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Kay Bradley

As Scorn for Vote Grows, Protests Surge Around Globe - NYTimes.com - 12 views

www.nytimes.com/...otests-surge-around-globe.html

NYTimes.com wealth inequality WTO globalization protests vote surge

shared by Kay Bradley on 30 Sep 11 - No Cached
  • income inequality
  • these protesters share something else: wariness, even contempt, toward traditional politicians and the democratic political process they preside over.
  • they have little faith in the ballot box.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • high unemployment
  • social spending
  • cuts in social spendin
  • protesters say they so distrust their country’s political class and its pandering to established interest groups
  • their political leaders, regardless of party, had been so thoroughly captured by security concerns, ultra-Orthodox groups and other special interests
  • could no longer respond to the country’s middle class.
  • anticorruption measure
  • less hierarchical, more participatory
  • the political system has abandoned its citizens.”
  • That consensus, championed by scholars like Francis Fukuyama in his book “The End of History and the Last Man,” has been shaken if not broken by a seemingly endless succession of crises
  • continuing European and American debt crisis —
anishakaul

Few in Venezuela Want Bolívars, but No One Can Spare a Dime - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...t-no-one-can-spare-a-dime.html

shared by anishakaul on 18 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • Venezuelans have lost faith in their economy and in the ability of their government to find a way out of the mess
  • domestic confidence in the economy has crashed
  • the government has refused for months to release basic economic data like the inflation rate or the gross domestic product
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • A movie ticket costs about 380 bolívars. Calculated at the government rate, that is $60. At the black-market rate, it is just $0.54. Want a large popcorn and soda with that? Depending on how you calculate it, that is either $1.15 or $128.The minimum wage is 7,421 bolívars a month. That is either a decent $1,178 a month or a miserable $10.60.
    • anishakaul
      anishakaul on 18 Oct 15
       
      ???
  • country’s income has shrunk
  • the black market for dollars has soared
  • strict controls on prices and foreign exchange for imports
  • “It’s crazy,” he said. “We’re living a nightmare. There’s nothing to buy, and the money isn’t worth anything.”
  • “Necessity has a dog’s face,”
Brian Call

Understanding India - 1 views

India is a very diverse country. There are over 400 spoken languages of which 20 are official languages used in parliament. There is a also huge religious and ethnic diversity in India. The majorit...

started by Brian Call on 25 Oct 13 no follow-up yet
dredd15

BBC News- France country profile - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-europe-17298730

shared by dredd15 on 14 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • dredd15 on 14 Nov 14
     
    France took big hits in WWI and WWII from human and economic standpoints, so following WWII they became big proponents of European integration to build from the ground up. The Franco-German alliance has been a key to the integration of European nations since the 90's, but more recently they have been at odds over the austerity policies regarding France's recent economic recession. The French push for integration is quite ironic given France has more than 26 regions with several territories from its colonial past still belonging to France. Even with a rather diverse population, the majority of the French government is quite centralized with very little devolution of power. The voting turnout has not been very high because average French citizens feel like the power is in the hands of only the French elite. The French social and governmental hierarchy dampens the democratic institutions of France. Furthermore, the French don't only have a strong centralized government, they also have a powerful military and the second largest economy in the eurozone. Though the French struck down the proposed constitution of the European Union in 2005, current socialist President Hollande remains faithful to the European Union and German Chancellor Angel Merkel.
Kay Bradley

Moaning Moguls | The New Yorker - 0 views

www.newyorker.com/...moaning-moguls

wealth inequality taxes inequality tax

shared by Kay Bradley on 21 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • In the past year, the venture capitalist Tom Perkins and Kenneth Langone, the co-founder of Home Depot, both compared populist attacks on the wealthy to the Nazis’ attacks on the Jews.
  • recent work by the economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty showed that ninety-five per cent of income gains in the first three years of the recovery went to the top one per cent—a lot of them believe that they’re a persecuted minority.
  • Business leaders were upset at the criticism that followed the financial crisis and, for many of them, it’s an article of faith that people succeed or fail because that’s what they deserve.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • If you believe that net worth is a reflection of merit, then any attempt to curb inequality looks unfair.
  • as a classic analysis by the historian James Weinstein showed, the reforms were intended to co-opt public pressure and avert more radical measures
  • they sprang from a pragmatic belief that the robustness of capitalism as a whole depended on wide distribution of the fruits of the system.
  • Committee for Economic Development, which played a central role in the forging of postwar consensus politics, accepting strong unions, bigger government, and the rise of the welfare state.
  • The C.E.D. called for tax increases to pay for the Korean War and it supported some of L.B.J.’s Great Society
  • As Mizruchi put it, “They believed that in order to maintain their privileges, they had to insure that ordinary Americans were having their needs met
  • That all changed beginning in the seventies, when the business community, wrestling with shrinking profits and tougher foreign competition, lurched to the right
  • Today, there are no centrist business organizations with any real political clout, and the only business lobbies that matter in Washington are those pushing an agenda of lower taxes and less regulation. Corporate profits and C.E.O. salaries have in recent years reached record levels, but there’s no sign of a return to the corporate statesmanship of the past (the occasional outlier like Warren Buffett notwithstanding)
  • In the postwar years, American companies depended largely on American consumers. Globalization has changed that—foreign sales account for almost half the revenue of the S&P 500—as has the rise of financial services (where the most important clients are the wealthy and other corporations). The well-being of the American middle class just doesn’t matter as much to companies’ bottom lines
  • Early in the past century, there was a true socialist movement in the United States, and in the postwar years the Soviet Union seemed to offer the possibility of a meaningful alternative to capitalism. Small wonder that the tycoons of those days were so eager to channel populist agitation into reform
  • Today, by contrast, corporate chieftains have little to fear, other than mildly higher taxes and the complaints of people who have read Thomas Piketty. Moguls complain about their feelings because that’s all anyone can really threaten
jalene2021

College Football's Pandemic Playbook: Fewer Fans, No Tailgating, No Bands - The New Yor... - 4 views

www.nytimes.com/...ge-football-fans-stadiums.html

shared by jalene2021 on 27 Aug 20 - No Cached
  • jalene2021 on 27 Aug 20
     
    This article discussed the plans for reopening college football within the United States amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. I was drawn to the article because I was interested in learning about the guidelines and restrictions the United States was using to reopening recreational activities, such as college football. Through reading the article, I thought it was interesting that there was no coherent reopening plan, like with the NBA, but rather that different states and universities had very differing plans regarding what guidelines and restrictions will be in-place for reopening this activity. I would be interested in taking a deeper look into how other countries have attempted to reopen recreational activities and how their methods were different from those taken here.
  • ...3 more comments...
  • theos2022 on 29 Aug 20
     
    While the prospect of successfully opening the fall football season this year isn't very encouraging, many teams have decided to take the leap of faith (I'm assuming to save their athletic programs --many of which have been disbanded due to lack of funding). While 2 large major conferences, the big 10 and pac 12, have decided to postpone their season many large sports schools have chosen to reopen their stadiums while attempting to heed covid regulations. The truth is, scientists still have a lot to learn about how the virus behaves in large open areas.
  • astas2021 on 29 Aug 20
     
    Unfortunately, based on the way things went with MLB, I am incredibly pessimistic about this, given the fact that there's no specific opening plan and that the players don't seem to be required to quarantine from others. Baseball went poorly and put others at risk, and there weren't even fans in the stadium. I worry that major outbreaks will come from this and set us back as a country significantly. I would like to see, however, how other countries are handling this, specifically the ones who have had a better grasp at the COVID situation than the US.
  • aaronfink on 31 Aug 20
     
    A topic that the article did not discuss which I think is important is the size of football teams and the personal that comes with them. A college football team can carry a max of 125 players. Many do not have that many, but the rosters are large. That number does not count for the vast coaches, trainers, and managers that come with the team. This summer the NBA pulled off "the bubble," and so far no one in the "the bubble" has gotten Covid. However a NBA team has a fraction of the personal. If and when college football starts, that quantity of players interacting without strict quarantine guidelines seems like a virus super spreader eating to happen.
  • lukegentry on 31 Aug 20
     
    Following up to the other comments on this post, I am curious how these universities expect to pull off this bubble, since there have been many outbreaks in colleges due to parties and general disregard for safety. I think this will only make an outbreak within college teams more likely and it is extremely worrying that there is not a unified plan to address these issues.
  • stephens2021 on 01 Sep 20
     
    I agree with what Luke and Aaron have said. I think that attempting to create a "bubble" won't work for such large teams and at the college level. It's irresponsible of the officials to attempt to move forward with the season and risk the lives of the students. In my opinion, they should just scrap the entire season because they have no unified plans.
ershai

Ethnic tensions flare up in Montenegro over church ceremony - 0 views

apnews.com/...9482ad609ee1288d3284e68f7d9921

Montenegro Serbia

shared by ershai on 05 Sep 21 - No Cached
  • ershai on 05 Sep 21
     
    Montenegrin opponents of the Serbian church have clashed with riot police and set up blockades in protest of the inauguration of the new head of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The ceremony is set to take place in Cetinje, the old capital of Montenegro, a country that declared independence from Serbia in 2006. Despite the country being of majority Serbian Orthodox faith, the protesters view the ceremony as increasing Serbian influence.
Kay Bradley

Katharine Hayhoe - "Our future is still in our hands" | The On Being Project - The On B... - 0 views

onbeing.org/...r-future-is-still-in-our-hands

climate climate change environment faith action

shared by Kay Bradley on 15 Nov 21 - No Cached
  • I was talking with a pastor just recently, and he asked me very genuinely, he said, “How do I talk to people about climate change, when the only solutions that we are told that there are to climate change is to stop eating meat” — which is a very big deal in Texas, with those barbecues, it really is. It’s an identity issue. I’m not saying this facetiously; it is literally an identity issue — “and stop driving trucks, also an identity issue, stop traveling, stop having children, which is also an identity issue — basically, stop all these things that actually we often see as defining who we are?” And he said, “How am I supposed to tell people that we’re supposed to do this, when it’s as if I’m telling them, you know, we have to just” — and I think these were my words — “return to the Stone Age, unplug everything, and all the solutions are bad”?
  • And sadly, the way our human psychology is built, psychologists have shown that we, as humans, are much more averse to losing what we have than gaining something new.
  • I think there are some very smart people who have put those pieces together and deliberately communicated a message to us that we’re going to lose all we hold dear, instead of messaging the truth, which is, don’t you want to be more energy independent, rather than less? Don’t you want to have a car that is faster, that you never have to go to the gas station again — especially in the days of COVID — than the one that you have today, and that doesn’t produce air pollution that’s responsible for almost 9 million deaths a year? Don’t you want to grow food in a way that is healthy and good for the soil and for people and for the animals, too? Don’t you want to invest in nature, so it can protect us by purifying our air and our water and protecting our coastlines and providing habitat for animals and preventing zoonosis? When we actually start talking about real solutions  — and that’s the Yale survey that you referred to that I talk about in the book — when we ask people about real solutions, everybody’s on board. Everybody says, heck yes, I would love to do that. And so that is where we can directly address the fear, head-on.
  • ...21 more annotations...
  • what you’ve been saying. “What we need to fix this thing is rational hope.” How do you instill rational hope? And I mean, how do you do that, right, when you’re out there?
  • And then the second thing is recognizing that we are already moving towards a better future. Now, it might not seem like that, because all the headlines are full of doom and gloom and bad news. But when we start to look for hopeful news — and sadly, we have to go out and look for it, because if you just go — I did an experiment the other day, where I went to the website of a major news organization, and I just paged down through 35 headlines. And about seven or eight were very neutral; like, they didn’t evoke any emotion in me. They were just neutral, factual headlines. And every single other headline was negative — every one. So when we go and we look, though, for the hopeful stories of people who are making a difference, that imbues us with a sense of efficacy, that, wow, there’s somebody over there who’s doing something.
  • And you’re talking about what I refer to as a muscular hope.
  • Nobody in Texas knows that we have the biggest army base by land area, in the U.S., Fort Hood, that is 43 percent powered by clean energy.
  • Nobody knows that the Dallas Fort Worth airport was the first large carbon-neutral airport in North America.
  • Nobody knows that the city of Houston, which is home to, of course, most of the headquarters of many large, multinational oil and gas corporations, that the city of Houston has — is going to be meeting its Paris targets, in terms of reducing its carbon emissions.
  • we think of climate action as a giant boulder sitting at the bottom of an incredibly steep hill, and it’s only got a few hands on it. It’s got, you know, Al Gore’s hands are on it, and maybe Jane Goodall, and maybe a couple other hands, but nobody else. And so there’s just no way we’re going to make it up that hill. Like, just forget it. Why even waste my time? That’s sort of mentally how we think.
  • But the reality is, when we start to look around and see that 90 percent of new energy installed last year, during COVID, was clean energy, and we start to see that cities all over the world are taking action on climate change, and big businesses, like Microsoft and Apple and AT&T — you know, they’re building the biggest solar farm in the U.S., outside of Dallas, to supply major corporations with clean energy. So really, that giant boulder, it is already at the top of the hill, and it’s already rolling down the hill in the right direction, and it already has millions of hands on it. It just doesn’t have enough to get it going faster. And when we think, well, maybe I could add my hand to that, because I could get it going just a little bit faster, that’s totally different than if we think it’s at the bottom of the hill, not budging even an inch. So I find tremendous hope from that.
  • Texas, if Texas were its own country, it would be the seventh-most prolific emitter of carbon dioxide in the world, it’s the number one emitter in the U.S. — and Texas leads the nation in wind generation, for example.
  • that, honestly, and here’s the crazy thing. When you look at how the world has changed before — and it has changed. I mean, you know, 200 years ago it was somehow completely socially acceptable to have other human beings in slavery. And 150 years ago, it was entirely acceptable to say that women’s brains were too small and too fragile to be educated, because they would overheat.
  • It is the verse in Timothy where it talks about fear, where it says, “God has not given you a spirit of fear.”
  • that verse goes on to say, is a spirit of power, which is kind of an old-fashioned word, but in modern parlance it means to be empowered; to be able to act.
  • Or “agency.”
  • Yes, agency. Exactly — a spirit of agency. I like that.
  • And that’s the opposite of being paralyzed by fear. And we also have a spirit of love, which means we can be thinking of and considering others, not just ourselves and our own needs
  • So caring about this issue and acting on it is not only consistent with who we are, but it enables us to more genuinely express what we truly care about
  • It’s about acknowledging that, to care about climate change, you only have to be one thing, and that one thing is a human, living on planet Earth.
  • But talk about why it matters to you. Talk about how you both ski, or you’re both parents and you’re worried about your kids and the playground being too hot for them, or the fact that you fish and you’ve noticed that the fish populations are changing, or the fact that your basement got flooded last time it rained. Talk about something that matters to you and to the person that you’re talking with, and then do your research, to learn about what real climate solutions look like, and share that information with people.
  • do you know what our city is doing? Find out what your city’s doing. Tell people. Do you know what your state’s doing? Do you know what your church is doing? And if you don’t know, ask, and then if they’re not doing anything, say, hey, here are some things that you could be doing. And I even have a list on my website, because people often ask me that. So I’ve got a list of, you know, what could your church do, what can you do at school — all of these different things you can do.
  • hope begins with fear or despair or anxiety, it begins, as the bible says in the Book of Romans, it begins with suffering. And that suffering produces perseverance, and that perseverance produces character, and the character produces hope
  • in the middle of the century, it was somehow acceptable to say that, depending on the color of your skin, you could or couldn’t enter certain buildings or sit in a place on the bus. So the world has absolutely changed before, and how did it change? It was when ordinary people of no particular wealth or fame decided that the world could and should be different, and they decided to not only take personal action, but to use their voices to talk about why it mattered, what could be done, and to advocate for change in every sphere in which they were.
  • Kay Bradley on 15 Nov 21
     
    "Well, we live, today, in a country, the United States, that is more politically polarized than it's been in either of our lifetimes, ever. And that just seems to be getting worse by the day." What Hayhoe and others are pointing to is another way of communicating about climate change.
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