I. Aging Voting Machines
The Gore-Bush voting debacle of 2000 caused many states and counties to ditch their old machines and opt for shiny new ones. It is know fifteen years disaster and these replacement models are becoming obsolete. The vice chair of the Federal Election Assistance Commission told the Brennan Center for Justice that: "We're getting by with Band-Aids, but I worry about a crisis with some of the older machines."
a. Forty-eight states have machines that are ten or more years old.. Almost all of those machines are no longer manufactured.
b. Some old voting machines can hold only 512 kilobytes. That's only 0.07 percent of a typical CD-ROM.
c. Machines in one Ohio county require Zip disks, which became outdated in the early 2000s.
d. The estimated cost of replacing outdated voting machines is more than $1 billion. Election officials in twenty-two states say they don't know where they'll find the money. (Source: "Crashing the Election," Mother Jones, January/February 2016).
II. Ending Life With Dignity
More and more Americans support the right of the terminally ill to end their own lives on their own terms.
a. Physician-assisted suicide is largely a West Coast .phenomenon,with Washington, Oregon and California having legalized it. Only two other states have legalized it but about fifteen states have introduced legislation or are actively considering it. (Source: Death With Dignity National Center).
b. Support for legalized physician-assisted suicide has grown since 1947. It was below forty percent in 1947 and had increased to seventy percent in 2011. Fifty percent in 2002 found physician-assisted suicide morally acceptable and that has grown to about fifty-seven percent in the most recent Gallup poll. (Source: Gallup).
c. After Brittany Maynard's struggle to have her suicide physician-assisted, support for it spiked across all age groups and political stripes. From May 2014 to May 2015, the percentage support for physician-assisted suicide increased as follows: 18 to 34 years old - +19; 35 to 54 years old - +8; 55 and older - +5; Republicans - +10; Independents - +16; and Democrats - +13. (Source: Gallup).
III. Contracts With America
a. Twenty-one million Americans work as independent contractors.
b. Twenty-nine percent of the jobs added between 2010 and 2014 were for independent contractors.
c. Ride-app drivers working more than forty hours a week report earning a yearly average of $36,580 before expenses like gas.
d. Uber has spent more than $1 million lobbying against regulations in California since 2013. It is said to have set aside at least $1 billion for future regulatory fights as it expands abroad.
e. Uber has been valued at $51 billion. (Source: Mother Jones, January/February 2016).
IV. Financing Luxury Hotels
The International Finance Corporation has sunk more than $1 billion into luxury hotels throughout the developing world, although its mission was to lift people out of poverty. The following is a sampling, based on a three-night stay:
a. TAJ EXOTICA AND VIVANTA BY TAJ CORAL REEF (Maldives)
IFC Investments: $57 million --- Room rate: $650 to $7,000 --- GOP (per capita): $8,483.
b. BALMOND PALACIO NAZARENAS AND LAS CASITAS DEL COLCA LODGE (Peru)
IFC Investment: $13 million --- Room rate: $645 to $1,090 --- GDP: $6,551.
c. HYATT REGENCY KIEV (Ukraine)
IFC Investment: $27.5 million --- Room rate: $429 to $703 --- GDP: $3,083
d. MOVENPICK AMBASSADOR HOTEL (Ghana)
IFC Investment: $26 million --- Room rate: $330 to $783 --- GDP: $1,443
e. AMANSARA SIEM REAP (Cambodia)
IFC Investment: $1.2 million --- Room rate: $1,378 to $2,081 --- GDP: $1,090
f. KABUL SERENA HOTEL (Afghanistan)
IFC Investment: $7 million --- Room rate: $356+ --- GDP: $659
g. KIGALI SERENA HOTEL AND LAKE KIVU SERENA HOTEL (Rwanda)
IFC Investment: $8.1 million --- Room rate: $180 to $360 --- GDP: $696
h. COCO OCEAN RESORT AND SPA (Gambia)
IFC Investment: $10.2 million --- Room rate: $203 to $301 --- GDP: $419 (Source: Edwin Rios, "Get a 3-Night Stay --," Mother Jones, January/February 2016).
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