247WallSt: "According to 2011 data released on Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau, 15% of individuals in the United States live below the poverty line. While down from 15.1% last year, it remains statistically unchanged and near a record high. Today, more than 46 million people live in poverty in America, more than at any point in the country’s history."
De VS besteedde in 2011 711.000.000.000 $ aan militaire uitgaven.
Obama en Romney vinden hun land 'the greatest nation on earth'. Amerikanen kunnen straks kiezen tussen een notoire oorlogsmisdadiger en een nog groter potentiële oorlogsmisdadiger. How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in't.
TheProgressive: "European policymakers are intent on wrecking their economies, but the people keep getting in the way.
Europe’s masters have foisted on the continent a ruinous austerity package, and the result has been a complete fiasco.
The continent is gripped by bad news, with countries such as Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain all falling back into recession this year.
And Greece is in an especially bad shape, seized by sharply negative growth for the past five years.
The effect has been most severe on people’s livelihoods. Unemployment averages more than 11 percent across the European Union, with Spain and Greece having almost one-fourth of their workforce currently without jobs. A staggering half of Spanish and Greek youth are out of work, raising fears of a “lost generation.”
And at a time when people in these countries need a welfare system the most, governments have been slashing their social safety nets, under orders from the European Union and international banking institutions. Many citizens of Athens and Madrid are being forced to scrounge for food and other basic necessities. A Europe-wide common currency has been a major cause of the crisis that has gripped the continent.
The faulty construction of the euro prevented crisis-ridden nations from taking the necessary steps to revive their economies through measures such as expanding their money supply. And the European Central Bank, with its German-driven agenda of extreme fiscal conservatism and anti-inflation hawkishness, has played a terribly detrimental role."
“There has never been any successful austerity program in any large country. . . . I think Europe is headed to a suicide.” — Joseph Stiglitz