News in Times of Turmoil (Democracy Now!)

"A Declaration of War on the Poor": Cornel West and Tavis Smiley on the Debt Ceiling Agreement

The veteran broadcaster Tavis Smiley and the author and Princeton University Professor Cornel West are in the midst of a 15-city, cross-country trek they have dubbed "The Poverty Tour: A Call to Conscience." The tour comes on the heels of last week’s deficit agreement, which has been widely criticized for excluding a tax hike on the wealthy, as well as any measures to tackle high unemployment. "Any legislation that doesn’t extend unemployment benefits, doesn’t close a single corporate loophole, doesn’t raise one cent in terms of new revenue in terms of taxes on the rich or the lucky, allows corporate America to get away scot-free again -- the banks, Wall Street getting away again -- and all these cuts ostensibly on the backs of everyday people," says Smiley.

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