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Le Monde reports from Havana Cuba in 2026- 2 million people have left since 2021, the situation is looking increasingly hopeless. There is the 800,000 called the "walking generation" that walked to th southern border of the US during the Biden administration 2020-2024, How did this happen the country of Cuba losing so many people, a third of its population? In 1960 it was 7.1 million. Taking Mexico as an example Mexico's population was 37 million in 1960, it is now 133 million up threefold. At the same rate Cuba's today would be about 20 million in 2026, today it is about 10 million. Instead of 20 million it is half that. About 3 million left the country and population growth simply stopped as the country went from crisis to crisis. Was the revolution worth it, were people in Europe, the US and Latin America who looked to Cuba as a model completely mistaken and was the story oversold to the point where someone like Chavez would try to bring that revolution to a developed economy such as Venezuela as late as 1998, when Cuba was already without US cooperation a state that had fallen behind, by 2026 it was like going back in time 50 years. Could the US offer something better to these countries in the western hemisphere. Did Kennedy JFK promise so much in 1960 and did later US administrations leave Cuba  in a state where it would not get foreign investment and be sanctioned and blocked from access to new technology in so many ways. There is much to reflect on the failure of Cuba, the story of glorious narrative that was told that overlooks the poor condition of the country and benefitted the people the least.  ...

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NYT interviews with Biden era officials on mistakes made with immigration - no tough enforcement on illeal migration, no clear policy to stop illegal migration, and failure to anticipate a surge as policies towards migrants were relaxed, appointment as head of Homeland Security of someone who was not tough on migration, delegation of migration to a former AG of California who had no experience in issues raised by high migration. Till it was too late and the public had lost confidence in the Biden administration on this issue and the homeless migrants in cities becoming a major local issue. The last year saw Biden negotiate with Republican Senator from Nebraska on migration which failed to get support in the Republican party and Congress. In this way Biden lost control of the narrative as migration surged and surged by 2023 and 2024. Tackling the Covid pandemic was a major distraction and cost of living affordability crisis also became a major issue leading to the undoing of the Democrats. Second generation Latino Americans from Cuba and Mexico preferred tough policies on illegal migration surges from places such as Guatemala and Venezuela. Democrats lost part of their own base. Rural America and the South, had already made up its mind. ...

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The $1.2 billion that was approved in a ballot measure called HHH is just not enough to tackle the homeless problems in Los Angeles. That was supposed to build 10,000 apartments for the homeless. But every year the numbers of homeless living on the street keep growing from 21,000, in 2016 to 28,000 in 2022. Only about 3400 apartments were built for the homeless at costs approaching $500,000 a homeless unit. Communities such as Venice where one of the projects were being built on a parking lot show resistance and projects go thorough a time consuming process of getting approvals and permits, getting the land.

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BKA German Federal Investigative Police data showing about 2 million crime suspects in 2024- of which 172,000 temporary migrants asylum seekers which 8.8%. There are about 3.06 temporary migrants in Germany out of a population of 83.6 million people, which is about 3.7% of the population, according to BKA figures cited by DW.com. The population of migrants living in Germany including Syria, Ukraine and other countries is about 3.5 million which is about 4.2% of the population. In terms of crime it is more about the anxiety and sense of disquiet this has created in the population, the money invested in benefits when much of German infrastructure has dire needs for investment with the rail and transport systems breaking down, and the wide disparities in living standards eroded in the last two decades in society. All this has to be considered in grasping why it has been so unsettling in some areas of Germany, Europe and the US. There are other factors such as women's safety, a sense of disquiet that was created in English towns where asylum seekers were put up in hotels as in Bedford. Many crimes get wide publicity and this further intensifies the sense of anxiety in the neighborhoods where young migrants from Africa and the Middle East, Asia are staying. The differences in culture and behaviours increases the sense of discomfort in neighborhoods. It is unlikely that this will go away because of incidents of attack by migrants in the towns and cities of Europe and the US every month, increasing homeless situations and deterioration in local neighborhoods.   ...

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Homelessness has become a major problem in American cities. The situation has worsened during the pandemic. This mounting problem is a major issue in the mayoral election for Denver. WSJ shows pictures of the city's homeless areas. After 12 years Mayor Michael Hancock is termed out and there are 16 candidates vying to replace him. All are being pressed to find solutions to the problem. Rising housing costs and Denver's growth have increased homelessness. WSJ reports Denver's homeless population has grown 44% from 3376 in 2017 to 4794 in 2022.

In 2012 the city imposed a camping ban. Business owners say it has not been enforced. Homeless protection groups say sweeps have only moved the homeless elsewhere. The mayor's office says 15,000 people have found homes. With the pandemic there were health issues and economic issues that made it harder to tackle the problem.

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Governor Newsom of California is joining Republican Governors of Montana and Alabama to allow cities to act to limit encampments of the homeless in American cities, taking the case to the US Supreme Court. The Biden Administration is walking a delicate path by supporting rights of the homeless that lower courts support  yet not wanting to see the spread of homeless encampments affect the overall safety and health of cities where homeless encampments affect quality of life in neighborhoods. Homelessness of 600,000 people in the US, with more than half sleeping outside in open spaces and parks is now before the US Supreme Court. The pandemic, the large increase in housing costs in the western states, and the cost of living have pushed many people over the edge, at an alarming rate for four years. Justices ask city attorneys of Grants Pass, and in effect other cities in the US, where are people supposed to go if no other shelter is offered by the city, that they have a right to sleep, and breathe. "Sleeping is a biological necessity- Justice Elena Kagan. "Are they supposed to kill themselves, not sleeping," Justice Sotomayor.  Justices Kavanaugh and Roberts questioned whether judges should be making decision that should be made by policymakers. US Supreme Court is reviewing a lower court ruling upholding rights of homeless people in the US  under the 8th Amendment that is opposed by the city of Grants Pass, Oregon. A small western town of 40,000 people facing a problem of a significant portion of its population, about 8%, having to sleep in parks and in open public spaces because they have nowhere to go. It has only 138 beds from the Gospel Rescue Mission for homeless situations with strict rules. It faces in today's America rising homelessness- affordability of housing affecting people in many states. In 2022 an three judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals which covers western states Oregon, California, and Washington upheld a lower court decision barring the city of Grants Pass from enforcing a citywide ban on sleeping in parks at night if no other shelter was available with fines ranging $75 -$295. As a result of this decision encampments of the homeless are increasing in the western states because restrictions on public camping no longer play a deterring role. Cities say this increases crime and drug use, disease, and hazardous waste.  ...

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This amazing story about Bend Oregon is a reminder of the mental health crisis that lurks behind the homelessness crisis in America's cities. It is also most unusual because it is about the Mayor of Bend, Oregon, grandson of the mayor of Bend, Oregon then a timber capital in the 1900's, who is a public defender attorney, and finds himself at at a homeless shelter in 2023 in the city he built, the result of mental health issues. He reconciles with two daughters before his death after periods of isolation from his family and ending up in a homeless tent on city streets. At one point he had helped turn Bend into a tourist destination pushing up average home prices to $800,000 to protect residents when timber demand dropped. He finds himself unable to afford a home in this very same town after his mental illness and losing his job.

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Germany's homeless problem compares with that in the US, with Federal Working Group Bag-W estimating it at 600,000 of which 50,000 live on the streets. In Germany authorites are expected to give emergency shelters to people on the streets. The Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and Building put out a 31 point Action Plan as a first step. Previous efforts have failed. The Action Plan includes getting financial assistance to state governments to build social housing -18.15 billion euros were allocated for 2022-2027 to build affordable social housing. Yet in the first year 2022 only 22,545 units were built short of the 100,000 goal per year. Affordable housing is at the heart of the fight against homelessness. There is an acute shortage that is driving up cost of housing in the US and in Germany. WSJ recently showed about a third of US housing is tied up by retired boomers hanging on to large homes. Germany's allocation of $3 billion per year is inadequate  for a problem of this magnitude that colors out perceptions of the quality of life in American and European cities. Capital markets are misallocating funds, and doing little for work that is an absolute priority for quality of life in the streets and neighborhoods of America and Europe. Larger investment is needed. ...

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Pakistan faces soaring food prices with the severe monsoon floods damaging crops and hurting the agricultural sector. Onions are up five times in price. About 80% of the tomato crop is damaged. Imports from India could ease the situation. Under normal trade for neighboring countries India Pakistan trade would be $50 billion in 2012, according to Mr. Boskin, who helped setup the NAFTA trade agreement. Instead it was $2.7 billion in 2012 and it was about $300 million in 2020, in OEC data.  Finance Minister Ismail talked about importing tomatoes and onions and other products from India during the floods with one third of Pakistan under water and half a million homeless.

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How an Americano Roberto from Peru won election over Italian cardinal Parolin on May 9, 2025. Robert Francis Prevost was unknown to most of the Cardinals gathered from all over the world to elect Pope Francis's successor. What cardinals looked for was someone like Francis who was concerned about the poor, the homeless, and people struggling in society. They also wanted someone with managerial skills to run the vast organization that is the Vatican. The fastest growing part of the Catholic Church is in Latin America. The need was for someone who spoke Spanish and understood Latin America. Robert Francis Prevost met all these requirements in 2025. For most of its history, for 455 years, Popes were Italian. Pope Paul and Francis broke this tradition. Pope Leo XIV continues this effort to heal people's souls, and reach out to the marginalized and the struggling.

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Activity in downtown San Francisco remains at about a third of prepandemic levels, with remote work having caught on for tech companies during the pandemic employees are there for only half of the week. Office vacancy rates are 28% for downtown. In a strange twist Silicon Valley that led the shift of manufacturing to China and ignored that this led to loss of tax revenues for the towns across America, and decline of these towns that lost factories, is now facing the same situation in its own backyard. Office based industry provides three quarters of San Francisco tax revenue, and faces a $780 million deficit for the next 2 years. Mentally ill on streets near a Whole Foods, and dealers in Fentanyl, homelessness, lead to closing of a Whole Foods store in downtown San Francisco. Thomas Fuller and Sharon LaFraniere provide this report in WSJ of the situation in downtown San Francisco in 2023. Reports from California show the failure to build enough housing during the tech boom for the average American, and apartments for homeless costing hundreds of thousands of dollars and years behind schedule. The mayor is looking for tougher laws to put mentally ill off the streets. There is no consensus on action. Tech investors people hope for another Tech boom to tackle the situation, yet tech companies are retrenching and face government scrutiny even breakup. Even a speeded up effort to add 20% of the housing stock of the city of San Francisco by adding 83,000 apartments from Mayor Ms. Breed would take 8 years.  ...

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The issue of how the deficit reduction will affect the middle class, the poor, and the elderly. Bernie Sanders says the Democrats Reid Plan and the Boehner plan both fail on this account. And he finds it incomprehensible that this is happening without similiar contributions from the higher income Americans, even though 72% of the American people- according to a July 14-17, 2011 Washington Post/ABC poll -want those earning more than $250,000 a year to pay more in taxes. And incomprehensible says Sanders that Congress is debating the Reid and Boehner plans that exempt higher income Americans from their fair share of the burden.

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Mr Wolfson and Ms. Gibbs are deputy mayors of New York City. Here they list all the efforts made by Mayor Bloomberg to fight poverty in New York City and help the homeless during his years in office. They cite a 28% reduction in street homelessness since 2005, a 22% drop in school suspensions, a drop in welfare rolls by 25% with 900,000 New Yorkers moved from welfare to work, and a poverty rate that is flat over the last 12 years while the poverty rate in the U.S. is up 28%. They point to the last Bloomberg budget allocation of $9.2 billion for services to the poor and homeless- 83% higher than Bloomberg's first year in office. Of this $981 million was for services to the homeless, double that in 2002. 175,000 units of affordable housing were built.

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About 15% of Americans are below the official poverty line of $23,492 for family of four. In 1975 3.7% of Americans were in deep poverty, defined as being 50% below the offical poverty line. In 2012 the Census Bureau Population Survey shows 6.6% of Americans in deep poverty, close to doubling the percentage of people in deep poverty. States in the southern U.S. and midwest have some of the largest increase in deep poverty- Georgia's going from 5.3% in 2000 to 8.8% in 2012. Mississippi and Indiana show similiar increases. And in D.C. with high income levels the deep poverty rate is at 10.4%, affluent communities have high deep poverty rates in their midst, higher than rates in 2009.

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James Q. Wilson points to the link between educational levels and inequality. He says the poor face too few skills and too few opportunities. The link with education is critical. He cites information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics which show that between 1979 and 2010, hourly wages for those with a college degree went up 33% for men and 20% for women. For those without a high school diploma wages declined 31% for men and 9% for women. It appears that men have been more adversely affected than women. Minorities have done poorly especially Hispanics and Blacks. Social factors such as unwed mothers aggravate conditions for the bottom fifth in incomes. As the demographics of America shift to higher population of Hispanic immigrants, the situation worsens. High schools in Hispanic areas of New York city with high dropout rates, to take one example, can affect income inequality as more immigrants take jobs at the minimum wage level. The 2008 financial crisis has also taken a higher toll on minorities and people with modest incomes by reducing their savings and through the large number of home foreclosures....

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The minimum wage was raised in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. Wage increases are for 28 to 37 cents an hour, and raises the minimum wage in these states to $7.64 to $9.04 an hour, with Washington as the only state with a minimum wage above $9.00. The federal wage level for most workers is $7.25 a hour. Labor Department data show most of the minimum wage workers in these states are women, over 20 and white. The added income is not expected to put these workers above the povety line because of higher inflation.

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The Journal cites figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture showing 44.7 million participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program in fiscal 2011. This is a big jump from the 28.2 million people in 2008. Texas has 4 million on food stamps, California 3.7 millon, Florida 3.1 million.