Number of global billionaires has doubled since the financial crisis

Stephan:  The growing inequity of wealth in the world has become so extreme that long term structural changes are occurring in the world. As Bank of England chief economist Andrew Haldane explains, "There is rising evidence that extreme inequality harms, durably and significantly, the stability of the financial system and growth in the economy. It slows development of the human, social and physical capital necessary for raising living standards and improving well-being.” And yet there was hardly a word about any of this in the mid-term campaigns that are now coming to an end. Why is this happening do you think? I think it is because the uber-rich are just buying politicians like hiring plumbers. This is an inherently unstable situation because when people no longer believe in their government as a source of help and protection they will start looking for something else.
Credit: blog.libertyclips.com

Credit: blog.libertyclips.com

The number of billionaires has doubled since the start of the financial crisis, according to a major new report from anti-poverty campaigners. According to Oxfam, the world’s rich are getting richer, leaving hundreds of millions of people facing a life “trapped in poverty” as global “inequality spirals out of control”.

The report found that the number of billionaires in the world has more than doubled to 1,646 since the financial crisis of 2009, and Oxfam says is evidence that the benefits of a return to economic growth are “not being shared with the vast majority”.

The influential report is supported by Bank of England chief economist Andrew Haldane and Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. It notes that since 2009 one million women have died in childcare due to lack of basic health care, and that 57m children are currently missing out on any form of […]

Read the Full Article

1 Comment

Why child poverty in the US may be much worse than you realize

Stephan:  One of America's favorite lies about itself is that we care about children, they are the future. You hear politicians say it, media people tout it, clergy extoll it. It is a damnable lie. Individual parents care about their child or children. But as a society we could hardly care less about the nation's children collectively, and the facts show it, as this report describes.

Child Poverty ratesNearly 44 percent of all US kids were in poverty for two or more months from 2009 to 2012, the Census Bureau reported on Wednesday.

Poverty is unevenly spread, and for many college-educated, urban-dwelling, well-to-do Americans can be almost entirely hidden. It might be that none of the kids in your neighborhood or church or school district were in poverty during this period. But that means that there’s some other neighborhood where many — even most — of the kids were. And this is just the beginning of the staggering figures on US child poverty.

Nearly 3.2 million kids were in poverty throughout the downturn

Of course, those nearly 44 percent of kids weren’t in poverty that whole time. It includes lots of kids who entered and exited poverty over that period. But narrower poverty measures also show staggering numbers. For example, the average monthly poverty rate for US kids was 24.2 percent in 2012. The number of kids in poverty for all of 2012 was 9.5 million — that’s 12.9 percent of all American kids. And 4.4 percent […]

Read the Full Article

No Comments

The Empty Elections of 2014

Stephan:  I think this is an excellent essay on the state of voting and voters in the election coming up. I find political ads offensive, ads in general come to that and mute the sound, maybe you do the same. But I have come to realize the truth in John Cassidy's essay. Some very significant fraction of Americans has just tuned out or, perversely, just votes a party ticket without understanding the truth about the candidates or the issues. That is the only explanation I can see for the continuing voting that occurs in Red value states, even though the policies they are voting for are horribly damaging to their lives. This also explains I think how people like Louie Gohmert or Steve King, or Ted Cruz remain in office.
Credit: Seth Perlman/AP

Credit: Seth Perlman/AP

At this late stage in the prostitution, cretinization, and putrefaction of the American political system, it’s hard to get worked up about anything, and that, doubtless, explains why most voters aren’t paying much attention to the midterm elections. Or, rather, they are trying to pay no attention. If you are unfortunate enough to live in one of the states or districts where there is a close contest, you can’t escape so easily. Anytime you switch on your television or radio, you are pretty much guaranteed to be bombarded with the enervating output of political admen, spin doctors, and negative-research shops for whom this is, first and foremost, a profit-making industry.

Pity, for example, the unfortunate citizens of Colorado, where there are two competitive races this year—one for U.S. Senate and one for the governorship. In the Senate contest, polls show Cory Gardner, a Republican congressman, with a narrow lead over the Democratic incumbent, Mark Udall. The Gardner campaign and its allied super PACs have followed the same script that Republicans have […]

Read the Full Article

1 Comment

Why the U.S. Has Fallen Behind in Internet Speed and Affordability

Stephan:  The U.S. invented the internet, then sold it to monopolies in each city or region, and they did what monopolies always do: gave the lowest quality service for the highest achievable price. This was brought home to me several years ago when I when to Seoul and saw teenage girls downloading entire movies faster than I could get my online connection to download a complicated website. Right now I have the fastest internet I have ever had or that one can get in my part of the country. I just tested it, it was 17.95 Mbps. Excellent by American standards, particularly given that I live in a very rural area; yet that is pathetic in other developed nations. Run a test on your own speed after your read this report. What do you pay?
The Internet linkages

The Internet linkages and traffic graphically displayed

America’s slow and expensive Internet is more than just an annoyance for people trying to watch “Happy Gilmore” on Netflix. Largely a consequence of monopoly providers, the sluggish service could have long-term economic consequences for American competitiveness.

Downloading a high-definition movie takes about seven seconds in Seoul, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Zurich, Bucharest and Paris, and people pay as little as $30 a month for that connection. In Los Angeles, New York and Washington, downloading the same movie takes 1.4 minutes for people with the fastest Internet available, and they pay $300 a month for the privilege, according to The Cost of Connectivity, a report published Thursday by the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute.

The report compares Internet access in big American cities with access in Europe and Asia. Some surprising smaller American cities — Chattanooga, Tenn.; Kansas City (in both Kansas and Missouri); Lafayette, La.; and Bristol, Va. — tied for speed with […]

Read the Full Article

2 Comments

Interview with an Islamic State Recruiter: ‘Democracy Is For Infidels’

Stephan:  It is my view that one of the central geopolitical failures of American foreign policy particularly since the Viet Nam war era  is that first and foremost it is corporatist and driven by lust for profit above all other issues. The Bushes, Clinton and Obama administrations have particularly been dominated by this thinking. We are surprised again and again by the rise of terrorism both internationally and locally, yet never seem to get the link between our own actions and the response they evoke. Our media rarely discuss this connection, it's considered unpatriotic and is therefore mostly taboo. This is a really important interview because it reveals the thinking of the Islamic fundamentalists. I would point out a few things that I took away from reading it. First, fundamentalist religion whether Muslim, Christian or Jewish is the source of much of the world's misery. And it always has the same characteristics: a sense of persecution, hate as a central emotional motif,  a self-righteous conviction that the fundamentalists alone know the revealed truth, a strong sense of judgment against other points-of-view, and profound dysfunctional sexuality centering around male dominance over females. Second, if you change a few words this exact interview could have come from the mouth of an Inquisitor during the Roman Catholic Church's struggle (1232 first Inquisition, 1542, second Inquisition) to maintain its supremacy. Third, policies like drone strikes create ten jihadists for everyone they kill. If we had poured an equivalent amount of money spent in war into building hospitals, schools, child care centers and libraries in the same countries  none of this would be happening.
An image grab taken from a propaganda video Credit: AFP/ al-Furqan Media

An image grab taken from a propaganda video
Credit: AFP/ al-Furqan Media

Interview Conducted by

How does Islamic State think? How do its followers see the world? SPIEGEL ONLINE met up with an Islamic State recruiter in Turkey to hear about the extremist group’s vision for the future.

The conditions laid out by the Islamist are strict: no photos and no audio recording. He also keeps his real name secret as well as his country of origin, and is only willing to disclose that he is Arab. His English is polished and he speaks with a British accent.

He calls himself Abu Sattar, appears to be around 30 years old and wears a thick, black beard that reaches down to his chest. His top lip is shaved as is his head and he wears a black robe that stretches all the way to the floor. He keeps a copy of the Koran, carefully wrapped in black […]

Read the Full Article

1 Comment