Gene Slater on Housing Crisis, Rakeen Mabud on Inflation Coverage

    New York Times (6/24/22) This week on CounterSpin: As Eric Horowitz noted at FAIR.org, a lot of elite media coverage of housing problems has focused on the idea that landlords of supposedly modest means are being squeezed; or that people living without homes pose a threat to the lives and property of homeowners, as well as to the careers of politicians who dare to defend them—besides, you know, dragging down the neighborhood aesthetics. New views are needed, not only about the impacts of the affordable housing crisis, but also about its causes. It’s not just capitalism run amok, because that doesn’t happen without government involvement. We’ll talk with longtime affordable housing advocate Gene Slater, founder and chair at CSG Advisors. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin221111Slater.mp3 Transcript: “‘Who Do We Want to Own Our Neighborhoods?'” NBC Nightly News (11/12/21) Also on the show: Media continue to toss off the term “inflation” as the reason for higher prices, as if in hope that folks will stop their brains right there and blame an abstract entity. We have a quick listenback to our February conversation with Rakeen Mabud of Groundwork Collaborative, when media were working hard to tell the public that “supply chain disruptions” dropped from the sky like rain, rather than being connected to decades of conscious policy decision-making. https://media.blubrry.com/counterspin/content.blubrry.com/counterspin/CounterSpin221111Mabud.mp3 Transcript: “‘Mega-Retailers Are Using Inflation as a Cover to Raise Prices and Turn Record Profits'” Combined corporate and government choices—and how they affect the rest of us, this week on CounterSpin.