Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

NOAA: 2014 is shaping up as hottest year on record
CNN | Shelby Lin Erdman | 11/30/14

The first ten months of 2014 have been the hottest since record keeping began more than 130 years ago, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

That may be hard to believe for people in places like Buffalo, New York, which saw a record early snowfall this year. But NOAA says, despite the early bitter cold across parts of the United States in recent weeks, it's been a hot year so far for the Earth.

With two months left on the calendar, 2014 is shaping up to be the hottest year on record. ... Read more

The consequences of climate change go far beyond warming temperatures, which scientists say are melting the polar ice caps and raising sea levels.

No Safe Place: How Cities Are Making it Illegal to Be Homeless
BillMoyers | author | older 08/13/14

It Costs $21,000 More to Ignore the Homeless Than It Does to Give Them a Home
BillMoyers | Scott Keyes | older 05/28/14

The Central Florida Commission on Homelessness released a new study showing that, when accounting for a variety of public expenses, Florida residents pay $31,065 per chronically homeless person every year they live on the streets.

The study, conducted by Creative Housing Solutions, an Oklahoma-based consultant group, tracked public expenses accrued by 107 chronically homeless individuals in central Florida. These ranged from criminalization and incarceration costs to medical treatment and emergency room intakes that the patient was unable to afford.

Andrae Bailey, CEO of the commission that released the study, noted to the Orlando Sentinel that most chronically homeless people have a physical or mental disability, such as post-traumatic stress disorder. "These are not people who are just going to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and get a job," he said. "They're never going to get off the streets on their own."

There is a far cheaper option though: giving homeless people housing and supportive services. The study found that it would cost taxpayers just $10,051 per homeless person to give them a permanent place to live and services like job training and health care. That figure is 68 percent less than the public currently spends by allowing homeless people to remain on the streets. If central Florida took the permanent supportive housing approach, it could save $350 million over the next decade. ... Read more

Paul Krugman on Who Is Really to Blame for Europe's Dire Straits
AlterNet | Janet Allon | 12/01/14

Paul Krugman is guardely optimistic about the U.S. economy, which seems to be climbing slowly out of the deep trench of the global financial crisis. Not so with Europe, where, he writes, bad ideas have proven to have an enduring grip. Unemployment there is twice what it is in the U.S. and deflation looms. Like Japan before it, Europe appears to be having a lost decade.

Was this necessary? No, Krugman writes in Monday's column. And without mincing any words, he lands the blame squarely at the feet mostly of Germany, which has used its economic might to inflict austerity and other punitive monetary policies on the rest of Europe. ... Read more