Remember, Remember the 5th (and 6th) of November/ Mr. T. Doppelganger Edition

Happy Monday to all and thanks for checking in,

It was a pretty big weekend in this country. Before we dig in, a quick explanation on today’s title. “Remember, Remember the 5th of  November” is a line taken from an old poem on the Gunpowder Plot. I know, you’re wondering what the hell is the Gunpowder Plot. It is the name given to the attempt by Guy Fawkes to blow up the Houses of Parliament, in London, back in 1605. I know, you’re wondering who the hell is Guy Fawkes. Well, he’s the guy on the right and he inspired the famous mask you see on the left. Because, he tried to blow up the English equivalent of our Capitol building, his name became synonymous with anarchy, terrorism, social unrest, etc. He is still celebrated in England, till this day. They call it “Bonfire Night” now and firework shows are put on, throughout England. In honor of Guy Fawkes Day/ Bonfire Night, “Bank Transfer Day” was November 5th here in the States. From early reports, the idea is a great success. Numbers from the 5th itself are still rolling in but 650,000 thousand moved their money to smaller Credit Union/ Community banks in October alone (myself included). The total of funds moved were in the neighborhood of 4.5 Billion dollars. And, 80,000 people committed to moving their money specifically on Nov. 5th, on the “Bank Transfer Day” Facebook page. Here’s hoping the action wakes up politicians and banks alike. Just before Nov. 5th, Bank of America backed off their idea to charge $5 per month for having a debit card. We shall see what else happens from here, but an amazing start nonetheless. If you were curious of the full “Remember, Remember” poem, here it is:

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot…

I know what else you’re wondering, what the hell happened on the 6th? I knew you’d say that. The 6th was pretty awesome here in the States. There was a massive protest outside the White House on the 6th. The reason was something called “Keystone XL.” I don’t think I ever mentioned Keystone XL (KXL)  in the blog, but please get acquainted with it. KXL would transport what’s called “tar sand” oil from Canada all the way through the US, down to Texas, for shipment to the world market. Why is this bad? The Tar Sands in Alberta produce more than 8 times the carbon pollution as oil from Saudi Arabia. And, annual CO2 emissions are more than that of 145 nations. No sh*t. It’s insane, right?

Scientists from NASA are saying that it is basically game over for the climate as we know it, if this CO2 is released into the atmosphere. The tar sands oil is much dirtier than that of the Middle East. If I go into depth on that, you’ll be reading this post till Nov. 5th, 2012.  But, trust me this isn’t the stuff we get from our traditional oil suppliers. In addition, the pipeline would pass through water aquifers in the country’s heartland. Any spills could contaminate the water sources for millions of people. Basically, there is no way this is worth the risk.

Why this is a part of great weekend around this country, is because people have stood up to this in an amazing way. Prior to 11/6 (over one week in September), about 1,200 people were arrested outside of the White House protesting KXL. Why outside the White House? I just realized, I’m asking myself a bunch of questions in this post. Anyway, since this pipeline would cross an international border, it has to be approved by the President (Congress is not needed for this). So, it’s a major test for Obama and one he can’t farm this out to an ineffective Congress, crazy Republicans, etc. On Nov. 6th, over 12,000 people returned to the White House (see above, right) and locked hands and lined up around it, to show their feelings about this project. At the time of posting this, over 28,000 have signed a petition registering their displeasure. Our friends in England are protesting in their own way as well. They’ve created a small replica of the White House and are encircling that. Our neighbors to the north got involved in a spectacular way, dropping a 70ft banner from Niagara Falls (complete with 2 people repelling down into the Falls). It was done in the pre-dawn hours to avoid authorities.
Best quote I saw from a DC protestor:

“We’re still willing to consider the notion that Barack Obama is who he said he was.”

Damn, they are not fooling around with Obama anymore. The love affair is over, no great speech will get him out of this.

So, as you can see, it was an amazing Nov 5th and 6th around the country and the world for that matter. It seems that the world has awakened and are not sitting idly by as these things happen. If you read this blog regularly, you know I love this stuff. I think it’s needed and overdue.

Ok, so those were two heavy stories. I say we have a laugh before we get out of here. I mentioned in my intro post to the blog, that I’m a bit of a soccer nut. I noticed this over the weekend, while watching a match. His name is Kemy Augustien. I had to pause the match and take a pic of him. It was just that awesome. He’s a Dutch footballer from a team called in Swansea City in the English Premier League. If you were paying attention to this title, you already know that I think he’s looks a lot like Mr. T (minus the gold).

Here’s an amorphous thought on Mr.T. Did he hold onto all of his A-Team gold? Gold is over $1,700 per ounce now. Look at this pic, he must have a few million bucks around his neck (at today’s prices), god knows how much around his wrists and on his fingers. If he held on to all of this gold, he would make Glenn Beck proud.
(Thought within a thought, take a look at Mr. T’s chain where the picture cuts off. He even has the “Star of David” in gold form. No one can accuse him of being an Anti-Semite.)

Sorry about that, back to your regularly scheduled post.

You be the judge on their similarities (between Mr. T and Kemy Augustien). My best guess is that Kemy lost a bet on the hair.

We’ll leave it there for today.

See you soon,

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