Week In Review, Topics Incl: NDAA, Occupy Homes, Rick Perry's Brokeback Mountain Fashion, Fox News Confuses Countries

Hello and thanks for checking in.

We have another huge week to review. Simply put, there is too much going on in the world and I'm paying attention to too much of it. Between all that's going on and my constant wrestling with what's going on in my head, it's tough to get everything into the blog. That being said, I will push on. The topics are again diverse. Most are very important items and we finish up with two of the blog's regular pinatas, Fox News and the GOP. Let's start with the bad news and we'll get progressively lighter throughout the post.

National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA): Oh boy, where to start with this one? Usually the NDAA specifies budgets and expenditures for the coming fiscal year. This year however, the NDAA includes a provision that would allow for "indefinite military detention of U.S. citizens." Without getting too wonky on this bill, the Obama administration has claimed to want to veto it, if certain language isn't changed. But, from all I've seen, the Administration is looking for stronger language. This (as was the last link) is from OpenCongress.Org.

"They’ll (the Obama Administration) take it (the bill) and recommend that Congress passes clarifying legislation in the future, which, of course, will never happen. What they oppose is the provision that would mandate that power be used for all terrorism suspects besides U.S. citizens. From the same statement:

"The Administration strongly objects to the military custody provision of section 1032, which would appear to mandate military custody for a certain class of terrorism suspects."

Within that legalese is simply this, the Obama Administration DOES NOT want a special exclusion for U.S. citizens. They would like all terrorism suspects treated the same. So, basically any of us could be Gitmo'ed. The possibility of being plucked off the streets and held without seeing a lawyer is certainly possible if this passes. Consider this in a post-Occupy world. Could any of these protesters fall under one of these vague statutes. This bill deserves it's own posting. I just wanted to let some of you know it's out there and give you the broad strokes. The link from OpenCongress.Org is really helpful, if you wanted to know more. And, there are loads of other sites on top of this one.

You're probably thinking, "Hey, I'm not a terrorist." The problem is that the language is so broad, anyone can be considered one. Here is Rand Paul (video, below) talking about the bill and some things that may make you look like a terrorist. It's worth a look. One of the characteristics of someone being labeled a possible terrorist, is missing fingers. If this bill passes, clumsy butchers may end up under surveillance.

And, adding to what Paul says, many people involved in the animal liberation and ecological activism movements have been branded as terrorists already. Theoretically, they could be detained as well. Last thing before moving on. I know I make fun of the GOP all the time. In this case, the NDAA is a bi-partisan screw job. It passed the Senate 93-7 and 406-17 in the House of Representatives. Who says Democrats and Republicans can't work together! Yay! Meh.

 This next item is not that much easier to take. In a past post, "The Endless Reach of Inequality," I talked about the findings in a book called "The Spirit Level." If you missed that post, definitely give it a look. In short, "Spirit Level" argues that large income inequality is the root cause for nearly all of society's ills. They did extensive work, some of their findings are quoted in that post. The problems they studied range from higher suicide rates, depression, gun deaths, mental illness, obesity, higher incarceration rates, etc. The list is extensive.

With all that in mind, I give you a story that is sadly redolent of the findings in the "Spirit Level." On Tuesday in Texas, after a 7hr stand-off, a mother of two shot her two children and killed herself, after being denied food stamps. One child was a 10 year old boy, the other a 12 year old girl. Both children later died from their injuries. At its core, this is the book's argument. This story ticks most of the boxes: income inequality, poverty, stories have suggested she was mentally ill, and she of course had access to a gun. She left an eerie message on her Facebook page before going to the social services office. It said quite concisely, "May die today." This is a haunting story and illustrates the need for a strong social safety net, more help for the mentally ill and better gun control.

Staying in the area of inequality, the 99% of the U.S. population, take home a smaller percentage of the country's income (compared to other industrialized countries). The full study can be seen here. From this chart, you can see that we are even behind that model of equality, ex-apartheid state, South Africa. (and yes that was sarcasm) And, how badly do you all want to move to Scandinavia now? Look at Denmark and Sweden! They have better income equality, blond chicks, fjords, Northern lights, ice hotels, and probably really good fish (just guessing on that last one)...It all sounds great though.

Alright, we made it! Now for the good/ uplifting news:

Washington DC is seeing major protests this week, another is happening as I type this actually. But, they have used really creative ways to disrupt the way things run in DC. Here are pictures from Tuesday, day 2 of this protest. They waited outside members of Congressional offices, for their representative. Over 60 were arrested for blocking K Street (the main home of large lobbying firms). Loads of videos are out there, just You Tube search "Occupy K Street", if you wanted to see the scene. And, as I write this post (Thursday night), some have crashed the Chamber of Commerce holiday party and made a human red carpet. Quick aside: I love all this. I'm ready to burn 2012 vacation days to get to some of this stuff. I just think it's amazing.

This has been the best part of the Occupy movement for me. They have shown a great ability to shift and change tactics. The authorities have no idea where they will pop up. The irony is, it was simpler before these idiot mayors kicked them out of the parks. You at least knew where they were. And, that leads me into the next story.

December 6 saw different tactics, compared to the happenings in DC. They morphed into a group called "Occupy Homes." Occupy Homes literally broke into an East New York foreclosed home, that had been vacant for three years, and made it livable for a homeless family. They checked with neighbors and local lawmakers to get their support. There was a large march prior to arriving at the house. And, it all commenced with a large block party to welcome the family. This type of direct action will force the banks to take some kind of action with these homes, either taking a big loss on principal to make it attractive to resell or rent to these families. This house in particular, is valued at 378K, but Bank of America want 600K for it. As of posting, some occupiers are staying with the family in case of police raid and others, including new neighbors are on call to push back against any police response. Pretty badass. And, just search "Occupy Homes" on YouTube, if you wanted to see other vids. Tuesday was a nationwide day of action. I just happened to follow this one closely. Meet the family!

A couple more quick things and I'll let you go. I mentioned at the start, that Fox is one of the blog's pinatas. If I'm honest, they are any liberal's punching bag. This week they got caught using video from riots in Greece and tried to pass them off as Russian unrest. The video they used is complete with palm trees and at one point you see Greek lettering on a building. The building was the National Bank of Greece. You can't make this stuff up. You'd think someone would recognize it. I guess "Fox News" is officially an oxymoron now. I feel bad for any Fox viewer that now travels to Moscow looking for a beach.

- Rick Perry did an amazingly desperate campaign ad where he has come out against gays in the military. I guess he's forgotten that the country doesn't care anymore. Someone on the 'net, noticed he's wearing the same jacket as the "Brokeback Mountain" guy and produced this photo mash-up. I LOVE THE GOP. You can't script this kind of idiocy.

See you next time,

James

Week in Review: Topics: Rick Perry Confuses Voting Age, UK Public Strike, & Montreal PD Brands Protesters

Hello and thanks so much for checking in,

This week was pretty busy. There is so much to get to. We had another gaffe from our favorite Texas Governor, not named George Bush. Our buddy Herman Cain had a woman come out and disclose a 13 year affair with him. I also found out that the Montreal police use a strange, 2011 version of a tactic used in concentration camps in Nazi Germany (I might be exaggerating a bit, but you decide when you see the story).

I learned that if things went differently, we would be celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the electric car next year. We also lost a great comedian this week. And, there was a rather large general strike on Wednesday. I don't watch the mainstream news here, but I'm guessing this was just barely covered in our press or perhaps not at all. Feel free to e-mail me or comment if you saw this on our news stations to let me know either way. Ok, enough of the tease, let's get to it.

- We start in Texas. I have to be honest. I think Rick Perry has suffered brain damage sometime during his life. He's quite possibly the dumbest politician I've ever seen/heard, and that includes Bush II, Palin, Bachmann, Cain, etc. He makes Bush II look like Stephen Hawking. It's pretty scary. And, the fact that he's been in charge in Texas for about 10 years, shows that we need to let Texas secede. Mexico can have them at this point. Anyway, here he is talking about getting out the vote in New Hampshire. He tells voters, who aren't yet 21 & "can't vote", to still work for his campaign. He forgot that the voting age is 18. Maybe he's going after the drunk vote? Who knows? As a kicker, he got next year's Election Day wrong too. He says "November 12th", instead of the actual day of the 6th. So, if you follow his logic, you'd be 3 years and 6 days late to vote for him. Here's the clip: Please check it out. The look in is his eyes is priceless. It's a wonderful combination of seriousness, coupled with stupidity. Perry 2012!

- Some sad news here. I don't hide the fact that the GOP debate is my favorite show on TV. I need the comedy as well. It makes writing a breeze (see above, re: Perry). So, when yet another woman came out, to reveal an affair with Herman Cain, my heart sunk. I thought he was going to drop out. But, true to Republican stubbornness/idiocy, he has vowed to stay in (for now). We'll have a candlelight vigil going on here at Hub HQ, while Cain's status hangs in the balance. Here's the full story on the latest Cain accuser. This has led to great jokes online as well. For instance, I saw, "Cain has more sex scandals than Penn State and Syracuse combined.

"All this time, Cain has been cheating on the women he's been sexually harassing, with the woman he's having an affair with." "Cain has more women on the side than Tiger Woods." You get the idea.

- This past Wednesday saw a rather large protest in the United Kingdom. For reasons we should all be used to by now. The British Parliament are asking public sector workers to take pension cuts, wage freezes, and asking them to work longer for their pensions. The impact was felt throughout the UK. Estimates were that around 2 million people chose to strike in protest. Just under 2,100 schools, in London alone, closed for the day. 42% of the London Ambulance Service walked out, causing the service to treat mostly seriously ill patients. Flights were limited into London's Heathrow Airport in anticipation of Border patrol workers not coming in. I'm focusing on London, but massive strikes hit Glasgow, Dublin, and Edinburgh as well. Here is how it was covered by one of the few networks that do cover this stuff, Russia Today (RT). And, for the record, the pension reforms proposed by these governments are bullsh*t (pensions aren't prohibitively expensive to run or offer).

- Early this week we lost another great comedian and way too soon. His name is Patrice O'Neal and he was only 41. If you haven't seen his stuff, definitely check it out on You Tube. And, this clip is a part of his special called, "Elephant in the Room." If you like it, check "related videos" for the rest of the special. It was a classic. My favorite part of that show, is above (video 3), a must see, just a few minutes.

- On the Occupy front, there was a high profile eviction this week. The largest occupation (by number of campers), Los Angeles, was broken up this week. It was the standard overreaction (in today's new world). 1,400 cops were used to evict about 1,000 people. Multiple police choppers were used. Reporters and photographers were kept at a distance. Like, I've mentioned in past posts, we're living in a police state folks. About 200 were arrested. You can see other details, pics, and videos here. More proof of the police state: Occupy Los Angeles arrestees also had DNA swabs taken. There's no reason for this, especially with disorderly conduct/trespassing type arrests like these. Being fair, the DNA swabs have not been verified by traditional media yet. It was stated/tweeted/blogged by some of the people arrested and folks within the occupation.

However, this one has been verified. At Occupy Montreal, protesters are literally stamped with UV ink by police. The mark is to identify them, should they return to camp. This protester interviewed has said she has trouble washing off the ink. Also, UV ink has a history of health risks. So, you can decide if I was being hyperbolic about my concentration camp/ Germany comment.

- Last thing before clearing out for the week. I saw a documentary a while back called, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" I know I always say the documentaries are great. I'm either easy to impress or they're all well done. Either way, it's worth a watch. You can see it here, for free, 90 minutes long. But, long story short, it talks of how various interests conspired to make sure the electric car never stayed on the market. The culprits were the usual suspects: oil companies, politicians, car companies, even consumers. Anyway, I was surprised to find out that the technology for the electric car was available way back in 1912 (see the advertisement, right). After doing some further digging, I found that the technology even pre-dated this ad. The technology existed for the electric car back in the 1890's. So, why is it like $40,000, for a Chevy Volt? You got me.

See you next time,
James

Live Blog of the (10/18) GOP Debate!

Hello all, this is my first time doing this. I hope you all enjoy it. There’s been a minor change of plans. I’ve mangled my whole preview idea. Now, the previews of Ron Paul/Rick Perry and Mitt Romney/Rick Santorum will appear here on Thursday and Friday, respectively. So, if you’re keeping track at home, you’ve gotten (or will get) a 1/2 a preview, a review/live blog of the event, and then the other half of the preview for said event. Ugh, I’m trying. I’m just so bad with dates. I think I’m a couple of years from forgetting my own birthday. On to the debate, coming to you from Las Vegas.

8:00 PM: Occupy Las Vegas is outside the pre-show, chanting, drowning out the talking heads, the night is looking up.

8:02: Wondering how long till the first Occupy Wall Street question.

8:03: Just 7 candidates tonight, Huntsman is out (no reason given). Maybe he thought it was Thursday like I did.

8:05: Crowd gives the Magnificent Seven a standing ovation. And, they move into the National Anthem. What the hell?!?! This isn’t a football game.

8:06: No military flyover inside the auditorium

8:08: Santorum slips in a mention of his 7 children during intros. I think the kids are props (more on this in Friday’s post).

8:09: They span the crowd and Wayne Newton is in the building! He looks like a Madame Tussauds wax statue at this point, loads of makeup. Wait, there’s a Madame Tussauds in Vegas, that might be the statue.

8:12: Cain’s 9-9-9 plan gets attacked out the gate. Santorum states that it will raise taxes on 84% of the population (that’s actually true). See you Herman, it’s been fun.

8:15: Bachmann sounding like a normal human being on the 9-9-9 plan. She used to be an IRS tax attorney.

8:16: Perry drops his first letter “g” off of a word. The winning word was “fixin”. (re: the economy)

8:18 Ron Paul comes out for a 0% federal income tax rate, no word on how roads and stuff will be paid for. Maybe we can drive our cars on our freedom from taxation? Who knows, he’s old.

8:20: Romney comes out for a lower corporate income tax. He’s banking on people not knowing that 68% of corporations don’t pay them anyway.

8:22: Newt’s up and he’s for lower corporate taxes too (see above).

8:23: Bachmann is for raising taxes on the working poor, saying they should pay something. Ignoring the fact they pay state/local taxes, payroll, and sales taxes. And, it’s of course, a higher percentage of their income.

8:24: Bachmann gets the first “Obamacare” (OC) reference in tonight. It’s usually her.
 
8:26-8:29: Romney gets the 2nd OC reference in, Santorum hits back, saying that OC was based on Romney’s health care bill in Massachusetts (this is actually true). Now they’re arguing, nice. The health care bills will be addressed in Friday’s post.

8:30: Whoa, Santorum hits back with a “RomneyCare” (RC) reference and slipped an OC reference in the same sentence. Double talking point win! And, I think you have to take a shot, if you’re playing the GOP/health care drinking game at home.

8:31: Oh no! They pulled Anderson Cooper (AC) in. He just said “OC."

8:32: These things take forever to go to a commercial. Shut up guys, need a bathroom break here.

8:33: Newt and Mitt fighting. Wow, Newt slips in a “HillaryCare” (Clinton’s 90′s health care plan) reference. These f’ers have nicknames for everything.

8:34: Bachmann comes out for repeal of ObamaCare (dammit now they’ve got me saying it), crowd cheers. The Republicans want the freedom to die without health insurance.

8:35: Thank god or Ronald Reagan. Commercial!!  BRB

8:38: AC with 2 more OC references (I should have put an abbreviation guide in this). CNN really sucks. Ron Paul also joins the OC bandwagon.

8:39: Cain joins the OC bandwagon. Everyone in the pool, the water’s fine!

8:41: Perry attacks Romney on him hiring illegal immigrants for house work, more arguing, Romney dickish-ly says, “it’s been a couple of tough debates for Rick.” The best show on TV.

8:43: Romney hits back on Texas giving illegal immigrants in-state tuition rates for colleges (that’s actually true). Romney is in full rich guy, douchebag mode here.

8:45: Cain wants a 2,000 mile, electrified fence on the Texas-Mexico border, to either keep us in or the Mexicans out. But, if one these squids win, that fence will be keeping us in. It will be a reverse run for the border.

8:47: Perry wants drones to keep out the Mexicans, who will do the jobs we won’t do? He probably didn’t think it that far through.

8:49: Bachmann comes out for English as the country’s official language. That’s strange, I kinda thought it was already. Idiots applaud.

8:51: Perry tries to bring up Mitt’s illegal immigrant worker issue, crowd has moved on, boos Perry. Goodbye Rick.. I’ll be able to sleep knowing there won’t be another Texas governor in the White House for a while.

8:55: 55 minutes in, no mention of war, Wall Street, or taxes. There has been about 50 ObamaCare references and 30 references to a big fence. Priorities.

8:58: There’s been a lot of talk about Mexicans coming in, no mention of our sneaky neighbors to the North.

9:00: Ron Paul makes the first anti-war comment, took an hour, but we’re at the big stuff.

9:02: If Droopy Dog were a human, I think he would look like Ron Paul.

9:03: Rick Perry drops a George Bush-esque “nucular” (re: energy. not blowing up another country)

9:09: First Occupy Wall Street (OWS) question. Cain stands by his “lay off Wall Street” comments from a few days ago. Crowd cheers. It’s the Twilight Zone.

9:10: OWS question comes to Ron Paul, he looks like he was dozing a bit just before (he’s 76). Might be pass his bedtime. Get him some warm milk during the next commercial.

9:11 36 minutes since the last commercial. This is grueling.

9:13: Mitt dodges his flip-flop on the OWS protests, true to form (will be addressed in Friday’s post)
9:14: Lord Ronald Reagan (I’m figuring this is who Repubs pray to) has blessed me with another commercial break.

9:21: Newt’s going on about morality and faith. I think he should wear multiple wedding rings, like the “Big Love” guy.

9:28: Another question to Ron Paul, looks as though it wakes him up. But, he does speak about military cuts, ending wars, etc (will be addressed Thursday, I’m with him on this)

9:32: Santorum doesn’t want to cut “one penny” from defense. Time for facts: The US spends more than the other top 20 countries, in military spending, combined. So, you could probably find a few pennies.

9:34: Question from the audience: person wants a stop to all foreign aid. More facts, foreign aid is about 1.5% of the budget, defense is about 15%. So, we can cut foreign aid, but not one penny from defense, seems reasonable.

9:35-9:45: More bickering, another commercial, blah, blah, blah, Obamacare, low taxes, blah, blah, Romneycare…I’m getting tired. It’s all starting to sound the same.

9:52: Another standing ovation. Who knows why? Maybe they’re just happy its over.
No clear winner tonight. Clear loser: the American people

See you soon,
James

Beginner’s Guide to the GOP Debate, Part III, Paul/Perry

Hello and thanks for checking in on Part III of the GOP Debate preview. I can’t believe you came back after hearing about the first 4 candidates. I have a hunch today’s post might go long. Both of these guys, are from Texas, so they have a base level of craziness, not known to the residents of the other 49 states. Now, that I think about it, I should have called this post the “Texas Two-Step“. Damn you hindsight! Anyway, let’s get to it.

Ron Paul:

He’s the Congressman for the 14th District of Texas. He is in the John McCain-zone (in age). Paul will be 77 by the 2012 election. He prides himself on being the ultimate libertarian. Paul does not want you, corporations, or himself burdened with rules and  regulations. Quick aside on the GOP, I could never figure how they campaign on hating government, but we should vote them into the highest office?
He is at least consistent, which most of them aren’t. And, for that, I hope he stays in the race a little longer. He wants all drugs legalized, which I’m for (I’m not a user). I’m going to go into that in a separate post. Here he is asking a debate crowd, if they would buy heroin if it was legal. Paul is an isolationist when it comes to our dealings with other countries. Because of that, he hates our wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, drone strikes in Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, “humanitarian” stuff in Libya, and the troops sent into a few Central African countries last week. I think that was all of them. You need an abacus to count US wars/occupations/humanitarian missions these days, it’s tough to keep track. For those 2 reasons, I hope he hangs in there and makes the others answer questions on these issues.

Another quick aside on libertarianism, it sounds great in principle. But, it falls apart when applied to any real life situation. Paul thinks the government shouldn’t do anything about regulating health care, the energy companies, or the financial world (and all other companies/industries). He says let the free market handle it. I can’t remember anything going wrong with any of those industries. Oh wait, there’s the fact that 47,000 people die each year because of lack of health care. BP blew up the Gulf of Mexico, to the point where you can still get “Unleaded Shrimp” in New Orleans restaurants. And, the banks blew up the world economy in 2008. Like I said, it falls apart pretty quickly in practice. Paul has other stuff like “Ending the Federal Reserve” and going back to the “Gold Standard” for our money supply. It’s too long to explain those and it would never happen anyway. Onto another crazy Texan.
Rick Perry:

Wish I was clever enough to think of this line (courtesy of www.progressive.org):

“Rick Perry is the candidate for those of you who could never cozy up to George Bush due to his flagrant intellectual elitism.”

Not just one person had this thought about Perry either. Politico posted this article in August, asking, “Is Rick Perry Dumb?” Probably not the best start if you want to be President. He shot a coyote with a laser-sighted pistol while jogging. Why does he have a pistol on a jog? C’mon, this is Part III of the preview. You know not to ask logical questions by now.
On a serious note, he’s basically a murderer. He has presided over 234 death penalty executions. One of which, included a man named Cameron Todd Willingham. We now know for certain that Mr. Willingham was innocent. Perry received new evidence that put Willingham’s guilt in doubt, refused a stay of execution, and even prevented him from being ruled innocent after his execution. Another man, Anthony Graves, was sprung from Death Row after being proven innocent and shortly before an execution order was signed. All info about Willingham, Graves, and their situation is detailed in the embedded link above.

He called Social Security and Medicare unconstitutional. Again, who knows why? And, he’s also said that God crashed the economy to get us back to biblical principles. Um, ok. You usually see God blamed for hurricanes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, etc. But, this is first time I’ve seen God called out on his economic policy. Every time you think the GOP hits a new low, someone comes by with a bigger shovel.

On top of all this, he doesn’t want Texas to be a part of the US. He’s called multiple times for Texas to secede from the US and become their own republic. This part I love. I say let them go. The NFL can claim to be an “International League”, thanks to the Cowboys and Texans. You can get a stamp in your passport for going to Houston. Texas money would probably have oil rigs, ten-gallon hats, laser-sighted pistols and coyotes on it. Win, win and another win. Let’s start-up the paperwork.
And, some proof that Perry is not the brightest of guys. Behold this video from a GOP Debate in September. He’s so bad, it has subtitles. Reminder, he speaks English. It’s Texas English, but still. We shouldn’t need subtitles.

I immediately thought of this young lady, after hearing Perry, behold another gem:

Two more things, unrelated to the debates. I’m thinking of starting a new blog section called, “Wouldn’t It Be Easier to Just Raise Taxes?” It will just be quick hits of horrible stuff going on around the country. A Pennsylvania District is starting to sell ads in its schools to make up for budget shortfalls. I think the next step is to put henna tattoos of company logos on the kids. Do people still use that stuff? Henna might have lost its word status by now. It hasn’t been used in so long. Can someone check a dictionary and let me know if it’s still in there?

Last thing, I wanted to post this because it doesn’t get too much play over in the States. It’s a video from yesterday’s riots in Greece. For those that don’t know, the citizens are being forced to take on a harsh austerity program of massive salary/pension cuts, coupled with tax hikes, and across the board cuts to other social services. The full story of Greece is too long to detail now, it’s worthy of a book by itself. And, I’m sure many people are writing this story. Needless to say they are not taking the cuts in stride. They fought with cops/riot police, set things on fire, looted businesses, etc. To top it all of, today (Thursday) is Day 2 of a general strike. The strike shut the airport and all public transportation down. Trash collectors have not picked up garbage in 17 days, so trash bags line the streets. Here’s a pretty amazing video of the scene in Athens. If you haven’t yet made it to see the Acropolis, you should probably take it off your bucket list. Things will be horrible in the cradle of democracy for a long time.

I think we should call it there. And, I’m getting the tingling in my fingertips again. Which means, this post is getting too long. I’m trying guys. I could have gone longer on Ron Paul’s wacky thoughts, Perry on gay marriage, Perry’s ties to the Evangelical fringe, his threats to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, etc.


See you next time for Part IV (you guys like the Roman numerals?). I’m trying to class this blog up). Final preview is Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.

See you next time,
James

The Endless Reach Of Inequality

 Hello to all and thanks for checking in.

I know I tell you that every post will be incredibly interesting and a must read. I was lying all of those other times. But, today's post, is truly a must-see/ read. Before we get started, I should mention that this post is sponsored by Prozac. This will be a rough one. I regularly read about income inequality in this country (and others). During the week, I stumbled upon research from 2 professors, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. Their research appeared within a book called "The Spirit Level." I haven't had an opportunity to read it yet. I have read 5 reviews and synopses that sum up their findings and it's pretty stunning. You can see those 5 reviews here (about 10 pages, 2 pages per review, so not too long). They even went into looking at the USA more closely on a state by state level to see if data held up. That's coming up at the end. Pretty surprising as well.

The thesis of their book is that income inequality is the single root cause of every social problem in developed counties. This includes: reduced life expectancy, child mortality, drugs, crime, homicide rates, mental illness and obesity. When you take a look at this chart (click the pic for a larger version), you see that the US has the worse rating for inequality. We also have the highest percentage of people with any mental illness. They argued that even the rich are harmed in countries where the inequality is high. It is something that filters into all income levels. For instance, they state that in a unequal society, the rich have more of a fear of the poor. Those lower down on the income scale even experience status anxiety. (Quick aside, there was a separate study done on something called "Last Place Aversion" that goes to this idea of status anxiety, and deserves a separate post. Stay tuned for that.)

In this state of status anxiety, they have a bitterness towards the more successful and look upon themselves with a degree of shame. Wilkinson and Pickett even look at this biologically/ scientifically, showing that inequality increases stress across all of society. Apparently, there has been detailed research done on the stress hormone cortisol. Basically, this increased level of cortisol from stress affects the neural system and then the immune system. And, when stressed, we are more likely to be depressed, anxious, and are opened up to so many other ailments. Like I said, it's really interesting. I can not do it justice here. If you get the chance, check out the link I embedded, with the 5 reviews, or even the book.

But, here are some quick stats I saw within the reviews that jumped out at me. The findings included:

- In England, (2nd worse, in the chart above) in 2005, doctors wrote 29 million prescriptions for antidepressants, costing 400 million GBP (about 600 Million US Dollars today). England has a population of around 55 million people.

- In general, rates of mental illness are five times higher across the whole population in the most unequal societies, compared to more equal ones.

- Citizens in America live 4.5 years less than their counterparts in Japan. - Obesity is twice as common in the UK as in the more equal societies of Sweden and Norway.

 - Teenage birth rates are 6 times higher in the UK, compared to more equal societies.

- Mental illness is 3 times more common in the USA over Japan. And, murder rates are also 3 times higher when you compare equal and unequal societies.

The list goes on and on. Wilkinson and Pickett did a wonderful job digging so much deeper into the data. They wondered if the numbers held if you mined the data within a homogeneous culture (like within the US states). At the state level, within the United States, the findings were similar. American states with large income inequality are likelier to keep the death penalty. They are also more likely to hand out long sentences for minor crimes. For instance, California (pretty high up on the income inequality measure) in 2004, had 360 people serving life sentences for shoplifting. In what world does this make sense? In Japan, a small percentage of their citizens are jailed. They also express more of a desire to reform the offender. Since 1984, California has built one new college and 21 new prisons. And, if you take a close look at the chart above, you see the poorest states in the country (LA, MS, TX, AL) ranking the highest in inequality and social problems as well. So, their thesis held up when looking within a single country. And, a few of these states are pretty hawkish on the death penalty as well, namely Texas. Texas has executed 234 people while Rick Perry has been Governor alone (since December 2000). To put that number into context, California has used the death penalty just 13 times since 1976.

Tangent time! Here is a 1.5 million dollar limousine. Here are it's other details/ specs. You're probably wondering what does it have to do with this post. In a strange way, it does fit. When you look at the specs of the limousine, you see the stress some folks might experience (in an unequal society). This limo can withstand gunshots for 24 hrs consecutively (what?!?), protects against bomb blasts, has night vision cameras, an emergency oxygen survival system and a lot more. I do understand that it is for rich folks living in some really rough places. But, in those rough places, inequality does rule. If you need a car that can take gunshots for a day, you're probably somewhat stressed yourself. Here is the Gini Coefficient . It measures a country's inequality. Take a look at the list. The higher the number, the worse the inequality. When you see the worse-ranked countries, you'll think, "yup, that's a place where you need a bomb-proof limo." We'll leave it there for today.

See you next time,

James