Believe it or not, there are more issues than
you think that unite both the left and the
right and taking on Wall Street greed happens
to be one of them. I'm not so, I'm not so
sure that the Republicans really are concerned
about corporate greed, but whatever has happened
here we, we see, we see this developing where
you have Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren
and AOC, they're all, they're all out there
saying, look, we need to do something about
corporate greed in the way that they were
involved with loans. Things like credit cards.
We need to jump behind it and we need to stop,
we need to stop these corporations from stealing
from Americans. And so everybody seems to
agree. That sounds like a good idea. Maybe
we ought to, you know, stop them from stealing
from Americans. What's your take on this story?
I think this is interesting. Right now we
see about 70% of Republicans, 73% of Democrats
who all say we agree with this new plan that
the Democrats have come forward with to cap
credit card and payday loan interest rates
at 15%, you cannot go above 15%. Prior to
the 1980s we already had caps as a country
on interest rates. You couldn't charge more
than x amount. Reagan came along with deregulation.
Bill Clinton came along with it. We got rid
of the caps. They went crazy with it. Right
now, even for somebody with really excellent
credit, your interest rate's about 21% I believe,
as of last week.
Let me tell you what strikes me about this
story. Finally, the Democrats are talking
about something important. They don't have
this, they don't have this Schiff psycho,
this guy that all he had, all he knows is
his conspiracy babble. All he knows is Trump
hate. Maybe, maybe the Democrats finally understand
that when you talk about important issues,
you can bring in both sides. When you stop
talking about conspiracy and hate Trump, look,
there's plenty of people that hate Trump.
We're tired of hearing it. The conspiracy,
Russia, the Russia conspiracy, come on really?
And so and so you're going, but you still
have, what did they call him? Pencil neck
Schiff. The, so you've still got this character
out there, Schiff, talking about these issues.
On the other side, you've got AOC, right?
You've got Elizabeth Warren, you've got Bernie
Sanders out trying to talk about real issues
that maybe can help the Democrats win an election.
Take it from there.
They're, they're out there talking about things
that directly affect somebody's wallet, their
personal bank account, whether it's Republican
or Democrat or whatever it is in between.
They're out there saying, listen, this isn't
a partisan issue. This is a thing that affects
a Republican's ability to take care of their
family. It affects a Democrat being able to
take care of their family, and that's who
people want to hear. They want to hear, say,
hey, this person has a policy. Okay, they
may be a Democrat and I'm a Republican, but
it's a good policy that would directly benefit
me. Somewhere along the lines in the last
40 years, we got away from that. Politicians
stopped offering policies.
Look, here's, here's the truth. Over the most
of the 20th century, you had, 20th century
now, you had caps. You had say you can't,
you can't get past this point, when you go
charging. And then all of a sudden there was
deregulation. And when deregulation took place,
all of this bad stuff started occurring. You
know, Wall Street stole from mom and pop.
The economy crashed. You know, people were
charged 80% sometimes on, on credit cards.
So, I mean, you know, you've gotta, you gotta
say we're in a different time. Maybe the Democrats
will get the, get the message, start talking
about table talk, dinner talk instead of social
issues and crazy Schiff conspiracies, and
maybe they'll accomplish something. Farron,
thank you for joining me. Okay.
Thank you.
Hundreds of thousands of low income tenants
are evicted every year from their homes across
the US; many without the help of an attorney
and a court hearing. Some cities and states
are hoping to change this and are looking
at a new program in New York City as a model.
RT producer, Sayeh Tavangar, joins me now
to talk about this story. Sayeh, why did New
York start this program?
Well, Mike, New York City is one of the costliest
places to live in a country where salaries
have not kept up to date with soaring rents
there for more than 80,000 eviction proceedings
were filed last year. Historically, only one
in 10 tenants have been represented by attorney
while most landlords have lawyers. Therefore,
evictions have been a major driver of housing
instability and homelessness for low income
New Yorkers. Now in the past, tenants facing
evictions usually arrive to Housing Court
without legal representation at a major disadvantage
to landlords who almost always have an attorney,
but now this is changing. After years of advocacy,
New York became the first city in the country
to launch what they call "right to counsel."
This law will give tenants with incomes below
200% of the federal poverty level who are
facing an eviction and housing court access
to free attorney.
Even with the best attorney, the housing courts
are going to be faced with the ultimate question
of does the tenant have the money to pay the
rent or not? I mean, at the end of the day,
that's really the question. They can be well
represented, but the question's always going
to come down to that basic dispute.
Well Mike, not all tenant disputes are about
money, actually. Consider the case of Nadia
Mater who lived in a rundown apartment building
in the Bronx that had been plagued with leaks,
rats, and roaches. Nadia didn't even have
heating or cooking gas September of last year,
and even had to cook on a hot plate since
her heat only came on sporadically. Now as
a result of this new program, tenants in her
building organized a legal suit against the
landlord to fight for their rights, and as
a result, won. Now if their landlord retaliates,
they now all have access to free legal help.
Well you know you get what you pay for, and
I'm wondering how much money is being put
into this program. You could say, yeah, we're
going to have attorneys, we're going to have
a program, but the real question comes down
to, is it a series program? Is there real
money being put into it? Is it something that's
sustainable, or is it here today and gone
tomorrow? What's your take on it?
Well, the program is currently being phased
in over five years and New York City's 2018
budget included $155 million for the first
phase of the program, which is reaching 20
of New York City zip codes, but lawmakers
say this cost is actually well worth the price,
which has already drastically reduce homelessness
in the city. As a result of this program,
new city has seen a dramatic drop in evictions.
84% of households who have been evicted earlier
this year that were represented by lawyers
now are able to remain in their homes. And
now all of the right to counsel program was
originally launched in 2017, it's now finally
being phased in by zip codes and city officials
say 30% of tenants facing eviction or have
access to lawyers. And Mike, it's also worth
noting that this program is not just for home
evictions, but also helps tenants get home
repairs that they need, and also helps to
make sure that the rent that's being charged
is a lawful rent, and to make sure that tenants
are not being displaced from their apartments
as a result of harassment.
Well it sounds creative and I'm wondering,
are there any other states that are following
this idea that really sounds like it could
work if it's properly financed?
Yes. While New York, obviously it was the
first city in the US to pass the right to
counsel program. Now, San Francisco and New
York, New Jersey have both adapted similar
legislation, and both cities are actually
poised to reach an even higher share of tenants
to New York City. And now lawmakers in Massachusetts,
Connecticut, and Minnesota are also now considering
its statewide proposal to provide free attorneys
to struggling renters. And although the program
is currently only available to low income
tenant households who experienced the highest
rent burden and eviction, some states are
also looking to provide this service to moderate
income tenant households who are also experiencing
housing instability and are also vulnerable
to evictions. For example, in New York City,
the moderate income is about $81,000 for family
of three. Now Mike, the majority of households
in the moderate income category work in health
care, education, social services or retail,
hospitality, and food service, and only actually
88% live in unregulated housing and don't
receive any form of housing assistance such
as section eight. So all in all, there seems
to be consensus among legal scholars and academics
that access to an attorney, reduces evictions
and increases housing stability drastically.
Sayeh, thanks for joining me. I hope this
does take hold because it could be used in
many, many more places than New York City.
Thanks for joining me.
Absolutely.
