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Politics : Mainstream Politics and Economics -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: greenspirit who wrote (49496)	7/27/2013 1:40:47 PM
From: FJB	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 85487

Forced Integration of Neighborhoods … Or Else! ............................................................................................. Jul 24 2013 by tonysanders confoundedinterest.wordpress.com HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan gave an interesting speech at the NAACP meeting in Orlando on July 16th. To be sure, inner city poverty is a serious problem. The public policy question is how to best address this problem. But HUD Secretary Donovan lays the blame on racial discrimination. The key phrases in his speech are: “Bottom line: people are being denied their freedom of choice and the benefits of full citizenship. Yet because of the subtle nature of this discrimination, often times, they don’t even know they have been subjected to this abuse.” “That’s why HUD is enhancing its enforcement techniques by initiating investigations on our own without waiting for individuals to file complaints.” This reminds me of the Federal government decision to slaughter barred owls … in order to save the spotted owl. The government is picking winners and losers… even for wildlife. So, rather than Milton Friedman’s “Free to Choose” model, Donovan is adopting the “Father Knows Best” model. “Today, it’s about more than just addressing outright discrimination and access to the housing itself. It’s also about giving every community access to important neighborhood amenities that can make a tremendous difference in a person’s life outcome. I’m talking about good schools, safe streets, jobs, grocery stores, healthcare and a host of other important factors. To help families gain this access – HUD is working to strengthen our stewardship of federal dollars to maximize the impact they have on communities in advancing fair housing goals.” In other words, Donovan is saying the minority neighborhoods are unsafe and have lousy schools (despite the staggering dollars spent). Rather than promoting jobs and economic growth to help minorities, Donovan is suggesting spreading minorities out into affluent areas (specifically suburbs). He has suggested this approach before. In fact, he suggested building affordable housing in safe neighborhoods with good schools. Such as in Westchester County in New York. How would Donovan’s plan work? HUD would create maps of housing and racial composition by neighborhood. If a neighborhood (or other metric) does not have the desired composition, the neighborhood/country/state would be punished by withholding Federal funds … and God knows what else. Rather than adopt this approach, I would suggest that the Obama Administration focus on job creation giving minority households a chance to escape dangerous neighborhoods. Without job and wage growth, how will Donovan’s plan help other than spreading the misery of poverty? I refer to his approach as “Donovan’s Reef” since the economy is stuck on a reef and Donovan just wants to spread the misery of poverty. “African-Americans,” Donovan said, “are being denied their freedom of choice.” So, is Secretary Donovan and President Obama advocating redlining? That is, drawing lines around neighborhoods? It is legal for the government to redline neighborhoods but not lenders? Huh? I suggest that Secretary Donovan read Nobel Laureate James Buchanan’s “ The Limits of Liberty: Between Anarchy and Leviathan.” Donovan’s proposal definitely shows up on the leviathan side of the ledger. Discrimination by race is unlawful and there are already many laws on the book aimed at discrimination. Inner city poverty, crime and rotten schools are a tragedy, so I admire Secretary Donovan trying to do SOMETHING. But Donovan’s model is an unnecessary intrusion in the free market ,and will likely not solve the problem at hand. What will help? Economic growth and jobs. And enforcing anti-discrimination laws already on the books. UPDATE: Even the Executive Office of The President of the United States found this interesting. They were on my site of Friday afternoon (and also on my website numerous times). Hopefully The President understands public choice theory and is open to a discussion on the limits of government.