No nation currently meets its citizens’ basic needs at a globally sustainable level of resource use – “The more social thresholds a country achieves, the more planetary boundaries it exceeds”

5 February 2018 (University of Leeds) – A study led by the University of Leeds has found that no country currently meets its citizens’ basic needs at a globally sustainable level of resource use. The research, published in Nature Sustainability, is the first to quantify the sustainability of national resource use associated with meeting basic […]

Caravan of 1,200 migrants marching through Mexico to seek asylum in U.S. – “If we all protect each other we’ll get through this together”

By Adolfo Flores 31 March 2018 San Pedro Tapanatepec, Mexico (BuzzFeed) – Taking a drag from her cigarette, a Mexican immigration agent looked out toward a caravan of migrants that grew larger with each step they took on the two-lane highway.When the agent, who’d covered her uniform with an orange and white shawl, learned that […]

50 years after the riots: Continued economic inequality for African Americans – “So little has changed since 1968”

By Lauren Victoria Burke 15 March 2018 (NNPA Newswire) – Late last year, The Washington Post wrote that African Americans were the only group that showed no economic improvement since 2000. They based their conclusions on Census data. This year, there was even more sobering news in a report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). […]

Under Trump’s watch, U.S. national debt tops $21 trillion for first time ever – Consumer credit card debt surpasses $1 trillion

By Kathryn Watson 17 March 2018 (CBS News) – About a year ago, President Trump pledged to eliminate the national debt “over a period of eight years.” But for the first time in history, the national debt surpassed $21 trillion this week, according to the U.S. Treasury. The landmark comes shortly after Congress passed, and […]

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry says moving from fossil fuels to renewables is “immoral”

By Joe Romm 8 March 2018 (ThinkProgress) – Energy Secretary Rick Perry said on Wednesday that it was “immoral” to help poor nations shift off of fossil fuels.“Look those people in the eyes that are starving and tell them you can’t have electricity,” said Perry in remarks after his big speech to the oil and […]

Amid soaring inflation, life is a daily struggle in Venezuela – “We are barely surviving. If prices keep rising, I don’t know what we’re going to eat.”

By Mariana Zuñiga 12 March 2018 CARACAS, Venezuela (NBC News) – Antonio Perez, 73, a semiretired real estate agent, woke up at 5 a.m. to stand in line outside a bank to cash his monthly pension. His breakfast was a cup of coffee.By the time he arrived, there were already 140 people there waiting to […]

How blood-plasma companies target the poorest Americans

By H. Luke Shaefer and Analidis Ochoa 15 March 2018(The Atlantic) – Medicaid, housing subsidies, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—these are some of the things that make up the backbone of the U.S.’s social safety net. And the federal government, guided by President Trump’s proposed budget for 2019, is seeking to make deep cuts to […]

Overdue U.S. credit card debt hits seven-year high at $11.9 billion – “Now it’s time to the pay the piper”

By Alistair Gray 28 February 2018 NEW YORK (Financial Times) – Overdue US credit card debt has reached a seven-year high, underlining the difficulties faced by many consumers in spite of the strong performance of the economy.Banking sector data show consumers were at least three months behind repayments or considered otherwise distressed on $11.9 billion […]

Graph of the Day: Percent of U.S. children earning more than their parents, by year of birth, 1940-1985

By Raj Chetty, David Grusky, Maximilian Hell, Nathaniel Hendren, Robert Manduca, and Jimmy NarangDecember 2016 (The Equality of Opportunity Project) – A defining feature of the “American Dream” is upward income mobility: the ideal that children have a higher standard of living than their parents. Our work shows that children’s prospects of earning more than […]

Across advanced economies, boom turns to bust for millennial generation

By Andrew Atkinson 19 February 2018 (Bloomberg News) – The income boom enjoyed by people born between 1966 and 1980 has turned to “bust” for the generation that followed them, according to a report published Monday.In an analysis of eight high-income countries, the Resolution Foundation think tank found that millennials in their early 30s have […]

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