Gen X hit hardest in recession

There's plenty of misery to go around, but Gen X has had the worst of it according to a US Census report.

In terms of actual dollars lost, 45- to 54-year-olds took the biggest hit. For households in that age range, median net worth declined by $54,881, to $90,434. That’s a 38 percent drop from 2005, calculated in 2010 dollars.

Overall, the study found that median household net worth in the United States declined by 35 percent between 2005 and 2010, to $66,740. The housing bust and stock market declines were mainly to blame for the drop.

The Census report is based on the annual Survey of Income and Program Participation, which takes a detailed look at the financial situation of Americans from all walks of life. The survey uses the renter or owner of record in each household to determine what age group the household falls into.

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Young food blogger wins the day

It's hard not to get a smile when you read about someone beating the odds and winning like this. Martha Payne is the 9 year old kid who blogged about the unhealthy food her school was serving, only to be shut down by the school. Not only did the outrage push the school to let her blog again about the food, but the story also led to a celebrity chef joining her to help create a new menu for the school. How fun is that?

When a 9-year-old Scottish girl started her popular blog in April, all she was looking to do was document the quality of food choices at her school and raise some money for charity. One controversy later, Martha Payne is now helping to choose the school’s lunches with a celebrity chef and has generated more than $120,000 for a charity that is building an African school kitchen.

Martha became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter Friday after she posted on Thursday that the local Argyll and Bute Council banned her from publishing photos of her school lunches on her blog. The council then pulled a 180 and gave her permission to continue blogging after the ensuing outcry on social media. Three days later, it was announced that she is teaming up with celebrity chef Nick Nairn to help the council provide more nutritious meals at her school, Lochgilphead Primary in Argyll.

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Canada eavesdropping on conversations at airport

Airports and border crossings across Canada are being wired with high-definition cameras and microphones that can eavesdrop on travellers' conversations, according to the Canada Border Services Agency.

Finding the bad guys before they even get to the airport has to be a more efficient plan for success because monitoring all of this data can't be a simple process. On top of that, there are the privacy issues, which nobody in government cares about these days. What are they doing with this information and how long are they storing the data? More importantly, who is overseeing the agency that holds this data?

Since the Canadian program is being expanded, is it expanding because it's delivered results or is it being expanded to listen in on airport workers? It's strange that the program was only recently uncovered by airport workers. Most workers already have their emails monitored but adding conversations is a big step. Who hasn't said something at the office about their employer? Now those comments can potentially be used against an employee.

Yet another concern is whether the TSA is doing the same at US airports. If they are, do they need to announce this to anyone? Is this going too far or is it fair game?

Already, though, the union representing about 45 CBSA employees at the airport is concerned personal workplace conversations and remarks could be captured and become part of employees' official record, Jean-Pierre Fortin, national president of the Custom and Immigration Union, said Friday. He added that the union only learned of the audio-recording development this week, after reporters began making inquiries.

The recording equipment may also be linked to a federal initiative to help CBSA combat organized crime and internal smuggling conspiracies at big Canadian airports.

A 2008 RCMP report said at least 58 crime groups were believed active at major airports, typically by corrupting airport employees or placing criminal associates in airport jobs to move narcotics and other contraband to and from planes.

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Greece votes, keeps Nazis, kicks problems down the road again

Despite the excitement of electing a new government yesterday, Greece is no closer to resolving the financial problems than they were the day before. The anti-bailout parties won many seats, but they eventually lost to the pro-bailout forces.

Once again the mainstream voices are talking about renegotiating the bailout terms, as if we haven't been there before. Many of the EU powers have been dreaming of this day so that all of the problems could be postponed to another day. The financial markets are also celebrating as this means the big financials will get an extension to the free ride granted by Merkel and company. Hooray!

Much like the election results in Egypt yesterday, one result was determined but many more questions were opened up during the process. Greece now has a new government that is eager to work with the powers of the EU to make minor changes to the bailout terms, but the fundamental problems will remain unsolved for another day.

In addition, the new coalition in Greece will be stressed from the start as it consists of the center-right New Democracy and their chief rival for decades, the socialist party PASOK. More on the new partnership at CNBC. Read the rest of this post...

Excerpt of Anya Stiglitz's new book about the worldwide protest movement, from Occupy to Egypt

I met Anya and Joe Stiglitz a few years back when we were all three attending a small conference in Greece, organized by the soon-to-be, and now former, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou.  I didn't really know anyone at the conference, and Anya was kind enough to invite me to join Joe and her for lunch one day (I had no idea who Joe even was!), and we've been friends ever since.

Anya has a new book out that I think folks here might find interesting.  It's a collection of essays from various writers about the recently re-energized worldwide protest movement, from Occupy Wall Street to the Egyptian revolution.  The book is called, From Cairo to Wall Street: Voices from the Global Spring(you can buy the Kindle edition here.)

I asked Anya (who goes by Anya Schiffrin, and teaches at Columbia) to write a few words about the book, and for an excerpt that we could publish - which you'll find at the bottom of this post.  The excerpt is about a woman taking on the fraudulent mortgage foreclosure industry when they tried to come after her home.

First, here's a blurb from Anya about the book:

My new book “From Cairo to Wall Street: Voices from the Global Spring” is a compilation of essays and interviews from the Occupy and protest movement around the world that I edited with journalist Eamon Kircher-Allen. It includes an introduction by Nobel laureate, Joseph E. Stiglitz who puts the movements in a global context.

“From Cairo to Wall Street” tells the stories of the brave young people in New York, Wisconsin, Cairo, Tunis, Greece, Spain, Syria and other countries who took to the streets in 2011 and made history.

The protestors’ inspiring and heartfelt accounts describe how they became radicalized and what it was like in Tahrir Square and the other squares of protest around the world. We found that these very different protests have many points in common: frustration with the lack of jobs, foreclosures (which took place in Spain as well as across the US) and anger because so many of the protestors worked hard at school and were caught in systems where finding meaningful work was impossible. They took to the streets and found that many people felt the way they did.

Through this personal voyage they discovered they are not alone, that their desire for change is shared by millions of others.

One essay from our book From Cairo to Wall Street that sticks with me is the story of Egyptian protestor Jawad Nabulsi, 29, who talked about how reading The Tipping Point and From Good to Great affected his thinking about social change. Nabulsi worked for charities in Upper Egypt that raised money in order to connect poor households to water and electricity.

“I had gone to villages and slums, saw the depth of problems in these places and assumed they could not be fixed. I’d tell myself, “They are too humungous, it’s like throwing something in the sea.” Then I read the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell and understood you don’t need to change the whole population. You just need a few people. I realized I needed to bring together a circle of key players who could have an influence. I also read from Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t by Jim Collins. It reinforced the idea that it’s not about the people in the company; it’s about the right people in the company. I didn’t need to change everything, I just needed to focus on the leaders in the community and work with them.”

Having realized this, Nabulsi began setting up facebook groups in order to connect like-minded people to each other. These groups took on a life of their own; seeing that there were others who felt the same frustrations people began to feel powerful and so were willing to go down to Tahrir Square and make their voices heard in the street. Across the globe, protestors used new technology to connect to each other and to learn from each other.

Their first-hand accounts evoke the excitement and passion of 2011 and show how these movements came about and why they will continue.

And here's the excerpt Anya shared about Lisa Epstein, and how she took on mortgage foreclosure fraud.
Lisa Epstein From Cairo to Wall Street Read the rest of this post...

Romney amazed by new-fangled electronic checkout girl

I understand that Romney wants to get one of these for his butler, Jeeves.

But the former venture capitalist, whose net worth is estimated at about $250 million, still struggles to connect to everyday people.

Romney's comment on Saturday in Cornwall, where he marveled at the touch-screen technology used to order a meatball sandwich at a convenience store, had echoes of former President George H.W. Bush learning about supermarket scanners - a gaffe from his 1992 campaign.

"You press a little touch tone key pad … You touch this, touch this, touch this, go pay the cashier, and there's your sandwich," Romney said. "It's amazing!"

I understand that on seeing a vintage Princess phone this week, Romney said: "You touch this, touch this, touch this, touch this, touch this, touch this, and touch this and there's your phone call. It's amazing!" Read the rest of this post...

Right-wing "reporter" who heckled Obama over immigration is here on a green card

The latest wingnut crazy to heckle Obama must think that he's a special kind of immigrant (read: he's really, really white) since he's from Europe. You can't even make these stories up.

Neil Munro, the Daily Caller reporter who interrupted Obama's DREAM Act Lite speech yesterday by yelling, "Why do you favor foreigners over American workers?" is himself a so-called foreigner working a job, here in America. This isn't breaking news: He identifies as Irish-born on his Twitter bio, and he is currently living in D.C. on a green card. It is, however, somewhat notable and ironic when you consider the agenda behind what he maintains was "a conventional, obvious question."

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Romney not opposed to Obama amnesty for young illegals

This was news on Sunday, but it's still important.  And it's a window into Mitt Romney's soul, and general lack of conviction.

Mitt Romney was asked three times, in an interview aired last night, if he would overturn President Obama's new executive order permitting illegal immigrants who came here at a young age, and have no criminal record, to stay in the US. And three times, Mitt Romney demurred.

In GOP-land, the President's plan in "amnesty."  And amnesty is apparently the worst thing ever (at least to Republicans).  Once upon a time Romney was for immigration, then he was against it, now he's just not sure.

Romney is more than just a flip-flopper.  He's unserious.  And squishy.

Not very presidential.

Not very Republican either.

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Rick Perlstein on Wisconsin: Activists wanted a fighter; Dem leaders offered a hug

I wrote recently about one explanation for the surprising (to me) loss in the Wisconsin recall election — serf-on-serf violence.

Here's the other explanation, offered by Rick Perlstein. This rings true to me; I think he nails it. Both explanations may well be correct; this one certainly is (my emphases and some reparagraphing):

And therein hangs a tale: about grassroots Democrats who act like activists, who hold that slaps are sometimes what it takes to get the political job done, and Democratic leaders who act like you can solve all political problems with a hug.

Which, pretty much, was Tom Barrett's entire election platform.

A pause here. This is going to be two stories. The first, above, is about the hapless Dems and their frustrated progressive compadres.

But the second is far more pernicious — it's about frustrated progressives without power, constantly aced out of their dreams by NeoLiberal Democrats with power.

Only the motive is in question. For me, it looks like the Clintonistas and Obamanauts are playing against us; that the Rs are their secret partners.

One could at least be forgiven for thinking this, given the constant string of identical outcomes. One could even say, Hmm, on reflection.

Back to Perlstein and his great research:

As I explained here in May, the leading candidate in the primary to face Walker in the recall ran with a take-no-prisoners strategy to restore union rights: she pledged to veto any budget that didn't restore collective bargaining. That meant that if she won the statehouse, Republican legislators in Madison could hold on to their anti-union law only on pain of shutting down the state.

Then, out of nowhere [!], little more than two months before Election day, a new candidate announced: Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Two days earlier, he'd had a $400-a-plate fundraising luncheon, closed to the media, hosted by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Here was a signal: Barrett was the Democratic Party Establishment's man.

And the Democratic Establishment, in this age of Barack Obama, does things in a very certain way: it never takes any prisoners, never takes the most gutsy path (this is even true for the vaunted "tough guy" Rahm Emanuel, whose standing orders as White House chief of staff was never to take on any fights unless victory was assured in advance).

There's a whole lot more in this good piece; you owe it to yourself to read on. Check out the paragraph starting: "Barrett immediately announced...". I'd rather send you there than stall you here.

Perlstein is less conspiratorial than the geniuses here at La Maison Chez Nous. He thinks, I think, that the Dems are just accidentally playing to lose, and face a far superior opponent. I credit his good sense. (Search on the phrase "nut cutting" — yes — to read his actual thoughts.)

Me? I'm a little less sensible. I think they're throwing the game, those NeoLiberal Dems — so that no New Baron should pay for any New Baron's error. But maybe that's just me. (Click to see why I think that.)

Am I right? I guess we'll find out when the statute of limitations elapses on political malpractice, and their daughters write their memoirs.

Either way, folks — we get to the same sad loss. The lesson: Progressives, stop getting aced, or it's tick-tick-tick for sure.

GP

To follow or send links: @Gaius_Publius
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Mitt Romney now says he never went to law school. His Harvard JD disagrees.

Mitt Romney today claimed that he never went to law school, even though he has a JD from Harvard.

I like having two sides. I didn't go to law school, I didn't practice law, but I like the idea of arguing points back and forth and sorting through them, and being able to probe, in some cases you need to go back and get more information."

This particular Romney lie is part of his larger message that President Obama is a socialist (read: communist (read: Soviet)) trying to turn America into Europe, which apparently is a very bad place where people get 9 weeks vacation a year and young boys don't grow boobs from drinking milk.

Of course, please ignore the fact that Mitt Romney went to live in Europe for two years (and spent one of those years in a palace in Paris), and that he and his wife own race horses that race in Europe all the time, and they like to go and visit.

Oh, and he speaks fluent French, too.

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Egypt elects Muslim Brotherhood president, military takes over

Who didn't see that result happening? The voting was relatively close, with the Brotherhood showing 52% of the vote over the former Mubarak prime minister. Whether this will spur on new protests is now the question at hand. The other question is how the US and other countries will respond now that the military has effectively taken control of Egypt, again.

Leading up to the election, the Brotherhood candidate Morsi had made efforts to reach out to other groups including the Copts (~10% of the Egyptian population) and stressed that he was not seeking revenge, but rather an interest in governing all of Egypt. The Mubarak/military leadership has had limited interest in helping anyone outside of their own.

So one day after the election, we're back in a "wait and see" mode. The election settled the decision of who will be president though it also changed little, if anything. More on the new military powers via The Guardian:

Egypt's generals awarded themselves sweeping political powers in an 11th-hour constitutional declaration that tied the hands of the country's incoming president and cemented military authority over the post-Mubarak era.

The announcement on Sunday night came as early presidential election results put the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi ahead of his rival Ahmed Shafik, Mubarak's final prime minister and an unabashed champion of the old regime. But with thousands of polling stations yet to declare following the two-day runoff vote, the overall winner was too close to call.

Pro-change activists and human rights campaigners said the junta's constitutional declaration – which came just days after judges extended the army's ability to arrest civilians and following the dissolution of the Brotherhood-dominated parliament by the country's top court – rendered the scheduled handover of power to a democratically elected executive meaningless.

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