I. "Mass Killing in the Name of God" (International Peace Bureau, January 13, 2015)
"It is time to forcefully confront violent extremism and fundamentalism, wherever it manifests itself. It's time to stop pointing at 'the others' and to confront the extremism in our own backyard, whether it is from our own beliefs or attitudes or is manifested by other groups in our neighborhood. In this context it is important to find a way to set aside religious or para-religious that make 'infidels' or 'blasphemous' justified targets.
An even deeper challenge is to strengthen our work to overcome the division in the world between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots.' Analyses shows that social injustice and inequality are not only ills in themselves but also hamper development and give rise to violence and armed conflict.
The present confrontation between radical elements in the Muslim world and the more secular West plays into the hands of militant minorities on both sides. Furthermore, it benefits those who seize the opportunity to call for more spending on the military and more aggressive and militant policies. There is a serious danger that states will use current events to increase their surveillance of all activists and citizens instead of only those who present a serious risk. Acknowledging the equality and interdependence of all people in our globalized world should help open the eyes to the need for dialogue, mutual respect and understanding.
There is another dimension that is receiving much less coverage in mainstream media. The major world powers are in many ways themselves responsible for the growth in Islamist militancy, on the account of:
* the long history of colonial domination of the Middle East and the Muslim world generally, and the support for the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands;
* the role of the US arming and funding the Afghan mujahideen against the USSR -- who then became major figures in the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and are now operating in Syria and elsewhere.
* the devastating 'war on terror' which has caused enormous death and suffering in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and around the Islamic world; and which is at the same time imposing draconian restrictions on human rights and freedom, notably in the area of international migration.
* the persistent tendency -- especially in sections of the mass media -- to demonize the whole world to suggest that all Hindus and Muslims are a threat to democratic values."
II. The Specious Genesis of U.S. Torture Policy
On November 13, 2001, George W. Bush, acting as President and Commander-in-Chief, signed a military order concerning the "Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism." Suspected terrorists who are not citizens were to be detained at an appropriate location designated by the Secretary of Defense. If brought to trial, they were to be tried and sentenced by a military commission. No member of the commission need be a lawyer. Ordinary military rules would not apply, nor would the laws of war.
Suspected terrorists could be imprisoned without charge, denied knowledge of the evidence against them, and, if tried, convicted and sentenced by courts, incarcerated under no established rules. Bush didn't want to call detainees, criminals, because criminals have rights; they couldn't be called prisoners of war, because prisoners of war have rights under international law. So the Bush administration invented a new classification: "unlawful combatants."
Any pretense of a legal process hinged on a 50-page memo issued by the Department of Justice, signed by Jay S. Bybee, but probably written by the more notorious John Yoo. The memo purported to draw a distinction between acts that are "cruel, inhuman, or degrading," and acts that constitute torture. In essence, the Bush administration envisioned creating for the first time a permanent legal structure under the president's sole command. [1]
Footnotes
[1] Jill Lepore, "The Dark Ages," The New Yorker, March 11, 2013.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Defying the Principles of Law and the Rules of Evidence
On November 13, 2001, George W. Bush, acting as President and Commander-in-Chief, signed a military order concerning the "Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism." Suspected terrorists who are not citizens of the ;United States were to be ":detained at an appropriate location designated by the Secretary of Defense." If brought to trial, they were to be tried and sentenced by a military commission. No member of the commission need be a lawyer, nor would the ordinary rules of military law apply. In the language of the order, "It is not practicable to apply in military commissions under this order the principles of law and the rules of evidence generally recognized in the trial of criminal cases in the United States district courts." Suspected terrorists could be imprisoned without charges, denied knowledge of the evidence against them, and, if tried, sentenced by courts following no previously established rules. [1]
Initially, prisoners were housed at Camp X-ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. More camps were built, eventually housing 779 detainees from forty-eight countries. The U.S. dropped a blizzard of flyers onto Afghanistan, offering bounties for information about men with ties to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Detainees told of being sold for bounties of between $5,000 and $25,000. Those detained weren't called criminals, because criminals have to be charged with a crime. They couldn't be called prisoners, because prisoners of war have rights. The Bush administration invented a new category of detainee, called "unlawful combatants." [2]
The 50-page Department of Justice memo, signed by Jay S. Bybee -- but probably written by DoJ lawyer, John Yoo -- in August 2002, attempted to draw a distinction between acts that are "cruel, inhuman, or degrading," and acts that constitute torture. The Bush administration envisioned creating for the first time a permanent legal structure under the president's sole command.
In 2006, a team from Seton Hall School of Law released a study of the 517 detainees still at Guantanamo, that according to Department of Defense data, only five percent of the detainees had been captured by U.S. troops and at least 47 percent had been captured by Pakistan or Northern Alliance troops, when the U.S. began offering bonuses.
ADDENDUM:
A History of Violence - Mass Shootings Are Becoming More Common -- And Deadlier
* The frequency of mass shootings has tripled since 2011.
* Between 1982 and 2011, a mass shooting occurred in the United States every 200 days.
* Between 2011 and 2014, a mass shooting occurred every 64 days.
* Of the 13 mass shootings with double-digit death tolls over the past 50 years, 7 took place in the last 9 years.
Initially, prisoners were housed at Camp X-ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. More camps were built, eventually housing 779 detainees from forty-eight countries. The U.S. dropped a blizzard of flyers onto Afghanistan, offering bounties for information about men with ties to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Detainees told of being sold for bounties of between $5,000 and $25,000. Those detained weren't called criminals, because criminals have to be charged with a crime. They couldn't be called prisoners, because prisoners of war have rights. The Bush administration invented a new category of detainee, called "unlawful combatants." [2]
The 50-page Department of Justice memo, signed by Jay S. Bybee -- but probably written by DoJ lawyer, John Yoo -- in August 2002, attempted to draw a distinction between acts that are "cruel, inhuman, or degrading," and acts that constitute torture. The Bush administration envisioned creating for the first time a permanent legal structure under the president's sole command.
In 2006, a team from Seton Hall School of Law released a study of the 517 detainees still at Guantanamo, that according to Department of Defense data, only five percent of the detainees had been captured by U.S. troops and at least 47 percent had been captured by Pakistan or Northern Alliance troops, when the U.S. began offering bonuses.
ADDENDUM:
A History of Violence - Mass Shootings Are Becoming More Common -- And Deadlier
* The frequency of mass shootings has tripled since 2011.
* Between 1982 and 2011, a mass shooting occurred in the United States every 200 days.
* Between 2011 and 2014, a mass shooting occurred every 64 days.
* Of the 13 mass shootings with double-digit death tolls over the past 50 years, 7 took place in the last 9 years.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Street Living Costs and the Grim State of the Rehab Industry
I. The Price of Living on the Street
Based on 2014 data, there are approximately 580,000 homeless people in the United States. Jurisdictions that have embraced the Housing First model have helped drive down national totals in recent years. But even areas that have pursued reform are up against the national affordable housing crisis. Housing First is based on the premise that overall costs of providing for the homeless can be reduced if individual housing is provided.
1. Nearly 1/3 of All Homeless Live in Just 10 Cities
New York City 67,810
Los Angeles (city and county) 34,393
Las Vegas/Clark County 9,417
Seattle/King County 8,949
San Diego (city and county) 8,506
Washington, DC 7,748
San Jose/Santa Clara ( city and county) 7,567
Denver 6,621
San Francisco 6,408
Chicago 6,287
2. Cost of Multiple Arrests
Osceola County, Florida tracked 37 homeless people arrested 1,250 times over 10 years for 61,896 days of incarceration. Here's what they cost: Booking costs - $130,000 + Jail costs - $4,951,680 + Mental-health care in jail - $1,336,225 = $6,417,905.
3. Denver's Housing First Savings
Denver saved $17,858 per person over 2 years in the following costs alone: the largest savings came in impatient care, followed closely by detox costs, then came emergency room costs, followed by outpatient costs and, finally, incarceration costs.
4. Homelessness Down Since 2007 But Gains Not Uniform
Homelessness up 29% in New York but down 18% in California.
5. A Person on LA's Skid Row Costs Nearly 5 Times as Much as One in Housing First
A homeless person on the street costs $2,897/month, versus $605/month in supportive housing. Homeless costs on the street are composed of: welfare services, jail, private hospitals, public hospitals and clinics, and paramedics. Public hospitals and clinics comprise the largest single cost. (Sources: Mother Jones, March/April 2015; motherjones.com/homeless)
II. The Grim State of the Rehab Industry
1. Needed Alcohol Treatment
18.7 million Americans needed alcohol treatment in 2010 and only 1.7 million received it.
2. Reason Addicts Give for Not Getting Help
45.5% Can't afford it/inadequate health coverage
24.5% Not ready to stop using
9.0% Don't know where to go
8.0% No transportation/inconvenience
6.6% Worried about their job.
3. Too Few Clinics
There are 14,148 addiction treatment facilities in America. Very few include impatient services.
81% Outpatient
26% Residential
6% Hospital impatient
4. High Prices
Private insurers covered only 15% of the costs of alcohol addiction treatment. While it's possible to get free treatment at charities like the Salvation Army, a month of residential care can cost as little as $1,800 at a government subsidized center and up to $60,000 at the kind of facility that helps celebrities like Lindsay Lohan.
5. Poor Oversight
* 20 states require either no degree or only a high school diploma to become a certified addiction counselor.
* Only 10 states require residential treatment programs to have a physician on staff.
* Only 8 states require the same of outpatient treatment programs.
* Only 21 states require the tracking of patient outcomes.
6. Cost to Society
* Alcohol addiction costs $250 billion each year.
* 1 percent ($28 billion) of total health care costs in 2010 went to treating drug and alcohol addiction.
* For every dollar federal and state governments spent, 95.6 cents went to pay for the consequences of substance use; only 1.9 cents were spent on any type of prevention or treatment. (Sources: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, Columbia University; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Based on 2014 data, there are approximately 580,000 homeless people in the United States. Jurisdictions that have embraced the Housing First model have helped drive down national totals in recent years. But even areas that have pursued reform are up against the national affordable housing crisis. Housing First is based on the premise that overall costs of providing for the homeless can be reduced if individual housing is provided.
1. Nearly 1/3 of All Homeless Live in Just 10 Cities
New York City 67,810
Los Angeles (city and county) 34,393
Las Vegas/Clark County 9,417
Seattle/King County 8,949
San Diego (city and county) 8,506
Washington, DC 7,748
San Jose/Santa Clara ( city and county) 7,567
Denver 6,621
San Francisco 6,408
Chicago 6,287
2. Cost of Multiple Arrests
Osceola County, Florida tracked 37 homeless people arrested 1,250 times over 10 years for 61,896 days of incarceration. Here's what they cost: Booking costs - $130,000 + Jail costs - $4,951,680 + Mental-health care in jail - $1,336,225 = $6,417,905.
3. Denver's Housing First Savings
Denver saved $17,858 per person over 2 years in the following costs alone: the largest savings came in impatient care, followed closely by detox costs, then came emergency room costs, followed by outpatient costs and, finally, incarceration costs.
4. Homelessness Down Since 2007 But Gains Not Uniform
Homelessness up 29% in New York but down 18% in California.
5. A Person on LA's Skid Row Costs Nearly 5 Times as Much as One in Housing First
A homeless person on the street costs $2,897/month, versus $605/month in supportive housing. Homeless costs on the street are composed of: welfare services, jail, private hospitals, public hospitals and clinics, and paramedics. Public hospitals and clinics comprise the largest single cost. (Sources: Mother Jones, March/April 2015; motherjones.com/homeless)
II. The Grim State of the Rehab Industry
1. Needed Alcohol Treatment
18.7 million Americans needed alcohol treatment in 2010 and only 1.7 million received it.
2. Reason Addicts Give for Not Getting Help
45.5% Can't afford it/inadequate health coverage
24.5% Not ready to stop using
9.0% Don't know where to go
8.0% No transportation/inconvenience
6.6% Worried about their job.
3. Too Few Clinics
There are 14,148 addiction treatment facilities in America. Very few include impatient services.
81% Outpatient
26% Residential
6% Hospital impatient
4. High Prices
Private insurers covered only 15% of the costs of alcohol addiction treatment. While it's possible to get free treatment at charities like the Salvation Army, a month of residential care can cost as little as $1,800 at a government subsidized center and up to $60,000 at the kind of facility that helps celebrities like Lindsay Lohan.
5. Poor Oversight
* 20 states require either no degree or only a high school diploma to become a certified addiction counselor.
* Only 10 states require residential treatment programs to have a physician on staff.
* Only 8 states require the same of outpatient treatment programs.
* Only 21 states require the tracking of patient outcomes.
6. Cost to Society
* Alcohol addiction costs $250 billion each year.
* 1 percent ($28 billion) of total health care costs in 2010 went to treating drug and alcohol addiction.
* For every dollar federal and state governments spent, 95.6 cents went to pay for the consequences of substance use; only 1.9 cents were spent on any type of prevention or treatment. (Sources: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, Columbia University; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Monday, November 2, 2015
Battlefield Power Galore
The ABQ Free Press investigated the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) and found an arsenal that might have been called "Guns and Ammo R Us." The full reference for the article is: Peter St. Cyr and Dan Vukelich, "APD Weapons Boast Battlefield Firepower," ABQ Free Press, June 3, 2015.
The investigation found that APD possesses the following weapons:
* More than 3,300 weapons of all types.
* Three armored vehicles.
* One .50-caliber rifle capable of firing exploding anti-armor rounds.
* More than 387,000 rounds of ammunition of all types.
* More than 2,500 less-than-lethal rounds of projectiles for crowd control, including teargas, rubber and sponge bullets, smoke grenades and barricade-defeating projectiles fired from .37 mm or .40 mm launchers.
* More than 1,300 Tasers.
* Five H and K MPS rifles, described y the manufacturer as fully automatic weapons capable of firing 800 rounds a minute.
* Twenty-five silencers fitted to .223 caliber or 5.56-caliber assault rifles.
* More than 350 Noise and Flash Diversionary Devices, commonly called "flash-bang" grenades used in drug raids, hostage standoffs and other SWAT situations.
* A variety of weapons, including M16s and AR-15 assault rifles, door-breaching shotguns with special non-ricochet disintegrating ammo, an AK-47 assault rifle, Walther PPKs, and a bolt-action rifle modeled on the 7-8 mm Mausers used by the German infantry in World War II.
Bernalillo County District Judge Alan Malott ruled in May 2015 that the city wrongfully withheld the inventory of its military-style weapons and equipment and issued an order forcing it to produce the documents.
APD's inventory of ammunition for the Barrett .50-caliber rifle contains 62 ordinary or "ball" rounds, 51 tracer rounds, 365 incendiary rounds, 75 so-called "black tip" rounds and 51 so-called "Raufoss" rounds. Raufoss rounds have a dense metal core surrounded by explosives. On contact with a hard object, the explosives blast a hole, allowing the heavy metal penetrator to continue onward.
During the U.S. army's battler with Somali insurgents in the 1993 "Blackhawk Down" incident in Mogadishu, .50 caliber rounds tore through walls of buildings several blocks away from the battle zone. The International Red Cross has expressed concern that the use of a Raufoss round could constitute a war crime.
When the ABQ Free Press asked APD spokeswoman Celina Espinoza why the department has a need for such destructive ammunition as the Raufoss, she answered that there was a need to "overcome heavily fortified obstacles and to disable heavy equipment." Also, she pointed to a 2004 rampage in Granby, Colorado, by a heavily armed man in an armored bulldozer which couldn't be stopped by lighter ammunition.
The ABQ Free Press has raised a legitimate concern about the militarization of local police departments.
The investigation found that APD possesses the following weapons:
* More than 3,300 weapons of all types.
* Three armored vehicles.
* One .50-caliber rifle capable of firing exploding anti-armor rounds.
* More than 387,000 rounds of ammunition of all types.
* More than 2,500 less-than-lethal rounds of projectiles for crowd control, including teargas, rubber and sponge bullets, smoke grenades and barricade-defeating projectiles fired from .37 mm or .40 mm launchers.
* More than 1,300 Tasers.
* Five H and K MPS rifles, described y the manufacturer as fully automatic weapons capable of firing 800 rounds a minute.
* Twenty-five silencers fitted to .223 caliber or 5.56-caliber assault rifles.
* More than 350 Noise and Flash Diversionary Devices, commonly called "flash-bang" grenades used in drug raids, hostage standoffs and other SWAT situations.
* A variety of weapons, including M16s and AR-15 assault rifles, door-breaching shotguns with special non-ricochet disintegrating ammo, an AK-47 assault rifle, Walther PPKs, and a bolt-action rifle modeled on the 7-8 mm Mausers used by the German infantry in World War II.
Bernalillo County District Judge Alan Malott ruled in May 2015 that the city wrongfully withheld the inventory of its military-style weapons and equipment and issued an order forcing it to produce the documents.
APD's inventory of ammunition for the Barrett .50-caliber rifle contains 62 ordinary or "ball" rounds, 51 tracer rounds, 365 incendiary rounds, 75 so-called "black tip" rounds and 51 so-called "Raufoss" rounds. Raufoss rounds have a dense metal core surrounded by explosives. On contact with a hard object, the explosives blast a hole, allowing the heavy metal penetrator to continue onward.
During the U.S. army's battler with Somali insurgents in the 1993 "Blackhawk Down" incident in Mogadishu, .50 caliber rounds tore through walls of buildings several blocks away from the battle zone. The International Red Cross has expressed concern that the use of a Raufoss round could constitute a war crime.
When the ABQ Free Press asked APD spokeswoman Celina Espinoza why the department has a need for such destructive ammunition as the Raufoss, she answered that there was a need to "overcome heavily fortified obstacles and to disable heavy equipment." Also, she pointed to a 2004 rampage in Granby, Colorado, by a heavily armed man in an armored bulldozer which couldn't be stopped by lighter ammunition.
The ABQ Free Press has raised a legitimate concern about the militarization of local police departments.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Some Water Use Estimates and School Testing Measures
I. Some Water Use Estimates in the Home
* Do a load of laundry - 13-41 gallons
*Take a 10-minute shower - 20-25 gallons
*Flush a toilet - 1.6-8 gallons [1]
II. Overall California Water Use
Annual water use in California homes (in billions of gallons)
Lawns and pools - about 475
Toilets - about 240
Showers - about 160
Faucets - about 140
Washing machines - about 110
Leaks - about 90
Dishwashers - about 15 (Sources: Natural Resources Defense Council, estimates by the Pacific Institute, 2003).
III. Testing Measurements, Outcomes and Critical Student Disparities
1. By 2009, President Barack Obama used his Race to the Top initiative to promote using test scores to hire, fire, and compensate teachers. Today, 35 states require teacher evaluations to include these scores as a factor and many states have introduced new tests just for this purpose. In addition to the scandal in Atlanta, Georgia public schools, in which teachers and school administrators changed answers on students' test results -- and a number have been sentenced to serve time in prison -- for the 2011-12 school year, the Government Accountability Office reported that officials in 33 states confirmed at least one instance of school staff flat-out cheating. [2]
2. Testing Hours in Ohio and Urban-Suburban Testing Disparities
Average testing hours by selected grades for students in Ohio are as follows: kindergarten - 11.3; 1st grade - 11.6; 2nd grade - 13.6; 3rd grade - 28.0; 8th grade - 23.0; 10th grade - 28.4; 11th grade - 18.9; and 12th grade - 12.2. The average for all grades is 19.8 hours. [3]
Studies have shown that urban students spend far more time on district-mandated tests than do those in the suburbs -- especially in high school. Urban students spend 80% more time on these tests than do suburban students in grades 3rd through 5th; 73% more time in grades 6th through 8th; and 266% more time in grades 9th through 12th. Yet, given the additional time devoted to standardized testing since No Child Left Behind was enacted, American students' performance compared to other nations -- on tests that measure skills and knowledge more broadly -- remained flat or declined between 2000 and 2012. [4]
3. Gaps in Teacher Pay, Qualifications and School Funding
Teachers in schools with the highest share of black and Latino students are paid roughly $2,000 less than those with the lowest share of such students in the same district. Black students are more than four times as likely as white students to attend schools where less that 80 percent of teachers are fully certified. [5]
The per student funding gap between rich and poor schools nationwide has grown 44 percent in the last decade -- even as the number of needy students has grown. "In 2013, for the first time in at least 50 years, a majority of US public school students came from low-income families." [6]
Yet, in the final analysis, studies have consistently shown that the home environment is the greatest single factor in how well students perform in school.
Footnotes
[1] Mother Jones, July/August 2015
[2] "Sorry, I'm Not Taking This Test," Mother Jones, September/October 2015.
[3[; [4]; [5]; and [6] All ibid.
* Do a load of laundry - 13-41 gallons
*Take a 10-minute shower - 20-25 gallons
*Flush a toilet - 1.6-8 gallons [1]
II. Overall California Water Use
Annual water use in California homes (in billions of gallons)
Lawns and pools - about 475
Toilets - about 240
Showers - about 160
Faucets - about 140
Washing machines - about 110
Leaks - about 90
Dishwashers - about 15 (Sources: Natural Resources Defense Council, estimates by the Pacific Institute, 2003).
III. Testing Measurements, Outcomes and Critical Student Disparities
1. By 2009, President Barack Obama used his Race to the Top initiative to promote using test scores to hire, fire, and compensate teachers. Today, 35 states require teacher evaluations to include these scores as a factor and many states have introduced new tests just for this purpose. In addition to the scandal in Atlanta, Georgia public schools, in which teachers and school administrators changed answers on students' test results -- and a number have been sentenced to serve time in prison -- for the 2011-12 school year, the Government Accountability Office reported that officials in 33 states confirmed at least one instance of school staff flat-out cheating. [2]
2. Testing Hours in Ohio and Urban-Suburban Testing Disparities
Average testing hours by selected grades for students in Ohio are as follows: kindergarten - 11.3; 1st grade - 11.6; 2nd grade - 13.6; 3rd grade - 28.0; 8th grade - 23.0; 10th grade - 28.4; 11th grade - 18.9; and 12th grade - 12.2. The average for all grades is 19.8 hours. [3]
Studies have shown that urban students spend far more time on district-mandated tests than do those in the suburbs -- especially in high school. Urban students spend 80% more time on these tests than do suburban students in grades 3rd through 5th; 73% more time in grades 6th through 8th; and 266% more time in grades 9th through 12th. Yet, given the additional time devoted to standardized testing since No Child Left Behind was enacted, American students' performance compared to other nations -- on tests that measure skills and knowledge more broadly -- remained flat or declined between 2000 and 2012. [4]
3. Gaps in Teacher Pay, Qualifications and School Funding
Teachers in schools with the highest share of black and Latino students are paid roughly $2,000 less than those with the lowest share of such students in the same district. Black students are more than four times as likely as white students to attend schools where less that 80 percent of teachers are fully certified. [5]
The per student funding gap between rich and poor schools nationwide has grown 44 percent in the last decade -- even as the number of needy students has grown. "In 2013, for the first time in at least 50 years, a majority of US public school students came from low-income families." [6]
Yet, in the final analysis, studies have consistently shown that the home environment is the greatest single factor in how well students perform in school.
Footnotes
[1] Mother Jones, July/August 2015
[2] "Sorry, I'm Not Taking This Test," Mother Jones, September/October 2015.
[3[; [4]; [5]; and [6] All ibid.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Marrying for Money and Flee-Economics
I. Marrying for Money
"Median income for a single mother is about $25,000, compared with about $81,000 for two parents. The inequality trickles down to the children: if kids have married mothers, they will grow up to be fourteen percentiles higher in income than those with single mothers."
If single mothers get married, what happens to them? "A nationally representative study found that two-thirds of these mothers will end up divorced. That's worse for their finances than having stayed single in the first place. And sociologist Kristi Williams found no psychological or physical advantages for most teens whose single mothers ended up getting married."
How have programs to pay single mothers to get married worked out? "Since 2001, the US government has spent about $800 million on the Healthy Marriage Initiative, even as the national marriage rate continued to decline. In 2002, it spent $11,000 per couple in the Building Strong Families Project, which proved to have no effect on whether couples got married or even stayed together. And in 2003, it spent $9,100 per couple in the unsuccessful Supporting Healthy Marriage program." [1]
How does the U.S. compare with the Scandinavian countries on poverty rates for children in single-mother families? In terms of Before Social Safety Net Benefits, the Percent in Poverty are as follows: the U.S. about 65; Sweden - about 52; Norway - about 57; Finland - about 50. In terms of After Social Safety Net Benefits, the Percent in Poverty are as follows: the U.S. - about 55; Sweden - about 13; Norway - about 11; Finland - about 8. [2]
If we want to improve the prospects for children of single parents, what are some policy solutions?
Income Support - Welfare reaches less than a third of poor families with children and the benefits are less than in 1996
Paid Leave - The United States is just one of three countries in the world that do not guarantee paid paternity leave: only twelve percent of :American workers in the private sector have access to it. The United States should also guarantee paid sick leave days, like all of the other rich countries.
Universal Childcare - Childcare for most families costs more than rent or food. In thirty-one states, it costs more than tuition to a public college. [3]
II. Flee-Economics
So-called tax inversion is the practice of U.S. companies moving their headquarters overseas, avoiding the Internal Revenue Service while keeping their executives stateside, scoring government contracts, and taking full advantage of public benefits for employees. More than 100 companies have renounced their citizenship since 1982, most in the past decade. Where have these companies gone? Thirty have gone to Bermuda; seventeen to the Cayman Islands; thirteen to the Cayman Islands; ten to the Netherlands; and nine to Canada. There are at least seven other countries that have welcomed two or more U.S. companies. Between 2008 and 2013, American firms held more that $2.1 trillion in profits overseas -- that's as much as $500 billion in unpaid taxes. [4]
In 2014, Burger King obtained the Canadian doughnut chain Tim Hortons and announced plans to move its headquarters to Canada. Burger King stands to avoid $400 million to $1.2 billion in U.S. taxes over the next four years. Its major shareholders could avoid as much as $820 million in capital gains taxes. [5]
Few big companies actually pay the 35 percent corporate tax rate. Profits are up 21 percent since 2007, while corporate America's total tax bill has dropped 5 percent. From 2001 to 2012, corporate profits after tax have increased from about $700 billion to about $1,800 billion. Corporate taxes collected in that same period have increased from about $300 billion to about $400 billion. [6]
Footnotes
[1] Mike Konczal and Bryce Covert, "Marrying for Money," The Nation, December 1/8, 2014.
[2] Demos.org
[3] "Marrying..."
[4] Erika Eichelberger and Dave Gilson, "Flee-Economics," Mother Jones, March/April 2015.
[5] Ibid.; [6] Ibid.
"Median income for a single mother is about $25,000, compared with about $81,000 for two parents. The inequality trickles down to the children: if kids have married mothers, they will grow up to be fourteen percentiles higher in income than those with single mothers."
If single mothers get married, what happens to them? "A nationally representative study found that two-thirds of these mothers will end up divorced. That's worse for their finances than having stayed single in the first place. And sociologist Kristi Williams found no psychological or physical advantages for most teens whose single mothers ended up getting married."
How have programs to pay single mothers to get married worked out? "Since 2001, the US government has spent about $800 million on the Healthy Marriage Initiative, even as the national marriage rate continued to decline. In 2002, it spent $11,000 per couple in the Building Strong Families Project, which proved to have no effect on whether couples got married or even stayed together. And in 2003, it spent $9,100 per couple in the unsuccessful Supporting Healthy Marriage program." [1]
How does the U.S. compare with the Scandinavian countries on poverty rates for children in single-mother families? In terms of Before Social Safety Net Benefits, the Percent in Poverty are as follows: the U.S. about 65; Sweden - about 52; Norway - about 57; Finland - about 50. In terms of After Social Safety Net Benefits, the Percent in Poverty are as follows: the U.S. - about 55; Sweden - about 13; Norway - about 11; Finland - about 8. [2]
If we want to improve the prospects for children of single parents, what are some policy solutions?
Income Support - Welfare reaches less than a third of poor families with children and the benefits are less than in 1996
Paid Leave - The United States is just one of three countries in the world that do not guarantee paid paternity leave: only twelve percent of :American workers in the private sector have access to it. The United States should also guarantee paid sick leave days, like all of the other rich countries.
Universal Childcare - Childcare for most families costs more than rent or food. In thirty-one states, it costs more than tuition to a public college. [3]
II. Flee-Economics
So-called tax inversion is the practice of U.S. companies moving their headquarters overseas, avoiding the Internal Revenue Service while keeping their executives stateside, scoring government contracts, and taking full advantage of public benefits for employees. More than 100 companies have renounced their citizenship since 1982, most in the past decade. Where have these companies gone? Thirty have gone to Bermuda; seventeen to the Cayman Islands; thirteen to the Cayman Islands; ten to the Netherlands; and nine to Canada. There are at least seven other countries that have welcomed two or more U.S. companies. Between 2008 and 2013, American firms held more that $2.1 trillion in profits overseas -- that's as much as $500 billion in unpaid taxes. [4]
In 2014, Burger King obtained the Canadian doughnut chain Tim Hortons and announced plans to move its headquarters to Canada. Burger King stands to avoid $400 million to $1.2 billion in U.S. taxes over the next four years. Its major shareholders could avoid as much as $820 million in capital gains taxes. [5]
Few big companies actually pay the 35 percent corporate tax rate. Profits are up 21 percent since 2007, while corporate America's total tax bill has dropped 5 percent. From 2001 to 2012, corporate profits after tax have increased from about $700 billion to about $1,800 billion. Corporate taxes collected in that same period have increased from about $300 billion to about $400 billion. [6]
Footnotes
[1] Mike Konczal and Bryce Covert, "Marrying for Money," The Nation, December 1/8, 2014.
[2] Demos.org
[3] "Marrying..."
[4] Erika Eichelberger and Dave Gilson, "Flee-Economics," Mother Jones, March/April 2015.
[5] Ibid.; [6] Ibid.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Wealth and African Americans
Mike Konczal and Bryce Covert have a monthly page in The Nation magazine, in which they generally focus on a topic that has economic implications. In the February 2, 2015 issue of the magazine they draw on the Black Lives Matter movement and entitle their article "Black Wealth Matters."
The thesis of the article by Konczal and Covert is that the major force that sustains the racial wealth disparity in America is housing segregation. The New Deal's mortgage program, the Home Owners' Loan Corporation and the Federal Housing Administration, used racial makeup to rate neighborhood property values across the country, giving areas where black people lived few 'A' ratings and coloring them in red. This practice led to rising property values in white neighborhoods, with the opposite impact on black ones. Black people were thus shut out of the legitimate market --"
"Racial segregation peaked around 1970, but even today the average white city resident lives in a 75 percent white neighborhood, while the average black person lives in one that is 35 percent white."
"Housing segregation deprives black families of the opportunity to build wealth through their homes. African Americans were twice as likely to be affected by the foreclosure crisis as white borrowers." Since black families didn't have access to traditional low-cost mortgages, they became easy prey to lenders pushing high-cost subprime mortgages.
In 2007, whites had four times the wealth of blacks; however, with the housing market's recovery, "the median net worth of white households today is thirteen times than that of black ones. Median wealth for black families fell 33.7 percent between 2010 and 2013, while white households saw theirs rise." "Among middle- and upper-class black people, half of all children are raised in impoverished neighborhoods, compared with just 1 percent of their white peers."
"Housing segregation also means the black students are often crowded into troubled public schools. The education system is segregated along racial lines and funded by property taxes, with white students attending schools that are about 73 percent white and black students attending schools that are nearly 50 percent black."
Even when it comes to punishment in school, black students are "three times as likely to get suspended or expelled and become fodder for the school-to-prison pipeline, all but negating any future economic opportunity."
Tiny Capitalists
Republicans have long castigated Democrats for offering African Americans free goodies to secure their support in elections. Republicans have been saying that they have a better approach to lift up those African Americans mired in poverty: they will make entrepreneurs out of them. This is a cynical hope to raise, as most Americans will have to work for someone else. Many start-up small businesses fail; and even the ones that succeed don't often make a profit in the first one or two years of operation, meaning that the business owner(s) must have sufficient savings or loans to tide them over.
In the August 18/25, 2015 issue of The Nation magazine Mike Konczal and Bryce Covert use a graph designed by the economists Seiz and Zucman to illustrate that the wealth controlled by the top tenth of the 1 percent has more than doubled over the past thirty years in the United States. Konczal and Covert blame both Democrats and Republicans for shifting financial risk from the state to the individual. The Republicans do it by promoting the "ownership society." in which social insurance is privatized and investor protections are removed. Democrats focus on education and on helping the poor build wealth through savings programs. Konczal and Covert say that: "Instead of just giving people more purchasing power, we should be taking basic needs off the market altogether." The two contend that "social wealth programs like Social Security combat inequality more powerfully than any privatized, individualized wealth building 'solution.' "
"Public programs like universal health-care and free education function the same way, providing social wealth directly instead of hoping to boost people's savings enough to allow them to afford either."
"Bringing wealth under democratic accountability -- rather than making everyone a tiny capitalist -- has to be an essential part of any equality agenda. America's biggest declines in poverty often follow from this approach (expanding Social Security and Medicare, for example)."
ADDENDUMS: (From Konczal and Covert in the August 18/25, 2015 The Nation)
* THE GLASS IS... HALF-FULL" - "Employment growth has picked up in 2014. The average number of jobs created per month has been 231,000, compared with 194,000 last year. Also, broader surveys of consumer confidence are approaching pre-crisis levels."
HALF-EMPTY - "This hasn't translated into real wage gains, with median incomes still 4 percent below pre-crisis levels and showing no signs of catching up. Ironically, the good employment numbers could also hurt working people by prompting the Federal Reserve to step on the brakes sooner and raise interest rates."
*Forty-six companies have court cases pending that challenge the Affordable Care Act's requirement that their health insurance policies cover contraception."
*The hourly rate that homecare workers in Illinois will make by the end of the year would have increased to $13 thanks to a union-brokered agreement. The Supreme Court ruling in Harris v. Quinn holds that such workers are no longer required to pay union dues, a decision likely to bankrupt their unions."
The thesis of the article by Konczal and Covert is that the major force that sustains the racial wealth disparity in America is housing segregation. The New Deal's mortgage program, the Home Owners' Loan Corporation and the Federal Housing Administration, used racial makeup to rate neighborhood property values across the country, giving areas where black people lived few 'A' ratings and coloring them in red. This practice led to rising property values in white neighborhoods, with the opposite impact on black ones. Black people were thus shut out of the legitimate market --"
"Racial segregation peaked around 1970, but even today the average white city resident lives in a 75 percent white neighborhood, while the average black person lives in one that is 35 percent white."
"Housing segregation deprives black families of the opportunity to build wealth through their homes. African Americans were twice as likely to be affected by the foreclosure crisis as white borrowers." Since black families didn't have access to traditional low-cost mortgages, they became easy prey to lenders pushing high-cost subprime mortgages.
In 2007, whites had four times the wealth of blacks; however, with the housing market's recovery, "the median net worth of white households today is thirteen times than that of black ones. Median wealth for black families fell 33.7 percent between 2010 and 2013, while white households saw theirs rise." "Among middle- and upper-class black people, half of all children are raised in impoverished neighborhoods, compared with just 1 percent of their white peers."
"Housing segregation also means the black students are often crowded into troubled public schools. The education system is segregated along racial lines and funded by property taxes, with white students attending schools that are about 73 percent white and black students attending schools that are nearly 50 percent black."
Even when it comes to punishment in school, black students are "three times as likely to get suspended or expelled and become fodder for the school-to-prison pipeline, all but negating any future economic opportunity."
Tiny Capitalists
Republicans have long castigated Democrats for offering African Americans free goodies to secure their support in elections. Republicans have been saying that they have a better approach to lift up those African Americans mired in poverty: they will make entrepreneurs out of them. This is a cynical hope to raise, as most Americans will have to work for someone else. Many start-up small businesses fail; and even the ones that succeed don't often make a profit in the first one or two years of operation, meaning that the business owner(s) must have sufficient savings or loans to tide them over.
In the August 18/25, 2015 issue of The Nation magazine Mike Konczal and Bryce Covert use a graph designed by the economists Seiz and Zucman to illustrate that the wealth controlled by the top tenth of the 1 percent has more than doubled over the past thirty years in the United States. Konczal and Covert blame both Democrats and Republicans for shifting financial risk from the state to the individual. The Republicans do it by promoting the "ownership society." in which social insurance is privatized and investor protections are removed. Democrats focus on education and on helping the poor build wealth through savings programs. Konczal and Covert say that: "Instead of just giving people more purchasing power, we should be taking basic needs off the market altogether." The two contend that "social wealth programs like Social Security combat inequality more powerfully than any privatized, individualized wealth building 'solution.' "
"Public programs like universal health-care and free education function the same way, providing social wealth directly instead of hoping to boost people's savings enough to allow them to afford either."
"Bringing wealth under democratic accountability -- rather than making everyone a tiny capitalist -- has to be an essential part of any equality agenda. America's biggest declines in poverty often follow from this approach (expanding Social Security and Medicare, for example)."
ADDENDUMS: (From Konczal and Covert in the August 18/25, 2015 The Nation)
* THE GLASS IS... HALF-FULL" - "Employment growth has picked up in 2014. The average number of jobs created per month has been 231,000, compared with 194,000 last year. Also, broader surveys of consumer confidence are approaching pre-crisis levels."
HALF-EMPTY - "This hasn't translated into real wage gains, with median incomes still 4 percent below pre-crisis levels and showing no signs of catching up. Ironically, the good employment numbers could also hurt working people by prompting the Federal Reserve to step on the brakes sooner and raise interest rates."
*Forty-six companies have court cases pending that challenge the Affordable Care Act's requirement that their health insurance policies cover contraception."
*The hourly rate that homecare workers in Illinois will make by the end of the year would have increased to $13 thanks to a union-brokered agreement. The Supreme Court ruling in Harris v. Quinn holds that such workers are no longer required to pay union dues, a decision likely to bankrupt their unions."
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