Putting War Casualties in Perspective

52,000 U.S. soldiers suffered serious physical wounds during the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.  These are the men and women who were lucky enough to make it out of the war zones alive.

52,000 is a hard number to comprehend.  Here are a few attempts to put the number of war casualties in perspective:

• 52,000 is nearly identical to the entire student body at the University of Texas in Austin    
• 52,000 is slightly more than the total number of adult males in Jackson, Mississippi (the state capital)
• 52,000 almost equals the combined number of people working in the U.S. forest, conservation and logging industries
• 52,000 is the total number of employees at Google

Now imagine a scenario where each subset of people listed above have all sustained serious injury. 

The potential ingenuity, productivity, enjoyment and resources created by these 52,000 people at full strength is immense.  Thanks to these two invasions we have all sustained a great magnitude of loss with the steepest burden felt by the surviving war veterans.

  

Humpday Humor: Government Jobs

"The government should be fired for creating any jobs."

-Joe Rogan

Check out Joe Rogan's podcasts here.

Alternative Media Is Working

In this clip Angela Davis talks about a major U.S. export which gets almost no attention by outcast media outlets like The New York Times or FOX News.  She calls this censored export the U.S. model of mass incarceration.

You may have guessed what Davis was referring to based on the first paragraph of this post.  If so then you are certainly aware of the alternative media.  If after watching the video you are saying "oh yeah, I already knew that" then great!  You are not alone.

Based on audience reaction at Riverside Church in New York there are many, many people aware of the largest open-air prison on earth.

Not only do they know this prison exists but they also have an understanding of which government ensures that the inmates are kept caged in far behind the fence.

The rousing support for her comments are proof that alternative media is working.

Microsoft's Highly Profitable Layoffs

In July Microsoft announced intentions to layoff 14% of it's global workforce.  This equates to 18,000 employee pink slips.

Since then:

1. The company increased shareholder dividend payments by 11% 
2. Wall street has boosted it's total stock market value by 7%  
3. Steve Ballmer* and Bill Gates equity holdings gained $2,019,000,000

"I Knew I'd Make That $2 Billion Back Somehow",
Steve Ballmer thought to himself

The software giant has accomplished all this just halfway through the layoff binge.  Just imagine how profitable it will be when thousands more of their people are shown the door.


*Ballmer bought the NBA franchise Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion this summer.  Since he purchased the team, the value of his stock in Microsoft increased $1 billion. 

White House People Harassing Journalist

James Risen is the target of White House People

The White House People are upset that New York Times journalist James Risen exercised his right to free speech.  As reported by Alex Park in Mother Jones:

In State of War, Risen revealed a secret CIA operation, code-named Merlin, that was intended to undermine the Iranian nuclear program.  The plan...was to pass flawed plans for a trigger system for a nuclear weapon to Iran in the hopes of derailing the country's nuclear program. 

Common Sense Economics

Ha-Joon Chang has written The Little Blue Book, Five Things They Don't Tell You About Economics.  

Included is this great quote from Chang:

     The financial crisis has been a brutal reminder that we cannot leave our economy to professional economists and other ‘technocrats’.  We should all get involved in its management – as active economic citizens.

Read more great insight about economics at The Little Blue Book.

   

A Revolution in Education

Teachers Pay Teachers is an online marketplace for educators to share their materials.  Over 2.6 million people have registered with TpT to buy and sell resources.

It seems, finally, that teachers can be rewarded for their skills and efforts by serving a market need for high quality educational materials.  

ReasonTV highlighted success stories of this peer-to-peer economy in a recent episode....

A Peaceful Tax Revolt in Italy

An Independent Venice?

Over 2,100,000 Venetians have declared their independence from the state of Italy.  After a century-and-a-half as subjects of the politicians in Rome the people of Venice are finally fed up.

Can you blame them?

Unemployment in Italy is 13% and it is one of two Euro countries in recession (along with Greece).

Finally, The Atlantic tells us: 

Veneto, one of Italy's most prosperous regions, receives only five euros of government services for every seven euros it pays in taxes, with the remainder earmarked by Rome for regions in Italy's poorer south.

Hopefully the smaller state of Venice can put these taxpayer resources to more efficient use as the money is kept closer to home.

California's Seven Year Long Recession

The LA Times reports that thanks to the financial recession, middle aged Californian's are moving in with their parents at a staggering rate:

For seven years through 2012, the number of Californians aged 50 to 64 who live in their parents' homes swelled 67.6% to about 194,000* 

Can we call it a depression yet?  

*data from UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, Insight Center for Community Economic Development.

Capitalism and Healthcare Services, A Great Mix!

The Huffington Post tips it's hat to capitalism in India.  David Bank writes about free-market healthcare services:

The health care startups are driving down costs for eye care, dental care, preventive screenings and all manner of basic procedures in order to bring private health services to smaller cities and towns, and to the five-sixths of Indians with household income below 200,000 Indian rupees, or about $3,325 a year.

Only capitalism can provide high quality services at a low price.  Let's hope this trend towards economic freedom in India continues.

Check out Bank's full post titled "Investing in Private Health Care for All in India" here.

The Good People of Detroit

Charles Molnar and students from the Detroit Enterprise Academy came up with a pretty good plan.  Place benches at bus stops.  

(Photo: Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press)

It turns out that the people calling themselves "City of Detroit" were not filling the market need for places to sit while waiting for the bus.  Young enterprising minds have come up with a solution and received some good will from the community.  Nice work kids!

Safety in the Sex Exchange is Vital

Those politicians in Georgia just can't seem to find the root of the problem.  From WSB-TV 2 in Atlanta:

Hundreds of signs are now up at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in an effort to raise awareness and curb child sex trafficking.

The signs are required under a new Georgia law that mandates the toll free number (1-888-373-7888) to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center be posted at airports, bus stations, strip clubs and other establishments.

I really believe that people calling themselves "state of Georgia" want to diminish underage sex trafficking and increase child safety.  Unfortunately they avoid the primary root cause of dangerous sexual exchanges including child sex trafficking.

There exists the demand for sex.  Surprise, surprise.  There also exists the supply of sexual favors.  Buyers of sex and suppliers of sex need a safe place to do business.  Decriminalizing the exchange of "sex for money" will dramatically increase the safe options for all sex buyers and sellers.

Sadly there will still be a small number of people holding children against their will and even forcing sex upon them.  These people are obviously criminals and deserve to be punished severely.

But the beauty of a "legal" sex exchange means a variety of safe options for sex buyers.  Since buying underage sex is illegal and unsafe the overall demand for child sex will decrease as the new safe options become far more attractive to sex buyers.

Posting an 800 number is nice but decriminalizing sex acts between consenting adults is much better.