No Bargin for Old Men

The chant of the 99% is simply saying "we are the 99%". Thanks to the efforts of the occupiers the most important issue in American politics is economic inequality. What is it that has driven our economy to this simple catastrophe? Corporate greed. Taking a page from history; the great crash of 1929 was part and parcel to the accumulation of record profits by large corporate interests. This eventually led to the great depression. The means by this is very simple. The erosion of worker pay has declined so steeply that people cant afford to buy like they used to. The value of the worker was diminished and the people of America got sold out.
          In our current times the bubble burst but a double whammy hit us this time. Housing and job sectors of the economy crashed. Investments and financing took a dive and the stock market crashed. Ultimately the people who loose out are the working class. The wealthy get more rich just as they did in the 20s. It keeps going on and the wealthy refuse to budge because they simply don't have to. The political gridlock in Washington seems to have the roots in this fact.
     The article delves into the idea of restoring this pact with America. That we are a nation of families and people come first. The author gives the example of Henry Ford when he gave his workers $5 a day which the Wall Street Journal called at the time an "economic crime". He knew his workers would now become customers for his model T. The economy is for the people. Its that simple.
         The simplicity has been eye opening for me. The greed of capitalism could perhaps have been slowed by temperance but its not a quality as we know it of a capitalist system. This then is a good case for rethinking the American Economy. Rebuild infrastructure and put the America back to work.
     While the rhetoric may seem like a rally cry from the left, the author is just making a simple point about economics and history. Not once were Republican or Democrat mentioned. The author took aim at politicians with collective failures.

Global Economic Swat Teams

The Syrian regime has recently been hit with a group of sanctions that will as its crafters hope begin to turn the business elite against the regime. The sanctions are not designed to effect the people of Syria in their access to basic needs but they do limit the mobility of general Assad's government and its broader economic activity in regard to luxury items and foreign investment. Economic sanctions are the usual first step in international actions against a country who is seen to be in violation of international law. The recent bloody crack down of Syrian protesters calling for government reform has left 4500 dead and many more wounded.
      The Syrian government calls the measures a declaration of "economic war". When looking to our need to reassess the monetary system and its functions it is interesting to see the way foreign policy of our country is exercised through economic avenues. In a rare veto Russia and China have opposed sanctions in the past for Syria as they are close trading partners. Also, Iraq and Lebanon are also expected to disregard the sanctions as their economies are so closely linked. It seems interesting to me in regard to foreign policy that the economy takes center stage but the curtains are drawn. With the direct violation of human rights and gross abuses of power it would seem any thinking person would condemn such atrocities. I suppose its how these folks get away with this stuff in the first place.
       The information is presented with multiple views from various countries and a bit of history about the nature of the Arab League as it has never placed sanction against a member state before. I would have liked to have seen more divers opinions about the sanction like what the people of Syria say in particular. But I guess that is what we are all waiting for. The people to speak.

Freedom Has Boundries

Myanmar is a country of great interest this week as secretary of State Clinton embarks on what could be an uncertain engagement with a volatile "democracy". In quotations democracy is kept because the very foundations of the country is in question not just due to its military rulers but the very nature of laws passed to "protect" the citizens that actually cripple, weaken, or outright ignore the democratic process of freedom of speech and assembly. I would say the country is in more of an exploratory phase of democracy, or shallow democracy in order to participate on the world financial stage. The jailing of opposition leaders like aung Suu Kyi is a telling example of the limit that the people have in myanmar to speak out.
    The article here describes the implementation of law to directly stifle protest and the ability of peaceful assembly by citizens. The picture drawn by the author who was in the protests broken up by police forces has a direct interest of seeing the tides of democracy come to his country. These laws are a direct violation of Myanmars own constitution and international norms of democracy. To make illegal the images of political parties and give the police free unregulated reign over protesters is not what democracy looks like. This is an issue the international community must address as this deals directly with human rights, peace, and security issues. Though there has been some progress in this direction many more steps should be taken to ensure a freer Myanmar.
     This article gave me a look into the nature of the conflict in Myanmar that I was less aware of. I am not even sure what to call the country: Myanmar or Burma. I still need some more research on this whole topic. The information was presented in a well researched and fact based nature. The author is a law degree so the content is very much a product of this lens the author holds.

Sanitizing the Movement

This is a late night belligerent article of protest to the eviction of Occipy Wall st protesters from Zuccotti Park. Around midnight on the 15th NYPD forces moved in to "clean out" the now infamous Zuccotti Park in an effort to improve "sanitation". Tents, generators, sleeping gear, were removed by police and disposed of in truck bed dumpsters brought in to remove the regalia. Protesters were tear gassed, beaten, and arrested to clear the park. Women, children, college student, elderly, the unemployed all evicted from their home of hope and change.

This is a serious representation of the actions taken against a peaceful people demonstrating their basic freedoms. 1st amendment rights to peaceful protest. Peace and Human Security is of direct concern in this article. Instead of the author hi-lighting the actions of the movement he seems to be venting his frustration more than anything. With good cause I would add. The article is writen from the writers perspectives following twitter and the news. So the sources were varied but the angle of the article was very personal and perhaps lacked multiple views of the eviction.

The ideals that our country is founded on have seemed to have been lost to such a degree that our institutions no longer can serve the needs of the majority of the population. Instead of removing the OWLS(occupy wall st protesters) they should be insuring their safety and protecting and defending their freedoms. Perhaps this is the most direct testament to the nature of what the protesters are up against.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/guy-horton/the-death-of-occupy-wall-_b_1094358.html