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Sorry, Census. Poverty Really Did Increase in 2009.

January 20, 2011 By Shawn Fremstad

Between 2008 and 2009, unemployment increased from 5.8 percent to 9.3 percent, the largest one-year increase on record (which goes back to 1948). Over the same period, the number of Americans without health insurance coverage rose by more than four million — from 46.3 million in 2008 to 50.7 million in 2009 — and low-income people lost insurance at a greater rate than Americans overall. Thus, it isn’t surprising that the Census Bureau’s official poverty estimates show that the number of people who were impoverished in 2009 increased by 3.74 million, and the poverty rate increased from 13.2 percent in 2008 to 14.3 percent in 2009.

More surprising is an “alternative” poverty estimate Census quietly released earlier this month. This estimate, highlighted [Wednesday] in a New York Times editorial, shows no increase in poverty between 2008 and 2009. Given the record increase in unemployment and huge decline in health insurance coverage, especially among low-income people, could this alternative estimate showing no increase in poverty really be correct? [See CEPR.net]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Bruce Reed Appointed Biden Chief of Staff Today

January 14, 2011 By Alice OConnor

In light of his prominent role in deficit reduction and the ‘end of welfare’ in the 1990s, Reed’s appointment sends a clear — and troubling — signal about the administration’s domestic policy priorities in the years ahead.

Alice O’Connor is author of Poverty Knowledge: Social Science, Social Policy and the Poor in Twentieth Century U.S. History and professor of history at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Filed Under: The U.S. Economy Tagged With: deficit, welfare

A Statement from Former Prisoner Omar Deghayes on the 9th Anniversary of the Opening of Guantánamo

January 13, 2011 By editor

Two years ago, President Barack Obama pledged to bring an end to the anomaly that is Guantánamo within a year, and to thereby restore America’s moral standing in the world. Yet today, on January 11, 2011, we are marking the beginning of the tenth year since the first prisoners were transferred to Camp X Ray — and Guantánamo remains open, Obama’s promise in ruins.

This past December 19th just marked three years to the day that I tasted freedom again and was released from Guantánamo to the warm embrace of my family and the community who fought so hard for my freedom. But not a day has passed since in which my thoughts and prayers have not remained with the 173 men who continue to languish in Guantánamo, detained without trial, most of them not facing any charge, and entering their tenth year of being separated from their loved ones. 90 of these men have actually been cleared for release long ago. [See full statement at andyworthington.co.uk]

Filed Under: War: Info, Analysis, Policy Options Tagged With: Guantánamo, torture

The Referendum in Sudan

January 7, 2011 By James Jennings

KHARTOUM, Sudan — Just days before the historic referendum on southern independence Khartoum is experiencing temperate weather and what may turn out to be a deceptive calm. In fact, everybody is either worried or excited, depending on their circumstances. Southerners are resolute that they will not accept second class citizenship in their own country, otherwise, what was the long and horrific civil war fought for? Most, but not all of the people in the north feel that a part of their patrimony is being ripped away, and refuse to yield on the dominant theme of an Islamic Arab identity, otherwise, what was the 22-year long war fought for? [Read more...]

Filed Under: War: Info, Analysis, Policy Options Tagged With: partition, Sudan

The End of New Deal Liberalism

January 5, 2011 By William Greider

We have reached a pivotal moment in government and politics, and it feels like the last, groaning spasms of New Deal liberalism. When the party of activist government, faced with an epic crisis, will not use government’s extensive powers to reverse the economic disorders and heal deepening social deterioration, then it must be the end of the line for the governing ideology inherited from Roosevelt, Truman and Johnson.

Political events of the past two years have delivered a more profound and devastating message: American democracy has been conclusively conquered by American capitalism. Government has been disabled or captured by the formidable powers of private enterprise and concentrated wealth. Self-governing rights that representative democracy conferred on citizens are now usurped by the overbearing demands of corporate and financial interests. Collectively, the corporate sector has its arms around both political parties, the financing of political careers, the production of the policy agendas and propaganda of influential think tanks, and control of most major media. [Full piece in The Nation.]

Filed Under: The U.S. Economy

Chomsky’s initial reaction to WikiLeaks’ latest

November 28, 2010 By Noam Chomsky

I took a quick look at ["U.S. embassy cables: Hillary Clinton woos prickly Egyptians"]. It’s interesting that Israel does not appear, only Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon. I found only one entry of any interest, in US Embassy to Clinton: “Soliman brokered a half-year-long truce last year, which Hamas broke in December, leading to the Israeli invasion of Gaza.”

It’s next to inconceivable that the Embassy didn’t know that Israel broke the truce in November, that Hamas was calling for it to be reinstated, and that Israel rejected the offer – almost certainly because Israel (and the US) preferred bombing to ending the rocket threat. Israel of course officially concedes that until they invaded Gaza on Nov. 4, there was not one Hamas rocket (even though Israel violated the truce agreement from day 1, refusing to end the siege). One interesting question is whether they are flat lying, or are getting their information about the world from the NY Times. The latter would not surprise me. [Read more...]

Filed Under: War: Info, Analysis, Policy Options Tagged With: Chomsky, democracy, Israel, Lebanon, Palestinian

The Katharine Gun Case

February 25, 2004 By editor

Katharine Gun, a British former government employee, faced two years imprisonment in England for the “crime” of telling the truth. She was charged with leaking an embarrassing U.S. intelligence memo indicating that the U.S. had mounted a spying “surge” against U.N. delegations in early 2003 in an effort to win approval of the Iraq war resolution. The leaked memo was big news in parts of the world.

England has no First Amendment that might have protected Ms. Gun. It does have a repressive Official Secrets Act, under which she was being prosecuted by the Blair government.

Background on the Gun case is provided below: [Read more...]

Filed Under: War: Info, Analysis, Policy Options

Bush and Blair: A Partnership of Deception

July 21, 2003 By editor

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is back in Britain now facing an ever-widening scandal involving the distortion of evidence on Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, but his recent trip to meet with President Bush underscores the partnership the two leaders have shared as both face growing evidence that they knowingly used faulty intelligence to promote their case for war with Iraq. [Read more...]

Filed Under: War: Info, Analysis, Policy Options

Bush in Africa: “A Cruel Hoax”?

July 16, 2003 By editor

President Bush’s recent tour of Africa to tout his $15 billion pledge to fight the continent’s AIDS epidemic and promote trade was met with skepticism by critics who charged that his administration is attempting to mask regressive policies with staged public relations events.

Bush’s trip to Africa appears to represent, more than anything else, an opportunity to present a photo-op for the upcoming November 2004 elections,” said Bill Fletcher, president of TransAfrica Forum.

Salih Booker, executive director of Africa Action, called Bush’s commitment to fighting AIDS in Africa “a cruel hoax,” adding that Bush “has virtually sidestepped the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, thus undermining the most important vehicle in the war on AIDS.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Resources on Trade, World Bank & IMF

Responses to Bush’s 2003 State of the Union Address

January 30, 2003 By editor

Mr. Speaker, Vice President Cheney, members of Congress, distinguished citizens and fellow citizens, every year, by law and by custom, we meet here to consider the state of the union. This year, we gather in this chamber deeply aware of decisive days that lie ahead.

You and I serve our country in a time of great consequence. During this session of Congress, we have the duty to reform domestic programs vital to our country, we have the opportunity to save millions of lives abroad from a terrible disease. We will work for a prosperity that is broadly shared, and we will answer every danger and every enemy that threatens the American people. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Electoral Issues, Resources on Trade, World Bank & IMF, The U.S. Economy, War: Info, Analysis, Policy Options