violence. By exploring sovereign
power in this way, we argue, alongside Agamben, that challenges to it
are available in two modes: first, a refusal to draw lines between forms
of life; and, secondly, an assumption of bare life. The availability of
these forms of challenge is illustrated by examining practices of lip
sewing amongst refugees. In the end, the refusal to draw lines and the
assumption of bare life seek to reinstate properly political power
relations with their accompanying freedoms and potentialities.
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Link Poverty Representations
MCMICHAEL ET AL 2007 – PROF DEVELOPMENT SOCIOLOGY CORNELL
POVERTY OF THE GLOBAL ORDER, GLOBALIZATIONS VOL 4 NO 4
The 'poverty of the global order' refers to the institutional reproduction of a
naturalized understanding of poverty, and its legitimation of the development
industry. As required by the UN System of National Accounts, states and multilateral development
agencies define development as accumulation, in positive measures of output
and/or income. Other measures of well-being or the regeneration of social and ecological
values remain unregistered and de-legitimized. In eliding or reducing multiple meanings of
development to a monetary standard, poverty is naturalized as a measure of material
scarcity, simultaneously impoverishing development. This process licenses the development industry to renew its
reductionist view of inequality, everywhere, through the appropriation of alternative values and visions of development. This
impoverished vision of the global order also informs responses to post-modern approaches to development.
Such
approaches contest the legitimacy of development discourse as a
misrepresentation of non-European cultures and a discourse of control
(Crush, 1995;
Escobar, 1995; Sachs, 1992; Said, 1978). Saul characterizes this tendency as the 'discursive world of “development stinks”',
arguing that despite
the shortcomings of development in externalizing cultural and
environmental relations, 'this need not dictate the abandonment of any vision
of “development”'(Saul, 2004, p. 229). Similarly, Sutcliffe surmises that 'criticism of the standard development
model seems at times too total,' and that a nostalgic postdevelopmentalism runs the risk of 'losing the baby when we throw
The very essence of development
studies is a normative preoccupation with the poor, marginalized and exploited people in the
South. In this sense inequality rather than diversity or difference should be the
main focus of development studies: inequality of access to power, to resources, to a human existence out the old bath water' (quoted in ibid.). And Schuurman adds:
in short, inequality of emancipation. (quoted in Saul, 2004, p. 230) As we wonder aloud why development studies has such a
'normative preoccupation' with the poor, we problematize the distinction between 'inequality' and 'difference.' Schuurman
sees that inequality has diverse forms shaping the 'inequality of emancipation' (quoted in Saul, 2004, p. 230), but
nevertheless affirms a binary between inequality and difference. We
argue, however, that reinforcing this
binary affirms the development establishment's economism as the core value.
Alternatively, we propose that inequality and difference are relational, rather than oppositional or mutually exclusive
constructs and experiences. Our phrase 'poverty of the global order' suggests that capital (and its fetishized
representations) impoverishes not just (classes of ) people, but the material relations that enable the imagining and realizing
of new social futures. The
relationship between inequality and difference becomes
particularly evident when we consider that development is anchored not just in
institutions and structures, but also in the lives of its subjects (Pieterse, 1998).
Understanding how subjects of development receive, legitimize, and/or contest
institutional and historical constructions of development is indispensable to
understanding how development is accomplished (Baviskar, 2005; Gupta, 1998; Klenk, 2004; Li,
1999; Mosse, 2004), as well as to reformulating its possibilities.1
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Link- Poverty Discourse as Otherizing
DISCOURSE OF POVERTY IS VIOLENTLY OTHERIZING
LISTER 2004 – PROF LOUGHBOROUGH U POVERTY, PAGE
This should not be taken to imply that less value-laden dis¬courses of
poverty are necessarily unproblematic. Herbert J. Cans draws a distinction
between stigmatizing 'labels' and descriptive terms (1995: 12). Although the
'p' words of 'poor' and 'poverty* fall into the latter category, their
historical and contemporary connotations mean that they are not neutral
terms (Novak, 2001). They form part of *a vocabulary of invidious
distinction*, which constructs 'the poor' as differ¬ent or deviant (Katz,
1989: 5). The 'p' words arc used by 'us' about 'them' and rarely by
people in poverty themselves (Polakow, 1993; Cordcn, 1996). Typically, the
latter arc nor asked how they want to be described (Silver, 1996). The
terms 'poverty' and 'poor', therefore, arc frequently experienced as
stigmatizing labels by their 'unasked, unwilling targets' (Gans, 1995: 21).
Research with people with experience of poverty in the UK elicited negative
responses to the 'p* words from a number of them: 'horrid* or
'horrible' words; 'stigma*; 'socially worse'; 'puts you down' were among
their reactions (Bercsford ct al., 1999: 64-5). The adjective 'poor' is also
tainted by its double meaning of inferior, as in 'poor quality' or
'deficient'. Its use as an adjective can be experienced as insulting and
demeaning (CoPPP, 2000). Moreover, it carries a definitional impli¬cation
for identity that is inappropriate given that poverty is a circumstance
that a person experiences rather than a personal quality (Warah, 2000;
see also chapter 6).
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LINK – AFF OTHERIZES THE POOR
LISTER 2004 – PROF LOUGHBOROUGH U
POVERTY, PAGE
The main focus of the chapter is how 'the poor' are 'Othcrcd' through language
and images. It therefore starts with a more general discussion of the process
of Othering and of the power of language and imag es - and the discourses
they articulate - to label and stigmatize marginalized social groups, with
fundamental implications for how members of those groups are treated . The
previous chapter elaborated on the discourse of social exclusion. Here we consider
the discourses of the 'underclass', 'welfare dependency' and poverty itself,
having first put them in historical context. Finally, the chapter explores the
stigma, shame and humiliation associated with poverty. It suggests that, for
many, it is the lack of respect and loss of dignity that result from 'living in the
contempt of your fellow citizens' that can make poverty so difficult to bear. This
points to the importance of political struggles at the relational/symbolic rim of
the poverty wheel as well as at its material core.
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Impacts- the view of poverty fails to address capitalism
MCMICHAEL ET AL 2007 – PROF DEVELOPMENT SOCIOLOGY CORNELL
POVERTY OF THE GLOBAL ORDER, GLOBALIZATIONS VOL 4 NO 4
Naturalizing a Conceptual Poverty
To reiterate, the poverty of the global order is that its legitimacy depends
not simply on progress in phenomenal terms (one-sided measures), but also on
the progressive naturalization of its epistemological foundations. A key to this
process is the construction of 'poverty' as an original, rather than a social,
condition.4 While we do not minimize the fact that most of the world's people's
material needs are grossly unmet, the conceptual problem is that solutions to end
deprivation proceed from an unproblematic empirical, or phenomenal,
understanding of scarcity (of material means). There is little investigation of
the relationships producing scarcity, and there is scant recognition that
representing scarcity in market terms ignores other means of livelihood.
Conventional solutions to poverty resort to market rule, and renew the
development industry—they do not disturb conditions of inequality, becoming
rather methods of controlling and re-producing dominant visions of what count
as viable futures (cf. Fraser and Honneth, 2003). New ways of labeling old wine is
a critical strategy for naturalizing the epistemological foundations upon which an
unequal world is remade.Shiva articulates one way of naturalizing poverty (and
development): The paradox and crisis of development arises from the mistaken
identification of the culturally perceived poverty of earth-centred economies with
the real material deprivation that occurs in market-centred economies, and the
mistaken identification of the growth of commodity production with providing
human sustenance for all. (1991, p. 215) To represent 'earth-centred economies'
as poor, via comparative measures of wealth, identifies them as frontiers for
capital accumulation, discounting alternative value systems, which is Shiva's
point. Analogously, Kothari (1997) argues that alternatives exist in micro-initiatives
by the poor, and that their survival strategies constitute the basis for imagining
the future. However, 'earth-centred economies' and informal networks are not
necessarily virtuous alternatives, and their diversity may be repackaged as
commercial opportunity, and advertised as responsible corporate practice (Da
Costa, 2007). Such romanticizations risk repeating development studies'
normative preoccupation with the poor. Our point is that we cannot treat
alternatives as inherent signs of resistance to the poverty of the global order, for
they are frequently viewed as resources ripe for appropriation as new frontiers
for capital accumulation—as we have seen, for example, with micro-financing
initiatives and fair trade.
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Impact- Calculation
Their managerial attempts to view people inn poverty only as numbers presents
a way of thinking about politics that ultimately leads to violence
Dillon, Professor of Politics and IR at Lancaster University, 1999 (Political Theory
vol. 27 n. 2)
The subject was never a firm foundation of justice, much less a hospitable vehicle
for the reception of the call of another Justice. It was never in posession of that
self-posession which was supposed to secure the certainty of itself, of a selfposesssion that would enable it ultimately to adjudicate everything. The very
indexicality required of sovereign subjectivity gave rise rather to a
commensurability much more amenable to the expendability required of the
political and material economies of mass societies than it did to the singular,
invaluable, uniquenss of the self. The value of the subject became the standard
unit of currency for the political arithmetic of states. They trade in it still to
devestating global effect. The technologisation of the political has become
manifest and global. HE CONTINUES…Economies of evaluation necessarily require
calculability. Thus no valuation without mensuration without indexation. Once
rendered calculable, however, units of account are necessarily submissible not only
to valuation, but also, of course, to devaluation. Devalution, logically, can extend to
the point of counting as nothing. Hence, no mensuration without demunsaration
either. There is nothing abstract about this: the declension of economies of value
leads to the zero point of the holocaust. However liberating and emancipating
systems of value rights may claim to be, for example, they run the risk of counting
our the invaluable. Counted out, the invaluable then loses its purchase on life.
Herewith the necessity of championing the invaluable itself. For we must never
forget that, “we are always dealing with whatever exceeds measure.”
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Impact- Spirit Injury
Sprit Injury is a slow death where people are systematically devalued and
silenced destroy their way of life
WING 1997 – PROF LAW U IOWA
CONCEPTUALIZING VIOLENCE, 60 ALB. L. REV. 943
The multiple effect of violence on these women, simultaneously coming from
outside and inside their culture, constitutes a "spirit injury" to women, and thus on
the entire culture. Spirit injury is a critical race feminist term which contemplates
the psychological, spiritual, and cultural effects of the multiple assaults on these
women. 38 Spirit injury "leads to the slow death of the psyche, of the [*953] soul,
and of the identity of the individual." 39 Women come to believe in their own
inferiority, and that there is justification for the violence against them, because
"[a] fundamental part of ourselves and of our dignity is dependent upon the
uncontrollable, powerful external observers who constitute society." 40 If society
places a low value on certain members, they in turn will perceive themselves as
having a lesser worth in that society. Because they are devalued by both the
outside society of the oppressor and the inside society of their own culture, as well
as by the intimate inside of their own family, women cannot help but be profoundly
silenced and experience a loss of her self-actualization. The spirit injury becomes
"as devastating, as costly, and as psychically obliterating...as robbery or assault."
41 On the group level, the accumulation of multiple individual spirit injuries can
"lead[] to the devaluation and destruction of a way of life or of an entire
culture." 42 Neither international nor domestic law adequately remedies the spirit
injuries that oppressed women or men face on an individual or group basis.
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Impact- Otherization= extinction
The Otherization their promote with their plan ultimately leads to extinction
TUSABE 1995 – COUNCIL FOR RESEARCH IN VALUES AND PHILOSOPHY
ETHICS AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION IN AFRICA,
http://www.crvp.org/book/Series02/II-4/chapter_ii.htm
With regard to the co-existent character of human persons, Martin Buber noted
two fundamental attitudes found in all human experience. One is the world of "Ithou" relations, which ought always to be lived; and the other is the world of "I-it"
relations, which persons ought always to avoid. The "I-thou" form of co-existence
is for cooperation. Persons meet in cooperation in order to transform the world, to
improve their welfare, for it is in this form of co-existence that the truth and
value of democratic ideals is lodged. "I-thou" co-existence is characterized by
mutuality and dialogue. These neither impose nor manipulate, but generate a
commitment to freedom and guide dialogical persons to focus their attention on
the reality which challenges them.9 In the "I-thou" relation "I not only give but
receive; I not only speak but listen; I not only respond but invite response."10 Such
"I-thou" co-existence ought to be one of the essential aspects of the normative
ethical motivation and criterion of social groups in civil society. The opposite of the
"I-thou" relation is the "I-it" form of co-existence which uses the other person
as an object. This relation regards others as means to an end; it is anti-dialogical,
dominating and exploitative. People in civil society may form social groups and
associations, but if motivated by gross materialism they operate in terms of the
"I-it" relation. Such persons refers only to themselves; other people are things.11
To them what is worthwhile is to have more — always more — even at the unjust
cost of others having less or nothing.12Such an "I-it" tendency toward coexistence dehumanizes; it is an obstacle to, and an enemy of, democracy; and it is a
serious threat to the very existence of civilization. Such co-existence is a very
likely possibility for civil society, but ought to be guarded against as long as our
aim is to reform our society towards higher levels of development.
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Impacts- Kritik turns case
The Kritik Turns Case- Homeless has been artificially constructed as a
individual problem, we must view it as a social issue to solve it
KATHLEEN R. ARNOLD- Associate Professor of Political Science at
University of Texas San Antonio- 2004- Homelessness, Citizenship,
And Identity: The Uncanniness of Late Modernity- page. 2
The fact that the homeless have less agency than full citizens in the
modern nation-state is a political and not an individual problem. When
certain individuals cannot occupy public space (or many private commercial
spaces) because of their status and when decisions are made for them under
the guise of protection (thus, protection as coercion), it is evident that
homelessness is not a matter of bad luck or personal problems. Rather,
it is an issue that affects hundreds of thousands of people, and yet it
has been treated academically, culturally, and politically as an individual
problem. Hence, although sociological or psychological studies, for example,
may have value, it is worthwhile to explore the broader political and
economic ramifications of homelessness. Homelessness, I will demonstrate,
needs to be viewed in terms of economic identity on the one hand and
national identity, on the other. It is a politicoeconomic problem that
undermines the notion of universal citizenship domestically and challenges
the adequacy of citizenship as an identity on an international level, given the
permanent character of statelessness (refugees, exiles, and immigrants who
are in camps, detainment, or other sites of legal limbo for example). In sum,
I am questioning the notion of a unified subject in the political identity of
citizenship and, correspondingly, the idea of a unified location for
citizenship.
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AT- Permutations/ Link turns
Because the Homeless have been stripped of citizenship, politics is the wrong
starting point for dealing with there issues. Only addressing the fundamental
economic and social issues behind the loss of citizenship does political progress
become possible.
KATHLEEN R. ARNOLD- Associate Professor of Political Science at
University of Texas San Antonio- 2004- Homelessness, Citizenship,
And Identity: The Uncanniness of Late Modernity- page. 2
More often than not, homelessness is studied as a sociological problem and the
dynamics of power on the part of the homeless on the one hand, and policy
makers and full citizens on the other, are not examined. It is tempting to
engage this subject at the policy level in order to respond to homeless studies, recommendations,
and policies. However, the politics of homelessness is a larger problem that
reflects upon our society and the status of democracy rather than being a
mere policy issue. The forces that homeless people deal with are
disenfranchisement and social “death”:1 degrading myths and stereotypes,
punitive treatment by caseworkers, deficient school systems that perpetuate illiteracy and joblessness, and most
importantly, the loss of rights as a citizen, and thus, as a human that these individuals suffer. Perhaps some people
why should they
suffer such dire consequences? When one can no longer inhabit public space,
have one’s possessions and shanty towns (home, by some definitions) burned or bulldozed, be
arrested for one’s status rather than a crime (hence signaling a loss of civil rights), and
only exercise political power with extreme difficulty, one cannot be said to be
a citizen. This is exacerbated by the disappearance of truly public space.3 Decisions are no longer
the prerogative of the individual; rather, they are made for the homeless by
communities in the form of NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard), by the police in the form of sweeps, and by local
officials in outlawing panhandling or busing the homeless to other towns, for
are responsible for their homelessness, but in this milieu, it is difficult to tell. And
example. Whether full citizens or politicians decide to help the homeless or not, their freedom to make choices
exists in a very narrow manner. Moreover, the help received by the homeless can be authoritarian and punitive in
nature. Homeless individuals are to believe that they have become so through their moral failings and every day are
Many shelters and agencies go beyond simple admonitions, however,
and issue ultimatums. Some are contradictory and put the homeless in a double bind. Indeed, the
system that helps them can often be erratic, disorganized, and pathological. Of
reminded of this.
course, these terms are often reserved for the homeless, not “us.” The fact that the homeless have less agency
than full citizens in the modern nation-state is a political and not an individual problem. When certain individuals
cannot occupy public space (or many private commercial spaces) because of their status and when decisions are
made for them under the guise of protection (thus, protection as coercion), it is evident that homelessness is not a
matter of bad luck or personal problems. Rather, it is an issue that affects hundreds of thousands of people, and
although
sociological or psychological studies, for example, may have value, it is worthwhile to
explore the broader political and economic ramifications of homelessness.
Homelessness, I will demonstrate, needs to be viewed in terms of economic identity on
the one hand and national identity, on the other. It is a politicoeconomic problem that
yet it has been treated academically, culturally, and politically as an individual problem. Hence,
undermines the notion of universal citizenship domestically and challenges the adequacy of citizenship as an
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given the permanent character of statelessness (refugees,
I am
questioning the notion of a unified subject in the political identity of citizenship
and, correspondingly, the idea of a unified location for citizenship.
identity on an international level,
exiles, and immigrants who are in camps, detainment, or other sites of legal limbo for example). In sum,
THE AFFIRMATIVE IS A ROMANTICISED CONCEPTION OF LOCAL
RESPONSES TO SUSTAINABLE LIVING THAT CONSTRUCTS POVERTY AS A
PHENOMONAL CONDITION – IT CO-OPTS CRITICAL CHALLENGES TO
NEOLIBERAL RULE***
MCMICHAEL ET AL 2007 – PROF DEVELOPMENT SOCIOLOGY CORNELL
POVERTY OF THE GLOBAL ORDER, GLOBALIZATIONS VOL 4 NO 4
Naturalizing a Conceptual Poverty
To reiterate, the poverty of the global order is that its legitimacy depends not
simply on progress in phenomenal terms (one-sided measures), but also on the
progressive naturalization of its epistemological foundations. A key to this
process is the construction of 'poverty' as an original, rather than a social,
condition.4 While we do not minimize the fact that most of the world's people's
material needs are grossly unmet, the conceptual problem is that solutions to end
deprivation proceed from an unproblematic empirical, or phenomenal, understanding
of scarcity (of material means). There is little investigation of the relationships
producing scarcity, and there is scant recognition that representing scarcity in
market terms ignores other means of livelihood. Conventional solutions to poverty
resort to market rule, and renew the development industry—they do not disturb
conditions of inequality, becoming rather methods of controlling and re-producing
dominant visions of what count as viable futures (cf. Fraser and Honneth, 2003).
New ways of labeling old wine is a critical strategy for naturalizing the
epistemological foundations upon which an unequal world is remade.
Shiva articulates one way of naturalizing poverty (and development):
The paradox and crisis of development arises from the mistaken identification of
the culturally perceived poverty of earth-centred economies with the real material
deprivation that occurs in market-centred economies, and the mistaken
identification of the growth of commodity production with providing human
sustenance for all. (1991, p. 215)
To represent 'earth-centred economies' as poor, via comparative measures of
wealth, identifies them as frontiers for capital accumulation, discounting
alternative value systems, which is Shiva's point. Analogously, Kothari (1997)
argues that alternatives exist in micro-initiatives by the poor, and that their
survival strategies constitute the basis for imagining the future. However, 'earthcentred economies' and informal networks are not necessarily virtuous
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alternatives, and their diversity may be repackaged as commercial opportunity,
and advertised as responsible corporate practice (Da Costa, 2007). Such
romanticizations risk repeating development studies' normative preoccupation with
the poor. Our point is that we cannot treat alternatives as inherent signs of
resistance to the poverty of the global order, for they are frequently viewed as
resources ripe for appropriation as new frontiers for capital accumulation—as we
have seen, for example, with micro-financing initiatives and fair trade.
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AT- Action is key
Turn- Our alternative leads to better action- View power relations leads to
constant action to fight the root causes of oppression instead of focusing on
the results of systemic problems
DONEGAN 2006 – PHD STUDENT DEPT ANTHROPOLIGY SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL
STUDIES
GOVERNMENTAL REGIONALISM, MILLENNIUM, VOL 35 NO 23
The typical reproach to Foucault’s conception of power as immanent to all types of
relationships is that such a conception prevents us from ever being able to step outside a
conflict, whether it be epistemic or political, in order to resolve it. Of course it is the case
that ‘to make truth-claims is to try to strengthen some epistemic alignments, and to
challenge, undermine, or evade others’.148 To criticise power is to attempt to resist or
evade it; it is also to take a stance, a position. Foucault’s critics ask: how is it possible to
take a stance without some outside, neutral position from which to make a decision about
which side to adopt, about which side is ‘right’? According to Foucault, neither side is
right. But [m]y point is not that everything is bad, but that everything is dangerous, which
is not exactly the same as bad. If everything is dangerous, then we always have something
to do. So my position leads not to apathy but to a hyper- and pessimistic activism. I think
that the ethico-political choice we have to make every day is to determine which is the
main danger.149 Is there any reason why a neoliberal, neo-medieval world order of multiple
levels of governance need be ‘worse’ than the present world order? This is the wrong
question. The question to ask is: how are things developing, how are social relations
changing, and who will be hit hardest, and who will benefit most? These are the questions
we need to be asking, as analysts. A governmentality perspective can contribute to our
ability to respond to this task. Mitchell Dean has emphasised that the study of
governmentality as an empirical phenomenon ‘does not amount to a study of politics or
power relations in general; it is a study only of the attempts to (more or less) rationally
affect the conduct of others and ourselves’.150 In this sense, the picture of power
relations that governmentality scholarship can offer is therefore partial and incomplete.
But to the extent that the particular power relations it portrays are both hard to see and
increasingly significant, the governmentality framework offers something useful to the
analyst of power in the contemporary global social order. It may seem that poststructuralist theorists are constantly engaged in a game of ‘catch-up’,151 unpacking and
teasing out how those with power do what they do, always after the event. But the
conclusion to be drawn should not focus on the fact that the deconstructive practice is
always post- and thus ‘too late’, in vain, without hope; rather it should focus on the fact
that in order for those in power to do what they do the use of such material and
discursive practices is necessary – which suggests, as Foucault points out, that their hold
on power is far more fragile, that the relationships of power they impose are far closer to
relationships of confrontation, than they would like us to believe. Thus the deconstructive
practice is not essentially negative, pessimistic, and nihilistic. In seeking not simply to
understand what or why any particular action was undertaken in the past, but also to use
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that understanding when engaging with political practice in the present, it is hopeful,
optimistic, and pro-active.
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Alternative- reject their Otherizing discourse
ALT – REJECT OTHERIZING DISCOURSE
LISTER 2004 – PROF LOUGHBOROUGH U
POVERTY, PAGE
This discussion of the 'p' words and of the 'underclass* label raises a
number of issues. One is the responsibility of those who research and write
about poverty to use language that is respectful and icss distancing'
(O'Connor, 2001: 293). Another is the paradoxical way in which the 'p'
words can simultaneously represent both a stigmatizing classification and a
moral and political challenge (see Introduction). The relative weight of the
two shifts according to the political and economic climate. Yet, whether
'victims or villains' (Becker, 1997), 'the poor' tend to be constructed as
Other, cither responsible for their own fate or passive objects of concern,
without agency. They arc targets of, at best, 'the non-poor's' pity or
indifference and, at worst, their fear, contempt or hostility, to be 'helped
or punished, ignored or studied' but rarely treated as equal fellow citizens
with rights (Katz, 1989: 236).
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Spending DA shell
A. Uniquness- Economy is stabilizing and inflation is controlled
Bloomberg 6/16/09 [Courtney Schlisserman, “U.S. Will Exit Recession in Third Quarter, Bankers Group Says,”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aJ2GkizZfPbQ]
The U.S. economy will emerge from the recession during the third quarter even as
unemployment and federal deficits remain high, according to a survey by the American Bankers Association.
“While
we are certainly looking ahead toward growth, growth in our estimation is not enough
to put the economy on a quick path toward economic health and normalcy,” Bruce Kasman,
chairman of the ABA’s Economic Advisory Committee and chief economist for JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York, said in a
press conference today.
The group forecast
gross domestic product will rise at a 0.5 percent annual pace in the third quarter and
at a 1.8 percent rate the final three months of the year. The unemployment rate will peak at 10 percent in the first quarter
of 2010, a 26-year high.
The ABA committee also forecast
the Fed will hold interest rates at the current zero to 0.25
percent range, the lowest ever, until the third quarter of 2010. Central bank policy makers are scheduled to meet
again next week.
“ Core
inflation is moving down ,” Kasman said, referring to prices excluding food and fuel. “This in our
mind keeps the Fed on hold at least a year here.”
The group forecast the economy will start having “above- trend” economic growth in the
third quarter of next year, which will be among the impetuses that will get the Fed to “begin the process, not
an aggressive process” of raising rates, Kasman said. The Fed will raise benchmark borrowing cost between banks to 0.5
percent in the July through September 2010 period, and by an additional half point in the last three months of the year.
Fisher on Inflation
president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, yesterday dismissed concern
that the central bank’s record purchases of assets will cause inflation to soar. Fisher, who
Richard Fisher,
describes himself as among the most aggressive inflation fighters on the Federal Open Market Committee, said it’s
inappropriate to be overly concerned on price pressures now because of the amount of “slack” in the economy.
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B. link- Increasing social services causes rampant inflation
Sennholz 9 [Hans F., heads the Department of Economics at Grove City College and is a noted writer and lecturer on
monetary and economic principles and practices, April 19, “Your Financial Future - Gold and Silver Bullion,”
http://www.rapidtrends.com/the-causes-of-inflation/]
Even the noblest politicians and civil servants can no longer be expected to resist the public clamor for social benefits and
welfare. The
political pressure that is brought to bear on democratic governments is
rooted in the popular ideology of government welfare and economic redistribution. It
inevitably leads to a large number of spending programs that place heavy burdens
on the public treasury. By popular demand, weak administrations seeking to prolong their power embark upon
massive spending and inflating in order to build a “new society” or provide a “better deal.” The people are convinced that
When the results fall far
short of expectations, new programs are demanded and more government spending is
initiated. When social and economic conditions grow even worse, the disappointments breed more
radicalism, cynicism, nihilism, and above all, bitter social and economic conflict . And
government spending can give them full employment, prosperity, and economic growth.
all along, the enormous increase in government spending causes an enormous increase of taxes, chronic budget deficits and
rampant inflation.5 The “redistributive” aspirations of the voting public often induce their political representatives in
Such programs as social
security, medicare, antipoverty, housing, economic development, aid to education,
environmental improvement, and pay increases for civil servants are so popular that few
Congress to authorize and appropriate even more money than the President requests.
politicians dare to oppose them.
The government influences personal incomes by virtually every budget decision that is made. Certainly its grants, subsidies,
and contributions to private individuals and organizations aim to improve the material incomes of the beneficiaries. The loans
and advances to private individuals and organizations have the same objective. Our foreign aid program is redistributive in
character as it reduces American incomes in order to improve the material condition of foreign recipients. The agricultural
programs, veteran’s benefits, health, labor and welfare expenditures, housing and community development, Federal
expenditures on education, and last, but not least, the social insurance and medicare programs directly
affect the
incomes of both beneficiaries and taxpayers. As the benefits generally are not based on tax payment,
but rather on considerations of social welfare, these programs constitute redistribution on a
nationwide scale. Foreign aid programs have extended the principle of redistribution to many parts of the world.
Whenever government expenditures exceed tax collections and the government deficit is covered by
currency and credit expansion, we suffer inflation and its effects. The monetary unit is
bound to depreciate and goods prices must rise. Large increases in the quantity of money also induce people to reduce their
savings and cash-holdings which, in the terminology of mathematical economists, increases money “velocity” and reduces
money value even further. It is futile to call these people “irresponsible” as long as the government continues to increase the
money stock.
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C. Impacts- Now is key—that collapses the economy
Robbins 5/19/09 [Ron Robbins, MBA is the founder and analyst of Investing for the Soul and maintains the blog,
Enlightened Economics, “Interest Rate Manipulation and Loose Money Promote Economic Collapse,”
http://monetarycurrent.com/commentaries/53-philosophy/691-interest-rate-manipulation-and-loose-money-promoteeconomic-collapse.html]
Economies with excessively loose monetary policies and who force interest rates to ultra low levels for extended
periods of time eventually succumb to a massive top-heavy debt structure which at some point ' topples
over .' These countries then suffer either a deflationary debt implosion/depression in
which much of the debt is liquidated, or the country's central bank instigates a
huge inflationary push to reduce the value of all credit market debt in the country by vastly increasing the amount of currency and the
expansion of its money supply. A big inflationary push frequently leads to a lack of confidence in the
country's currency and hence the possibility of 'hyper-inflation' occurring as everyone unloads the
country's currency for real goods or other currencies. Argentina earlier this decade and
Zimbabwe recently, are examples of central bank sponsored inflation that led to no confidence in
their currencies, resulting in hyper-inflation. The inflationary approach is what appears to be
favoured by the American, Japanese and British central banks. From an Enlightened Economics perspective, the actions of manipulating down interest rates and the
over printing of money by central banks fall under a terrible fallacy: the belief that we can resolve our short-term economic problems by going more into debt and not
concern ourselves with the long-term consequences. A global consciousness has to arise which understands that manipulating markets, most especially interest rates
and money supply,
explode!
leads to highly unstable economies which in time either implode or
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2. That collapses hegemony and causes nuclear war
Friedberg & Schoenfeld 8 [Aaron Friedberg is a professor of politics and international relations at Princeton
University's Woodrow Wilson School. Gabriel Schoenfeld, senior editor of Commentary, is a visiting scholar at the
Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, N.J., “The Dangers of a Diminished America,” Wall Street Journal, Ocbtober 21, 2008,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455074012352571.html]
One
immediate implication of the crisis that began on Wall Street and spread across the world is that the
primary instruments of U.S. foreign policy will be crimped. The next president will face an entirely new and
With the global financial system in serious trouble, is America's geostrategic dominance likely to diminish? If so, what would that mean?
adverse fiscal position. Estimates of this year's federal budget deficit already show that it has jumped $237 billion from last year, to $407 billion. With families and
businesses hurting, there will be calls for various and expensive domestic relief programs. In the face of this onrushing river of red ink, both Barack Obama and
John McCain have been reluctant to lay out what portions of their programmatic wish list they might defer or delete. Only Joe Biden has suggested a possible
. Biden's comment hints at where
we may be headed: toward a major reduction in America's world role, and perhaps even a
new era of financially-induced isolationism. Pressures to cut defense spending, and to dodge the cost of waging two
reduction -- foreign aid. This would be one of the few popular cuts, but in budgetary terms it is a mere grain of sand. Still, Sen
wars, already intense before this crisis, are likely to mount. Despite the success of the surge, the war in Iraq remains deeply unpopular. Precipitous withdrawal -attractive to a sizable swath of the electorate before the financial implosion -- might well become even more popular with annual war bills running in the hundreds of
billions. Protectionist sentiments are sure to grow stronger as jobs disappear in the coming slowdown. Even before our current woes, calls to save jobs by restricting
imports had begun to gather support among many Democrats and some Republicans. In a prolonged recession, gale-force winds of protectionism will blow. Then there
are the dolorous consequences of a potential collapse of the world's financial architecture. For decades now, Americans have enjoyed the advantages of being at the
center of that system. The worldwide use of the dollar, and the stability of our economy, among other things, made it easier for us to run huge budget deficits, as we
counted on foreigners to pick up the tab by buying dollar-denominated assets as a safe haven. Will this be possible in the future? Meanwhile, traditional foreignpolicy challenges are multiplying. The threat from al Qaeda and Islamic terrorist affiliates has not been extinguished. Iran and North Korea are continuing on their
bellicose paths, while Pakistan and Afghanistan are progressing smartly down the road to chaos. Russia's new militancy and China's seemingly relentless rise also give
it will leave a dangerous power vacuum. The
stabilizing effects of our presence in Asia, our continuing commitment to Europe, and
our position as defender of last resort for Middle East energy sources and supply lines could all be
placed at risk.
In such a scenario there are shades of the 1930s, when global trade and finance ground nearly to
a halt, the peaceful democracies failed to cooperate, and aggressive powers led by the
remorseless fanatics who rose up on the crest of economic disaster exploited their divisions. Today we run the risk that
rogue states may choose to become ever more reckless with their nuclear toys,
just at our moment of maximum vulnerability. The aftershocks of the financial crisis will almost certainly rock our
principal strategic competitors even harder than they will rock us. The dramatic free fall of the Russian stock
market has demonstrated the fragility of a state whose economic performance
hinges on high oil prices, now driven down by the global slowdown. China is perhaps even more fragile, its
cause for concern. If America now tries to pull back from the world stage,
economic growth depending heavily on foreign investment and access to foreign markets. Both will now be constricted, inflicting economic pain and perhaps even
sparking unrest in a country where political legitimacy rests on progress in the long march to prosperity. None of this is good news if the authoritarian leaders of
these countries seek to divert attention from internal travails with external adventures. As for our democratic friends, the present crisis comes when many European
nations are struggling to deal with decades of anemic growth, sclerotic governance and an impending demographic crisis. Despite its past dynamism, Japan faces similar
There is no
substitute for America on the world stage. The choice we have before us is
between the potentially disastrous effects of disengagement and the stiff price
tag of continued American leadership.
challenges. India is still in the early stages of its emergence as a world economic and geopolitical power. What does this all mean?
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Overview
Our argument is that the plan spends money at exactly the wrong time. Our
bloomburg evidence says the econmy and the U.S. dollar value are stable now.
Plan disrupts that balance by spending lots of money, causing the American
dollar to decline by simple laws of supply and demand. This kills the American
ecoomy, causing war per out ferguson evidence. this outweighs for a few
reasons
a. timeframe- we’ll argue that the dollar declines as soon as plan passes
beucase the American currency is traded internationally like a stock.
The plan will be perceived as a flooding the market with dollars, cuasing
people to lose confidence and sell off the dollar.
b. Magnitude- Homelessness is less relvenet when homes are being
destroyed by military conflict. The implications of global war and the
death and suffering it entialis is an entire level of magnitude higer than
there limited homelessness impacts.
AND
Disad turns case- Economic decline increases demands on section 8, causing
the system to collapse
Barclay Bishop- WJBF News Channel 6 reporter- Published: October 18, 2008onlinehttp://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:xH68FPOLVTsJ:www.wjbf.com/jbf/news/consumer/article/economy_affects_
section_8_housing/7787/+%22section+8%22%22economy%22&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Shelana Coach, lives in Section 8 housing: “I was like, ‘there’s no way I can do it on my own,‘ but I needed some kind of
Shelana Coach is a single mother, just graduated from college, and has 5 kids. She’s also one
of thousands in Aiken County who qualifies for Section 8 housing. Coach: “It’s not that easy.
Once you get out here, and the jobs are being cut, a lot of people are not
hiring. I mean, you have to live day by day and go with the flow.“ Ivory Mathews, Executive
Director, Aiken Housing Authority: “We’ve seen a tremendous increase in the amount of
people in the community who need housing.“ Ivory Mathews is the executive director of the Aiken
assistance to help me.“
Housing Authority. Mmathews: “We have over 1,800 people on our Section 8 Choice Housing Vendor Program waiting list.“
here’s an even bigger problem: 100 working families were just approved for
vouchers, but no landlords are offering places for them to stay. Mathews: “We do
And,
know that there are families, or individuals, in the community who do have housing, where they can be able to provide our
customers with an opportunity to live in a safe, decent and sanitary situation, as well.“ Coach: “If you’re not getting anything
for that house, it’s just going to sit there. If you get a little bit for it, at least you know it’s being lived in, and you can have a
family appreciate that house more than it just sitting there, being vacant.“ And Coach is one of those who appreciates the
help, and from the looks of it, there may be more right behind her. Mathews: “Unfortunately,
more and more people walking through our doors.“
my life, and letting another family in need take the place of where I am, now.“
I think we’ll see
Coach: “I see my future going on with
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2NC Uniqueness—Inflation
Leading economists agree inflation is stable
Inman News 6/18/09 [“Inflation worries, mortgage rates ease,”
http://www.inman.com/news/2009/06/18/inflation-worries-mortgage-rates-ease]
Mortgage rates fell this week after price reports suggested
releasing results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey.
inflation remains at bay, Freddie Mac said in
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.38 percent with an average 0.7 point
for the week ending June 18, down from 5.59 percent last week and 6.42 percent a year ago.
The 15-year FRM averaged 4.89 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from 5.06 percent last week and 6.02 percent a
year ago.
Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 4.97 percent
with an average 0.6 point, down from 5.17 percent last week and 5.89 percent a year ago.
One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 4.95 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from 5.04 percent last week and
5.19 percent a year ago.
Reports of benign inflation figures reversed the upward trend seen in mortgage
rates in recent weeks, Freddie Mac Chief Economist Frank Nothaft said in a
statement.
Goldilocks economy now—stabilizing recovery
Alloway 6/1/09 [Tracy, Financial Times Alphaville, “JPM says mild inflation good for stocks too,”
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2009/06/01/56459/jpm-says-mild-inflation-good-for-stocks-too/]
Wading into the inflation vs deflation debate this Monday morning is JP Morgan
with a whopping 37-page note. Their central case is neither high inflation nor
outright deflation, but a moderate “Goldilocks” bout of price increases — neither
too hot not too cold. Here’s JPM’s European equity strategists Mislav Matejka and Emmanuel Cau on the subject:
While most do not perceive inflation to be a near term risk anyway, we think investors could be surprised by how long
inflation remains subdued.
JPM economists have a base case view of low inflation readings for an extended period of time, with 0% core CPI prints in
the US in the middle of 2011, two years from now. In the other main regions our economists expect headline CPI to print
between 0 and 2% over the next few years. …
The basic driver behind these relatively sanguine inflation forecasts is the size of
the output gap the global economy currently displays. If the output gap analysis is
still relevant, even if the economic activity manages to surprise on the upside over
the next few years, it would still be difficult to arrive at meaningful rates of
inflation growth.
Mild inflation, is, according to JP Morgan, supportive for stocks. Shares, they note, tend to perform best
in the -3 per cent to 3 per cent inflation range. At higher levels of inflation (or deflation, for that
matter) they tend to perform poorly as P/E multiples compress, according to the
strategists.
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To demonstrate that high inflation point, JPM has provided some nifty charts, with data stretching back to 1870. Here they
are.
the current environment of low inflation “could be seen as very
supportive for equities from an inflation perspective, with low inflation in the near
term, and a potential move higher thereafter.”
So the analysts conclude that
Currency valuation is stable
WSJ 6/17/09 [Phil Izzo, “Economists React: ‘Goldilocks Scenario’ for Inflation,”
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/06/17/economists-react-goldilocks-scenario-for-inflation/]
[This is the] Goldilocks scenario. This
report provides further evidence to dispel the growing
concerns in the markets about inflation as the broad-based nature of the moderation in
consumer prices continue to point to the underlying weakness in the pricing power
of workers and businesses alike, on account of the weakening domestic economy. On
the other hand, we are equally skeptical that prices will enter a deflation spiral. As such, it
does appear that U.S. consumer prices remains in a bit of a sweet spot; not too
hot, and not too cold. –Millan L. B. Mulraine, TD Securities
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2NC Uniqueness—Inflation (AT Gov’t Spending Now)
Spending fears have eased—key to currency stability
Alibaba News 6/10/09 [“FOREX-US dollar rises as fears over govt debt sales ease,”
http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/markets/100116748-1-forex-us-dollar-rises-fears-over.html]
The U.S. dollar rose broadly on Wednesday as an auction of $19 billion in 10-year Treasury notes
eased some investor fears about the United States' ability to sell long-term debt to help
finance a ballooning budget deficit.
The dollar fell earlier after Russia's central bank said it will diversify its currency reserves by cutting U.S. Treasury
purchases and buying IMF-backed bonds. But analysts said any Russian plans to diversify away from dollars would take time.
The Treasury Department sold 10-year notes at a high yield of 3.99 percent as
part of a combined sale of $65 billion in government debt this week. Wednesday's auction was
the first real test of the government's long-term borrowing ability since investors began to wonder last month whether its
prized AAA credit rating may be living on borrowed time.
"There were concerns about appetite for Treasuries. The results of this auction have put to rest those concerns for the
time being and any peripheral fears about the dollar as a safe store of value have also been put aside," said Michael
Woolfolk, senior currency strategist, at The Bank of New York Mellon in New York. "This
dollar overall."
is positive for the
Traders also said the euro's rise to $1.4145 earlier triggered automatic sell orders that pushed it to $1.3915 before moving
to $1.3980, down 0.6 percent on the day. The dollar extended gains after a Federal Reserve report on U.S. economic
conditions, known as the Beige Book, said the economy was still weak but there were signs that the slide was easing.
Woolfolk added the Fed report appeared to have prompted an increase in risk aversion that was giving further support to
the greenback in afternoon trading.
The dollar rose 0.8 percent to 98.22 yen, according to electronic trading platform EBS.
HIGHER US YIELDS
The dollar gained even as stocks and bonds sold off after the auction. Bonds
extended losses after the debt sale, with the benchmark 10-year note yield rising
to as much as 4.00 percent after the sale, its highest since October.
2NC Uniqueness—Now KT Fiscal D
Previous spending is not responsive—economy is stabilizing. Fiscal D is key
NOW
LA Times 6/15/09 [“Let's heed Ben Bernanke's warning on getting back to 'balance',”
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-paygo15-2009jun15,0,5813297.story]
The economy has shown sparks of life lately, with hopeful signs in the statistics about
consumer spending, the housing market, new unemployment filings and the banking
industry. Amid these encouraging readings, though, there are rumblings of bigger problems to
come -- problems exacerbated by Washington's response to the recession. Noting
the rapid debt increases caused by huge budget deficits, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke warned
the House Budget Committee that the country needs to "begin planning now for the
restoration of fiscal balance" if it hopes to maintain the confidence of the financial markets. It makes
sense to try to stimulate the economy with deficit spending during a downturn,
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particularly when it's as sharp as the one that began last year. The question today, though, is whether
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it's time for
the feds to shift their focus from stimulus to restraint. At the very least, the administration
and Congress should be laying the groundwork for the change in approach. But the steps they took last week in the direction
of fiscal responsibility just aren't credible.
Reduced spending now is key to preventing inflation
Reuters 6/19/09 [“Fed's Hoenig says inflation a longer-term issue: report,”
http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE55I2Y320090619]
"We
have put an enormous amount of liquidity into the system ... If it is allowed to
remain indefinitely, and we keep a very low (interest) rate for an extended period
of time, then we do risk an inflationary outbreak," Hoenig said.
This threat might not necessarily emerge next year, he said, but even if it was only going to be a problem
in three or four years' time, policy-makers could not afford to ignore it.
"Some people think that is a long ways off. But in the context of history, that is
very quick and I think it is something we need to be concerned about," he said.
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2NC Uniqueness—Economy
Federal reserve agrees—inflation and economy stable
Rugaber 6/18 [Chris, AOL Money & Finance, Data Shows Mixed Picture of Jobs Market,
http://money.aol.com/article/housing-starts-rebound-inflation-stays/523395]
"If the
labor market is indeed stabilizing, we should see a marked decline in new
unemployment filings in the weeks ahead," economists at Wrightson ICAP wrote in a note to clients this week.
The four-week average of claims has dropped by about 40,000 from nearly 659,000 in early April, its peak for the current
recession.
But many economists want to see it fall further. Bruce Kasman, chief economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co., said Tuesday that
a drop in the four-week average to 580,000 by next month would be sufficient to
declare the recession over.
Kasman is chairman of the American Bankers Association's economic advisory committee, a group of economists for large
banks that this week predicted the
economy will recover in the third quarter. The Federal
Reserve also expects the economy to begin growing again this year.
First-time jobless claims are a measure of the pace of layoffs and are seen as a timely, if volatile, indicator of the
economy's health. Initial claims stood at 390,000 a year ago.
Consumers and businesses have cut back on spending in response to the bursting of
the housing bubble and the financial crisis, sending the economy into the longest
recession since World War II. Companies have cut a net total of 6 million jobs
since the downturn began in December 2007, in an effort to reduce costs.
Bank stability will ensure recovery but economy is still fragile
Rugaber 6/17/09 [Chris, Associated Press Writer, “Large banks see recession ending by late summer”
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jmOcTkCX_53nazrPxcMngppE8fFQD98RVMHG0]
The nation's largest banks expect the economy to recover from its deep slump by late
summer but remain weak until next year.
"The
economy will return to growth but not to health," Bruce Kasman, chief economist for
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and chairman of the American Bankers Association's Economic Advisory Committee, said Tuesday.
The committee, which includes economists from Wells Fargo & Co., PNC Financial
Services Group, Morgan Stanley and others, expects gross domestic product to
increase 0.5 percent in the July-September quarter, after falling a projected 1.8 percent in the April-June period.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke also says the economy could recover by the end of
this year.
But jobs will remain scarce and the unemployment rate will keep rising even after
the recovery begins, the committee said, peaking at 10 percent in the first three months of 2010.
The rate will remain elevated through 2010, and will finish the year at 9.5 percent, the committee forecast. That would be
above the current jobless rate of 9.4 percent.
Still,
consumer spending has stabilized after dropping sharply late last year, Kasman said,
and businesses have cut inventories, which should lead to reduced layoffs.
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credit is more widely available than it was at the height of the crisis last
winter due to the government's efforts to rescue the banks, he said.
In addition,
But a report from the Treasury Department Monday showed that lending by the 21 largest banks receiving federal bailout
money dropped in April for the fifth time in six months. Total lending by those banks fell to $4.34 trillion, down 0.8 percent
from March.
The Obama administration's $787 billion stimulus package also is contributing to the recovery, Kasman said.
The committee also expects the housing market to bottom this year and contribute
to economic growth for the first time in several years. Home prices will be "modestly higher"
next year, the committee said.
Signs of recovery in the housing market appeared Tuesday as construction of new homes and
apartments jumped 17.2 percent to an annual pace of 532,000 units. That was above analysts' expectations of 500,000 units.
Still, the huge increase in the federal government's budget deficit, which is expected to reach nearly $1.85 trillion this
year, could lead to higher interest rates after 2010.
"There are clearly challenges and longer term problems that remain even as the economy recovers," Kasman said.
inflation should remain at bay, as consumer prices, excluding food and energy,
drop about 1 percent by the end of this year, he said. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the
But
Labor Department will report Wednesday that core inflation rose 1.8 percent in May from the previous year.
The Producer Price Index, which measures price changes before they reach consumers, fell 5 percent in the 12 months
ending in May, the Labor Department said Tuesday. That was the steepest drop in 60 years. The core PPI dropped 3 percent.
The absence of inflation will enable the Federal Reserve to keep its key short-term
interest rate at near zero until the second half of next year, the committee projects.
2NC Uniqueness—Invisible Inflation Threshold
No inflation or deflation now—invisible threshold has to be avoided
The Capital Spectator 6/3/09 [“NO SIGN OF INFLATION. SO WHY WORRY?” Lexis]
Inflation's still not a risk but arguably neither is deflation. We're not quite ready to officially
claim that the D risk has been vanquished, but we're close. As it turns out, we're not alone. The bond market is
increasingly inclined to turn the page on the fear that a deflationary spiral may
threaten. But if the deflation risk is passing, as it seems to be, the change doesn't mean that inflation is back. There's
no switch that turns one off and the other on as cleanly as flicking on a light. The ebb and flow of the economy is a process,
an evolution. What
we're seeing now, or so it appears, is a transition from a heightened
risk of deflation to the absence of that risk, which isn't to be confused with
inflation. At least not yet. There's no law that says inflation must quickly follow deflation. But neither is there any force
that prevents one from turning into the other. Much depends on what the central bank does; not today but next month, next
year and beyond.
Inflation, when it does bite, tends to creep up on you, slowly, quietly, working its way into the
economy virtually unseen. It doesn't suddenly arrive one day with fanfare and press releases. More typically, the
crowd wakes up one day and realizes that inflation is back. The good news is that there are
usually early warning signs. Interest rates, money supply, commodity prices, and so on. The challenge is figuring out in real
deflation's a
fading hazard. As the chart below shows, the implied inflation rate in the bond market (based
on the yield spread between the nominal 10-year and inflation indexed Treasuries) was just under 2% as of last
night's close. That's still comfortably below the 2.5% rate that prevailed before
the financial system ran amuck starting last September. But it's also up sharply from the neartime what constitutes a legitimate warning vs. noise. For the moment, the market's telling us that
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zero levels of December and January. That's not necessarily surprising or even troublesome. Fearing the worst last fall, the
The medicine appears to be working, which is to say
that Bernanke and company are engineering higher prices. But it's the momentum
we fear . Not necessarily today, but down the road. Some commentators say that all the talk of inflation is premature
and perhaps misguided. In his last week in The New York Times, Paul Krugman advises readers that "when
it comes to inflation, the only thing we have to fear is inflation fear itself." That's a
reassuring thought, but unfortunately it runs contrary to the historical record. Maybe this
time is different, but we don't know. But the past is certainly clear. Except for a few extraordinary
examples to the contrary, inflation has been the norm. For the most part, it's been manageable,
although sometimes it spins out of control, as it did in the 1970s and early 1980s. Recessions, of
course, have a habit of pounding inflation back into the ground. Even after the
current downturn ends, its after-effects are likely to put a lid on pricing pressures
and so there's reason to be sanguine about future inflation threats. The ever-trenchant
Fed quickly dropped short rates to near zero.
Martin Wolf advises in his FT column today that there's no economic basis to fear inflation, at least not now. "The jump in
bond rates is a desirable normalisation after a panic," he writes. "Investors rushed into the dollar and government bonds.
Now they are rushing out again." The question, of course, is when is it safe to start worrying about inflation? The implied
inflation rate for the next 10 years is roughly 2%. That's low by historical standards and if it stayed there for the next
generation the central bank could claim a well-deserved victory in maintaining price stability, at least by the standards of
the 20th century. But
no one knows if inflation will rise to, say, 2% and stay there or keep
climbing. Again, much depends on what the central banks do from here on out. One can make an economic case that
exploding government debt and massive liquidity injections aren't destined to raise inflation pressures, as Wolf and others
explain. That's a reasonable view, but if you're charged with protecting assets, such claims that all's well aren't entirely
persuasive. The bond market, along with the gold and forex markets, are discounting the future and all its risks and they're
telling us that the risk of higher inflation is on the march. It's quite possible that the markets are wrong and so inflation will
remain a shadow of its former self. Let's hope so. But there's no way of knowing for sure. Strategic-minded investors should
hedge their bets. Inflation
may remain benign, but it may not. The markets are struggling
to put a price on this uncertainty. In any case, it's the trend rather than the
absolute levels that worry investors. Estimating the true rate of inflation is always
a contentious subject. But while we can all argue over the numbers, the trend is
less obscure, and it's the trend that has some of us worried. Taking out a bit of insurance,
then, seems reasonable. Should we bet that house on higher inflation? Of course not. But neither should we discount it
entirely. It may be different this time, but 300 years of central banking keeps us wary on buying into yet another argument
that a new era has arrived.
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Links- Housing Assistance/SEVRA hurts the economy
Housing assistance drives up prices—causes inflation
Glaeser & Gyourko 8 [*Edward L. Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard
University AND **Joseph Gyourko is the Martin Bucksbaum Professor of Real Estate and Finance at the Wharton School of
the University of Pennsylvania, “Rethinking Federal Housing Policy,” Dec 08,
http://www.aei.org/book/971?action=add&id=971]
subsidies for construction of low-income housing only tie impoverished
Americans to areas where they have limited job prospects. These supply subsidies
also crowd out private-sector construction and benefit politically-connected
developers. Mortgage interest deductions, which are intended to make housing more
affordable for the middle class, simply allow families who can already afford a
house to purchase a bigger one. In restricted, affluent markets, these deductions increase
the amount families can pay for a house, driving up prices even higher.
Ironically, current
Glaeser and Gyourko propose a comprehensive overhaul of federal housing policy that takes into account local regulations and
economic conditions. Reform of the home mortgage interest deduction
would provide incentives to local governments
to allow the market to provide more housing, preventing unnecessary price
inflation . Federal subsidies for the production of low-income housing should be
eliminated and the funds reallocated to increase the scope of federal housing voucher programs which allow poor
households to relocate to areas of greater economic promise.
A radical rethinking of policy is needed to allow housing markets to operate freely-and to make housing affordable and plentiful for the middle class and the poor.
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Specific link- SEVERA’s costs would snowball as voucher amounts would have to
be adjusted for the inflation the plan itself causes, causing a vicious cycle of
inflation
Will Fischer and Barbara Sard- researchers for # Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities- 2007- Bipartisan Legislation Would Build on Housing Voucher
Program's Success - But Worthwhile Reform Bill Holds Risks From Expanded
Deregulation Authority- onlinehttp://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:TSlBRp1CRTMJ:www.centeronbudget.org/cm
s/index.cfm%3Ffa%3Dview%26id%3D344+%22section+8%22%22housing%22%22v
oucher%22%22inflation%22&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Tenants in HUD’s rental assistance programs generally are required to pay 30
percent of their income for rent, after certain deductions are applied. SEVRA
would streamline several aspects of the process for determining tenants’ incomes
and deductions in order to reduce administrative burdens on housing agencies and
private owners of subsidized housing.[2] For example, SEVRA would replace a
complex set of provisions intended to encourage work among tenants with a simple
provision, under which 10 percent of a household’s first $10,000 in earnings would
be deducted when determining the household’s income for purposes of calculating
its rent. SEVRA also would allow housing agencies to review the incomes of
tenants with fixed incomes (such as elderly individuals on SSI) every three years
instead of every year and to assume that in the intervening two years, the
tenant’s income rose at the rate of inflation. (This reflects the fact that
SSI, Social Security, and certain other such benefits are adjusted annually
for inflation.) In addition, SEVRA would require agencies to base the rents of
working families on actual earnings in the previous year, rather than on anticipated
earnings in the coming year. This would minimize the need for subsequent mid-year
adjustments in rents.
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Links- Social services hurt economy
Social services crush goldilocks economy
Sherk 7 [James Sherk is Bradley Fellow in Labor Policy in the Center for Data Analysis at The Heritage Foundation,
“Jobs, Taxes, and the Goldilocks Economy,” Feb 1 http://www.heritage.org/Research/Economy/wm1336.cfm]
The economy is growing steadily. Like Goldilocks's breakfast, the economy is
neither too hot nor too cold. It is growing, adding jobs, increasing wages, and
staying well away from a recession. Because it is not entering an inflationary boom
the Federal Reserve can keep interest rates low. The economy is in a steady
expansion.
That is why Congress should not impose a triple whammy of tax hikes on the American
workers who are doing so much to keep the economy growing. Three different tax hikes are
being discussed in Congress to pay for more spending: the automatic tax hike from the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT);
raising the cap on wages that are subject to payroll taxes; and repealing the Bush tax cuts. Each of these tax hikes--and
This would be a heavy
blow to American workers. The economy is growing at a good pace, and Members of
Congress should not do anything to harm that.
especially all three together--would impose strong disincentives to work, save, and invest.
Steady Growth
The economy is growing steadily. It increased at a 3.5 percent pace in the fourth quarter of 2006, above expectations and
up from 2.0 percent in the third quarter. The economy grew 3.4 percent in 2006, slightly more than in 2005.[1] This growth
rate is above historical averages but is still moderate enough to ease fears that the economy could enter an inflationinduced bubble.
Job creation is also steady. Entrepreneurs and businesses created 111,000 new jobs in January, most of those in professional
and business services, education, and health.[2] Revisions to earlier figures also revealed that employers created over
400,000 more jobs in 2006 than the government had previously estimated.[3] That is good job growth, but not excessive.
The unemployment rate increased a statistically insignificant 0.1 percent to 4.6 percent in January.[4] Again, this is low but
not excessively so. The unemployment rate was lower in the late 1990s, but that proved unsustainable when the tech bubble
collapsed in 2000. Aside from the tech bubble, unemployment has not been as low as 4.6 percent since the mid-1970s. The
economy is doing well but is not growing so quickly as to raise concerns of an illusory bubble.
Average wages are also growing, rising 0.2 percent in January to $17.09 an hour. Over the past year, wages have risen 4.0
percent.[5] This solid growth means that American workers are seeing their paychecks rise and that American families are
better off than they were last year. But this growth is not so rapid as to raise concerns that it is a sign of rising inflation.
From economic growth to job creation to unemployment to wages, the economy is growing steadily. Workers are doing better
and businesses are creating new jobs. Yet there are no signs that America is in a bubble or that the Federal Reserve needs
to clamp down on rising inflation. That is why the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged for the fifth straight time
when it met in Washington last week.
Congress Should Not Hit Workers with a Triple Whammy
When the economy is doing well, Congress should stay out of the way. Unfortunately,
some ideas being floated on Capitol Hill would impose a heavy blow on the American
workers who have created this "Goldilocks" strong economy. With the reinstatement of pay-asyou-go (PAYGO) budgeting and pledges to end deficit spending, new spending--especially on
entitlements--must be paid for with either spending cuts or tax increases. Because
Congress is reluctant to cut spending, three tax hikes may be in the works for American workers: the AMT, which will
ensnare millions more taxpayers; an increase in the Social Security wage cap; and the repeal of some of the Bush tax cuts.
2NC Link Wall—Social Services [1/2]
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Now is key—increased social services will exacerbate debt
The Spectrum 6/18/09 [“Excessive government spending paves the way to ruin,”
http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20090618/OPINION/906180317/1/CEDARCITY/Excessive+government+spending+paves+the+way+to+ruin]
the change has been insidious. Social Security instituted during a crisis became
accepted as retirement income planning for many. The "war on poverty" allowed us
to believe welfare was an entitlement. As we added Medicare and Medicaid, health care
Until now,
became a right for the poor and elderly. Part D made the population responsible for drug costs for retirees.
We clearly cannot afford this largesse . The U.S. government has been living beyond its means for years.
By some accounts inflation-adjusted tax receipts have risen 40 percent in the last
39 years while government spending increased 2,600 percent. How is this possible?
Foreign governments fund our tremendous government debt. When we account for
Social Security and Medicare, this year alone we will more than double the
national debt.
More than just the financial burden we are placing on future generations, the state is taking over our
personal responsibilities: child care, care of the elderly and now health care. When
asked about a socialist society, most would cite Sweden, where state spending accounts for 54 percent of Gross Domestic
Product. We have recently moved to the 40 percent level, and I believe are on a path very European-like. It is more than just
the cost. It is the loss of American individual responsibility, things our families and churches used to do routinely.
Social programs crush currency stability and economic growth
Behreandt 7 [Denise L. Behreandt, a freelance writer in Wisconsin, studied economics at Ripon College, “The specter
of inflation: entitlement programs have created huge debts, and one Federal Reserve official thinks that the government's
answer to the problem could send the economy into a tailspin,” Aug 6
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-32729857_ITM]
The problem comes from massive wealth transfer programs that promise more than we-meaning the government--can pay over the long-term future. This suggests that the government will come
under tremendous pressure to find a solution when constituencies expect those
pay-outs. The pressure, says Fisher, will be on the Fed to monetize the debt (print new money to pay
the liabilities). "When fiscal policy gets out of whack, monetary authorities face
pressure to monetize the debt," Fisher warned in April. The number of Americans expecting entitlements is
growing, and there is not enough monetary compensation to cover this shortfall. But is monetizing the debt the solution? Not
Although monetization may seem to provide the
simplest solution to covering the unfunded liabilities to social programs, it would
vastly increase the money supply, causing an inflationary catastrophe .
to Fisher. It is "a cardinal sin in my mind," he said.
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Links- Spending
Increased government spending will cause inflation—perception-based
Harrop 9 [Froma Harrop is a member of The Journal's editorial board and a syndicated columnist, “Deficit Worry is the
Greenest Shoot,” June 16
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/06/16/deficit_worry_is_the_greenest_shoot_97005.html]
Never mind firmer retail sales, rising stock prices and moderating job losses.
The greenest shoot is
Americans' changing economic fixation. There's less panic over collapsing banks, home foreclosures and
the prospect of another Great Depression. Attention has moved to budget deficits and the
resulting federal debt. These are worries of a more stable time, when people had the luxury of looking at the
long-term.
Suddenly there's
talk of hiking taxes and curbing federal spending, which you shouldn't do when
the economy is flat on its back. These actions require discipline and sacrifice. They're no fun at all but preferable to a trip
to the abyss.
Deficits are a disease we can diagnose, and they have a cure we can understand. We
know how bad the problem is -- unlike in the dark recent past, when no one could fully assess the threat of the mysterious
derivatives, the so-called financial weapons of mass destruction.
while budget deficits are a more ordinary concern, today's projected
federal imbalances are not ordinary deficits. This year's expected deficit of $1.8 trillion is fueled by
That said,
the deep recession.
The bailouts, economic stimuli, social-safety-net spending and reduced tax revenues are presumably temporary. But the
nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects a 2019 deficit of $1.2 trillion, even assuming respectable economic growth.
everyone's getting nervous about rising interest rates and how they will bloat
the government's borrowing costs.
These numbers are huge. They can't continue. But note that new programs, if they're paid for, don't
And
add to deficits.
2NC Inflation Impact—Laundry List
Inflation cripples trade, causes poverty, and breeds tyranny
Sennholz 9 [Hans F., heads the Department of Economics at Grove City College and is a noted writer and lecturer on
monetary and economic principles and practices, April 19, “Your Financial Future - Gold and Silver Bullion,”
http://www.rapidtrends.com/the-causes-of-inflation/]
It is not money, as is sometimes said, but the depreciation of money — the cruel and crafty destruction of
money — that is the root of many evils. For it destroys individual thrift and self-reliance
as it gradually erodes personal savings. It benefits debtors at the expense of creditors as it silently
transfers wealth and income from the latter to the former. It generates the business cycles,
the stop-and-go boom-and-bust movements of business that inflict incalculable
harm on millions of people. For money is not only the medium for all economic
exchanges, but as such also the lifeblood of the economy. When money suffers
depreciations and devaluations it invites government price and wage controls, compulsory
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distribution through official allocation and rationing, restrictive quotas on imports, rising tariffs and
surcharges, prohibition of foreign travel and investment, and many other government restrictions on
individual activities. Monetary destruction breeds not only poverty and chaos, but also
government tyranny. Few policies are more calculated to destroy the existing basis of a
free society than the debauching of its currency. And few tools, if any, are more
important to the champion of freedom than a sound monetary system.
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Impacts- Imflation kills dollar primacy/ U.S. leadership
Inflation kills dollar primacy
Pritchard 6/2/09 [Pritchard is the senior member of the Rohrer College of Business faculty, “Inflation and Dollar
Depreciation,” http://newsblaze.com/story/2009060219390700001.wi/topstory.html]
decreasing value of the dollar has resulted in China calling for another currency
to replace the dollar as the major reserve currency. (A reserve currency is a stable currency that is used for a
significant portion of international trade.) Although this is unlikely to take place, countries could well decide
to replace the dollar with a basket of currencies. Such a move would reduce the
demand for the dollar, resulting in its further depreciation.
The
The actual increases in longer-term interest rates result primarily from the fact that bond purchasers - who take a longterm view of the economy - want to obtain a real (inflation-adjusted) return on their investments. Consequently,
whenever they expect inflation to increase, they require higher interest rates to
compensate them for the anticipated losses in purchasing power that will result
from the impending inflation. This fear of inflation drives longer-term interest rates
upward.
Similarly, anticipated inflation has a negative impact on stock prices. When stock
market investors foresee inflation, they too want higher total returns. This results
in dampening of stock prices. This dampening is harmful for two primary reasons.
First, people spend less when they have less wealth. Lower stock prices (as well as low real estate
prices) result in decreased consumer spending and prolong the recession. Higher stock prices stimulate
spending and economic growth.
Second, at present, many retirees and would-be retirees have seen 40-percent decreases in their 401(k) plans. Many
retirees have been forced to return to work; many would-be's have been forced to postpone retirement. This has led to
personal hardship for many, contributed to the increased unemployment, will lead to higher long-term unemployment and will
postpone economic recovery. Baby Boomers, especially, are frightened about their futures; many are reluctant to spend.
Dollar primacy is key to hegemony
Looney 3 [Robert, November 2003. Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School. “From
Petrodollars to Petroeuros: Are the Dollar's Days as an International Reserve Currency Drawing to an End?” Strategic
Insights, 2.11, http://www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/si/nov03/middleEast.asp.]
the loss of key
currency status and the loss of international creditor status have sometimes been associated, along
with such non-economic factors as the loss of colonies and military power, in discussions of the historical decline
of great powers. Causality may well flow from key currency status to power and prestige and in the opposite direction as
well.[8] On a broader scale, Niall Ferguson[9] notes that one pillar of American dominance can be found in
the way successive U.S. government sought to take advantage of the dollar's role as a key currency.
Political power and prestige. The benefits of "power and prestige" are nebulous. Nevertheless ,
Quoting several noted authorities, he notes that [the role of the dollar] enabled the United States to be "far less
restrained…than all other states by normal fiscal and foreign exchange constraints when it came to funding whatever foreign
or strategic policies it decided to implement." As Robert Gilpin notes, quoting Charles de Gaulle, such policies led to a
'hegemony of the dollar" that gave the U.S. "extravagant privileges." In David Calleo's words, the U.S. government had
access to a "gold mine of paper" and could therefore collect a subsidy form foreigners in the form of seignorage (the profits
that flow to those who mint or print a depreciating currency). The web contains many more radical interactions of the
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World trade is now a game in which the U.S.
produces dollars and the rest of the world produces things that dollars can buy. The world's interlinked
dollar's role. Usually something along the following lines:
economies no longer trade to capture a comparative advantage; they compete in exports to capture needed dollars to service
dollar-denominated foreign debts and to accumulate dollar reserves to sustain the exchange value of their domestic
currencies…. This phenomenon is known as dollar hegemony, which is created by the geopolitically constructed peculiarity
that critical commodities, most notably oil, are denominated in dollars. Everyone accepts dollars because dollars can buy oil.
The recycling of petro-dollars is the price the U.S. has extracted from oil-producing countries for U.S. tolerance of the oil-
America's coercive power in the world is based as much on the
dollar's status as the global reserve currency as on U.S. military muscle. Everyone needs oil, and to
exporting cartel since 1973.[10]
pay for it, they must have dollars. To secure dollars, they must sell their goods to the U.S., under terms acceptable to the
people who rule America. The dollar is way overpriced, but it's the only world currency. Under the current dollars-only
arrangement, U.S. money is in effect backed by the oil reserves of every other nation.[ 11] While it is
tempting to dismiss passages of this sort as uninformed rants, they do contain some elements of truth. There are tangible
benefits that accrue to the country whose currency is a reserve currency. The real question is: if this situation is so
intolerable and unfair, why hasn't the world ganged up on the United States and changed the system? Why haven't countries
like Libya and Iran required something like euros or gold dinars in payment for oil? After all, with the collapse of the Bretton
Woods system in 1971 the International Monitary Fund's Standard Drawing Rights (unit of account) was certainly an
available alternative to the dollar.[12]
Global nuclear war
Thayer 06 [Bradley A., Professor of Defense and Strategic Studies @ Missouri State University,
“In Defense of
Primacy.,” National Interest; Nov/Dec2006 Issue 86, p32-37]
THROUGHOUT HISTORY, peace and stability have been great benefits of an era where there was
a dominant power--Rome, Britain or the United States today. Scholars and statesmen have long recognized the irenic
effect of power on the anarchic world of international politics. Everything we think of when we
consider the current international order--free trade, a robust monetary regime, increasing respect
for human rights, growing democratization--is directly linked to U.S. power. Retrenchment proponents seem to think
that the current system can be maintained without the current amount of U.S. power behind it. In that they are dead wrong and need to be reminded of one of
Appalling things happen when international orders collapse. The Dark Ages
followed Rome's collapse. Hitler succeeded the order established at Versailles. Without U.S.
power, the liberal order created by the United States will end just as assuredly. As country and western
history's most significant lessons:
great Ral Donner sang: "You don't know what you've got (until you lose it)." Consequently, it is important to note what those good things are. In addition to ensuring
the security of the United States and its allies,
outcomes
American primacy
within the international system
causes many positive
for Washington and the world. The first has been a more peaceful world. During the Cold War, U.S. leadership reduced friction among
American primacy helps keep a number of
complicated relationships aligned--between Greece and Turkey, Israel and Egypt, South Korea and
Japan, India and Pakistan, Indonesia and Australia . This is not to say it fulfills Woodrow Wilson's vision of ending all war. Wars still
occur where Washington's interests are not seriously threatened, such as in Darfur, but a Pax Americana does reduce war's likelihood,
particularly war's worst form: great power wars.
many states that were historical antagonists, most notably France and West Germany. Today,
Second,
American power gives the United States the ability to spread democracy
and other elements of its ideology
of liberalism: Doing so is a source of much good for the countries concerned as well as the United States because, as John Owen noted on these pages in the Spring
2006 issue, liberal democracies are more likely to align with the United States and be sympathetic to the American worldview.( n3) So, spreading democracy helps
once states are governed democratically, the likelihood of any type of
conflict is significantly reduced. This is not because democracies do not have clashing interests. Indeed they do. Rather, it is because
they are more open, more transparent and more likely to want to resolve things amicably in concurrence with
maintain U.S. primacy. In addition,
U.S. leadership. And so, in general, democratic states are good for their citizens as well as for advancing the interests of the United States.
Internal Link- inflation cuases dollar sell off
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Inflation causes sell-off. Crushes the dollar
CFW 9 [Capital Flow Watch, “US acts to support dollar as inflation looms,” March 30, http://capital-flowanalysis.com/capital-flow-watch/us-acts-to-support-dollar-as-inflation-looms.html]
Obviously, inflation
is not friendly to bond investors, nor to the dollar’s position as
world reserve currency. In recent years, the major support for the US bond market (except for municipal bonds)
has come from foreign holders of dollar assets.
A high level of dollar inflation poses a real threat to the US bond market and
dollar supremacy, especially since foreign investors, with sufficient monetary motivation, will shift
their attention from bonds into US hard assets that offer better protection against a
debasing of the currency.
At the same time, inflation will also impact US insurance companies, traditional
buyers of debt securities, further constricting supply.
Unless the US Treasury comes up with a bond that offers real protection against inflation (like the Brazilian ORTN of the
1960s), the monetary authorities will not be able to soak up money that is being spent by a profligate Congress. Inflation will
get worse, pushing even more money into “hard assets”.
if the rest of the world, fearing US inflation, moves from dollar financial
assets into real estate and direct US investment, their will no longer be the huge captive market for
Treasury bonds, represented by the accumulated traded deficits over many years. The government will have no
alternative but to print money, inflation will go wild, and the dollar will be finished
as a world reserve currency.
Even so,
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AT Keynesian Economics
Keynesian economics is flawed—multiple reasons
Keen 9 [Steve Keen is an Associate Professor in economics and finance at the University of Western Sydney, “No,
Serious Deficit Spending is Not Immediately Needed,” Jan 5, http://blog.heritage.org/2009/01/05/no-serious-deficitspending-is-not-immediately-needed/]
Government spending does not create economic growth. Regrettably, many in Congress,
Republicans and Democrats alike, have ignored this fact. Just today, Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), declared in his Wall
Street Journal op-ed How to Make Sure the Stimulus Works that, “it is fairly obvious that serious deficit spending is
needed immediately.” While his four rules for an effective stimulus bill are generally correct, government spending does not
lead to economic growth.
This notion is grounded in the outdated and often disproved Keynesian economic
theory that more government spending invariably increases economic growth. Thus,
the more the government spends the better. This ignores the fact that every dollar that
Congress “injects” into the economy must first be taxed or borrowed out of the
economy. Therefore, government spending merely redistributes money from one
part of the economy to another.
In reality, economic growth – the act of producing more goods and services – can be accomplished only
by making American workers more productive. So the best measure of a policy’s
impact on economic growth is through productivity rates.
Numerous academic studies have shown that government spending often does not increase
productivity rates and therefore is not correlated with economic growth due to:
Taxes. Government spending is financed by taxes, and high tax rates reduce incentives to work, save, and invest.
Incentives. Social spending often reduces incentives for productivity by subsidizing leisure and unemployment.
Displacement. Every dollar spent by politicians means one dollar less to be allocated based on market forces. Rather
than allowing the market to allocate investments, politicians seize that money and earmark it for favored organizations.
Inefficiencies. Government operations are often much less efficient than the private sector. Politicians earmark
money for wasteful pork projects rather providing funding for essential projects.
Keynesian economic theory is most prevalent in the development of highway
spending policy. The source of the assertion that government spending on highways will create jobs stems from a
misrepresentation of a Department a Transportation study stating that for every $1 billion spent on highways, 47, 576 jobs
will be added to the economy. The report didn’t actually make this claim, but rather that $1 billion in highway spending would
require (not create) 47,576 workers. But before Congress can spend $1 billion on highways, they must first tax or borrow $1
billion from elsewhere in the economy. This type of redistribution
growth.
creates little, if any, economic
The Congressional Research Service addressed this issue in 1993, stating:
To the extent that financing new highways by reducing expenditures on other
programs or by deficit finance and its impact on private consumption and
investment, the net impact on the economy of highway construction in terms of
both output and employment could be nullified or even negative.
At a time when many American families are struggling Congress should be focused
on a pro-growth stimulus package, not a politically driven government spending bill.
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AT Spending Good
Spending crushes economy—no benefits during recession
Riedl 8 [Brian M. Riedl is Grover M. Hermann Fellow in Federal Budgetary Affairs in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for
Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation, “Why Government Spending Does Not Stimulate Economic Growth,” Nov
12, http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/bg2208.cfm]
government expansions have failed to produce economic growth.
Massive spending hikes in the 1930s, 1960s, and 1970s all failed to increase economic
growth rates. Yet in the 1980s and 1990s—when the federal government shrank by one-fifth as a percentage of gross
This is not the first time
domestic product (GDP)—the U.S. economy enjoyed its great est expansion to date.
The U.S. government spends significantly less than
the 15 pre-2004 E uropean U nion nations, and yet enjoys 40 percent larger per capita GDP,
50 percent faster economic growth rates, and a sub stantially lower unemployment
rate.[1]
Cross-national comparisons yield the same result.
When conventional economic wisdom repeat edly fails, it becomes necessary to revisit that con ventional wisdom. Government
every dollar Congress "injects" into the
economy must first be taxed or borrowed out of the economy. Thus, gov ernment spending
"stimulus" merely redistributes existing income, doing nothing to increase produc
tivity or employment, and therefore nothing to cre ate additional income. Even worse,
many federal expenditures weaken the private sector by directing resources toward
less productive uses and thus impede income growth.
spending fails to stimulate economic growth because
The Myth of Spending as "Stimulus"
Spending-stimulus advocates claim that govern ment can "inject" new money into the economy, increasing demand and
therefore production. This raises the obvious question: Where does the gov ernment acquire the money it pumps into the
econ omy? Congress does not have a vault of money waiting to be distributed: Therefore, every dollar Congress "injects" into
No new spending power is created. It
is merely redistrib uted from one group of people to another.[2]
the economy must first be taxed or borrowed out of the economy.
Spending-stimulus advocates typically respond that redistributing money from "savers" to "spend ers" will lead to additional
spending. That assumes that savers store their savings in their mattresses or elsewhere outside the economy. In reality,
nearly all Americans either invest their savings by purchasing financial assets such as stocks and bonds (which finances
business investment), or by purchasing non-financial assets such as real estate and collecti bles, or they deposit it in banks
(which quickly lend it to others to spend). The money is used regardless of whether people spend or save.
Government cannot create new purchasing power out of thin air. If
Congress funds new spend ing with
taxes, it is simply redistributing existing income. If Congress instead borrows the
money from domestic investors, those investors will have that much less to invest
or to spend in the private economy. If Congress borrows the money from
foreigners, the balance of payments will adjust by equally reducing net exports,
leaving GDP unchanged. Every dollar Congress spends must first come from
somewhere else.
This does not mean that government spending has no economic impact at all. Government spending often alters the
composition of total demand, such as increasing consumption at the expense of investment.
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government spending can alter future economic growth. Economic growth
results from producing more goods and services (not from redistributing existing income), and that requires
productivity growth and growth in the labor supply. A government's impact on economic growth is,
More importantly,
therefore, determined by its policies' effect on labor productivity and labor supply.
Productivity growth requires increasing the amount of capital, either material or human, relative to the amount of labor
employed. Productivity growth is facilitated by smoothly functioning mar kets indicating accurate price signals to which buy
ers and sellers, firms and workers can respond in flexible markets. Only in the rare instances where the private sector fails
to provide these inputs in ade quate amounts is government spending necessary. For instance, government spending on
education, job training, physical infrastructure, and research and development can increase long-term productiv ity rates—
but only if government spending does not crowd out similar private spending, and only if gov ernment spends the money more
competently than businesses, nonprofit organizations, and private cit izens. More specifically, government must secure a
higher long-term return on its investment than tax payers' (or investors lending the government) requirements with the
same funds. Historically, gov ernments have rarely outperformed the private sec tor in generating productivity growth.
Even when government spending improves eco nomic growth rates on balance, it is necessary to dif ferentiate between
There is no immediate stimulus from government spending,
since that money had to be removed from another part of the economy. However, a
immediate versus future effects.
productiv ity investment may aid future economic growth, once it has been fully completed and is being used by the American
workforce. For example, spending on energy itself does not improve economic growth, yet the eventual existence of a
completed, well-functioning energy system can. Those
economic impacts can take years, or even
decades, to occur.
Most government spending has historically reduced productivity and long-term
economic growth due to: [3]
Taxes. Most government spending is financed by taxes, and high tax rates reduce incentives to work, save, and invest—
resulting in a less motivated workforce as well as less business investment in new capital and technology. Few government
expenditures raise productivity enough to offset the productivity lost due to taxes;
Incentives.
Social spending often reduces in centives for productivity by subsidizing leisure and
unemployment. Combined with taxes, it is clear that taxing Peter to subsidize Paul reduces both of their incentives to be
productive, since productivity no longer determines one's income;
Displacement. Every dollar spent by politicians means one dollar less to be allocated based on market forces within the more
productive pri vate sector. For example, rather than allowing the market to allocate investments, politicians seize that money
and earmark it for favored organizations with little regard for improve ments to economic efficiency; and
Government provision of housing, education, and postal operations are
often much less efficient than the private sector. Government also distorts existing health care and
Inefficiencies.
education markets by promoting third-party payers, resulting in over-consumption and insensitivity to prices and outcomes.
Another example of inefficiency is when politicians earmark highway money for wasteful pork projects rather than
expanding highway capacity where it is most needed.
Mountains of academic studies show how gov ernment expansions reduce economic growth:[4]
Public Finance Review reported that "higher total government expenditure, no matter how financed, is associated with a
lower growth rate of real per capita gross state product."[5]
The Quarterly Journal of Economics reported that "the
ratio of real government consumption
expenditure to real GDP had a negative associa tion with growth and investment," and
"growth is inversely related to the share of government consumption in GDP, but
insignificantly related to the share of public investment."[6]
A Journal of Macroeconomics study discovered that "the coefficient of the additive terms of the government-size variable
indicates that a 1% increase in government size decreases the rate of economic growth by 0.143%."[7]
Public Choice reported that "a one percent in crease in government spending as a percent of GDP (from, say, 30 to 31%)
would raise the un employment rate by approximately .36 of one percent (from, say, 8 to 8.36 percent)."[8]
Economic growth is driven by individuals and entrepreneurs operating in free
markets, not by Washington spending and regulations. The out-dated idea that transferring
spending power from the private sector to Washington will expand the economy has been thoroughly discredited, yet
lawmakers continue to return to this strategy. The U.S. economy has soared highest when the federal government was
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shrinking, and it has stagnated at times of government expansion. This experience has been paralleled in Europe, where
A strong private sector provides the
nation with strong economic growth and benefits for all Americans.
government expansions have been followed by economic decline.
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Conditions CP 1NC
Text: The United States congress should pass a modified version of SEVRA
which stipulates that all residents who receive vouchers under the plan are
subject to regulation under a federal version of New York’s Operation Safe
House rules. We’ll clearify.
Counter plan solve all of case: Almost everyone who would recive help under
the plan would receive help under the coutnerplan We just put conditions on
behavior to ensure that only people who truly deserve help will get it,
preventing people from abusing the system.
Net benefits: the Counterplan preserves peoples dignity, making all out
arguments about stigmatization a net benefit. It also avoid politics because
passing the plan with conditions helps Obama preserve his political capital.
Also- the net benefit is superior solvency and quality of life- failure to
remove bad apples form public housing creates the kind of ghettoization their
Aff ostensibly solves.
Peter H. Schuck and Richard J. Zeckhauser- Analysts for the Brookings
institution- 2006- Targeting in Social Programs Avoiding Bad Bets, Removing Bad
Apples – page- 88
Criminal activity and ruffianism seriously impair the quality of life of a large
number of public housing residents.46 Some residents, who are already
disadvantaged and disproportionately members of minority groups, live in
constant fear; they are prisoners in their own homes. Two separate studies by
the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Depart- ment of Justice compare the high crime rates in
confirm that
criminal activity in public housing projects is a very serious problem. In 1998 an
estimated 360 gun-related homicides occurred in sixty-six of the nation’s hundred
largest public housing authorities—an average of one such homicide per day.47
public housing with crime rates in surrounding areas (which also tend to be high). These studies
This problem extends from smaller public housing projects to those in cities of all sizes.48 But gun-related homicides are
only the tip of the iceberg. Data for a sixmonth period drawn from HUD’s Public Housing Drug Elimination Program, based on
1,610 rapes, 8,382 robberies,
20,776 aggravated assaults, 28,777 burglaries, and 19,254 auto thefts.49
Although public housing accounted for less than 10 percent of the nation’s
housing in 1999, more than twice the surrounding communities’ share of crime
occurred in and around public housing.50 From 1990 through 1999, public housing authorities spent
a sample of 559 public housing authorities, reported 423 homicides,
over $4 billion to reduce and prevent crime. As HUD acknowledges, these costs divert funds from the programs’ principal
mission of providing shelter for lowincome families. Indeed, only one in four income-eligible families now receives this
How much of the crime in and around public housing projects is
committed by resident bad apples is unknown.52 When these malefactors can
housing assistance.51
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be identified, the most straightforward remedy for the housing authority is to
evict them. Unfortunately, this process is much harder and slower than one
might expect, especially when evicting the bad apples means evicting family members as well, be they innocents,
enablers, or fellow malefactors.
Solvency- Only by putting conditions on who receives help from the plan and
the plan ever achiever any long term solvency
Peter H. Schuck and Richard J. Zeckhauser- Analysts for the Brookings
institution- 2006- Targeting in Social Programs Avoiding Bad Bets, Removing Bad
Apples – page- 32-3
Although bad apples and bad bets both waste scarce program resources, bad
apples undermine a program’s substantive policy goals in other ways, which
we discuss in chapter 5. There, we explain how bad apples directly hurt good
apples and also impose indirect harms on them and on others. We also
present data on particularly troubling, widespread, and persistent examples
in three kinds of social programs: chronically disruptive public school
students who interfere with the learning opportunities of their already
deprived classmates; chronically disruptive public housing residents who
impair their neighbors’ quality of life; and residents of homeless shelters
whose rulebreaking make difficult living conditions in the shelters
significantly worse Misallocating program resources to bad apples and bad
bets squanders the political capital needed to sustain programs for good
apples and good bets. Misallocation provides powerful political ammunition to
a program’s enemies while weakening support among its friends. (As we
explain at the end of this chapter, however, the effects of misallocation on
bad bets are not identical to the effects on bad apples.)
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Conditions key to solvency
Welfare proves that screening applicants and building restrictions into the
programs is the only way to make them effective long term
Peter H. Schuck and Richard J. Zeckhauser- Analysts for the Brookings
institution- 2006- Targeting in Social Programs Avoiding Bad Bets, Removing Bad
Apples – page- 33
If voters’ altruism is indeed limited, as suggested in chapter 2, then programs that
effectively screen out or remove bad apples will tend to increase their political
legitimacy, which in turn can enhance their long-run public support and even
increase their funding (at least by making more funds available per good apple).
Voters and legislators may not know how many bad apples a program contains and
may accept that a few in a program are probably inevitable. However, they can
more readily distinguish between programs that earnestly strive to weed out bad
apples and those that do not, and they will give more support to those programs
that make a strong effort to do so while withdrawing support from those that do
not. Leading examples of this effect of improved targeting on public support are
the 1996 welfare reform law, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and the Food Stamp
program. We also discuss this effect in chapter 5. The Personal Responsibility and
Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), passed by Congress in 1996,
imposed a stiff work requirement designed to prevent welfare recipients who are
deemed capable of work from remaining on the rolls indefinitely (which would make
them bad apples).19 The new program (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
[TANF]) maintained federal funding at the pre-reform level in nominal terms, when
one includes the additional funds that were appropriated for child care and other
work support services. Because the number of those who remained on the rolls
(relatively good apples) was much lower, TANF and these other work support
programs produced significantly increased funding to aid good apple working poor
families.20 This development continued even after the election of a much more
conservative president and a somewhat more Republican Congress. Subsidies to
low-income families for child care provided outside TANF, but directly related to
TANF’s goal of work promotion, also increased substantially after welfare reform,
as did funding for job training.21 Congress provided these additional funds with
the hope and expectation that welfare reform would enable wage incomes to
replace transfer payments. Another provision of the reform, which limited
noncitizens’ access to federally funded public benefits, has had a similar political
effect, weakening an argument— immigrant dependency on welfare—that
restrictionists traditionally used to press for lower immigration to the United
States.
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Conditions solve for public housing
Conditions solve for public housing
Peter H. Schuck and Richard J. Zeckhauser- Analysts for the Brookings
institution- 2006- Targeting in Social Programs Avoiding Bad Bets, Removing Bad
Apples – page- 90-92
In the decade since the Escalera decree was modified, NYCHA’s officials say,
the agency’s use of the expedited eviction process has helped stem the tide of
drug trafficking in its projects. This in turn has contributed to the stunning
decline in the crime rate in the city as a whole. During this period, however, a
major limitation in the usefulness of the Bawdy House law became apparent. That
law only authorizes proceedings in the case of illegal “business,” not in cases
involving more isolated incidents or violence apart from economic gain—such as
mere intimidation, turf warfare, or fighting, all common occurrences. For this
reason, NYCHA could not use it to remove tenants engaged in criminal activity that
did not constitute a business or enterprise. To remedy this situation, in June 2004
Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced plans for Operation Safe Housing, a
streamlined and prioritized process for evicting criminal activity that the
Bawdy House law did not cover, particularly the most serious sex crimes, gun
violations, and drug offenses that did not constitute trafficking. The program,
inaugurated in January 2005, created a streamlined adjudication process within
NYCHA and also in a special part of the city’s housing court. A new chief hearing
officer was assigned with the sole responsibility of hearing eviction charges
against the worst apples whose offenses appeared on a specific priority list
developed with the police department. Improved coordination with the police
through a designated contact person for NYCHA cases accelerated the preparation
of the police reports and forensic work needed to support prompt eviction, and also
allowed for police officers to be available to testify at the hearing. NYCHA
reorganized its internal management of the eviction process for these priority
cases, with new systems for file coding, training, and utilizing its attorneys and
investigators, thereby reducing the number and length of agency-caused delays. 92
Removing Bad Apples Although Operation Safe Housing has been in effect for
only a short period, one result is already clear. In the first 635 eviction cases
under the new procedure, the average time from the commencement of the
process to its resolution— such as actual termination of the tenancy, probation,
permanent exclusion of one or more persons in the household, and lesser
remedies—has been cut by more than two-thirds, from nine months to less
than three months. Assuming that the Escalera judge was correct to find that
speedy eviction of bad apples improves the safety and quality of life of good apple
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families in the projects, this acceleration of the process constitutes an immense
gain, achieved at what appears to be modest cost and with no sacrifice of due
process.61 If these encouraging results continue, NYCHA plans to expand the
program to fraud and violent crimes not now covered by Operation Safe Housing.
This program represents a remarkable success. It shows that the worst of the
bad apples can be removed from the projects more swiftly while maintaining
procedural safeguards. And this success has been achieved in one of the most
politically liberal communities in the country. The so-called barment process
represents another promising approach
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Conditions key when dealing with homeless
Their plan to move people from shelters to housing just shift the issue of bad apples- the
Counterplans conditions are uniqley key in the context of homelessness
Peter H. Schuck and Richard J. Zeckhauser- Analysts for the Brookings
institution- 2006- Targeting in Social Programs Avoiding Bad Bets, Removing Bad
Apples – page- 90-92
Shelters have a substantial bad apples problem. The dangerous misconduct ranges from
smoking in bed and creating fire risks, to alcohol and drug abuse and trafficking on the
premises, to brandishing of weapons and other threatening behavior, to fighting and physical
violence against both staff and fellow residents. The three main categories of bad apple
behavior—what the agencies label as serious misconduct—are violence or active illegal conduct,
unreasonable rejection of suitable housing, and violation of the individualized “independent living
plan.” All residents must negotiate such a plan with the shelter, which commits them to
pursuing treatment for substance abuse, searching for available housing units, applying for
entitlements, and so forth. If the serious misconduct continues, the agency can recommend
that an individual be excluded from the shelter system for a maximum of thirty days unless
he or she terminates the misconduct before then. (In contrast to individuals, misbehaving
families escape even this sanction. In a remarkable example of an incentive that actually
rewards bad appledom, the only available sanction against a family is to place it in
permanent housing.)
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Net benefit- quality of life
When it comes to public housing, just a few bad apples spoils the bunch- They
create a vicious cycle where the good apples move away- the CP is key to
preserve quality of life in publish housing
Peter H. Schuck and Richard J. Zeckhauser- Analysts for the Brookings
institution- 2006- Targeting in Social Programs Avoiding Bad Bets, Removing Bad
Apples – page- 33
We investigated how the bad apples problem is handled by New York City’s
public housing agency, which is reputed to be among the most progressive, wellmanaged in the country.55 The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is the
largest public housing authority in the country, with approximately 417,000
authorized residents (5.2 percent of the city’s population) in 180,000 units in 345
developments consisting of almost 2,700 residential buildings, which contain more
than 3,300 elevators. NYCHA residents and Section 8–voucher holders occupy 12.7
percent of the city’s total rental housing stock. Almost 40 percent of the
residents are younger than 21 years of age, and the vast majority are under the
age of 18. The waiting list for apartments is long (145,000 families toward the end
of 2005), and waits of many years are common.56 NYCHA officials estimate the
incidence of bad apples among NYCHA residents to be quite low, perhaps 0.5
percent, yet they insist that “just a few bad apples can ruin an entire
building.” Sometimes, there are more than a few. For example, at one
complex, Redfern Houses, the police made 27 felony arrests in one day for
drug sales on the site. Drug trafficking activity had, in effect, confiscated the
public areas from use by other tenants. Seniors were forced to remain inside, and
children could not play on the grounds of the complex. The perpetrators filled the
hallways with the stench of urine, monopolized the lobbies, broke the locks
and doors, prevented legitimate residents from using the elevators, and kept
the elevators out of service. Such conditions can readily create a (literally)
vicious circle in which chronically disruptive tenants drive away law-abiding
ones. Our discussion here focuses on bad apples in the projects who harm other
tenants. But bad apples also inflict significant costs on the housing authority; thus
drunkenness leads to fire damage in an apartment, and lack of personal hygiene
creates infestations.
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AT- The CP is racist
People don’t want to admit that some people don’t deserve help, but we HAVE
to. African Americans are especially likely to agree that giving support to “bad
apples’ unfairly punishes those who play by the rules
Peter H. Schuck and Richard J. Zeckhauser- Analysts for the Brookings
institution- 2006- Targeting in Social Programs Avoiding Bad Bets, Removing Bad
Apples – page- 35-6
Few policy intellectuals are willing to examine the bad apples problem
closely. Yet most people who are as poor as or poorer than bad apples
strongly condemn their misconduct. Indeed, public opinion polls find that
low-income and black respondents are more disapproving of deviance,
disruption, and violence than are higher-income and white respondents
(although the former are more cynical about the police).1 Even more
important, good apples manage to avoid engaging in such misconduct.
Their good behavior often entails self-sacrifice—for example, the
discipline to resist temptation and the courage to stand up to bullies. This
fact, which is widely overlooked by advocates for the poor, needs
emphasis. Every social policy should be designed to support the hard-won
achievements of good apples, and every well-targeted redistributionist
should seek to reward those achievements, not undermine them.
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At- no linkage between conditions and Support for a policy
The linkages between having conditions and political support are often hard to
be, but that does NOT mean they don’t exist
Peter H. Schuck and Richard J. Zeckhauser- Analysts for the Brookings
institution- 2006- Targeting in Social Programs Avoiding Bad Bets, Removing Bad
Apples – page- 35-6
Sometimes the political linkage between reforms that remove bad apples
and more resources for good apples can be inferred even when it is not
explicit. Christopher Jencks, a leading sociologist who specializes in
research on poverty and social programs, points out that the Clinton
administration’s welfare policymakers thought that they needed to
expand the EITC program before they attempted welfare reform
because they had to convince themselves and those to their left that
single mothers with minimum wages could make it.30 Congress also raised
the minimum wage within days of passing welfare reform, despite the
hostility of the House leadership under Newt Gingrich to such proposals,
and the states that reduced the number of welfare beneficiaries on their
rolls spent a lot of money on child care subsidies and other job supports,
including, in some cases, more generous increases of the EITC. A recent
report suggests that they are continuing to do so: “States have poured
money into education, training and child care to help welfare recipients get
and keep jobs. Forty-four states said they would maintain cash assistance
benefits in 2005 at the levels in effect this year. Five states . . . said they
planned to increase cash assistance benefits next year.”31 Spending on child
care subsidies, which enabled former recipients to work, almost doubled
between the enactment of welfare reform and 2003, although working poor
families in some states have had difficulty accessing these funds.32 When
asked whether the reforms removing bad apples contributed significantly
to such policy responses, Jencks replied, “I’d say yes, but the case is
circumstantial.” 33 Originally an opponent of the welfare reform
legislation, he now believes that the people who claimed that [the 1996
law] would cause a lot of suffering no longer have much credibility with
middle-of-the-road legislators, who see welfare reform as an
extraordinary success. If we want to regain credibility, we need to
admit that welfare reform turned out so much better than we expected,
and figure out why that was the case. The usual explanation is just that the
economy did better than anyone projected, but that is only part of the
story.34 A government social program whose performance exceeds
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expectations is a “man bites dog” story, one that merits close attention
and investigation.35
Turn- Their liberal altruism only leads to bad policy in the long term,
obscuring the reform process and making people worse off then they were
before
Peter H. Schuck and Richard J. Zeckhauser- Analysts for the Brookings
institution- 2006- Targeting in Social Programs Avoiding Bad Bets, Removing Bad
Apples – page- 37
These institutional responses to the problem of tragic choices tend to
enhance individual freedoms and exhibit other values favored by a liberal
polity. At the same time, however, they often produce bad policies by
rendering crucial facts more resistant to analysis. More to our point, these
responses make it more likely that society will allocate too many resources
to bad apples and bad bets rather than to other bad draws for whom the
resources could bear more fruit. The opacity of these bad policies confounds
rational voting and policymaking. It also makes it harder for the
disadvantaged to mobilize politically and legally to secure remedies.
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States Cp 1NC
Observation 1: Text: The 50 state governments and related territories and
principalities of the United State will substantially increase the proportion of
Mckinley-Vento Act funds they allocate for housing the homeless. Funding and
Enforcment through normal means. We’ll clearify.
Observation 2: Net benefits; Cp avoids the spending DA, which assumes increases in
only in federal spending.
Solvency- States have the experiences and resources to solve for homelessness
independent of the federal government
Jim Baumohl- policy analyst for National Coalition for the Homeless1996- Homelessness in America= page- 175
As states have experienced growth in the number of homeless and have obtained
increased funding to assist them and to prevent homelessness, they have also focused
more on state- wide collaboration among various anti. homelessnes.s agencies and
services, notably through state councils, task forces, and com- mittees. Some states'
councils are composed of representatives from various levels of the pub- tic sector and
the nonprofit community, others are limited strictly to representatives of state agencies
concerned with housing and commu- nity development, mental health, education, economic
development, and human services. Whatever their composition, the goal of these state
councils, task forces, and committees is to identify the states magnitude of
homeless- ness, coordinate resources, and suggest and pro- mote policy changes that
will benefit homeless people. Many state councils prepare and submit an- nual reports
to their governor, state legislature, and certain state agencies, enumerating
the homeless receiving services summarizing the types of programs and services
available to as- sist the homeless, and describing unmet needs. By providing such
assessments, the councils are able to make policy recommendations and ad- vocate
for change in existing programs and for the development of new programs and
services. The councils help sustain collaboration by pro- moting the coordination of
state antihomeless- ness policies, programs, and resources; the active coordination of
state agencies, local governments and local nonprofit organizations; and the sharing of
information among all levels of government and the nonprofit community.
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States CP Solvency Extensions
States solve better by serving as laboratories for innovation in the realm of
homelessness policy- this includes innovation in the area of housing
Jim Baumohl- policy analyst for National Coalition for the Homeless1996- Homelessness in America= page- 175
Many states have undertaken or planned inno- vative initiatives to address the
problem of homelessness. Some programs focus on provid- ing shelter along with
supportive services. 0thers provide homelessness prevention assistance. Some states
thread housing counseling into these programs. A few examples of such initla' tives are
described briefly below:' The state of Louisiana is considering the use of advanced
technology to coordinate the delivery of services at the local level. Through
interactive video, video coneferencing, and electronic data transmission, information on
clients and resources are entered, shared, and stored. Linked to this electronic network
are software programs that quickly determine eligibility for pro- grams and services and
update case flies. Maryland and other states employ housing counselors to move
households out of shel- ters and into permanent, affordable housing. The counselors
are charged with securing permanent housing and assisting the houses holds hi gaining
access to community resources. Michigan, recognizing the importance of to Cal
collaboration, gives special consideration to applications from local service
providers that have collaborated on state applications. The state of Minnesota
funds local advisory committees made up of cross sections of lo cat communities.
These committees are given flexibility in planning how to address homelessness within
their communities.
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Counterplan Solves better- State homelessness polices allow for a more effective
bottom up approach to homelessness
Jim Baumohl- policy analyst for National Coalition for the Homeless1996- Homelessness in America= page- 176
This array of independent programs is ad- ministratively burdensome and costly for
appli- cants, and it has been widely criticized as wasteful and biased toward
applicants able to employ highly skilled grant writers. Under the proposed
consolidation, HUD's antihomelessa ness programs will be merged into a single
grant program with funds distributed to states and localities by formula.' This
consolidation would eliminate the complexity and uncertainty of providing funds
through independent programs making competitive awards. This new
initiative, which calls for a "bottom up' approach to policy and program
planning, gives states and locali- ties greater flexibility, but requires increased
co- ordination and planning. State and local boards will design, plan, and deliver
programs sup- ported by the consolidated funds. A cornerstone of the planned
consolidation is the concept of a continuum of care: a com- prehensive, coordinated
approach to meeting the needs of homeless people. The continuum of care would
emphasize comprehensive anti homelessness systems at both state and local levels
to locus on. • Outreach and assessment • Emergency shelters • Transitional
facilities with supportive services • Permanent housing with supportive services •
Homelessness prevention activities The idea is that homeless people will move along
this continuum of care from homeless, ness to lull independence or self-sufficiency,
and people at risk of homelessness will be kept in their homes.'
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AT- states have no $ to do the plan
States can find ways to pay for the counterplan
Jim Baumohl- policy analyst for National Coalition for the Homeless1996- Homelessness in America= page- 176
Many state councils plan to lobby their legislatures for new programs to address
these problems. Some plan to pursue the development of state housing trust funds to
assist the homeless, utilizing funds from a check-off on the state income tax
form. Others plan to establish metropolitan and rural hotlines with local commu airy
action agencies to assist homeless people in crisis situations. In some states efforts
will be concentrated on providing the rural homes less with outreach, transportation, and
other services. Some states plan to encourage local determination of antlhomelessness
services with a focus on "continuum" building (see below), including the prevention of
homelessness and the inclusion of homeless persons in mainstream social service
programs. States without coun• cils in place plan to create them in the
future. However the character of future state initia- tives hinges on the outcome of
plans to consolidate the federal McKinney Act housing programs.
The money for the counterplan have already been allocated.
a. Money for state homeless programs comes largly from the Mckinlley- Vento Act
Jim Baumohl- policy analyst for National Coalition for the Homeless1996- Homelessness in America= page- 176
Homeless assistance programs funded under the McKinney Act have been the
principal mon- etary resource for states, cities, and local non- profit
organizations. The majority of McKinney Act funds are administered by HUD
through several independent programs, each with sepa- rate appropriations and
their own eligibility and reporting requirements. Each program requires a separate
application, and except for ESG, all make grants on a competitive basis.
b. Obama has just massively increased funding to this act. The counterplan would just
fiat how the states spend that money, avoiding any link to spending or politics while
solving all of the case harms
US Fed News Service- May 20, 2009- CONGRESS PASSES SEN. REED'S BILL
TO HELP PREVENT HOMELESSNESS NATIONWIDE-. Onlinehttp://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1719306391&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientId=48453&
RQT=309&VName=PQD
Congress today approved U.S. Senator Jack Reed's (D-RI) bill to help communities reduce
homelessness nationwide. The Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act of
2009 (S. 808) will provide $2.2 billion for targeted homelessness assistance grant programs;
increase current levels of funding for homelessness assistance grants by $600 million; and allocate
up to $440 million for homelessness prevention initiatives. It also expands the definition of homelessness in
order to help families on the verge of becoming homeless and reauthorizes federal homelessness aid programs for the first
time since 1989. "I am pleased that Congress has approved this legislation with bipartisan support and I look forward to
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having President Obama sign it into law. This bill will make a real difference in preventing more families from becoming
homeless and allowing local communities to assist families in need. This bill invests $2.2 billion for targeted homelessness
assistance grants and provides communities with greater flexibility to spend the money on programs that have a proven track
record of success," said Reed, a senior member of the Banking Committee, which oversees federal housing policy. "This is a
wise use of federal resources that will save taxpayers money in the long run by preventing homelessness, promoting the
development of permanent supportive housing, and optimizing self-sufficiency." The HEARTH Act seeks to address this
growing problem by reauthorizing the landmark McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987. It would simplify and
consolidate three competitive U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) homelessness assistance programs
into one program and allow more funding to flow to communities that can demonstrate a commitment to accomplishing the
It would also: * Allow up to 20% of funds or up to $440 million
dollars to be used to for homeless prevention initiatives. This new "Emergency Solutions Grant" program would
goals of preventing and ending homelessness.
allow cities and towns to serve people who are about to be evicted, live in severely overcrowded housing, or otherwise live in
* Require HUD to provide incentives for
communities to implement proven strategies to significantly reduce homelessness. * Provide local
communities with greater flexibility to spend money on preventing homelessness. * Expand
the definition of homelessness, which determines eligibility for much of the homeless assistance
funding, to include people who will lose their housing in 14 days (current practice is 7 days) and people fleeing
an unstable situation that puts them at risk of homelessness.
or attempting to flee domestic violence, or other dangerous or life threatening situations.
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CP Links- Non Profits Solve for Homelessness Better
Non-Profits solve better than the government for HomelessnessLouisiana proves
Louisiana Weekly- 6/22/09- Pilot program successful in reducing homelessness
risk- Online- http://www.louisianaweekly.com/news.php?viewStory=1451
“We were happy with the overall results of this small-scale pilot program,”
said Dr. Monteic A. Sizer, president and CEO of the Louisiana Family
Recovery Corps. “We were able to assist the Louisiana Recovery Authority
and the Department of Social Services utilize resources allocated for
homelessness prevention while also gleaning critical data that will allow us to
continue the development of a program that could ultimately be implemented
statewide.” The Recovery Corps selected Catholic Charities of Baton Rouge
as its non-profit provider agency for the pilot program. Specific assistance
provided to participating families included employment assessments, access
to social services and medical services, financial literacy training, and firsttime homebuyer workshops. “It is extremely important that the non-profit
sector continue to play the lead role in tackling the homelessness issue in
Louisiana,” said Sizer. “The non-profit sector has the ability to efficiently
access the many different types of services and resources from the nonprofit, private, and governmental sectors that at-risk families need. A
program led by a coordinating body which includes the Recovery Corps and
various state and regional homelessness prevention organizations and is
executed on the ground by high-capacity non-profits can provide services in
a much more effective manner than can government agencies which, at this
time, are not yet properly aligned and structured to have the intra-agency
reach that programs such as these critically need. “Along with the expertise
and experience offered by many state and regional homelessness prevention
agencies that have been focused on the issue for years, the Recovery Corps
can utilize its statewide and federal reach among the non-profit and
governmental sectors and its access to state agencies and resources granted
by Act 313 and various other working agreements to ensure a stronger, more
unified program that works toward a strategic statewide approach in
addressing the problem.”