This past Thursday the Supreme Court ended the eviction moratorium putting 7.5 million people at risk of homelessness. While the moritorium was extended several times, which was a good thing, the problem is that millions of them are still in the same position they were back in March of 2020.
The people at risk of being evicted need a bailout and the US can afford it. I’m going to show you what that could look like with simple arithmetic. But, first let’s get some perspective on numbers regarding the amount of money the US spent on wars in the last 20 years, and the Wall Street Bailout of 2008. Then, we’ll compare those numbers to the numbers it would take to bailout the 7.5 million people at risk of being evicted.
The United States spent $6 Trillion in the last 20 years on Friviolous Wars
Several goverment officials and Generals in 2019 admitted that we had no idea what we were doing in Afganastan, or who were even fighting anymore. The Washington Post broke that story in what was known as the Afganistan Papers. Now, anyone who was paying attention from the very beginning back in 2001, realized this was a baseless war.
Sadly, that wasn’t America’s biggest mistake. The US then invaded Iraq in 2003 for no particular reason. They had nothing to do with 9/1l, Bin Laden was not hiding in Iraq and they had NO Weapons of Mass Destructions. And this was known at the time. Weapons inspector’s Hans Blix and Scott Ridder, who were on the ground at the time in Iraq said they had No WMD’s. – Iraq was Not a threat and certainly was NOT an imminent threat. But, the US invaded them anyway. The defense companies made a fortune in the midst of all this blood and death.
The Wall Street Bailout of 2008
Congress approved a $700 Billion bank bailout to stabilize finanical markets in the face of the housing and mortgage crisis. The program was called the “Troubled Assets Relief Program.” Also knon as TARP. That doesn’t even include the quantitative easing program by the Federal Reserve from 2008 through 2014. The Fed deployed over $4 Trillion buying up treasuries to keep interest rates artfically low. Capitalism failed in 2008 if not for this bailout and assistance by the Federal Reserve. And Capitilism is failing most Americans now.
A proposed bailout for the 7.5 million people at risk of being evicted
If the United States wrote a check for $20,000 to each of the people at risk of losing their homes, that would be a total of $150 billion. That’s a big number, right? – But, in 2008 the U.S. wrote a $750 billion check to bailout the banking sector. That’s 5 times greater than what I’m proposing here with the Eviction Bailout. It’s nothing for the US.
Let’s compare the $150 billion Eviction Bailout to the $6 trillion spent between both wars in Afganistan and Iraq. Two wars that should never existed in the first place, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people and depelting $6 trillion in resources. That’s 40 times more than the proposed $150 billion to bailout 7.5 million peope on Eviction Row.
Bernie Sanders is correct, poverty is a death setence. It’s also a crime to be poor in the United States. I’ll go a step further than Senator Senators, even if you don’t die from poverty, chances are you’ll live a miserable life.
When will the US make poor people in this country a priority? – When wil the US throw money at humanity the way it does with defense, guns, blood and death? America’s values are still inverted. It’s supposed to be “Lives before Profits.” Not the other way around.