#OSE Open Source Everything – Page 250 – Public Intelligence Blog

My friend Jeff Madrick lays out the outlines of the central economic crisis of our times: the hemorrhaging of high paying middle class jobs — a subject I addressed wrt to the loss of manufacturing jobs here.

Chuck Spinney

Our Crisis of Bad Jobs

Jeff Madrick, New York Review of Books, 2 Oct 12

With domestic policy as the theme of Wednesday’s presidential debate, the Obama campaign is facing a weakening economy. The Commerce Department just reported that GDP grew at an annual rate of only 1.3 percent in the second quarter. Job growth has been tepid, with continued high unemployment and underemployment. When one counts all those looking for full-time jobs and unable to get them, the true unemployment rate is close to 17 percent. Meanwhile, the US faces looming threats of a new European recession and a slowdown in China and other parts of the developing world.

But the starkest evidence that something is seriously amiss in the American economy is the dramatic deterioration of the middle class. Median household income—the midpoint income of all American households—was reported by the Census Bureau (whose data is a year or so behind) to be down in 2011 compared to 2010, despite an economic recovery that began in mid-2009. More disturbing, that figure is now down to around $50,000, which is 7 percent or so below what it was in 2000 and its lowest level since 1996, adjusted for inflation. Incomes are falling still more sharply for black households.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: What To Do About Jobs in the USA?”

2012/10/04

Berto Jongman: Global Factors that Influence Conflict and Fragility

Knowledge, Policies, Threats

Global Factors that influence Conflict and Fragility (OECD, Sep 2012)

The risk of conflict and fragility is influenced by both domestic factors (such as political marginalization and the unequal distribution of wealth) and global factors (such as the transnational organized crime and foreign direct investment). Much analysis to date has analyzed the political economy of fragile and conflict affected countries and neglected this global dimension of fragility.

Yet, powerful global influences are at play that, enhanced by the process of globalization, generate strong international constraints and opportunities for national development and the incentives of domestic stakeholders. Fragile states feature a heightened sensitivity and lower resilience to such influences because of their generally weak levels of institutional capacity, the often contested legitimacy of their political settlement, their high levels of inequality and the legacy or threat of violence they face. For the same reasons, they also easily mutate, multiply or transmit such influences, often in unexpected or negative ways. In short, such global factors have a critical influence on conflict and fragility but are underestimated in both the analysis and action.

INCAF’s work on this topic focuses on eight global factors that influence conflict and fragility, and in particular on interconnections between these factors. The aim of this work is to identify concrete entry points for international action that can reduce or mitigate the harmful effects of such global factors.

A Cross-Impact Matrix of Global Factors Influencing Conflict and Fragility, 2012 (pdf)

2012/10/032012/10/03

Jean-Francois Lisee: Quebec Example of Transparent Public Governance

Crowd-Sourcing, Culture, Economics/True Cost, Politics

jf lisee — Jean-Francoise Lisee
Quebec Foreign Minister

USE Google Translate (top of middle column above) to read in other languages.

Libre-échange: Et si on essayait la transparence ?

Le BLogue de Jean-Francois Lisee

Publie le 2 octobru 2012

Au moment où vous lisez ces lignes, une cinquantaine d’invitations sont en train d’arriver chez des membres de la société civile: organisations de citoyens, syndicales, d’entreprises, chez des chercheurs, des journalistes spécialisés. des élus du gouvernement et de l’opposition.

Ils sont invités par mon collègue des Finances Nicolas Marceau et moi-même à un exercice de transparence.

Au cours des prochaines semaines, la négociation visant un accord de libre-échange dit de « nouvelle génération » entre le Canada et l’Europe pourrait arriver à destination. Fortement initié par l’ex Premier ministre Jean Charest, l’accord a été négocié depuis deux ans dans une relative opacité, soulevant craintes et grincements de la part de plusieurs, y compris de l’opposition péquiste.

Ouvrir les fenêtres

Continue reading “Jean-Francois Lisee: Quebec Example of Transparent Public Governance”

2012/10/03

Graphic: Tom Atlee’s Public Wisdom Circles

Citizen-Centered, Graphics, Leadership-Integrity, Political, Strategy-Holistic Coherence

Atlee Public Wisdom Circles — Click on Image to Enlarge

Source

2012/10/032012/10/03

Tom Atlee: Collective Thinking About Public Affairs

Crowd-Sourcing, Culture, Economics/True Cost, Innovation, Knowledge, P2P / Panarchy, Politics

Collective thinking about public affairs

(NOTE: In this essay I intentionally subsume the thinking processes of official decision-makers into the thinking processes of the citizenry as a whole. I realize that official decision-makers can and do make decisions independently of the will of the people, unless that public will is united and organized. But elite decisions made independently of the public do not qualify as “public thinking” – at least in any democratic sense – and in this essay I am attempting to explore the nature of public thinking so that it can be upgraded and empowered to impact public policy. So here we will look at the thinking processes of the entire population and mini-publics thereof as they go about living a relatively democratic life.)

How can we think clearly about the collective thinking processes of a whole population in a democracy? How do populations reflect on public issues and come to conclusions about collective action and public policy? What follows is one framework for sorting out the different dimensions of public thinking and the quality of that thinking process.

The most basic form of public thinking is, of course, what goes on in the minds of individual citizens as they think about public affairs. We see manifestations of this – commonly called “public opinion” – in polls, in voting, in online “citizen input” sites, and in various other visible forms of citizenship that reflect the opinions of individual citizens in the population as a whole.

Public opinion evolves in a message-rich environment that includes – at the next higher level of public thinking – news media and commentaries from pundits and partisans, on talk shows and blogs, and in online forums, letters to the editor, and public hearings. This public thinking often takes the form of mediated or witnessed conversations: Diverse (often polarized) voices express their views to each other while being directly or indirectly witnessed by the public. Our society depends heavily on this kind of media-driven interaction to collectively reflect on its public issues and shape the views of its citizens and decision-makers.

Continue reading “Tom Atlee: Collective Thinking About Public Affairs”

2012/10/022012/10/02

Michel Bauwens: Technology-Enabled Sharing Economy Going Mainstream?

Culture, Economics/True Cost

220px-Michel_Bauwens_crop — Michel Bauwens

Can the Sharing Economy Cross to the Mainstream?

EXTRACT:

The resounding message of the sharing economy is that it fosters relationships and builds communities. So far, it has focused primarily on the self-interested values of saving money and making money from the idle resources in order to appeal to consumers. The sharing economy should incorporate self-transcending values such as sustainability and goodness to its core message in order to achieve behavior change and cross to the mainstream.

Read full article.

2012/10/022012/10/27