The Long Crisis: Economic Inequality in New York City
The Long Crisis: Economic Inequality in New York City
Fahd Ahmed 0 1
Tom Angotti 0 1
CUNY Hunter College 0 1
Shawn Blumberg 0 1
Housing Conversation Coordinators
0 Fahd Ahmed , Tom Angotti, Jennifer J. Austin, Shawn Blumberg , Robin Steinberg & Stephen Loffredo, Th e Long Crisis: Economic Inequality in New York City, 18 CUNY L. Rev. 153 (2014). Available at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/clr/vol18/iss1/8 , USA
1 The CUNY Law Review is published by the Office of Library Services at the City University of New York. For more information please contact , USA
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The Long Crisis: Economic Inequality in New York City
Authors
Fahd Ahmed, Tom Angotti, Jennifer Jones Austin, Shawn Blumberg, Robin Steinberg, and Stephen Loffredo
THE LONG CRISIS: ECONOMIC INEQUALITY
IN NEW YORK CITY1
A Conversation between Fahd Ahmed, Tom Angotti,
Jennifer Jones Austin, Shawn Blumberg, & Robin Steinberg
Moderated by Professor Stephen Loffredo †
I. INTRODUCTIONS
The Long Crisis: Economic Inequality in New York was a panel dis
cussion hosted by the City University of New York (CUNY) Law
Review on November 12, 2014. CUNY Law Review planned this
panel as a symposium in conjunction with our “Economic Justice”
themed issue for volume 18.1. The symposium brought together
lawyers and activists from New York City to reflect on how
conditions of poverty are created and reproduced both in New York City
and in the United States at large.
Working class people in New York City struggle to survive.
They suffer from wage stagnation, long hours, and diminished
public benefits. The educational system prepares poor and
working class children for a life of rote labor. The city’s paltry public
services have undergone years of assault and continue to face the
constant threat of budget cuts. Furthermore, in the current
political climate, there is a steady ideological drumbeat proclaiming that
those who enter into these systems are the ones at fault: if you need
help, then there is something wrong with you.
It is difficult living from paycheck to paycheck but this is the
† Stephen Loffredo is Professor of Law at CUNY School of Law. He has litigated
many path-breaking law reform cases, including actions that secured the right of
homeless families in New York to safe and adequate shelter, established the right of
single homeless shelter residents to public assistance and Medicaid, and vindicated
the statutory entitlement of disabled New Yorkers to federal benefits worth over $100
million annually. He has continued to represent poor people through the Law
School’s clinical program and as pro bono counsel to the Urban Justice Center. He
has written and spoken widely on the constitutional dimensions of economic rights
and the role of wealth in a constitutional democracy.
1 City University of New York Law Review hosted this public panel discussion on
November 12, 2014 at CUNY School of Law. CUNY Law Review would like to thank the
co-sponsors of this event: Law Students for Reproductive Justice (LSRJ); Latin
American Law Students Association (LALSA); Labor Coalition for Workers’ Rights and
Economic Justice; National Lawyers Guild CUNY Law Chapter (NLG); Iraqi Refugee
Assistance Project (IRAP); Student for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and CUNY Law
Association of Students for Housing (CLASH).
CUNY LAW REVIEW
reality for the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers. Moreover,
given that “quality of life” and “broken windows” policing policies
disproportionately impact low-income communities, working class
people who interact with the criminal justice or immigration
detention systems experience a unique, multi-faceted vulnerability that
can propel them deeper into crisis. This panel sought to discuss
the problems generated by this system, and to reflect on the work
that these panelists are undertaking to combat and overcome the
barriers that stand in the way of social change.
The following is a transcript of the comments of our panelists,
Jennifer Jones Austin, Tom Angotti, Fahd Ahmed, Shawn
Blumberg, and Robin Steinberg. Stephen Loffredo moderated the
discussion. CUNY Law Review Special Events Editors, Syeda Tasmin
and Rachel Nager organized the panel.
Thank you to the student organizers. Thank you to our
panelists. Welcome, audience. Before turning to the panel, and just to
set the stage a bit, I’d like to share a couple of graphics that I found
useful in understanding some of the dynamics and some of the
dimensions of economic inequality in the United States.
TOP INCOME SHARES. UNITED STATES. 1913-20122
26
24
22
20
18
%16
14
12
10
8
6
3 9 5 1 7 3 9 5 1 7 3 9 5 1 7 3 9
1 1 2 3 3 4 4 5 6 6 7 7 8 9 9 0 0
19 19 19 91 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 20 20
Top 1% income share
Top 1% income share-including capital gains
Sources: The World Top Incomes Database. http://topincomes.g-mond.parisschoolof
ec (...truncated)