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Latin America and the Caribbean
The Organization of American States in Haiti: Election Monitoring or Political Intervention?David Rosnick / October 17, 2011
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If Our Children Don't Do Better Than Us, It Will Be Because the Top 1 Percent Took It AllDean Baker / October 17, 2011
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Republican Presidential Candidates Want to Build Keystone Pipeline to Reduce Unemployment by 0.01 Percentage PointsDean Baker / October 17, 2011
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Steve Rattner Gets It Wrong on Globalization in the NYTDean Baker / October 16, 2011
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Thomas Friedman, Bard of the 1 Percent, Reports on the Problem of Incompetent CEOsDean Baker / October 16, 2011
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Post Does the Old He Said/She Said on Perry Energy PlanDean Baker / October 15, 2011
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Labor Market Policy Research Reports, Oct. 10 – 14, 2011CEPR and / October 14, 2011
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Letter: Legislation by Sen. Hutchison Would Cut Social Security Benefits for Near-RetireesDean Baker / October 14, 2011
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Plan for a New Future: The Impact of Social Security Reform on People of ColorCEPR, , , and / October 14, 2011
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Post Pushes Government Versus Market Fairy Tale, AgainDean Baker / October 14, 2011
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Latin America and the Caribbean
BRICS Have Good Reasons to Oppose U.S. and Europe at UN Security CouncilMark Weisbrot / October 13, 2011
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Lack of Adequate Housing Plan “Most Glaring Failure of the Past Year”Last Thursday, Jacqueline Charles of the Miami Herald reported on Haitian President Michel Martelly’s plan, announced some time ago, to return inhabitants of six IDP camps back to 16 neighborhoods, known as the 16-6 plan. Charles writes:
For weeks, families like Simin’s have quietly moved out of the camp and into permanent homes as part of a housing initiative launched by Haitian President Michel Martelly. With help from the International Organization for Migration, families are getting $500 in rental subsidies. It’s part of a larger program Martelly launched recently to target the town square and five other Port-au-Prince tent cities hoping to find a permanent solution to reconstruction’s most vexing problem: housing.
The program has won the support of the international community, with U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis recently telling the UN Security Council, that “[t]he use of the neighborhood returns approach, instead of mere camp evictions, is the type of humane approach the United States fully supports.” Yet the plan has already come under serious criticism and rather than limiting evictions, multiple camps in the plan have already been forcibly evicted. Journalist Justin Podur wrote last week that even if the program works, its effectiveness will be limited:
In total, if the program succeeds, it will touch 5000 families, or 4% of the camp population. I spoke to the director of 16-6, Clement Belizaire. So far, 190 families have been resettled from the first camp, Place St. Pierre, in Petionville. Belizaire expects the 1500 families who live in the first two camps, Place St. Pierre and Place Boyer, to be in their neighbourhoods by the end of November. He expects the process to speed up as it progresses. If Belizaire's estimates are extrapolated for all six camps, 4% of Haiti's current camp population will be in housing by March 2012.
Also last week, the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) and the University of San Francisco School of Law released a report criticizing the lack of progress in Martelly’s housing plan. The report points out that, among other faults, two of the six camps in Martelly’s plan have already been forcibly evicted:
In the meantime, one camp was closed in July (Stade Sylvio Cator) and one camp partially closed (Place St. Pierre), both without the protections or benefits promised in the Martelly plan. The families living at Stade Sylvio Cator were unlawfully evicted by the Mayor of Port-au-Prince and Haitian National Police without a court order, as required under Haitian law. The police destroyed residents’ tents and belongings, prompting condemnation from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Jake Johnston / October 13, 2011
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NYT Ignores Division Between Bankers and Democracy on FedDean Baker / October 13, 2011
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Letter: Governor Rick Perry is Wrong on Social Security Means TestingDean Baker / October 12, 2011