America’s Poor – Under Attack

America’s Poor – Under Attack February 23, 2017

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The courts have always been brutal on poor Americans. The reality is that justice always comes with a price. One program that helped to level the playing field has been the federally-funded Legal Services Corporation (LSC). The LSC is a 40-year-old program which provides legal aid to middle and low-income clients involved in civil cases.

Donald Trump and Republicans in congress are now killing that program. Why? Because Republicans only care about the evil of a rigged system when it is “rigged” against the rich and powerful. Rigged against the poor? No problem.

In an article at Think Progress we are told:

“by making it significantly harder to find a lawyer unless you’re already rich, Trump’s planned destruction of the LSC would tilt the economic playing field more steeply against the little guy. There are already far more people who need civil legal aid than the LSC and its parallel systems can serve.

In the wake of the Wall Street collapse in 2008 — probably the best example of what happens when the rules of our economy and courts system are rigged in favor of the powerful — there were almost twice as many foreclosure clients in need of assistance as there was capacity to field such cases. Even at present levels, Congress is giving the LSC roughly half the budget it received in the early 1990s in inflation-adjusted terms.

Trump’s plan to cancel the program entirely would also improve corporations’ odds of avoiding consequences when they cheat customers.”

Working-class Americans will pay dearly for the avarice of the Republican Party and their corporate owners.

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