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Chuck Todd had to be schooled again
Once again Chuck Todd showed how gullible he is to Right Wing manipulation. Luckily, likely Democratic Presidential Candidate Martin O’Malley would have none of it. It started innocently enough.
“I want you to respond to something that Speaker Boehner said to me about blame when it comes to America’s inner cities,” Chuck Todd said. “Let’s take a listen.”
He then played a clip from Speaker John Boehner. “Chuck, what we have here,” Speaker Boehner said. “is 50 years of liberal policies that have not worked to help the very people that we want to help.” That comment is to be expected from any Republican as their Ayn Rand ideology dictates policies lacking in social assistance.
Chuck Todd then referenced the Washington Post article titled “Why couldn’t $130 million transform one of Baltimore’s poorest places?” He must have forgotten that many times editors give stories titles that have very little to do with the conclusions the article would come to. He must not have read the article. “A hundred million dollars was poured into this community over the last 20 years,” Todd said. “Are we not spending the money correctly? What are we getting wrong here? Money has been there.”
Martin O’Malley would have none of it. “Chuck that’s just not true,” Martin O’Malley said. “We haven’t had an agenda for America’s cities for at least two decades.”
Chuck Todd snapped back with a simplistically silly statement. “So we’ve had money but no agenda.”
Martin O’Malley went on to state that there has not been an agenda for cities since Democratic President Jimmy Carter. He pointed out that even with limited support because of the dedication and innovation of mayors, cities are actually coming back. He pointed out that the failure to invest in infrastructure, the off-shoring of American jobs, and the basic lack of investment was the problem. Most importantly he pointed out that the $130 million over 20 years Chuck Todd speaks about is a spit in a bucket.
Had Chuck Todd read the article he would have understood the following.
The effort to revive Sandtown was massive. More than 1,000 homes were eventually renovated or built. Schools were bolstered. Education and health services were launched. …
The most significant problem, according to community organizers and the Enterprise report, was that new businesses and jobs never materialized. And as Baltimore’s decent-paying manufacturing jobs vanished — a problem shared by Detroit, Cleveland and other Rust Belt cities — there were fewer and fewer opportunities for Sandtown residents to find meaningful work.
In the absence of jobs, the drug trade flourished.
In other words the $130 million was invested mostly in real estate capital and not human capital. It was not sustainable and the results are probative.
Chuck Todd once again allowed his program to be used as an Ayn Rand message conduit. Many cities are on the brink of rebellion because of the despair and income inequality. The Right Wing machine needs to convince these people that real investment in both physical and human capital are not the answers lest these ‘rebellions’ force progressive change.
It is for this reason why a Democratic primary is necessary. It will give America a vision of what it means to have a real progressive agenda. It provides the platform to remind America that it has been living under a conservative biased agenda for north of thirty years. The catastrophic results surround us all.
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