The Worldwide Recession & Austerity has led to Global Unemployment & Civil Unrest
By louisehartmann
The United States isn’t the only nation dealing with chronic unemployment – the rest of the world is too! A new report by the World Bank says that the global economy needs to create 200 million jobs to recover from the worldwide recession and reach full employment. Twenty-seven million jobs were lost around the world when the economy went in the tank in 2008 – and subsequent job growth hasn’t been nearly strong enough to keep up with the 40 million new people who enter the workforce every single year.
Austerity measures in several European nations from Greece to Spain to the U.K. have crippled economies and mobilized working people into the streets. Major demonstrations in Denmark and the Czech Republic were held over the week to protest against austerity too. And in France – austerity may just end up costing the President his job.
One way to create jobs is to unleash a green revolution around the world to cut carbon emissions and use energy more efficiently. Now only if we can get the oil barons out of the way to get started.
Comments
#2
We need a law passed that makes it illegal to pay someone to lobby congress and also makes it illegal to accept money in exchange for lobbying services. Then, instead of having former politicians doing the lobbying, who care less about the cause they are promoting and more about the paycheck they are receiving, we would only have true believers of a particular cause lobbying congress.
Today we have a scenario where Senators could care less about being reelected anymore. They know they'll have a lobbying job lined up as soon as they leave office which will pay them a lot more.
Unfortunately, for this to hapen, congress would have to be big enough to vote away their meal ticket. Not likely.
#3
There is a lot of hope in a new green technology. Pumped storage hydroelectricity has been around for years. Problem is it destroys mountain habitats. In Germany an interdisciplinary team from the University of Duisburg-Essen and the Ruhr-University Bochum is studying a new storage technique. Their team is studying the use of pumped hydro in underground facilities at abandoned mines. According to Dr. Ulrich Schreiber, Professor of Geology, "Our idea needs no mountains or cliffs. It could be used almost anywhere" (Ziegler). Although the research is only just beginning their team offers great positivity for this technology. According to the university team, “the first calculations of the scientists show that there is a remarkable potential, especially in the case of open-cast mines” (Ziegler).
According to a blog written by Susan Kraemer in CleanTechnica.com (A blog that is syndicated in the well-respected journal Scientific American) a company called RiverBank Power has “pioneered” storing wind power underground. Their method is pumped storage hydroelectricity in reverse. Her blog reported, “the RiverBank technology has none of the environmental defects of hydro electric power, (and thus normal pumped storage up hills) because the storage is underground, instead of up a hill” (Kraemer).
If these energy storage methods pan out we could see a lot more investment in wind farms. These plants could help address baseload issues that so plague renewables. Keep your eye out for these technologies.
#4
Check out these concepts for alternative energy that is decentralized. It will take all five pillars to achieve the vision. The failures in the past were due to focusing on only subsystems and not the whole. This will be a huge jobs program that will require engineers and construction workers!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Industrial_Revolution The podcast is definitely worth listening to. Spread the word. A better world is possible!http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=25036
#5
A well paid worker is the most important thing that drives industry.
#6
Break up the big banks...they need a good spanking !!!
#7
people worry so much about fraud done by the poor in food stamps - unemployment - etc.
but it is the corporations and the super rich that have the money - education - resources and laws to defraud billions - then get no jail time - and fines less than what they defrauded
#8
CISPA is coming for a vote this week http://www.osnews.com/comments/25866
Heres to hoping Louise gets better, I never pray for anyone as I'm an atheist and I remember reading a study where people that are prayed for do worse as the psychosomatic response is that "if they're praying for me I must be really bad off"
#9
I'd like to see more press coverage about the pros and cons of that legislation to require people who take a position in commodities to have a business purpose to do so. I fear that the cure may be worse than the disease, in that speculators are sometimes necessary to retain sufficient liquidity, but that could be factored in to the rules as well. But most analysts believe that there can be as much as a 20% increase in prices at the high end when speculators have large positions.
I'd also like to see some research or analysis on lighter weight commuter vehicles. There was a great story recently about a junior high school that routinely produces three wheeled vehicles that get 380mpg using a 6 hp briggs and stratton engine. Imagine a practical 2 seater that runs in the right hand lane of roads posted 40 mph or less with enough room for a few bags of groceries in the back and some airbags. I could see it getting 150mpg with more advanced components. We move tons of metal around town every day to get to work and back when all we need is protection from dirt, rain and cold and not have to work up a sweat. You can do that in a 300 lb vehicle.
#10
First; We the People in order to form a more perfect union. Declare Independence from "sub contractor Fed.corp." Can"t do the job. 300,000,000 people collectively can't make a profit.lol Jefferson said. if you can print a Bond you can print a Dollar.Do So pls. Let them put a lean on good old USA to try and collect the 16 trillion. USA charges fedsters with fraudulent existence ect. and Reregulate corrupt corporate golden handshake scam. legislate corporate social responsibility
Second:Create ,give, Charities the right to charter their own Banks ie.scholarshipfund banks. Hospital banks locally, state based. We the people empower Our own growth
Third ;Use an Exeutive order to mandate the 450,000,000,000 you pay as interest on US Debt Every Year.(ALL countries could do the same).Into crumbling infrastucture and Green power grid eg;super conductive power lines connecting a Global solar structure,same as laying internet cables. Build electrolysis plants solar powered, and create Global hydogen infrastucture.
Fourth: develope Hemp replacing petroleum products and woodpulp ect.
#11
By the way NO REPUBLICAN should try again to tag any Democrat, Liberal, Progressive, or our president "marxist" ore whatever....
You better not do it, for I hit you so hard, you won't forget it. I prove you morons and twitter it out....
I feel like getting into the hot crunch mode of this campain. I am improving my strategy, willing to fight and strike even harder. Romney won't make it to presidency, but this isn't enough. Because if we shouldn't get the House too, president Obama's smartness won't help us much. We can't elect a president and then handcuff him via House! Four more years gridlock? Impossible!
President Obama is the best man we have. Though it should be clear, the heart of democracy is CONGRESS. Stop underestimating the importance of CONGRESS, people!
#12
The smart grid would be the biggest public works project in the history of the world. Im sure residents of Athabasca would love to see the land reforested and the water purity restored. The bitumen should be left in the ground. The same should happen in Applachia-no more mountaintop removal.Who wants to breathe carbon monoxide? A solar panel on every roof, and access to an electric subway or streetcar for all. No more deep sea drilling. No sprawl either, if you want land-no grass or ornamentals-you must use it to grow food, grow treees or raise livestock.
#13
You're so right. Wasn't that on Thom's show, where someone reported they figured out a way to make parking lots and highways go solar? I have a dream : Four years liberal absolute dominance in Congress to constantly overrule all the Republicans and blue-dogs.....
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Whenever governments move to austerity measures (i.e. the Paul Ryan budget), they are flirting with disaster. In the US we stopped regulating banks, we stopped taxing the rich, we bailed out oligopolies and we grew the military into an albatross around our necks. Then we started getting blood out of the turnip -- sucking the blood out of the middle class and ignoring the poor then calling it "patriotism."
That is the pattern of right-wing extremism in history, as Thom points out. Now they have the three-pronged strategy for one-party rule: Citizens United, voter ID, and gerrymandering. If they get their wish, a cabal of billionaire right-wing activist zealot plutocrats will run the country and finish the job that GWB interrupted with a so-called Keynesian bailout process that didn't trickle down much either. The tea party regime will send us into Great Depression 2.