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Kay Bradley

U.S. Had Warnings About Plotter of Mumbai Attack - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...17headley.html

India Pakistan

shared by Kay Bradley on 17 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • Kay Bradley on 17 Oct 10
     
    This article claims that one of the plotters in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack, David Headley, was a) a double agent for the US and b) a member of a militant group created and sponsored by Pakistan's intelligence agency. And that the Mumbai attack was intended to provoke conflict between Pakistan and India, both of which are nuclear armed.
Kay Bradley

Don't Tax the Rich. Tax Inequality Itself. - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ich-tax-inequality-itself.html

wealth inequality taxes inequality tax

shared by Kay Bradley on 21 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • at some point the concentration of economic power could undermine the democratic requisite of dispersed political power.
  • It would be bad for our democracy if 1-percenters started making 40 or 50 times as much as the median American.
  • a tax that would limit the after-tax incomes of this club to 36 times the median household income.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Importantly, our Brandeis tax does not target excessive income per se; it only caps inequality. Billionaires could double their current income without the tax kicking in — as long as the median income also doubles. The sky is the limit for the rich as long as the “rising tide lifts all boats.” Indeed, the tax gives job creators an extra reason to make sure that corporate wealth does in fact trickle down.
  • Our Brandeis tax is conservative in that it doesn’t attempt to reverse the gains of the wealthy in the last 30 years. It is not a “claw back” tax. It merely assures that things don’t get worse.
  • Ian Ayres, a professor of law at Yale, is the author of “Carrots and Sticks: Unlock the Power of Incentives to Get Things Done.” Aaron S. Edlin, a professor of law and of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, is co-editor of “The Economists’ Voice: Top Economists Take On Today’s Problems.”
anyak2021

China mocks US 'double standards' over Capitol chaos vs Hong Kong | South China Morning... - 1 views

www.scmp.com/...rds-over-capitol-chaos-vs-hong

shared by anyak2021 on 08 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • anyak2021 on 08 Jan 21
     
    China mocked the protests at the US Capitol yesterday, comparing them to the Hong Kong protests in 2019 which the US supported. They considered this an example of failing democracy and even equated twitter blocking Donald Trump to "having no freedom of speech."
  • ...2 more comments...
  • mayas2021 on 10 Jan 21
     
    I disagree with the idea that blocking Donald Trump from Twitter is an example of "having no freedom of speech" because Twitter is a private company with guidelines and rules that Trump agreed to when he first made his account. He has since broken those rules, so it is completely fair that he is being kicked off the platform.
  • ethand2021 on 11 Jan 21
     
    I agree with Maya's comment. The idea that preventing the further instigation of violence is somehow turning our country into a 1984 dystopia that is run by "Big Tech".
  • erine2021 on 11 Jan 21
     
    I also agree with Maya as Twitter is a private company and no one is banning Trump from speaking to the press or any other form of public media.
  • dominickq2021 on 11 Jan 21
     
    This seems like such a poor argument by the CCP I'm not sure why they would even make it, seeing as Twitter is literally banned in China.
duncanc2023

Under-pressure Putin 'doubles down' with security decree - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-europe-63319100

shared by duncanc2023 on 19 Oct 22 - No Cached
  • duncanc2023 on 19 Oct 22
     
    President Vladimir Putin is "doubling down" the security across all of Russia, especially along the border. This is due to the counterattack from Ukraine which has taken some of Russia's own territory but also continues to attack Russian settlements along the border of the country. To carry out President Putin's decree, all regional governors have been ordered to set up "operational headquarters" which are ordered to "meet the needs of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops and troop formations"
Kay Bradley

Candidates and the Truth About America - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...d-the-truth-about-america.html

america exceptionalism statistics world rank nytimes com

shared by Kay Bradley on 21 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • dismal statistics on child poverty, declaring it an outrage that of the 35 most economically advanced countries, the United States ranks 34th, edging out only Romania
  • educational achievement, noting that this country comes in only 28th in the percentage of 4-year-olds enrolled in preschool
  • 14th in the percentage of 25-to-34-year-olds with a higher education
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • infant mortality, where the United States ranks worse than 48 other countries and territories,
  • the United States trails most of Europe, Australia and Canada in social mobility.
  • America is indeed No. 1, he might declare — in locking its citizens up, with an incarceration rate far higher than that of the likes of Russia, Cuba, Iran or China
  • in obesity, easily outweighing second-place Mexico and with nearly 10 times the rate of Japan
  • in energy use per person, with double the consumption of prosperous Germany.
  • This national characteristic, often labeled American exceptionalism, may inspire some people and politicians to perform heroically, rising to the level of our self-image
  • Democrats are more loath than Republicans to look squarely at the government debt crisis indisputably looming with the aging of baby boomers and the ballooning cost of Medicare
  • the self-censorship it produces in politicians is bipartisan, even if it is more pronounced on the left for some issues and the right for others.
  • epublicans are more reluctant than Democrats to acknowledge the rise of global temperatures and its causes and consequences.
  • An American politician who speaks too candidly about the country’s faults, she went on to say, risks being labeled with that most devastating of epithets: un-American.
Jenna Mowat

Arab League speaks out on human rights abuse, positive development of Arab Spring - 9 views

I think it is interesting that the Arab states took a strong stance in condemning Syria when the neighboring states had no direct conflict with Syria. I question why the government decided to chang...

Arab spring Libya Syria League Human Rights

started by Nicholas Hirsch on 07 Sep 11 2 follow-ups, last by Jenna Mowat on 08 Sep 11
Max Stayman

How Greece Could Escape the Euro - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ece-could-escape-the-euro.html

Greece Euro greece economy crisis

shared by Max Stayman on 17 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • Max Stayman on 17 Oct 11
     
    This article talks about one way that Greece could "get out" of the Euro - convert back to the old currency, the drachma. Like Argentina did in 2002 in the midst of its massive financial crisis, converting to the old currency would decrease the value of Greece's currency, but it would absolve it of its debts to other Euro nations.
  • Brandon Callender on 17 Oct 11
     
    This may have worked in Argentina, but with the complex interlinkage of Greek debt to the already overstrained European banking system (http://www.economist.com/node/21532294), it could cause a contagion-like effect, provoking a double-dip recession.
samoshay

Lessons for Private Sector Retirement Security from Australia, Canada, and the Netherla... - 0 views

www.nirsonline.org/..._international_august_2013.pdf

shared by samoshay on 07 Dec 15 - No Cached
  • samoshay on 07 Dec 15
     
    This report examines how risk and reward is allocated amongst savers and retirees in the United States, Australia, Canada, and Netherlands. Overall, the authors conclude that the United States shifts the majority of risk onto savers and retirees. The thesis can be whittled to: "while the level of risk borne by employees varies across the three countries' retirement income systems, risks are pooled among workers or offset by employers and government to a greater extent than in the U.S." (See also: Walsh's NYT article on the Dutch system, wherein more than double the US income is guaranteed for everyone.) Truly a great source. It also describes in detail the functioning and successes and failures of the various national pension schemes.
anonymous

Brazil Economists See Benchmark Rate Above 10% by End of 2022 - 0 views

www.bloomberg.com/...mark-rate-above-10-by-end-2022

Brazil economy

shared by anonymous on 02 Nov 21 - No Cached
  • anonymous on 02 Nov 21
     
    Brazil analysts for the first time estimated that the country's benchmark interest rate will end 2022 in the double digits.
Kay Bradley

COP26: Key Outcomes From the UN Climate Talks in Glasgow  | World Resources I... - 0 views

www.wri.org/...comes-un-climate-talks-glasgow

shared by Kay Bradley on 01 Dec 21 - No Cached
  • The world still remains off track to beat back the climate crisis.  
  • ministers from all over the world agreed that countries should come back next year to submit stronger 2030 emissions reduction targets with the aim of closing the gap to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees
  • Ministers also agreed that developed countries should urgently deliver more resources to help climate-vulnerable countries adapt to the dangerous and costly consequences of climate change that they are feeling already —
  • ...46 more annotations...
  • curb methane emissions,
  • halt and reverse forest loss,
  • align the finance sector with net-zero by 2050
  • ditch the internal combustion engine
  • accelerate the phase-out of coal,
  • end international financing for fossil fuels,
  • “Not nearly enough” to the first question, “yes” to the second. 
  • 151 countries had submitted new climate plans (known as nationally determined contributions, or NDCs)
  • To keep the goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C within reach, we need to cut global emissions in half by the end of this decade.
  • these plans, as they stand, put the world on track for 2.5 degrees C of warming by the end of the century.
  • If you take into account countries’ commitments to reach net-zero emissions by around mid-century, analysis shows temperature rise could be kept to around 1.8 or 1.9 degrees C.
  • some major emitters’ 2030 targets are so weak (particularly those from Australia, China, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and Russia) that they don’t offer credible pathways to achieve their net-zero targets.
  • a major “credibility gap”
  • To fix this problem, these countries’ must strengthen their 2030 emissions reduction targets to at least align with their net-zero commitments. 
  • as well as ramping up ambition
  • the pact asks nations to consider further actions to curb potent non-CO2 gases, such as methane, and includes language emphasizing the need to “phase down unabated coal” and “phase-out fossil fuel subsidies.”
  • This marked the first time negotiators have explicitly referenced shifting away from coal and phasing out fossil fuel subsidies in COP decision text.  
  • this COP finally recognized the importance of nature for both reducing emissions and building resilience to the impacts of climate change,
  • Did Developing Countries Get the Finance and Support They Need? 
  • In 2009, rich nations committed to mobilize $100 billion a year by 2020 and through 2025 to support climate efforts in developing countries
  • developed countries failed to meet that goal in 2020 (recent OECD estimates show that total climate finance reached $79.6 billion in 2019).
  • The Adaptation Fund reached unprecedented levels of contributions, with new pledges for $356 million that represent almost three times its mobilization target for 2022. The Least Developed Countries Fund, which supports climate change adaptation in the world’s least developed countries, also received a record $413 million in new contributions.
  • COP26 also took steps to help developing countries access good quality finance options.
  • For example, encouraging multilateral institutions to further consider the links between climate vulnerabilities and the need for concessional financial resources for developing countries — such as securing grants rather than loans to avoid increasing their debt burden. 
  • COP26 finally put the critical issue of loss and damage squarely on the main stage
  • Climate change is already causing devastating losses of lives, land and livelihoods. Some damages are permanent — from communities that are wiped out, to islands disappearing beneath the waves, to water resources that are drying up.
  • Countries also agreed to operationalize and fund the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage, established at COP25 in Madrid, and to catalyze the technical assistance developing countries need to address loss and damage in a robust and effective manner.  
  • International Carbon Markets.
  • negotiators agreed to avoid double-counting, in which more than one country could claim the same emissions reductions as counting toward their own climate commitments.
  • his is critical to make real progress on reducing emissions.
  • Common Time Frames. In Glasgow, countries were encouraged to use common timeframes for their national climate commitments. This means that new NDCs that countries put forward in 2025 should have an end-date of 2035, in 2030 they will put forward commitments with a 2040 end-date, and so on.
  • Transparency. In Glasgow, all countries agreed to submit information about their emissions and financial, technological and capacity-building support using a common and standardized set of formats and tables.
  • 100 high-level announcements during the “World Leaders Summit"
  • including a bold commitment from India to reach net-zero emissions by 2070 that is backed up with near-term targets (including ambitious renewable energy targets for 2030), 109 countries signing up to the Global Methane Pledge to slash emissions by 30% by 2030, and a pledge by 141 countries (as of November 10) to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030 (backed by $18 billion in funding, including $1.7 billion dedicated to support indigenous peoples).  
  • Glasgow Breakthroughs, a set of global targets meant to dramatically accelerate the innovation and use of clean technologies in five emissions-heavy sectors:
  • power, road transport, steel, hydrogen and agriculture.
  • 46 countries, including the U.K., Canada, Poland and Vietnam made commitments to phase out domestic coal,
  • 29 countries including the U.K., Canada, Germany and Italy committed to end new direct international public support for unabated fossil fuels by the end of 2022
  • Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, led by Costa Rica and Denmark — with core members France, Greenland, Ireland, Quebec, Sweden and Wales — pledged to end new licensing rounds for oil and gas exploration and production and set an end date that is aligned with Paris Agreement objectives
  • Efforts were also made to scale up solar investment
  • new Solar Investment Action Agenda by WRI, the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and Bloomberg Philanthropies that identifies high-impact opportunities to speed up investment and reach ISA’s goal of mobilizing $1 trillion in solar investment by 2030.
  • Non-state actors including investors, businesses, cities and subnational regions also joined collective action initiatives aimed at driving economic transformation.
  • Over 400 financial firms which control over $130 trillion in assets committed to aligning their portfolios to net-zero by 2030
  • banks, asset managers and asset owners fully recognize the business case for climate action and the significant risks of investing in the high-carbon, polluting economy of that past.
  • 11 major automakers agreed to work toward selling only zero-emission vehicles globally by 2040, and by no later than 2035 in leading markets.  
  • In the year ahead, major emitters need to ramp up their 2030 emissions reduction targets to align with 1.5 degrees C, more robust approaches are needed to hold all actors accountable for the many commitments made in Glasgow, and much more attention is needed on how to meet the urgent needs of climate-vulnerable countries to help them deal with climate impacts and transition to net-zero economies.
julianatseh

The FIFA World Cup in Qatar: Geopolitics, money and double standards - World Socialist ... - 1 views

www.wsws.org/...693c-n25.html

shared by julianatseh on 29 Nov 22 - No Cached
  • julianatseh on 29 Nov 22
     
    Qatar, which is non-democratic and run by monarchs, has been widely criticized for its many human rights violations and its exploitation of workers. However, this is being ignored by other governments in the world who seek to become allied with Qatar. Geopolitical goals are prioritized over human rights.
  • nicolek2023 on 30 Nov 22
     
    It's not really surprise considering Qatar's history surrounding human rights issues. I know that right now I believe the kafala system is still in place, which in principle deceives workers and gives a great amount of control to people over these workers. Basically increases cheap labor for migrants. Furthermore, though I the ILO keeping stressing that the workers welfare is being taken care of, it is clear that this is untrue seeing that there are plenty of injuries. Frankly, I don't think the ILO ever thought they could stop anything.
  • Kay Bradley on 04 Dec 22
     
    I'd love to know more about the "kafala system." What's "the ILO," Nicole? International Labor Organization? What is that? A UN body?
julianatseh

'We can do better, we must' declares departing UN climate change chief, as COP27 looms ... - 1 views

news.un.org/...1119792

shared by julianatseh on 03 Nov 22 - No Cached
  • julianatseh on 03 Nov 22
     
    UN climate change chief warns about the exponential progression of climate change. The world is currently on track to reach more than double the 1.5 degree goal of the Paris Agreement by the end of the century so a lot will have to be done to find solutions
  • cole_bodner on 04 Nov 22
     
    I am concerned that the larger GDP nations will not have convincing propositions to get smaller nations to pull out of the fossil fuel industries. Even if they do, it is very understandable that such fossil fuel dependent nations will have trouble taking such a huge risk to their economy when countries like the U.S. are heavily invested in fossil fuels themselves, and despite their promises, aren't making any progress either- in fact, the reality is quite the opposite.
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