By MARTIN FACKLERPublished: October 16, 2010 OSAKA, Japan — Like many members of Japan’s middle class, Masato Y. enjoyed a level of affluence two decades ago that was the envy of the world. Masato, a small-business owner, bought a $500,000 condominium, vacationed in Hawaii and drove a late-model Mercedes. But his living standards slowly crumbled […]
During the 20th century, the United States experienced two major trends in income distribution. The first, termed the “Great Compression” by economists Claudia Goldin of Harvard and Robert Margo of Boston University, was egalitarian.* From 1940 to 1973, incomes became more equal. The share taken by the very richest Americans (i.e., the top 1 percent […]
By Chisa Fujioka; editing by David FogartyMon Oct 18, 2010 9:44am EDT NAGOYA, Japan (Reuters) – The world cannot afford to allow nature’s riches to disappear, the United Nations said on Monday at the start of a major meeting to combat losses in animal and plant species that underpin livelihoods and economies. The United Nations […]
Associated Press17 October 2010 NOWSHERA, Pakistan (AP) — With their villages in shambles, winter on its way and government help slow to arrive, Pakistan’s flood victims are scrambling to rebuild their homes. Many are taking on debt as the price of construction materials has soared following the disaster that damaged or destroyed 1.9 million houses. […]
By ROBERT F. WORTHPublished: October 13, 2010 AR RAQQAH, Syria — The farmlands spreading north and east of this Euphrates River town were once the breadbasket of the region, a vast expanse of golden wheat fields and bucolic sheep herds. Now, after four consecutive years of drought, this heartland of the Fertile Crescent — including […]
By Alan Bjerga; editing by Steve Stroth Oct 5, 2010 1:46 PM PT The number of Americans receiving food stamps rose to a record 41.8 million in July as the jobless rate hovered near a 27-year high, the government said. Recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program subsidies for food purchases jumped 18 percent from a […]
By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY8 October 2010 A record 30% — or 4.4 million — of the nation’s 14.7 million unemployed workers were out of work at least a year in August, up from 23% in December, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Thursday by Pew Economic Policy Group. The […]
Pools of standing water in southern Sindh province potentially home to disease-carrying mosquitoes that breed and hatch By Declan Walsh in Islamabad, www.guardian.co.uk, Sunday 3 October 2010 22.00 BST More than two million cases of malaria are expected in Pakistan in the coming months in the wake of the country’s devastating floods, aid workers have […]
About 8 million remain homeless following Pakistan’s worst flooding in living memory By AARON FAVILA, The Associated Pressupdated 10/4/2010 5:01:22 AM ET SUKKUR, Pakistan — The call to prayer echoes through the tent village at dawn. Muhammad Mosa wakes up and checks on Tikry and Baghee, his buffalo and goat. They are prized possessions, one […]
By Saad Sarfraz Sheikh October 2, 2010 Beads of sweat drip down Irfanullah’s face as he clutches the weak branches of a date tree. It seems to be a safe place to settle into until Mother Nature’s rampage runs its course… Barely an hour ago, the local mosque had warned them of the surging water, […]
