It is a curiously mild portrait of America's long-term economic plight.
Patterson conceded that, though his money would benefit bookshops, it would not provide a long-term solution to their plight and he was adamant that online booksellers such as Amazon needed to "step up and take responsibility".
Garcetti resisted the idea of an emergency proclamation — a move that would enable him to assume broader executive and police powers in the fight against homelessness — describing it as a "rabbit hole" that risked distracting from long-term solutions to the plight of thousands who live on L.A.'s streets.
On the eve of the UN summit, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency UNRWAA), Pierre Krahenbuhl, urged leaders not to forget the plight of long-term refugees, nearly half of whom are Palestinians.
Red Bull motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko believes that the next few weeks will be crucial in determining whether or not Renault can provide long-term solutions to their current plight.
The plight of long-term inmates on Rikers was highlighted last year in a New Yorker profile of 18-year-old Kalief Browder, who spent three years in the jail awaiting trial on robbery charges that were ultimately dismissed.
Indeed, columnist Frank Rich argued in yet another trenchant column last week just how much Democrats were threatened by the plight of long-term unemployed workers - and that concern comes from more than just the so-called whining of the "professional left" that Gibbs scorns.
Perhaps the most intractable problem facing the economy right now is the plight of the long-term unemployed.
And, because those low-density otter colonies still have much growth potential, he said, combating pollution might still be the best long-term answer to the sea otters' plight.
Ms Yellen, in a slight departure from her predecessor, brought a human touch to her discussions of the labour market, highlighting the plight of the long-term unemployed.
