01 Poverty – Page 10 – Public Intelligence Blog

2015/03/242015/03/24

SchwartzReport: USA #1 Threat to Peace

01 Poverty, 02 Infectious Disease, 03 Environmental Degradation, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 06 Genocide, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, 09 Terrorism, 10 Transnational Crime, Peace Intelligence

As you read this think about what has happened to the United States from the time of the Marshall Plan when people around the world looked to the U.S. as an exemplar of what a modern society should be, until today when we are the most feared nation in the world, the number one threat to peace. This didn't happen to us, we did it to ourselves, and only we can undo it.

The #1 threat to peace in the world? World polling suggests it’s the United States

In early 2014, Gallup International/WIN released its annual global survey based on research conducted the previous year. The most striking statistic was that 24 percent of people around the world believe that the U.S. poses the greatest threat to peace. The runners-up were far behind: eight percent of respondents thought Pakistan was the greatest threat, while six percent thought it was China. And only five percent of those surveyed thought Iran was a threat to world peace. The numbers are based on interviews with 1,000 people in 65 different nations. (The survey published this year did not contain the same question.)

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2015/03/162015/03/16

SchwartzReport: Giving Homes to Homeless Cheaper than Neglecting Them on Street

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 11 Society, Government, Idiocy

Yet again we have evidence that the compassionate life-affirming choice in social programs is not only the most wellness oriented, it is also cheaper, and more efficient. We see this over and over, so one must ask, why so often is this not the option chosen? Hate, a need to punish the vulnerable? Self-righteous superiority? Just plain nastiness? Given the evidence I think we ought to be asking this question.

Giving Homes to the Homeless is Cheaper Than Leaving them on the Street. Here’s Proof

2015/02/04

Berto Jongman: War Is New Normal — Stop It!

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Commerce, Corruption, Government, Idiocy, IO Deeds of War, Media, Military, Officers Call

War Is the New Normal: Seven Deadly Reasons Why America’s Wars Persist

How do we inoculate our children against such a permanent state of war and the war state itself? I have one simple suggestion: just stop it. All of it.

by William Astore, CommonDreams

LIST ONLY: 1. The privatization of war; 2. The embrace of the national security state by both major parties; 3. “Support Our Troops” as a substitute for thought; 4. Fighting a redacted war; 5. Threat inflation; 6. Defining the world as a global battlefield; 7. The new “normal” in America is war. Read full article.

2014/12/31

Doug Bandow: Foreign Aid Does Not Work Because Government is Ignorant

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, Commerce, Corruption, Government, Ineptitude, Peace Intelligence

Foreign aid does not work. In the end, government doesn't know what it's doing.

Foreign Aid Is a Failure

Throwing good money at bad governments makes poor countries worse off.

Veronique de Rugy from the January 2015 issue of Reason.com

EXTRACTS

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2014/12/312014/12/31

Jean Lievens: Greek Lessons — How Syriza (A Political Party) Might End European Central Banking Tyranny Plus Comment on Debt Renunciation and Embargos

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 06 Family, 11 Society, Ethics, Government

Syriza can transform the EU from within – if Europe will let it

EXTRACT

Syriza promises first to achieve a substantial write-off of Greek debt and, second, to lift austerity by aiming for balanced budgets, instead of the surpluses demanded by the troika. It will reconnect families to the electricity network, provide food relief and shelter the homeless. It will take immediate action to reduce unemployment through public programmes. It is committed to lowering the enormous tax burden and to boosting public investment in an effort to accelerate growth.

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2014/11/19

SchwartzReport: Screw the Childen, Keep the Prisoners

01 Poverty, 06 Family, 07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government

I think we can safely and accurately say that the people of the United States, collectively, while they may care about their own children, or the children of their friends, do not care for children in general. We also have the highest level of food stress with 17 million children going hungry at least part of the year.

Child homelessness in U.S. reaches historic high at 2.5 million

I began writing about what I see as the new American slavery in 2011 (see The New American Slavery). This trend is made up of several parts, prison privatization, all the industries that suckle at the teat of the American Gulag, and the indentured exploitation of prisoners. And it just keeps getting more and more disgusting and blatantly what it is.

California Tells Court It Can’t Release Inmates Early Because It Would Lose Cheap Prison Labor

2014/11/082014/11/08

Berto Jongman: It’s Official — US an Oligarchy Controlled by 42 People

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government

Six related headlines.

Princeton Study: U.S. No Longer An Actual Democracy (TalkingPointsMemo)

Using data drawn from over 1,800 different policy initiatives from 1981 to 2002, the two conclude that rich, well-connected individuals on the political scene now steer the direction of the country, regardless of or even against the will of the majority of voters.

Russia Declares US An Oligarchy, Warns Constitutional Republic Is Dead (WhatDoesItMean)

What this past week’s US election shows, however, the MoFA in this report says, are that all of the Republican and Democratic Party candidates for office (Federal and State) were funded by just forty-two people who were responsible for nearly a third of Super PAC monies raised, and only 666,773 wealthy individuals out of a nation having a population of over 319 million.

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