July 29, 2014

It’s time to start making mass transit free!

Though it might seem counterintuitive, city governments have much to gain by letting riders off the hook
Henry Grabar ~ Sunday, Jul 27, 2014 08:00 AM CST

In March, when a cloud of particle pollution settled across Western Europe, Paris took a radical approach. The Ile-de-France region introduced alternate driving days (odd-number plates one day; evens the next) and eliminated fares on local trams, buses, trains and subways.

Traffic dropped by nearly 20 percent in Paris; congestion on the Périphérique ring road fell by 30 percent at rush hour; large-particle pollution fell by 6 percent. Measured by the impact on the roadways, the emergency measures worked as intended.

< snip >

And yet, Paris would have been a valuable case study. The consequences of eliminating transit fares remain surprisingly obscure. Can a fare-free policy transform a regional transportation picture? Can it pay for itself? Or is it merely a publicity gimmick that inflicts needless financial woes on local transit agencies?

Many people reject the idea out of hand, saying free rides are a problem, not a solution. But “free” transit, of course, is only as free as public libraries, parks and highways, which is to say that the financial burden is merely transferred from individual riders to a municipal general fund, a sales tax or local businesses and property owners. A free ride policy represents the culmination of a long shift from thinking of transit as a business sector — one that was quite profitable in its heyday — to considering it an indispensable public service ...

More here: http://www.salon.com/2014/07/27/listen_up_america_its_time_to_starting_making_mass_transit_free/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

July 29, 2014

Small farms, big problems: Labor crisis goes ignored in idyllic setting

Small farms, big problems: Labor crisis goes ignored in idyllic setting

Despite their nostalgic image, the reality of small farms is much more troubling, say workers and advocates
July 29, 2014 5:00AM ET
by Peter Moskowitz

< snip >

As Americans have latched onto a particular idea of agriculture as morally ideal – small, often organic-certified farms transporting veggies, humanely raised meats and antibiotic-free dairy short distances to farmers markets and ethically focused grocery stores like Whole Foods, farm workers and activists say a crucial link in the food chain has gone largely ignored by those who may consider themselves conscious consumers: labor.

With the image of the small farms becoming ever more present in the collective conscience of an increasingly food-aware nation, farm laborers and activists say now it’s more important than ever to set the record straight, and highlight the fact that even in the most quaint of settings, labor abuse is still rampant.

In central and western New York, where farm workers are often undocumented and speak limited English, working on farms small enough to avoid the scrutiny of U.S. labor regulators, data is lacking on just how rampant abuses are. But workers and the activists that represent them say that minimum wage violations, verbal abuse, long hours, unsafe working conditions and even physical attacks on workers are commonplace. And they say the problem is growing, especially on small dairy farms as the dairy industry in New York booms thanks to the country’s newfound fondness for Greek-style yogurt ...

More here: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/7/29/small-farms-labor.html

July 28, 2014

#Border Children

July 28, 2014

How would you feel?

Posted by David Swanson on Facebook - I think it is from Occupy originally.

July 28, 2014

Protests in the Philippines

CEBU CITY—At least 18,00 protesters poured into the streets in various places in the Visayas on Monday in one of the biggest protests held in the region in recent years in conjunction with the annual State of the Nation Address.

Church and religious groups, vendors and businessmen marched with students, government employees, farmers, workers and informal settlers decrying corruption in government and demanding affordable and adequate social services.

They included 7,500 in Iloilo, 7,000 in Capiz, 2,000 in Aklan, 1,000 in Bacolod City in Negros Occidental and 500 in Cebu.

Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/624335/thousands-hold-protests-in-visayas#ixzz38lMCIuhw

More details from the resistance here:

Martinez said that the latest development on the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) is “the last straw” for Filipino migrants and their families. “Filipinos around the world want BS Aquino out. We do not want him to stay until 2016. He can resign, be impeached or ousted.”

Martinez said that it is unjustifiable and unforgivable how Aquino and his cohorts squandered P177 billion in DAP while scrimping on funds for Filipino migrants in distress and their families. “DAP is not savings. DAP is not good. DAP was not done in good faith. DAP did not produce good results. What BS Aquino did through DAP was to pull in millions of pesos into a huge sum of presidential pork. DAP was used for bribery, patronage politics and to consolidate BS Aquino’s clique in government.”

source: http://migranteinternational.org/

July 26, 2014

Taking their marching orders from Washington -

Obama summit with Central American leaders plans “massive” deportation of immigrants
By Patrick Martin
26 July 2014

President Obama met Friday at the White House with the presidents of three Central American countries, Juan Orlando Hernández of Honduras, Otto Pérez Molina of Guatemala and Salvador Sánchez Cerén of El Salvador, to discuss the political crisis in the US over the arrival of tens of thousands of immigrant children at the US-Mexico border. Three quarters of the children are from the three Central American countries, with the remainder from Mexico itself.

Pérez Molina said that US officials had told him to prepare for mass deportations in the coming months. Several flights have already brought dozens of mothers and children back from the US to Guatemala, and the flights would be greatly expanded in September, with what the Post called “a larger wave of unaccompanied minors.”

Hernández echoed this comment, telling Time magazine that he received a similar warning from US officials about a big wave of deportations. “They have said they want to send them on a massive scale,” he said.

Much more here: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/07/26/imm1-j26.html

July 26, 2014

Nationalism - an Infantile Disease (Einstein)

July 25, 2014

Peru Passes a Packet of Neoliberal Reforms

Peru Passes a Packet of Neoliberal Reforms, Erodes Environmental Protections and Labor Rights
Written by Lynda Sullivan ~ Friday, 25 July 2014 13:52

The Peruvian Congress approved a packet of laws on July 3 which critics say subjects the country to neoliberal reforms that threaten to undermine environmental and labor protections and is a gift to the extractive industry.

The Minister of Economy and Finance Luis Miguel Castilla first presented to Congress on this packet of laws on June 25 in order for them to be debated and approved. This has led to an outcry by civil society, as many have compared this law bundle to the neoliberal 'paquetazos' of the 1980s and 90s by the previous governments of Alan Garcia and Alberto Fujimori governments. President Ollanta Humala rejects this criticism.

The term ‘paquetazo’ refers to a large bundle of laws supposedly aimed at reinvigorating the economy. In the days of the Garcia and Fujimori governments, the introduction of these paquetazos usually lead to hyperinflation, currency devaluation, extreme price hikes, and an increase in social conflicts and police repression. President Humala’s current attempt to reinvigorate the economy centers round removing any obstacles for investing companies (mainly in the extractive industries), which critics say will irreversibly damage the environment and fuel more social unrest ...

More here: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/peru-archives-76/4956-peru-passes-a-packet-of-neoliberal-reforms-erodes-environmental-protections-and-labor-rights

July 25, 2014

"I'm stuck in an institutional trap."

You're not the only one, brother.

I think I've probably posted from "Humans of New York" previously. You can find it here: http://www.humansofnewyork.com/. Just in case he comes upon this post at some point I'd like to give kudos to Brandon for a job very well done. Humanizing people is the first step in understanding the concept of "other".

About
New York City, one story at a time.
Instagram / Twitter: @humansofny
The HONY Book: http://amzn.to/10sbtW5
Description
Hey there. My name is Brandon and I began Humans of New York in the summer of 2010, shortly after leaving my job in Finance. (OK, I actually got fired.) I started HONY because I thought it would be really cool to create an exhaustive catalogue of New York City's inhabitants, so I set out to photograph 10,000 New Yorkers and plot their photos on a map. Somewhere along the way, I began to interview my subjects in addition to photographing them. And alongside their portraits, I'd include quotes and short stories from their lives.

Taken together, these portraits and captions became the subject of a vibrant blog. HONY now has over six million followers on social media, and provides a worldwide audience with daily glimpses into the lives of strangers on the streets of New York City.

July 25, 2014

Federal regulators complicit in gouging customers -

Despite obscene profits from monopoly power, government officials ignore evidence and squash challenges
July 25, 2014 6:00AM ET ~ by David Cay Johnston @DavidCayJ

The profit margins that federal regulators set for utilities should be decreasing, given the long downward drift of interest rates and the shrinking cost of capital.

Bizarrely, the opposite is happening: Utilities are raking in stunning profits at the expense of consumers.

Now the first in a raft of cases asserting that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is letting utilities gouge customers by setting egregiously high rates of return may finally get a hearing.

The commissioners

Since utilities are legal monopolies with no market to discipline their pricing, only the vigilance of regulators stops them from causing irreparable economic harm by stifling growth, draining wealth from customers and distorting investment. Court rulings say FERC commissioners must “guard the consumer against excessive rates.” ...

Much more here - http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/7/energy-utilitiesregulationspricesconsumersprotection.html