“Surge in financing” of up to $7 trillion per year needed to finance world sustainable development goals: UN chief

24 September 2018 (UN News) – A “surge in financing and investments” is needed to achieve the 2030 Agenda, the United Nations plan of action agreed by Member States, to transform the world, the Secretary-General said on Monday.António Guterres was speaking at the opening of the High Level Meeting on Financing the 2030 Agenda, at […]

Next financial crash will be “worse than the Great Depression” – “The U.S. economy is in so much worse shape than it was a decade ago”

By John Aidan Byrne 22 September 2018 (New York Post) – Ten years ago, it was too-easy credit that brought financial markets to their knees. Today, it could be a global debt of $247 trillion that causes the next crash. After a decade of escalating US household debt brought on by low wages and the national […]

The cost of rebuilding Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria

25 September 2018 (Desdemona Despair) – The first anniversary of the destruction of modern Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands by Hurricanes Irma and Maria brought numerous retrospectives in the media. Not many focused on the actual cost to rebuild PR. Although there are stories of recovery, a picture of widespread infrastructure failure and poverty […]

Puerto Rico’s grim prognosis: The island may never recover from Hurricane Maria – “I am not hugely optimistic”

By Peter S. Green 21 September 2018 (CBS News) – A year after Hurricane Maria swept across Puerto Rico, leaving some 2,975 people dead and knocking the economy on its back, it is becoming increasingly clear that the U.S. territory may never fully recover from the storm.Puerto Rico was already insolvent before the 2017 storm, […]

“Shadow” of persistent inequality is growing, key UN human development report reveals

14 September 2018 (UN News) – While health, education, and income levels have improved overall across the globe, “wide inequalities” both among and within countries, are casting a shadow on sustained human development, a new United Nations report shows.Looking at the widening gap in real terms, a child born in Norway today – the country […]

Democracy “showing greater strain” than at any time in decades, says UN chief on International Day of Democracy

14 September 2018 (UN News) – Tackling economic and political inequality is at the root of strengthening democratic institutions at a time when they are under huge strain, said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday, marking the official International Day of Democracy.“It means making our democracies more inclusive, by bringing the young and marginalized […]

Global debt soars to $169 trillion, along with fears of crisis ahead – “We were supposed to correct a debt bubble. What we did instead was create more debt.”

By David J. Lynch 3 September 2018 (The Washington Post) – Ten years after the worst financial panic since the 1930s, growing debt burdens in key developing economies are fueling fears of a new crisis that could spread far beyond the disruption sweeping Turkey. The loss of investor confidence in the Turkish lira, which has […]

Sea level rise is eroding home value, and owners might not even know it – “Each time that I was just finishing up paying off the bills, another flood would hit”

By John Tibbetts and Chris Mooney 20 August 2018 CHARLESTON, S.C. (The Washington Post) – Elizabeth Boineau’s 1939 Colonial sits a block and a half from the Ashley River in a sought-after neighborhood of ancient live oaks, charming gardens and historic homes. A year ago, she thought she could sell it for nearly $1 million. […]

Venezuela is swept by economic chaos as new crypto-currency “scam” takes effect – Bolívar devalued by 95 percent

By Rachelle Krygier and Anthony Faiola 21 August 2018 CARACAS, Venezuela (The Washington Post) – Many Venezuelans rejected an opposition call for a national strike on Tuesday, warily going to work even as sweeping government measures aimed at curbing ­hyperinflation caused mounting confusion.With inflation hurtling toward 1 million percent and hunger spreading nationwide, President Nicolás […]

Frank Rich: In 2008, America stopped believing in the American Dream

By Frank Rich 6 August 2018 (New York Magazine– If you were standing in the smoldering ashes of 9/11 trying to peer into the future, you might have been overjoyed to discover this happy snapshot of 2018: There has been no subsequent major terrorist attack on America from Al Qaeda or its heirs. American troops […]

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