Under the Radar News: Featured stories from Red State/Blue State News Magazine from July

I guess my initial reaction to “Trump-mania” besides the laughter generated from late-night comics, is the phrase, “Meanwhile, back at the ranch…” Because while we are listening to the latest soliloquy from Trump or his rivals, and the pundits argue and shuffle the characters appearing in the first Fox News debate which is months away from the primaries, there are other things happening in the world.

 

The top 5 articles I picked are all featured in Red State/Blue State News & Politics Magazine from Flipboard. Here they are:

 

1.      The debate over whether the Iran Deal is comparable to the opening of China

2.      The debate over whether our US Military is spread too thin

3.      20 photos of international borders that tell a tale

4.      A map showing the areas of Drug Cartel influence in Mexico

5.      The Conversations we should be having about US Prisons

 

Here’s some more information picked out of the Red State/Blue State articles from July. The first interesting fact is a study showing that the GOP Nominee will need to win almost ½ of the Latino vote. That’s 40-47% of the vote (47 is the new 40!) Which may be why Jeb Bush seems to be talking almost entirely in Spanish these days!

 

 

Jeb has also boasted of being able to create sustained growth for the GDP of 4%. In American History, it’s rare to achieve 4% growth. It happened from 1983 through 1985 and again from 1997 through 2000. The forecast for full employment gives us growth of perhaps 2.8% at best. The advantage is still with the Dems on this one.

 The Mom always liked you best syndrome is at play in the US/Kurdish coalition. It seems the Sunni Arabs are resentful of the seeming favoritism shown to our Kurdish allies these days.

 

*News of Note for Women: Oregon will become the first state in the nation to allow birth control pills to be sold over the counter, beginning in 2016.

 ·         Cuba by the numbers: Some interesting numbers out of Cuba:

 5% or less have internet access in Cuba

2/3 of Cuban Americans in US live in Florida

Cuban population is aging: The average age is 54.7-67.7 in 2025

90% of Cubans own their homes

68% of Cuban-Americans favor normalizing relations with Cuba

 

 

 

Clinton’s Long View: An interesting point she made recently about businesses looking “to break free” from earnings reports in the short term and taking the long view of the economy. Henry Ford gave his employees a living wage of an unheard of $5.00 an hour, and he did so with the long view in mind.That’s not a bad suggestion for business leaders to take her up on.

 *The Long Term: Speaking of which, the long term effects of war are seen in a study of Vietnam war veterans that showed almost 300,000 veterans struggle with daily health problems linked to trauma from PTSD

 

*Paying Peter to Rob Paul? A study on Corporate Social Responsibility Programs shows two things. The good news is that 20 billion dollars is spent by these large corporations to show they are good neighbors and socially aware of the problems facing our planet.

The bad news is that these same companies also spend vast amounts of money lobbying against regulations that might help to fix or end some of the very same problems they claim they would like to address!

95 % of the largest companies in the US, 250 globally, had CSR programs. 30 % lobbied for less regulations-that’s about a third. It’s a case of robbing Peter and then extending a hand to pick him up and send him on his way!

 **6 out of 10 Americans will experience some poverty in their lifetime. 60% of the population will have incomes in the bottom 20% of workers. 40% of Americans will live in the bottom 10%.It shows the fluidity and the ability of Americans to move from upper middle class into the poverty level within a relatively short time span in some cases.

 *We’re living through the largest growth of income since the beginning of Industrial Revolution-mostly due to increased wages in China and India. The 2008 economic slowdown hurt everyone, but it affected rich countries more than others. Trends just accelerated for low wage countries, which was not a bad thing for them at all! It basically amounted to an economic rebalance of East vs West;  there was high growth of the median income for global income distribution, a decline in the global inequality and emergence of a new “global middle class”.

 

Rising demand for products in formerly poor countries with no wages to buy things has been the result of this rising global middle class. This definition of middle class includes income between 10 and 100 dollars a day.

 Good News: There has been a dramatic decrease in percentages of the world population that are considered the poorest of the poor-defined as income under $2.00 a day. . It was 38 % in 1988-now it’s 16% by 2011. Many had joined the lower middle class.

 Rebalancing the world: Asia vs the West:  We can expect further growth in Asia. It may slow if China decelerates at some point, if their fast pace of growth continues, it will eventually slow the pace of growth overall. African countries may also contribute to a slowdown, with large population increases, of people born into poverty. Income inequality among the super-rich will also continue. With the rich controlling the political process, tax shelters and wage stagnation will continue also.

 

9 Cities with greatest gaps in wealth inequality: From a recent study, here are the US Cities with the greatest gaps in income inequality.

 9 Greenville NC

8. Miami-Ft Lauderdale

7. New York/Newark, Jersey City

6. College Station/Bryan TX

5. Jackson TN

4. Gainesville Florida. “Few American cities have income distribution as skewed as Gainesville Fl”-The wealthiest 20% control 54% of the region’s annual income. The poorest 20% generate just 1.9% of regional total income. It’s the smallest share among the metro cities reviewed.

3. Grants Pass OR

2. Naples, Immokalee, Marco Island FL –some of the highest wealth concentrations are seen here.   It has the 2^nd highest income inequality in the nation

Number 1. Bridgeport/ Stamford/Norwalk CT- Number One in income inequality in nation.

 (*Note: Being a Native Floridian, it’s a dubious distinction to see that Florida leads the way in income inequality in the nation. On this list of 9 cities, 3 are in Florida!)

 

** Did you know...we are living through the world's worst refugee crisis since WWII!?

 *GOP led Congress is ready to further gut Campaign Finance Regulations, making it easier for a candidate to coordinate spending with the political party.

 

 

*What is the Obama Doctrine? The Obama Doctrine would have to include his decision to break free of long-standing US policies isolating Myanmar, Cuba, and Iran. Engagement was needed. We are the most powerful ones in the room. It’s a risk, but we are not risking that much. Iran’s defense budget is 30 billion. Ours is 600 billion. We will gamble because the underlying philosophy is: We will engage, but we will preserve our capabilities….Trust but verify? Or another paradigm or configuration. Verify first, carry the big stick, and only then never fear to negotiate.

   *Imperialism by proxy? Obama has a pragmatic world view, hard power and intervention are always seen as the last resort, used judiciously and sparingly.

     *From Soft Power to SMART Power…Obama wants to employ and implicate or embroil Iran further in the machinations of geopolitical strategy in the region. It’s a combination of hard and soft power that enables domination and legitimacy

 

     *Smart power is neither hard nor soft. But there are always caveats…. The Iran deal could lessen the hold Russia has over Iran if Iranian natural gas flows into Europe. And this creates needed leverage against Russia.

 

 

 
·         This is the hottest June across the world since records began. So I guess it’s another ho-hum. Yes, the world is still warming dramatically!
 

*Disasters alone displaced 19 million people in 2014. It’s the greatest crisis of displaced persons since World War II.

 

*Afghanistan bans toy guns in an effort to stem the culture of violence pervading the ravaged country. Even Afghanistan has more common sense measures of gun control than the US!

 

*In Russia, the MacArthur Foundation, a well-respected NGO, operated many years but is shutting down after Putin pushed a law through his parliament cracking down on “undesirable” foreign organizations. The MacArthur Foundation in recent years has funded various projects throughout Russia to raise awareness of human rights abuses.

 

*In the Congo: Half a million girls have been raped by armed soldiers. Also in schools, females have been raped by teachers! Women tell stories of collecting firewood and being raped, one young school girl is raped by a 52 year old teacher. One woman’s husband threatens to abandon her and their seven children after learning she was raped and impregnated by the rapist…

 

      *Under the Radar: What does MOC mean?  Maintenance of Certification boards exist for doctors to remain certified in their field/profession. Rand Paul is well-known for balking at his board certification process and striking out to form his own…but others have also been vocal about their unwillingness to go along with the pack. This may be one of those subjects going under the radar that needs scrutiny.

 

         *The Clinton plan for Renewables: Hillary’s plan includes more solar panels; plus renewables to fuel homes and businesses by 2027. Fossil fuels are favored for Tax Credits; Wind production credits are expanded. She would protect the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan Act:  which limits the amount of greenhouse gases power plants can release.

 

·         Remember the Scottish referendum vote? According to some in Scotland, it’s NOT a done deal. A second vote may be inevitable!

 

 

 

·         Bill Gates on AIDS: Gates says those infected with HIV, are living twenty years longer than before…

 

·         So many things have happened that don’t have anything to do with Donald Trump and the upcoming absurdity of the Fox News debate. Stay tuned for more and check out my Flipboard magazine: Under the Radar News!