In Oakland, Private Force May Be Hired for Security
In a basement office that serves as a police headquarters and community center, Oakland Chinatown leaders pored over maps of the neighborhood with representatives from a private security firm last week.
“Many of our merchants are already installing cameras,” said Carl Chan, the chairman of the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, outlining in highlighter the several blocks that form the core of the area. “Eventually, we will be hiring security guards to patrol Chinatown.”
In the wake of the city’s laying off 80 police officers last month, Chinatown is leading a new trend in the crime-ridden city: an increase in privately financed public safety. Mr. Chan has asked every business owner to install a street-facing camera. A new Chinatown security force, perhaps staffed by armed guards, could be on the streets as soon as next month, he said.
The layoffs, which helped close a budget deficit of more than $30 million, eliminated a community-policing program that assigned officers to walk their beats and attend neighborhood meetings. Now some residents are pooling resources to restore a law-enforcement presence. The affluent Montclair District in the Oakland Hills and the Kings Estates neighborhood in East Oakland are also looking into private patrols.
Experts say the combination of police and private security that Chinatown is pursuing reflects a new approach to public safety.
“We’ve been doing policing more or less the same way for a couple hundred years,” said Barry Krisberg, a criminologist at the Center for Criminal Justice at the University of California, Berkeley. “We’ve reached a point financially where we have to start exploring new ways to deliver law enforcement.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/us/13bcsecurity.html?_r=2
Sunday, 19 September 2010
Paul Craig Roberts: "By 2017, U.S. will have plunged into clan warfare"
It was 2017. Clans were governing America.
The first clans organized around local police forces. The conservatives’ war on crime during the late 20th century and the Bush/Obama war on terror during the first decade of the 21st century had resulted in the police becoming militarized and unaccountable.
As society broke down, the police became warlords. The state police broke apart, and the officers were subsumed into the local forces of their communities. The newly formed tribes expanded to encompass the relatives and friends of the police.
The dollar had collapsed as world reserve currency in 2012 when the worsening economic depression made it clear to Washington’s creditors that the federal budget deficit was too large to be financed except by the printing of money.
With the dollar’s demise, import prices skyrocketed. As Americans were unable to afford foreign-made goods, the transnational corporations that were producing offshore for US markets were bankrupted, further eroding the government’s revenue base.
The government was forced to print money in order to pay its bills, causing domestic prices to rise rapidly. Faced with hyperinflation, Washington took recourse in terminating Social Security and Medicare and followed up by confiscating the remnants of private pensions. This provided a one-year respite, but with no more resources to confiscate, money creation and hyperinflation resumed.
Organized food deliveries broke down when the government fought hyperinflation with fixed prices and the mandate that all purchases and sales had to be in US paper currency. Unwilling to trade appreciating goods for depreciating paper, goods disappeared from stores.
Washington responded as Lenin had done during the “war communism” period of Soviet history. The government sent troops to confiscate goods for distribution in kind to the population. This was a temporary stop-gap until existing stocks were depleted, as future production was discouraged. Much of the confiscated stocks became the property of the troops who seized the goods.
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/Archives2010/RobertsClanWarfare.html
The first clans organized around local police forces. The conservatives’ war on crime during the late 20th century and the Bush/Obama war on terror during the first decade of the 21st century had resulted in the police becoming militarized and unaccountable.
As society broke down, the police became warlords. The state police broke apart, and the officers were subsumed into the local forces of their communities. The newly formed tribes expanded to encompass the relatives and friends of the police.
The dollar had collapsed as world reserve currency in 2012 when the worsening economic depression made it clear to Washington’s creditors that the federal budget deficit was too large to be financed except by the printing of money.
With the dollar’s demise, import prices skyrocketed. As Americans were unable to afford foreign-made goods, the transnational corporations that were producing offshore for US markets were bankrupted, further eroding the government’s revenue base.
The government was forced to print money in order to pay its bills, causing domestic prices to rise rapidly. Faced with hyperinflation, Washington took recourse in terminating Social Security and Medicare and followed up by confiscating the remnants of private pensions. This provided a one-year respite, but with no more resources to confiscate, money creation and hyperinflation resumed.
Organized food deliveries broke down when the government fought hyperinflation with fixed prices and the mandate that all purchases and sales had to be in US paper currency. Unwilling to trade appreciating goods for depreciating paper, goods disappeared from stores.
Washington responded as Lenin had done during the “war communism” period of Soviet history. The government sent troops to confiscate goods for distribution in kind to the population. This was a temporary stop-gap until existing stocks were depleted, as future production was discouraged. Much of the confiscated stocks became the property of the troops who seized the goods.
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/Archives2010/RobertsClanWarfare.html
Wall Street Journal: Payday Loan Scum Suckers Financed by Big Banks
The weak economic recovery might be making it harder for small businesses and families to get loans. But there’s at least one unlikely group that isn’t having problems securing financing: payday lenders.
That’s the conclusion of a new study backed by a community group that blames the nation’s largest banks for the growth of the payday loan industry.
Thanks to billions of dollars of financing from giant banks, the payday loan industry is booming and poised for expansion — even as consumer groups and government officials aim to rein in the high-cost loan products, says the study.
The report was issued Tuesday by community group National People’s Action and watchdog group Public Accountability Initiative.
“While small businesses and individuals have struggled to get affordable loans in the wake of the taxpayer bailouts, payday lenders have received new and amended credit agreements from Wall Street,” says the report. “Instead of wading further into the business of predatory payday lending, big banks need to stop financing these lenders and instead lend to businesses and individuals that create wealth, rather than destroy it.”
The study notes that payday loan companies depend heavily on credit agreements and other financing vehicles from banks such as Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp. It singles out Wells Fargo, in particular, saying the San Francisco-based bank finances more payday lenders than any other big bank, providing credit to payday lenders such as Advance America, Cash Advance Centers, Inc. and fueling the growth of the industry.
A Wells Fargo spokesperson said that while the company is very selective, it doesn’t impose barriers when it comes to considering new credit customers. He added, though, that Wells Fargo puts payday lenders and check-cashing companies through higher levels of scrutiny before providing financing.
“Every responsible business that complies with the law has equal access to consideration for credit,” said Wells Fargo spokesman Gabriel Boehmer. “That said, we exercise strict due diligence with these customers to ensure they, like us, do business in a responsible way.”
Meanwhile, the study finds that banks are starting to offer high-cost loans on their own, which suggests that the payday loan business is ripe for growth, says the report. It adds that new “checking advance” short-term loans being offered by banks can carry extremely high interest rates of up to 120%.
The report dubbed, “ The Predator’s Creditors,” seems to be a way to shame banks into thinking twice about their ties to the payday loan industry. It includes diagrams illustrating ties between Wall Street executives and payday lenders and a table that lists recipients of Troubled Asset-Relief Program cash that have provided financing to payday lenders.
“Ultimately, the big banks that borrow at near-zero interest rates from the Federal Reserve are not far removed from the payday companies that lend money at 500%,” the report says.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/09/14/report-blames-big-banks-for-payday-loan-growth/
That’s the conclusion of a new study backed by a community group that blames the nation’s largest banks for the growth of the payday loan industry.
Thanks to billions of dollars of financing from giant banks, the payday loan industry is booming and poised for expansion — even as consumer groups and government officials aim to rein in the high-cost loan products, says the study.
The report was issued Tuesday by community group National People’s Action and watchdog group Public Accountability Initiative.
“While small businesses and individuals have struggled to get affordable loans in the wake of the taxpayer bailouts, payday lenders have received new and amended credit agreements from Wall Street,” says the report. “Instead of wading further into the business of predatory payday lending, big banks need to stop financing these lenders and instead lend to businesses and individuals that create wealth, rather than destroy it.”
The study notes that payday loan companies depend heavily on credit agreements and other financing vehicles from banks such as Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp. It singles out Wells Fargo, in particular, saying the San Francisco-based bank finances more payday lenders than any other big bank, providing credit to payday lenders such as Advance America, Cash Advance Centers, Inc. and fueling the growth of the industry.
A Wells Fargo spokesperson said that while the company is very selective, it doesn’t impose barriers when it comes to considering new credit customers. He added, though, that Wells Fargo puts payday lenders and check-cashing companies through higher levels of scrutiny before providing financing.
“Every responsible business that complies with the law has equal access to consideration for credit,” said Wells Fargo spokesman Gabriel Boehmer. “That said, we exercise strict due diligence with these customers to ensure they, like us, do business in a responsible way.”
Meanwhile, the study finds that banks are starting to offer high-cost loans on their own, which suggests that the payday loan business is ripe for growth, says the report. It adds that new “checking advance” short-term loans being offered by banks can carry extremely high interest rates of up to 120%.
The report dubbed, “ The Predator’s Creditors,” seems to be a way to shame banks into thinking twice about their ties to the payday loan industry. It includes diagrams illustrating ties between Wall Street executives and payday lenders and a table that lists recipients of Troubled Asset-Relief Program cash that have provided financing to payday lenders.
“Ultimately, the big banks that borrow at near-zero interest rates from the Federal Reserve are not far removed from the payday companies that lend money at 500%,” the report says.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/09/14/report-blames-big-banks-for-payday-loan-growth/
Boston Globe: Planners Work to Shrink Economically Collapsed Cities
How to shrink a city
Not every great metropolis is going to make a comeback. Planners consider some radical ways to embrace decline.
Since cities first got big enough to require urban planning, its practitioners have focused on growth. From imperial Rome to 19th-century Paris and Chicago and up through modern-day Beijing, the duty of city planners and administrators has been to impose order as people flowed in, buildings rose up, and the city limits extended outward into the hinterlands.
But cities don’t always grow. Sometimes they shrink, and sometimes they shrink drastically. Over the last 50 years, the city of Detroit has lost more than half its population. So has Cleveland. They’re not alone: Eight of the 10 largest cities in the United States in 1950, including Boston, have since lost at least 20 percent of their population. But while Boston has recouped some of that loss in recent years and made itself into the anchor of a thriving white-collar economy, the far more drastic losses of cities like Detroit or Youngstown, Ohio, or Flint, Mich. — losses of people, jobs, money, and social ties — show no signs of turning around. The housing crisis has only accelerated the process.
Now a few planners and politicians are starting to try something new: embracing shrinking. Frankly admitting that these cities are not going to return to their former population size anytime soon, planners and activists and officials are starting to talk about what it might mean to shrink well. After decades of worrying about smart growth, they’re starting to think about smart shrinking, about how to create
cities that are healthier because they are smaller. Losing size, in this line of thought, isn’t just a byproduct of economic malaise, but a strategy.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/09/05/how_to_shrink_a_city/?page=full
Not every great metropolis is going to make a comeback. Planners consider some radical ways to embrace decline.
Since cities first got big enough to require urban planning, its practitioners have focused on growth. From imperial Rome to 19th-century Paris and Chicago and up through modern-day Beijing, the duty of city planners and administrators has been to impose order as people flowed in, buildings rose up, and the city limits extended outward into the hinterlands.
But cities don’t always grow. Sometimes they shrink, and sometimes they shrink drastically. Over the last 50 years, the city of Detroit has lost more than half its population. So has Cleveland. They’re not alone: Eight of the 10 largest cities in the United States in 1950, including Boston, have since lost at least 20 percent of their population. But while Boston has recouped some of that loss in recent years and made itself into the anchor of a thriving white-collar economy, the far more drastic losses of cities like Detroit or Youngstown, Ohio, or Flint, Mich. — losses of people, jobs, money, and social ties — show no signs of turning around. The housing crisis has only accelerated the process.
Now a few planners and politicians are starting to try something new: embracing shrinking. Frankly admitting that these cities are not going to return to their former population size anytime soon, planners and activists and officials are starting to talk about what it might mean to shrink well. After decades of worrying about smart growth, they’re starting to think about smart shrinking, about how to create
cities that are healthier because they are smaller. Losing size, in this line of thought, isn’t just a byproduct of economic malaise, but a strategy.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/09/05/how_to_shrink_a_city/?page=full
Alternet: Genetically Modified Frankenfish to be Unleashed En Masse
The Creepy Science Behind Genetically Engineered "Frankenfish" About to Enter Our Food Supply Unlabeled
This salmon would be the first genetically engineered animal to enter the U.S. food supply, and the science behind its approval process is frightening.
When the FDA announced it found the genetically engineered AquAdvantage salmon safe just before Labor Day, news headlines and even Alaska Senator Mark Begich called it a "frankenfish." A closer look at AquAdvantage makes it seem unlikely that Mary Shelley could have ever dreamed up anything as wild as the fast growing GE salmon. Even more worrisome is the science used to justify the salmon's safety, which Consumers Union senior scientist Michael Hansen calls "sloppy," "misleading," and "woefully inadequate.
http://www.alternet.org/food/14815/the_creepy_science_behind_genetically_engineered_%22frankenfish%22_about_to_enter_our_food_supply_unlabeled/
This salmon would be the first genetically engineered animal to enter the U.S. food supply, and the science behind its approval process is frightening.
When the FDA announced it found the genetically engineered AquAdvantage salmon safe just before Labor Day, news headlines and even Alaska Senator Mark Begich called it a "frankenfish." A closer look at AquAdvantage makes it seem unlikely that Mary Shelley could have ever dreamed up anything as wild as the fast growing GE salmon. Even more worrisome is the science used to justify the salmon's safety, which Consumers Union senior scientist Michael Hansen calls "sloppy," "misleading," and "woefully inadequate.
http://www.alternet.org/food/14815/the_creepy_science_behind_genetically_engineered_%22frankenfish%22_about_to_enter_our_food_supply_unlabeled/
The Nation: Blackwater Sought to become the "Intel Arm" of Monsanto
Over the past several years, entities closely linked to the private security firm Blackwater have provided intelligence, training and security services to US and foreign governments as well as several multinational corporations, including Monsanto, Chevron, the Walt Disney Company, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and banking giants Deutsche Bank and Barclays, according to documents obtained by The Nation. Blackwater's work for corporations and government agencies was contracted using two companies owned by Blackwater's owner and founder, Erik Prince: Total Intelligence Solutions and the Terrorism Research Center (TRC). Prince is listed as the chairman of both companies in internal company documents, which show how the web of companies functions as a highly coordinated operation. Officials from Total Intelligence, TRC and Blackwater (which now calls itself Xe Services) did not respond to numerous requests for comment for this article.
One of the most incendiary details in the documents is that Blackwater, through Total Intelligence, sought to become the "intel arm" of Monsanto, offering to provide operatives to infiltrate activist groups organizing against the multinational biotech firm.
Governmental recipients of intelligence services and counterterrorism training from Prince's companies include the Kingdom of Jordan, the Canadian military and the Netherlands police, as well as several US military bases, including Fort Bragg, home of the elite Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), and Fort Huachuca, where military interrogators are trained, according to the documents. In addition, Blackwater worked through the companies for the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the US European Command.
On September 3 the New York Times reported that Blackwater had "created a web of more than 30 shell companies or subsidiaries in part to obtain millions of dollars in American government contracts after the security company came under intense criticism for reckless conduct in Iraq." The documents obtained by The Nation reveal previously unreported details of several such companies and open a rare window into the sensitive intelligence and security operations Blackwater performs for a range of powerful corporations and government agencies. The new evidence also sheds light on the key roles of several former top CIA officials who went on to work for Blackwater.
The coordinator of Blackwater's covert CIA business, former CIA paramilitary officer Enrique "Ric" Prado, set up a global network of foreign operatives, offering their "deniability" as a "big plus" for potential Blackwater customers, according to company documents. The CIA has long used proxy forces to carry out extralegal actions or to shield US government involvement in unsavory operations from scrutiny. In some cases, these "deniable" foreign forces don't even know who they are working for.
http://www.thenation.com/article/154739/blackwaters-black-ops
One of the most incendiary details in the documents is that Blackwater, through Total Intelligence, sought to become the "intel arm" of Monsanto, offering to provide operatives to infiltrate activist groups organizing against the multinational biotech firm.
Governmental recipients of intelligence services and counterterrorism training from Prince's companies include the Kingdom of Jordan, the Canadian military and the Netherlands police, as well as several US military bases, including Fort Bragg, home of the elite Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), and Fort Huachuca, where military interrogators are trained, according to the documents. In addition, Blackwater worked through the companies for the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the US European Command.
On September 3 the New York Times reported that Blackwater had "created a web of more than 30 shell companies or subsidiaries in part to obtain millions of dollars in American government contracts after the security company came under intense criticism for reckless conduct in Iraq." The documents obtained by The Nation reveal previously unreported details of several such companies and open a rare window into the sensitive intelligence and security operations Blackwater performs for a range of powerful corporations and government agencies. The new evidence also sheds light on the key roles of several former top CIA officials who went on to work for Blackwater.
The coordinator of Blackwater's covert CIA business, former CIA paramilitary officer Enrique "Ric" Prado, set up a global network of foreign operatives, offering their "deniability" as a "big plus" for potential Blackwater customers, according to company documents. The CIA has long used proxy forces to carry out extralegal actions or to shield US government involvement in unsavory operations from scrutiny. In some cases, these "deniable" foreign forces don't even know who they are working for.
http://www.thenation.com/article/154739/blackwaters-black-ops
McClatchy: End of Combat Mission? U.S.-Iraqi Raid in Fallujah Kills Six
End of combat mission? U.S.-Iraqi raid in Fallujah kills 6
FALLUJAH, Iraq — U.S. and Iraqi forces raided a neighborhood in the longtime Sunni Muslim insurgent stronghold of Fallujah on Wednesday, U.S. military officials said, killing at least six people in the deadliest joint operation since President Barack Obama announced the end of the American combat mission in Iraq two weeks ago.
The incident underscored that American forces remain engaged in offensive operations despite Obama's declaration that the fewer than 50,000 remaining U.S. troops would focus on advising and training the Iraqi military and police.
The U.S. military hasn't said what its threshold is now for engaging in combat. So far, it appears that the American military is allowed to engage when it's under attack or supporting an Iraqi effort.
A U.S. military spokesman said the predawn raid targeted a senior leader of the Sunni insurgent group al Qaida in Iraq who was alleged to be responsible for several high-profile attacks. It wasn't immediately clear whether he was among those killed.
Arriving in the Jubail section of Fallujah, about 40 miles west of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi forces came under fire and Iraqi soldiers fired back, killing four people and wounding three, said the spokesman, Maj. Rob Phillips. Two other individuals began shooting at the soldiers and also were killed.
Pentagon officials don't think that U.S troops fired any shots during the raid. Residents reported seeing U.S. military helicopters supporting the operation.
Iraqi police officials offered a slightly different account, saying seven people were killed and that the raid began when the U.S.-Iraqi team set off explosives in the neighborhood around 1:30 a.m. Witnesses said that soldiers fatally shot several members of two families — including a preteen boy — as well as Yassin Qassar, a former lieutenant colonel in the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/09/15/100609/end-of-combat-mission.html#ixzz100epWjbq
FALLUJAH, Iraq — U.S. and Iraqi forces raided a neighborhood in the longtime Sunni Muslim insurgent stronghold of Fallujah on Wednesday, U.S. military officials said, killing at least six people in the deadliest joint operation since President Barack Obama announced the end of the American combat mission in Iraq two weeks ago.
The incident underscored that American forces remain engaged in offensive operations despite Obama's declaration that the fewer than 50,000 remaining U.S. troops would focus on advising and training the Iraqi military and police.
The U.S. military hasn't said what its threshold is now for engaging in combat. So far, it appears that the American military is allowed to engage when it's under attack or supporting an Iraqi effort.
A U.S. military spokesman said the predawn raid targeted a senior leader of the Sunni insurgent group al Qaida in Iraq who was alleged to be responsible for several high-profile attacks. It wasn't immediately clear whether he was among those killed.
Arriving in the Jubail section of Fallujah, about 40 miles west of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi forces came under fire and Iraqi soldiers fired back, killing four people and wounding three, said the spokesman, Maj. Rob Phillips. Two other individuals began shooting at the soldiers and also were killed.
Pentagon officials don't think that U.S troops fired any shots during the raid. Residents reported seeing U.S. military helicopters supporting the operation.
Iraqi police officials offered a slightly different account, saying seven people were killed and that the raid began when the U.S.-Iraqi team set off explosives in the neighborhood around 1:30 a.m. Witnesses said that soldiers fatally shot several members of two families — including a preteen boy — as well as Yassin Qassar, a former lieutenant colonel in the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/09/15/100609/end-of-combat-mission.html#ixzz100epWjbq
McClatchy: On China's Yellow River, Human Corpses Now a Cash Crop
China's dark side: On Yellow River, corpses mean cash
NEAR CHANGPO VILLAGE, China — From his perch on an overhang above the Yellow River, Wei Jinpeng pointed to a fisherman's cove below and began counting his latest catch. He stopped after six, and guessed that perhaps a dozen human corpses were bobbing in the murky waters.
The bodies were floating facedown and tethered by ropes to the shore, their mud-covered limbs and rumps protruding from the water.
Wei is a fisher of dead people. He scans the river for cadavers, drags them to shore with a small boat and then charges grieving families to recover their relatives' corpses. Wei said he kept the faces submerged to preserve their features. Any dispute about identity makes it harder to collect his bounty.
Wei doesn't worry about how they got here, but he's heard tales over the years from relatives who've come to claim the bodies, haunting portraits of average people crushed in the extraordinary stress of China's economic boom.
While some of the 80 to 100 bodies Wei gathers each year are victims of accidents and floods, he thinks that the majority end up in the river after suicide or murder. There's no overt sign of a crime spree, though there's evidence of many people taking their own lives. Indeed, suicide is the leading cause of death for women in rural China, and 26 percent of all suicides in the world take place in the nation, according to the World Health Organization
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/09/16/100691/chinese-fisherman-on-yellow-river.html#ixzz100eaXnhE
NEAR CHANGPO VILLAGE, China — From his perch on an overhang above the Yellow River, Wei Jinpeng pointed to a fisherman's cove below and began counting his latest catch. He stopped after six, and guessed that perhaps a dozen human corpses were bobbing in the murky waters.
The bodies were floating facedown and tethered by ropes to the shore, their mud-covered limbs and rumps protruding from the water.
Wei is a fisher of dead people. He scans the river for cadavers, drags them to shore with a small boat and then charges grieving families to recover their relatives' corpses. Wei said he kept the faces submerged to preserve their features. Any dispute about identity makes it harder to collect his bounty.
Wei doesn't worry about how they got here, but he's heard tales over the years from relatives who've come to claim the bodies, haunting portraits of average people crushed in the extraordinary stress of China's economic boom.
While some of the 80 to 100 bodies Wei gathers each year are victims of accidents and floods, he thinks that the majority end up in the river after suicide or murder. There's no overt sign of a crime spree, though there's evidence of many people taking their own lives. Indeed, suicide is the leading cause of death for women in rural China, and 26 percent of all suicides in the world take place in the nation, according to the World Health Organization
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/09/16/100691/chinese-fisherman-on-yellow-river.html#ixzz100eaXnhE
Market Watch: U.S. Middle Class Already Running as Fast as Possible
The Secret List Of 10 States With Soaring Poverty Rates The Government Doesn't Want You To See
Yesterday the Census Bureau announced a big increase in nationwide poverty rates in 2009. CBS reported the news as “One in Seven in Poverty: 44 Million Americans”. When it comes to statistics it is always wise to be a little bit suspicious. We’re talking about poverty rates here and that makes me even more suspicious. The number of Americans who are below the poverty line is not 44 million, it is more like 39 million. The Census Bureau is using a flawed methodology. Here is why:
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/10-states-with-the-highest-poverty-rates-2010-9#ixzz100e9aXMy
Yesterday the Census Bureau announced a big increase in nationwide poverty rates in 2009. CBS reported the news as “One in Seven in Poverty: 44 Million Americans”. When it comes to statistics it is always wise to be a little bit suspicious. We’re talking about poverty rates here and that makes me even more suspicious. The number of Americans who are below the poverty line is not 44 million, it is more like 39 million. The Census Bureau is using a flawed methodology. Here is why:
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/10-states-with-the-highest-poverty-rates-2010-9#ixzz100e9aXMy
Bloomberg: New Jersey Considering Privatizing Roads as Funds Dry Up
State budget impasse hits some people hard
(09-17) 04:00 PDT Sacramento - --
Sudha Gupta hasn't received a paycheck since July 31, but each day she and the 22 other teachers at Creative Montessori Learning Center in East Palo Alto dutifully come to work to serve 200 mostly low-income preschoolers.
Gupta and her colleagues don't work for the state, but they are among a growing number of Californians whose everyday lives - and pocketbooks - are being impacted by the impasse over the state budget, which is now 79 days late.
Even though most bills are still being paid, California law prohibits state Controller John Chiang from making certain payments unless a budget is in place. The losers in the governor's and Legislature's delay in passing a budget include health clinics that serve the poor, college students who qualify for financial aid, and state-funded child-development programs, which serve more than 270,000 children statewide.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/16/MN5P1FDA73.DTL#ixzz100dUmesY
(09-17) 04:00 PDT Sacramento - --
Sudha Gupta hasn't received a paycheck since July 31, but each day she and the 22 other teachers at Creative Montessori Learning Center in East Palo Alto dutifully come to work to serve 200 mostly low-income preschoolers.
Gupta and her colleagues don't work for the state, but they are among a growing number of Californians whose everyday lives - and pocketbooks - are being impacted by the impasse over the state budget, which is now 79 days late.
Even though most bills are still being paid, California law prohibits state Controller John Chiang from making certain payments unless a budget is in place. The losers in the governor's and Legislature's delay in passing a budget include health clinics that serve the poor, college students who qualify for financial aid, and state-funded child-development programs, which serve more than 270,000 children statewide.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/16/MN5P1FDA73.DTL#ixzz100dUmesY
Business Insider: California to Make "Terrible, Absolutely Terrible" Cuts
Here Are The "Terrible, Absolutely Terrible" Cuts California Must Make To Balance The Budget
1) Borrow from pensions -- which Schwarzenegger has considered -- and count on a credit downgrade and a Greece-like problem.
2) Drop the axe on state services with "terrible, absolutely terrible cuts" -- as Schwarzenegger called them in May.
It's starting to look like we're headed for the latter.
http://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-the-terrible-absolutely-terrible-cuts-california-must-make-to-balance-the-budget-2010-9
1) Borrow from pensions -- which Schwarzenegger has considered -- and count on a credit downgrade and a Greece-like problem.
2) Drop the axe on state services with "terrible, absolutely terrible cuts" -- as Schwarzenegger called them in May.
It's starting to look like we're headed for the latter.
http://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-the-terrible-absolutely-terrible-cuts-california-must-make-to-balance-the-budget-2010-9
Alternet: U.S. Population Coming "Completely Decoupled" from Reality
This Country Just Can't Deal with Reality Any More
As Election Day 2010 approaches, the consequences of the nation’s three-decade-old decoupling from reality are becoming painfully obvious.
September 16, 2010 |
As Election Day 2010 approaches – as the United States wallows in the swamps of war, recession and environmental degradation – the consequences of the nation’s three-decade-old decoupling from reality are becoming painfully obvious.
Yet, despite the danger, the nation can’t seem to move in a positive direction, as if the suctioning effect of endless spin, half-truths and lies holds the populace in place, a force that grows ever more powerful like quicksand sucking the country deeper into the muck – to waist deep, then neck deep.
Trapped in the mud, millions of Americans are complaining about their loss of economic status, their sense of powerlessness, their nation’s decline. But instead of examining how the country stumbled into this morass, many still choose not to face reality.
http://www.alternet.org/news/148206/this_country_just_can%27t_deal_with_reality_any_more/
As Election Day 2010 approaches, the consequences of the nation’s three-decade-old decoupling from reality are becoming painfully obvious.
September 16, 2010 |
As Election Day 2010 approaches – as the United States wallows in the swamps of war, recession and environmental degradation – the consequences of the nation’s three-decade-old decoupling from reality are becoming painfully obvious.
Yet, despite the danger, the nation can’t seem to move in a positive direction, as if the suctioning effect of endless spin, half-truths and lies holds the populace in place, a force that grows ever more powerful like quicksand sucking the country deeper into the muck – to waist deep, then neck deep.
Trapped in the mud, millions of Americans are complaining about their loss of economic status, their sense of powerlessness, their nation’s decline. But instead of examining how the country stumbled into this morass, many still choose not to face reality.
http://www.alternet.org/news/148206/this_country_just_can%27t_deal_with_reality_any_more/
UK Independent: U.S. Isn't Working, Rest of World Should be Alarmed
Economic Life: There are deep-seated concerns that the US workforce has too long a tail of less-skilled people doing jobs that can be done abroad by workers on lower wages
The "jobless recovery" has become a catchphrase to describe what is happening in the US, and could also be applied to Continental Europe. In recent months, employment in the US has inched up, despite what seemed at least to be decent growth, while (and this has really shocked me) the eurozone has created no net new jobs at all in the past three months. The UK has at least managed to create 300,000 over this period.
In a way the failure of the US to generate jobs is even more worrying than that of Europe. Levels of unemployment are broadly similar at 10 per cent. But Europe does at least have the "excuse", if that is the right word, of a relatively inflexible labour market. Employers in Europe can be expected to be reluctant to take on new labour as demand rises because they are not able to shed that labour if the rise in demand falters. But in the US there are fewer such inhibitions, or at least there should be. Yet the rise in employment this cycle has been the lowest since the Second World War. As a result unemployment has remained stubbornly high. Why?
The answer is complex, so we should be suspicious of pat responses, but it is clear that there are several forces at work. One is simply that the sectors that have shed most labour are in no shape to rehire. The main losses during the downturn were manufacturing, transport and construction, three industries that have been particularly savaged by the recession, as the top graph, above, shows.
Since the recovery began nothing much has happened in terms of additional employment in any industry, whereas in previous recoveries even the construction industries were busy rehiring.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/hamish-mcrae/hamish-mcrae-america-isnt-working-and-the-rest-of-the-world-should-be-alarmed-2081579.html
The "jobless recovery" has become a catchphrase to describe what is happening in the US, and could also be applied to Continental Europe. In recent months, employment in the US has inched up, despite what seemed at least to be decent growth, while (and this has really shocked me) the eurozone has created no net new jobs at all in the past three months. The UK has at least managed to create 300,000 over this period.
In a way the failure of the US to generate jobs is even more worrying than that of Europe. Levels of unemployment are broadly similar at 10 per cent. But Europe does at least have the "excuse", if that is the right word, of a relatively inflexible labour market. Employers in Europe can be expected to be reluctant to take on new labour as demand rises because they are not able to shed that labour if the rise in demand falters. But in the US there are fewer such inhibitions, or at least there should be. Yet the rise in employment this cycle has been the lowest since the Second World War. As a result unemployment has remained stubbornly high. Why?
The answer is complex, so we should be suspicious of pat responses, but it is clear that there are several forces at work. One is simply that the sectors that have shed most labour are in no shape to rehire. The main losses during the downturn were manufacturing, transport and construction, three industries that have been particularly savaged by the recession, as the top graph, above, shows.
Since the recovery began nothing much has happened in terms of additional employment in any industry, whereas in previous recoveries even the construction industries were busy rehiring.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/hamish-mcrae/hamish-mcrae-america-isnt-working-and-the-rest-of-the-world-should-be-alarmed-2081579.html
The 25 Countries That Will Be Screwed By A World Food Crisis
Concerned about whether you have enough food in your fridge? How about for the worst case scenario?
Japanese investment bank Nomura produced a research report detailing the countries that would be crushed in a food crisis.
Their description of a food crisis is a prolonged price spike. They calculate the states that have the most to lose by a formula including:
* Nominal GDP per capita in USD at market exchange rates.
* The share of food in total household consumption.
* Net food exports as a percentage of GDP.
We've got the top 25 countries in danger here and the list, including a major financial center, may surprise you.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/nomura-food-crisis-2010-9#ixzz100agHEqm
Japanese investment bank Nomura produced a research report detailing the countries that would be crushed in a food crisis.
Their description of a food crisis is a prolonged price spike. They calculate the states that have the most to lose by a formula including:
* Nominal GDP per capita in USD at market exchange rates.
* The share of food in total household consumption.
* Net food exports as a percentage of GDP.
We've got the top 25 countries in danger here and the list, including a major financial center, may surprise you.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/nomura-food-crisis-2010-9#ixzz100agHEqm
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