Manhattan becoming richer, more white

It's an interesting question: Is it ever acceptable to trade diversity for prosperity?

It sounds good, and righteous, striving to keep the neighborhood as diverse as possible, but who's to say the current percentage of various ethnic groups, and income groups, is the right one? Is there a correct percentage?

What's more, at least in DC, at the same time diversity has decreased in some neighborhoods, and to some degree in the city overall, there's been an increase in the city's overall prosperity, including decreasing crime and overall improvements to the surrounding neighborhood infrastructure (housing, businesses etc.) That's not to suggest that diversity equals crime, but it is to suggest that for some reason prosperity has been accompanied by a decrease in diversity, and vice versa. So the bad (decreased diversity) has been balanced with some good (better quality of living). How do you decide which is better, or at least more important? And are the two mutually exclusive?

As an aside, I'm reminded once of when I attended a US Civil Rights Commission hearing (or something like that) almost ten years ago - I was asked to testify about crime in DC. Before my testimony, someone from the city council was talking about how unconscionable it was that Latino families (in my neighborhood) couldn't even afford to buy a home in the neighborhood in which they've lived for decades. I couldn't contain myself, and interjected: Some of the rest of us have lived in that same neighborhood for decades and also can't afford to buy a home. My point: Sometimes we invoke "diversity" when it's actually a problem affecting everyone.

Articles like this make me, oddly, think of the Middle East, and Israel to be exact. Where we keep arguing who came first, and which ethnic community deserves to have which percentage on which plot of land. It's not terribly clear to me how anyone can make that kind of decision, and make it well - anywhere. Read the rest of this post...

Big oil avoiding new taxes when they currently get away with fiscal murder

Why are we subsidizing BP at all?

BP was reaping sizable tax benefits from leasing the rig. According to a letter sent in June to the Senate Finance Committee, the company used a tax break for the oil industry to write off 70 percent of the rent for Deepwater Horizon — a deduction of more than $225,000 a day since the lease began.

With federal officials now considering a new tax on petroleum production to pay for the cleanup, the industry is fighting the measure, warning that it will lead to job losses and higher gasoline prices, as well as an increased dependence on foreign oil.

But an examination of the American tax code indicates that oil production is among the most heavily subsidized businesses, with tax breaks available at virtually every stage of the exploration and extraction process.

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Bush era agency concluded that deepwater drilling in Gulf posed little risk to wildlife

In all fairness, our own President famously proclaimed deepwater drilling safe just a few months ago. From the NYT:

The federal agency charged with protecting endangered species like the brown pelican and the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle signed off on the Minerals Management Service’s conclusion that deepwater drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico posed no significant risk to wildlife, despite evidence that a spill of even moderate size could be disastrous, according to federal documents.

By law, the minerals service, before selling oil leases in the gulf, must submit an evaluation of the potential biological impact on threatened species to the Fish and Wildlife Service, whose responsibilities include protecting endangered species on land. Although the wildlife agency cannot block lease sales, it can ask for changes in the assessment if it believes it is inadequate, or it can insist on conducting its own survey of potential threats, something the agency has frequently done in the past.

But in a letter dated Sept. 14, 2007, and obtained by The New York Times, the wildlife agency agreed with the minerals service’s characterization that the chances that deepwater drilling would result in a spill that would pollute critical habitat was “low.”

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Robert Reich on who's losing most in the 'recovery'

At this point, it's not news that all the intellectually honest economists are mouthing the DD-word — the phrase "double-dip" has passed a lot of speculative lips lately.

So it's no surprise that Robert Reich is in that group, and to his credit, has been for some time. Here's his latest (my emphasis):

The economy is still in the gravitational pull of the Great Recession and all the booster rockets for getting us beyond it are failing. The odds of a double dip are increasing.

In June the nation added fewer jobs than necessary merely to keep up with population growth (private hiring rose by 83,000 after adding only 33,000 jobs in May). The typical workweek declined. Average earnings dropped. Home sales are down. Retail sales are down. Factory orders in May suffered their biggest tumble since March of last year.

So what are we doing about it? Less than nothing. The states are running an anti-stimulus program (raising taxes, cutting services, laying off teachers, firefighters, police and other employees) that’s now bigger than the federal stimulus program.

But this caught my eye (still my emphasis):

The people who are suffering the most from the failure of public officials and the greed of large bankers are the least able to endure it. Unemployment among people with four-year college degrees is barely over 5 percent; among high-school dropouts it’s over 25 percent. Those who have been jobless the longest or who have left the labor force altogether are men over fifty who are least likely to get back in. Families most in need are losing the services – state-supported Medicaid, child dental care, after-school programs for the kids, public transit – they most depend on.

If that isn't class warfare, I don't know what is.

Just to show what that looks like, percentage-wise – according to the 2006–2008 Census, 27.4% of Americans hold college degrees, i.e., a Bachelor's degree or higher (h/t Surrender, Dorothy).

That means more than 70% of Americans are standing on increasingly soggy quicksand, while the rest are mostly safer. What's the view like, for those who are slowly sinking? Not pretty, and not common-cause inspiring either.

Team Change-You-Can-Really-Believe-In, take note. Many don't believe. And there's an election coming. Think you can fool most of those people, this time?

GP Read the rest of this post...

Roubini: Zero growth but no double-dip for Europe

He's a lot more optimistic than I am but I hope that he's right about the double-dip. Looking out a few months he is seeing tough times towards the end of the year for the global economy.

Euro zone growth in 2010 could be "closer to zero" after a volatile second quarter threatens to dash previous estimates of 1 percent, U.S. economist Nouriel Roubini said on Sunday.

The currency bloc does not face a double-dip recession, however, despite deteriorating financial-market confidence over economic growth in an age of fiscal austerity, Roubini told a
conference in Aix-en-Provence.

"Given the shocks of the last few month s... by year-end, euro zone growth could be closer to zero percent," said Roubini, who has been nicknamed "Doctor Doom" for his pessimistic forecasts.

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Released Lockerbie terrorist not dying after all

I'm not at all convinced that he should have been released even if he were dying. Why show compassion to a man who blew up hundreds of people seven miles up in the sky. I get that that's the nature of compassion - to show it even when it's not deserved. But in some cases, does the golden rule not apply? Read the rest of this post...

Photographer arrested by police, BP security and DHS

Apparently taking photographs of BP refineries that are allegedly pumping out toxic waste is now a crime. Is there a reason why the federal government is going along with this game of delaying a story and protecting BP? Everyone gets the national security aspect but it sounds like that was overplayed. It's not as though BP has a clean history of refineries so it's understandable that the media - in this case the independent media - was doing something about it. MSNBC:

A photographer taking pictures of a BP refinery in Texas was detained by a BP security official, local police and a man who said he was from the Department of Homeland Security, according to ProPublica, a non-profit news organization in the U.S.

The photographer, Lance Rosenfield, said he was confronted by the officials shortly after arriving in Texas City, Texas, to work on a story that is part of an ongoing collaboration between PBS and ProPublica.

Rosenfield was released after officials looked through the pictures he had taken and took down his date of birth, Social Security number and other personal information, the photographer said. The information was turned over to the BP security guard who said this was standard procedure, ProPublica quoted Rosenfield as saying.

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Monday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Since the Fourth fell on a Sunday, today is the actual day off for many Americans. Not expecting much political "news" today since everything in official DC is closed. But, it's never a day off in Afghanistan or Iraq. And, it will be a long time before there's a day off from the efforts to cap the leak or from cleaning up the oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

The temperature is expected to hit 100 today in DC. And, it's going to be there for the next couple days. Ugh.

There is one big political story raging this weekend: Whether RNC Chair Michael Steele keeps his job. So far, he has.

What is going on? Read the rest of this post...

Majority of UK budget cuts to impact women

It's not a surprise that the Conservative government is doing their best to rip apart the modern state. What is somewhat surprising is that women are being negatively impacted so much more than men. Labour is right to fight back against this horrible move by the Tories. And as Labour has said, women already are being paid much less than men so why should they be forced to take the bulk of the cuts? The Guardian:Cooper accused the coalition government of sanctioning a budget whose impact fell disproportionately on women. The gender audit of the budget – structured by Cooper but conducted by the Commons library – showed that more than 70% of the revenue raised from direct tax and benefit changes is to come from female taxpayers.

Of the nearly £8bn net revenue to be raised by the financial year 2014-15, nearly £6bn will be from women and just over £2bn from men. Cooper said the proposed cuts of up to 40% in some departments' budgets, floated by the government at the weekend, would also be likely to disproportionately hit women, who make up a large section of the public sector workforce.

She told the Guardian: "Women are bearing nearly three-quarters of the Tory-Liberal plans, while men are bearing just a quarter. This is despite the fact that women's income and wealth is still considerably lower than men's. Read the rest of this post...

Australian indigenous islanders win marine rights court battle

This is an interesting case because they islanders were not claiming ownership of the ocean but simply to be consulted for future development and formal acceptance of their deep links to the body of water called the Torres Strait. BBC:

Community elders say it will help to maintain their unique maritime culture and provide economic opportunity.

At the heart of their claim was a call for their spiritual ties to the sea to be formally recognised.

The court's ruling does not grant islanders exclusive rights over the vast area of ocean, nor were they claimed.

More than 200 islands are peppered throughout the Torres Strait.

Its people speak two distinct languages. Their traditional beliefs are based on the sea, the land and the sky, which have been portrayed over thousands of years in a rich array of stories, songs and dances.

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Warren Buffet donates $1.93 billion in shares

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is great and it's wonderful to see Buffet being so generous but one day it would be nice to see him admit that some of his investments such as Moody's is garbage. He could do a lot of good for quite a few people by helping to truly reform the financial system in the US (and beyond) but he can be blinded by his billions. Average people around the US were hit so hard by the last few recessions and few people beyond Buffet could have such a deep impact on fixing the system. He's still highly respected and in that industry, his success and billions count. Do the right thing again, Warren.

The billionaire investor Warren Buffett has donated $1.6bn (£1.05bn; 1.5bn euros) to the charitable foundation created by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda.

In all, he donated shares worth $1.93bn to five foundations.

The rest went to foundations set up in the name of Mr Buffett's late wife, Susan, and their three children.

Mr Buffett, who owns the investment company Berkshire Hathaway, pledged in 2006 to give away 99% of his wealth.

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