What opinion writers around the world have to say about two key issues.
Paul Krugman of The New York Times, on Baltimore
“…I do worry that the centrality of race and racism to this particular story may convey the false impression that debilitating poverty and alienation from society are uniquely black experiences. In fact, much though by no means all of the horror one sees in Baltimore and many other places is really about class, about the devastating effects of extreme and rising inequality.”
Colbert King of The Washington Post, on Baltimore
“Nearly 50 years — and millions of ‘ghetto enrichment’ dollars — later, look at West Baltimore, segments of the District or other US inner cities, and what will you see? A quiet state of crisis: chronic unemployment; children growing up without fathers and living amid poverty and crime and in overcrowded or substandard housing; idle high-school drop-outs; alienation and hostility toward institutions of law and government, including the police — all conditions documented decades ago.”
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The editorial board of Bloomberg News, on Puerto Rico’s budget
“But here’s the good news: These ugly financial developments – with some strong prodding from the US government and a little legislative help from Congress — might force Puerto Rico onto the long road back to fiscal sanity and economic competitiveness.”