#1
"Today, argues Zhorkin, a tiny, but vocal minority is staging rallies in Russia, aiming to destroy the regime by declaring elections rigged and the Duma and Putin as third term president illegitimate" This is election time and the political power grab is on. Vocal minority is wishfull thinking. This is massive. The leadership wants the old days back. The people want peace, freedom and economic growth. They have all the problems of a modern country. They have many good things also. The disconnect of leadership could set them back years. Better to interact and build with the world and your people than isolate yourself. The future of power, prosperity, and influence resides there. I am not saying one world order.I like some nationalism.
The disconnect of leadership could set them back years. Like what is happening here. Occupy is that massive? hardly. Teaparty are the people that the media government types call a fringe vocal minority! hardly. My two cents.
There is no doubt that incomes are unequal in the United States -- far more so than in most European nations. This fact is part of the impulse behind the Occupy Wall Street movement, whose members claim to represent the 99 percent of us against the wealthiest 1 percent. It has also sparked a major debate in the Republican presidential race, where former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has come under fire for his tax rates and his career as the head of a private-equity firm. No one complained about how much he gave away, or compared it to the other candidates, including Mr. Golf-and-a-Vacation.
And economic disparity was the recurring theme of President Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday. "We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by," the president warned, "or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot and everyone does their fair share." Two choices. I get to select the choices, but there are only two!
But the mere existence of income inequality tells us little about what, if anything, should be done about it. First, we must answer some key questions. Who constitutes the prosperous and the poor? Why has inequality increased? Does an unequal income distribution deny poor people the chance to buy what they want? And perhaps most important: How do Americans feel about inequality? To answer these questions, it is not enough to take a snapshot of our incomes; we must instead have a motion picture of them and of how people move in and out of various income groups over time. Some rich get richer, true, but some seem to get poorer. Some of the poor manage to hoist themselves out of the dregs of society. What happened?
The real income problem in this country is not a question of who is rich, but rather of who is poor. Among the bottom fifth of income earners, many people, especially men, stay there their whole lives. Low education and unwed motherhood only exacerbate poverty, which is particularly acute among racial minorities. Brookings Institution economist Scott Winship has argued that two-thirds of black children in America experience a level of poverty that only 6 percent of white children will ever see, calling it a "national tragedy." I suppose we only have two choices here, as well - Hell or Obama.
Making the poor more economically mobile has nothing to do with taxing the rich and everything to do with finding and implementing ways to encourage parental marriage, teach the poor marketable skills and induce them to join the legitimate workforce. It is easy to suppose that raising taxes on the rich would provide more money to help the poor. But the problem facing the poor is not too little money, but too few skills and opportunities to advance themselves. Seems like we've heard this story before!
Poverty in America is certainly a serious problem, but the plight of the poor has been moderated by advances in the economy. Between 1970 and 2010, the net worth of American households more than doubled, as did the number of television sets and air-conditioning units per home. In his book "The Poverty of the Poverty Rate," Nicholas Eberstadt shows that over the past 30 or so years, the percentage of low-income children in the United States who are underweight has gone down, the share of low-income households lacking complete plumbing facilities has declined, and the area of their homes adequately heated has gone up. The fraction of poor households with a telephone, a television set and a clothes dryer has risen sharply. Not to mention microwave ovens and cell phones. And Nikes...
In other words, the country has become more prosperous, as measured not by income but by consumption: In constant dollars, consumption by people in the lowest quintile rose by more than 40 percent over the past four decades. Reagan was right? Income as measured by the federal government is not a reliable indicator of well-being, but consumption is. Though poverty is a problem, it has become less of one.
Income inequality has increased in this country and in practically every European nation in recent decades. The best measure of that change is the Gini index, named after the Italian statistician Corrado Gini, who designed it in 1912. The index values vary between zero, when everyone has exactly the same income, and 1, when one person has all of the income and everybody else has none. In mid-1970s America, the index was 0.316, but it had reached 0.378 by the late 2000s. One of the few nations to see its Gini value fall was Greece, which went from 0.413 in the 1970s to 0.307 in the late 2000s. So Greece seems to be reducing income inequality -- but with little to buy, riots in the streets and economic opportunity largely limited to those partaking in corruption, the nation is hardly a model for anyone's economy. No one talks about Zimbabwe anymore. How's their economy doing?
Historically, Americans have had an unusual attitude toward income inequality. In 1985, political scientists Sidney Verba and Gary Orren published a book that compared how liberals in Sweden and in the United States viewed such inequality. By four or five to one, the Swedish liberals were more likely than the American ones to believe that it was important to give workers equal pay. The Swedes were three times more likely than the Americans to favor putting a top limit on incomes. (The Swedes get a lot of what they want: Their Gini index is 0.259, much lower than America's.)
Sweden has maintained a low Gini index in part by having more progressive tax rates. If Americans wanted to follow the Swedish example, they could. But what is the morally fair way to determine tax rates -- other than taxing everyone at the same rate? The case for progressive tax rates is far from settled; just read Kip Hagopian's recent essay in Policy Review, which makes a powerful argument against progressive taxation because it fails to take into account aptitude and work effort.
One new strategy for helping the poor improve their condition is known as the "social impact bond," which is being tested in Britain and has been endorsed by the Obama administration. Under this approach, private investors, including foundations, put up money to pay for a program or initiative to help low-income people get jobs, stay out of prison or remain in school, for example. A government agency evaluates the results. If the program is succeeding, the agency reimburses the investors; if not, they get no government money.
As Harvard economist Jeffrey Liebman has pointed out, for this system to work there must be careful measures of success and a reasonable chance for investors to make a profit. Massachusetts is ready to try such an effort. It may not be easy for the social impact bond model to work consistently, but it offers one big benefit: Instead of carping about who is rich, we would be trying to help people who are poor.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/29/2012 12:37 ||
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#1
This whole topic is ludicrous. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE POOR PEOPLE.
The question is "How poor is poor?"
As mentioned "poor" people today have a living standard that was decidedly middle class not that long ago.
The problems of the "poor" are caused not by a lack of money, but by a lack of effort, morals, models and education. In short a lack of a culture of success.
The dominant discourse in mainstream Pak media on issues of foreign policy and national security has always been based on the narrative of the military establishment. Most Pak analysts, both right-wing and liberal, believe the Taliban is a nationalist movement motivated by Pashtun alienation in Afghanistan.
This narrative is a product of the Pak military establishment's 'strategic depth' policy, and was propagated internationally by former military dictator Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... . Addressing the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... parliament in September 2006, he said the Taliban represent Pashtuns and they could spark a 'national war' in Afghanistan. Domestically, opinion makers say in TV talkshows that the Afghan Taliban are representatives of the Pashtun.
They say the Afghan Taliban have grassroots support in the south and southeast, and the movement is a reaction to the lack of Pashtun representation. But they also say the Afghan Taliban are a genuine resistance force fighting an ideological war against foreign invasion. The two views do not coincide.
The central leadership of all major turban factions is based in Pakistain, be it the Quetta Shura of Kandahari Taliban, the Haqqani Network in Wazoo, or the Hizb-e-Islami of Hekmatyar
They would never say Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistain represents all Pashtuns of FATA, or that the insurgency is a nationalist movement motivated by the grievances of the tribes. They call TTP a terrorist organization. And this is where the contradictory notion of good Taliban and bad Taliban comes into play. The Afghan Taliban are a resistance force representing Pashtuns, while their ideological brothers TTP, who also claim allegiance to Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... , are terrorists.
Ironically, those who claim that the Afghan Taliban are a Pashtun nationalist movement are not Pashtuns. Pashtun intellectuals and journalists, both liberal and conservative, and even Pashtuns who have been part of the military establishment, deny that.
The folklore of Taliban nostalgia prevailing in mainstream Pak media that Mullah Omar had brought peace to Afghanistan is also not shared by the Afghans. The Taliban killed thousands of people until there were no rivals and no one to resist their brutality, and there was rejoice in Kabul after their government was toppled in 2001.
Non-Pashtun ethnic politicians complain that Pashtuns hold most key ministries in President Karzai's administration
Afghans do not see the Taliban as a nationalist movement based on the Pashtunwali code, but influenced by Deobandi madrassas in Pakistain. They are not even a unified group. Not even all Afghan Taliban call themselves Pashtun nationalists. Although they are predominately Pashtun, many among them are from other ethnic groups, particularly in Northern Afghanistan. Local turban groups have multiple motivations. Some join the resistance against the perceived foreign invaders, while others fight for local purposes, such as clan rivalries and personal interests. Then there are those who fight for money.
Working on a research project in Northern Afghanistan in August last year, I met some Death Eaters who were not ethnic Pashtuns, but Turkmens. They told me they were paid $500 to $600 a month by a Taliban capo in Mazar-e-Sharif. That is more than what some of my colleagues were being paid by an NGO. Some of the Taliban men are opportunists who benefit from the narcotics industry and seek Taliban's shelter.
"Unlike the late 70s and 80s when Afghanistan experienced a national resistance movement against the Soviet occupation, the Taliban's claim for Jihad against Americans does not resonate with a majority of Pashtuns," according to Afghan political activist and former chief of staff at Foreign Ministry Wahid Munawar.
The central leadership of all major turban factions is based in Pakistain, be it the Quetta Shura of Kandahari Taliban, the Haqqani Network in Waziristan, or the Hizb-e-Islami of Hekmatyar. The commanding cadres of the movement have gone to madrassas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... , Southern Punjab or Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... . Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... and the tribal areas are recruiting centers for Afghan Taliban. While traveling on the two borders, I regularly meet Taliban who are on their way to Quetta for rest, after a month or two of fighting in Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... or Uruzgan. Majority of the jacket wallahs in Afghanistan are traced to the tribal areas or Balochistan. What cultural or political grievances can they have about the Pahstuns of Afghanistan? The Taliban have destroyed the very foundations of centuries old Pashtun customs such as respect for tribal elders and the Jirga system.
"Taliban draw their support mostly from a tiny minority of Pashtun partly based on ideological grounds," says Rafi Fazil, an Afghan student and activist. "There is also an element of fear - given the vacuum created by the absence of government in Taliban controlled areas - that plays a key role. Not every Pashtun who sympathises with the Taliban actually subscribes to their violent ideology. Those who do, and are prepared to take part in violence, constitute a tiny minority."
If there are free elections, the Pashtuns of Afghanistan would reject the Taliban, like Pak Pashtuns vote for the liberal Awami National Party.
President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... received a large number of votes from the Pashtun south and southeast. The nationalist Afghan Mellat is a popular party among urban Pashtuns. There is no truth to the statement that Pashtuns lack representation in the current power structure in Afghanistan. In fact, non-Pashtun ethnic politicians complain of the opposite - that Pashtuns hold most key ministries in President Karzai's administration.
Abbas Daiyar is a journalist from Kabul and an op-ed contributor and member of editorial board at the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He blogs at kabulperspective.wordpress.com andtweets @AbasDaiyar Continued on Page 49
#1
More confirmation if we needed that we are fighting Pakistani agents in Afghanistan who fear an Indian friendly Govt in Kabul and a weak Western front.
Posted by: Paul D ||
01/29/2012 13:52 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Pakistan is playing with fire and they haven't even got it roaring yet.
h/t Gates of Vienna
The tumult indelibly dubbed the Arab Spring in the West, by the credulous and the calculating alike, is easier to understand once you grasp two basics. First, the most important fact in the Arab world as well as in Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other neighboring non-Arab territories is Islam. It is not poverty, illiteracy, or the lack of modern democratic institutions. These, like anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism, and an insular propensity to buy into conspiracy theories featuring infidel villains, are effects of Islams regional hegemony and supremacist tendency, not causes of it. One need not be led to that which pervades the air one breathes.
The second fact is that Islam constitutes a distinct civilization. It is not merely an exotic splash on the gorgeous global mosaic with a few embarrassing cultural eccentricities; it is an entirely different way of looking at the world. We struggle with this truth, which defies our end-of-history smugness. Enthralled by diversity for its own sake, we have lost the capacity to comprehend a civilization whose idea of diversity is coercing diverse peoples into obedience to its evolution-resistant norms.
* FREEREPUBLIC this AM > THE USGS MONITORS EARTH'S MAGNETIC SHIELD TO PREPARE CITIZENS FOR MAGNETIC STORMS. 2013 - ???
* GUARDIAN.UK > SUN CHANGES [weak Sun] UNLIKELY TO SLOW GLOBAL WARMING, SCIENTISTS SAY.
SOLAR ACTIVITY due to weak Sun = at or near the 1822 Dalton Minium.
"The Great/Mighty Slushy" indeed.
Heres the fun part, thanks to on-going INTERNATIONAL/UNIVERSAL GOVT, PERT CONSENSUS THAT THERE IS NO CONSENSUS > "MAGNETIC/SOLAR STORMS" = "Changes may be heralded by significant Solar Booms/Explosion(s) of unknown or uncertain, Pert-subjective or magnitude or intensity.
1. Coup led by Alawite and Sunni military officers who make a deal with demonstrators while sparing Alawites widespread retribution.
1a. Inside plot to assassinate top leaders, bringing an immediate end to the crisis.
2. Russia convinces Assad to step down and leave the country with his extended family and wealth.
2a. Alawite leaders, military officers and top businessmen collectively decide to engineer a coup, or convince Assad to turn over power to a democratic transitional leadership before total collapse ruins the country.
3. Regional and global powers to impose no-fly zones and safe havens, leading to shortages and runaway inflation, and massive anti-regime demonstrations. Assad either falls or flees.
4. Full civil war. Syria collapses and breaks up into statelets (Iraq facing similar and simultaneous disintegration - and "it's all the fault of the Zionists and the U.S." appears to be a very popular conspiracy with the Arabs).
4. The Assad regime implements the Sampson Option, attacking or fomenting strife in Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq, perhaps using chemical or nuclear weapons.
#2
Okay, pappy.
Where, ref #4, would the chinless wonder get such amazing weapons?
Right.
I keep saying, look at the attempted truck bombing in Amman in, iirc,2004. Lots of munitions, reported poison gas, and no reports of any followup as to where the stuff came from. Avert your eyes, folks, if you don't want to know where Saddaam's WMD went.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
01/29/2012 22:00 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Baby Assad is still sticking it to both the ARAB LEAGUE + the OBAMA DOCTRINE again + again, i.e. getting rid of oppressive Regimes whom commit serious human rights, etc. abuses or crimes agz their own people.
* TOPIX > TURKISH FM DAVUGUTLI > AL-ASSAD HAS CHOSEN TO BECOME [brutal = heavy-handed]MILOSOVIC, NOT GORBACHEV.
The Arab-Muslim World is undergoing its equivalent of "GLASNOST" + "PERESTROIKA", except as per Yugoslavia + Serbia.
* SAME > DAVUGUTLI: [Armenian = WW1] GENOCIDE ISSUE HAS CAUSED FRANCE TO LOSE ITS CREDIBILITY AS CO-CHAIR OF MINSK GROUP.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Pervez 
Punjab
