what works = what's right

The Best Thing for the Economy, the Right Thing for the Poor

by Jim Wallis, 02-12-2009

First, economists across the political spectrum agree that the economy desperately needs to be stimulated by federal investment in things that will generate immediate economic activity and jobs. Second, the same analysts also agree that benefits to low-income families will result in immediate economic stimulation as people in distress will spend the money they receive because they have no other choice. In other words, directly helping vulnerable people works because it will quickly help stimulate the economy, and it’s right because it will immediately help poor and vulnerable people. How often do we get to do what works and what’s right at the same time?

...

Helping those who have fallen on hard times — and helping states avert cuts in a range of critical services — will do more to help the economy and create jobs than poorly targeted tax cuts.

So... what I want to know is, why in the world are we spending upwards of $2 trillion dollars on some complicated bailout bills for corporations, banks, the housing market, etc...?  Can you imagine if $2 trillion dollars were instead distributed directly to people starting at the bottom of our economic ladder?  Say... $10,000 per person... that would give the 200 million poorest people in the US a huge boost.   If the population of the US is around 400 million, that means we'd be helping out the poorest half of the country directly, instead of the richest top percentage.  And if there were restrictions on the money, so that it had to go towards paying off debt first, then it would also help corporations and banks who are not getting paid because people are defaulting on loans.

Anyway, just a thought. I'm no economist, so I'm sure some eloquent person could explain why such an idea wouldn't work...

yet another tale of 'ugliness revealed'

My roommate has a subscription to Time magazine and I usually don’t get around to reading most of the articles in there, but yesterday and today I discovered some articles that I feel are really worth sharing.

First, a disclaimer that I don’t really have an opinion one way or the other on the “Palestinian vs Israel” issue - I think both should have to learn to live with each other, but beyond that I haven’t really read enough about it to say how that peace should look. But one thing I do know for sure, is that when you stop just looking at numbers of casualties, and hear personal stories, then you know that ideologies just don’t matter. War is ugly! The killing must stop!

“I looked down and saw my 2-year-old daughter lying there with her insides spilling out. And then the soldier shot my two other girls. I’m not Hamas. My girls weren’t Hamas. Why did they do this to us?” - quote from the article “Voices from the Rubble” - TIME magazine, Feb 9 issue.

The above quote, from “Voices from the Rubble” is an article that tells the sad tale of a man in Gaza who had 2 of his 3 daughters slaughtered in front of him (all three were shot, 1 is paralyzed but survived) by an Israeli soldier for no apparent reason. Read the story for yourself… but to hear it told certainly makes you just despise the Israeli army for doing something like that. Especially when they deny it and claim “the Israel Defense Forces is an ethical army…”

And even though it is estimated that about 90% of Jews in Israel were supporting the 22-day offensive against Gaza, I read another article titled “Israel’s Lonesome Doves” which tells the story of peace activists within Israel and their losing battle at home.

“I listened to one of my neighbors telling Israeli TV that the sound of the bombing was like a symphony, that he’s never heard such powerful music before… And I was thinking, how many people are dying because of that ‘music’?” - an Israeli peace activist commenting on her neighbor’s response to news reports of the air strikes on TV.

But it is good to hear that there are still people in both Israel and Gaza who are in-touch with their humanity and desiring peace rather than continued conflict.

one story among several similar injustices...

Angola ‘made thousands homeless’

According to Amnesty, homes have been demolished
repeatedly in one district since September 2004 to make room for new
public and private housing.

It says none of the affected residents has received compensation.

Neither have they been offered adequate alternative accommodation, the human rights group says.

‘Extreme violence’

Amnesty International’s report claims that nearly all
the forced evictions involved excessive use of force by the Angolan
authorities.

AFRICAN EVICTIONS 3m+ evicted since 2000 At least 6,000 Angolan families evicted since 2001 Source: Amnesty International Building for the middle class

It also says that many forced evictions in the last two years have been
carried out apparently at the request of the Catholic church.

This is because 2,000 families had been living on land where the church intends to build a sanctuary.

Last month the aid agency Christian Aid reported that
over the last two years the Angolan government and private security
companies had been using extreme violence against squatters during slum
clearance operations in Luanda.

===

Making way for Angola’s middle class

Luanda is home to five million people, about a
quarter of the country’s entire population, with most living in
“musseques” or slums.

One of those used to be Lucas Kaxingadoes, who has lived
in Bairro Cambamba on the southern outskirts of Luanda for several
years and where some families occupied the land 30 years ago.

His family began by farming the land and built houses with whatever materials they could find.

But they also took manual jobs in the city, saving what they could and eventually building houses made of concrete.

Lucas, however, doesn’t have a house any longer.

His home, like many others, was cleared to make way for new property to house the country’s burgeoning middle class.

Billboards advertise the controversial new homes being built

Lucas says policemen came and destroyed his home and
those of his neighbours in an effort to clear the land to make way for
new developments.

Maria Francisco, who has also been left without shelter,
tells a similar tale about the police: “During December they came
several times. They were aggressive.”

There are plans to use the land where Lucas and Maria live to build the next phase of a project called Luanda Sul.

Already thousands of homes have been built as part of this initiative on land surrounding Bairro Cambamba.

They are very expensive looking. They’re surrounded by
high walls and fences, they all have car ports, there are big satellite
dishes on many of them and the roads are all paved.

***********************************************
How’d I find out about this story? I keep tabs on several news feeds using Google’s Reader

• BBC’s In-Depth Africa Articles
• BBC’s World News
• LA Times World News
• Reuters International News
• BBC In-Depth on Iraq
• BBC In-Depth on Israel/Palestine

Incase you don’t know much about Angola, read about it on Wikipedia.

SOS Children's Villages - USA - Very Nice! “Borat” Screening Brings Aid for Orphaned Children in Kazahkstan

Very Nice! “Borat” Screening Brings Aid for Orphaned Children in Kazahkstan

11/14/06 SOS Children’s Villages – USA announced today that some moviegoers are taking Borat - or Kazahkstan - seriously. They are raising funds for the orphaned and abandoned children of SOS Childrens' Villages Kazakstan. One young man simply stood outside a movie theater and raised $1700 for SOS Kazahkstan after a showing of the Borat movie.

“It's great to turn a comedy into something good for children. Children are orphaned in Kazahkstan for the same reasons they are in other developing countries: extreme poverty, disease and social conditions that destroy family ties,” says Heather Paul, CEO of SOS-USA.

“We are thrilled that the screening of this movie inspired these donors. Let's hope that a few more Borat fans want to raise money for Kazahkstan's children. We are now launching new programs to prevent child abandonment and improve the lives of more than 900 children and families in Astana and Temirtau, Kazahkstan. These funds are a great start towards establishing programs that support at-risk families, including HIV/AIDS prevention education and care program.”

About SOS Children's Villages - USASOS Children’s Villages was founded in 1949 to provide families for orphaned and abandoned children. Today there are over 450 villages in 132 countries around the world. The mission of SOS is to build families for children in need, help them shape their own futures and share in the development of their communities.

To learn more, visit www.sos-usa.org.

CONTACT:
Jennifer Tabbal
202-470-5175
jtabbal@sos-usa.org

West Turkey cafe grenade attack injures 15: sources | International News | Reuters.com

IZMIR, Turkey (Reuters) - At least 15 people were injured on Monday evening when unknown assailants threw two grenades into a cafe in Izmir, Turkey's third largest city, hospital sources and police said.

The injured were rushed to three hospitals, where sources told Reuters a total of 15 people had been admitted suffering injuries from the blast. A police official said he could confirm seven people had been injured. There were no reports of deaths.

"Two grenades were thrown into the cafe and exploded, but the attack has no political links," Izmir police chief Huseyin Capkin told reporters. He did not give details.

The explosion comes a day after the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) began a unilateral ceasefire in its 22-year conflict with the Turkish state.

Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since the group launched its armed struggle for an independent Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey.

Armed forces chief General Yasar Buyukanit said earlier that only warring states could declare a ceasefire and that the PKK, considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Europe and Turkey, should unconditionally lay down its arms and deliver itself to Turkish justice.

Far-left and Islamist groups have also carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past.