Social unrest is on the rise the world over. From the “Arab spring” to the London riots to the Tea Party protests in the US to the Chinese outrage over the high speed rail derailment to protests over reforms in Greece. The global economy has been in a recession, and currently, the major economies of the world are pursing austerity measures. New research finds a link between contractionary government policies in Europe over the last 90 years and civil unrest. 60 minutes recently did a piece stating that child poverty may soon reach 25% in America.
According to the World Bank, food prices are up 33%, year over year, in July. Some have pointed out that this is the only major accomplishment of Quantitative Easing. Low skilled labour is down, as manufacturing has been moved to developing countries
and because the construction industry, decimated by the housing bubble, has no sign of recovering any time soon. Thus, the consequences of the global financial crisis are falling disproportionately on the poor and middle class.
The Atlantic has an excellent piece on this topic, for their September issue, titled ’Can the Middle Class Be Saved?’. Hardly a progressive extremist, Warren Buffet recently wrote an article for the NY Times, ‘Stop Coddling the Super-Rich’. He followed the article up with an interview on Charlie Rose. Warren explained that his last year’s “all –in” tax rate at 17%, on over 60 million in earnings, was approximately half the average rate paid by those working in his office. So much for the notion of shared sacrifice.
My point is simple. The poor and the middle class are being disenfranchised in the developed world. The London Riots should be a warning to American policy makers. If you don’t start designing polices, like a fiscal stimulus, that will get the poor working again your system will become destabilized and may implode. For those who say it can’t happen here because of American exceptionalism, I say it’s already happening. Sarah Palin, when pushed, couldn’t recount Paul Revere’s historic warnings. Let's hope she and her Tea Party friends can heed contemporaneous political warnings. There is a new British invasion underway, and it doesn’t involve cute guys with mop tops.
American policy makers have been warned, take a lesson from Brazil. Otherwise expect violent unrest, kidnapping and flash mobs.
As the Kaiser Chiefs warned:
Watching the people get lairy
Is not very pretty I tell thee
Walking through town is quite scary
And not very sensible either
A friend of a friend he got beaten
He looked the wrong way at a policeman
Would never have happened to Smeaton
An old Leodensian
La-ah-ah, lalala la la la
Ah-ah-ah, lalala la la la
I predict a riot, I predict a riot
I predict a riot, I predict a riot
I tried to get to my taxi
A man in a tracksuit attacked me
He said that he saw it before me
Wants to get things a bit gory
Girls scrabble around with no clothes on
To borrow a pound for a condom
If it wasn't for chip fat, they'd be frozen
They're not very sensible
La-ah-ah, lalala la la la
Ah-ah-ah, lalala la la la
I predict a riot, I predict a riot
I predict a riot, I predict a riot
And if there's anybody left in here
That doesn't want to be out there
According to the World Bank, food prices are up 33%, year over year, in July. Some have pointed out that this is the only major accomplishment of Quantitative Easing. Low skilled labour is down, as manufacturing has been moved to developing countries
and because the construction industry, decimated by the housing bubble, has no sign of recovering any time soon. Thus, the consequences of the global financial crisis are falling disproportionately on the poor and middle class.
The Atlantic has an excellent piece on this topic, for their September issue, titled ’Can the Middle Class Be Saved?’. Hardly a progressive extremist, Warren Buffet recently wrote an article for the NY Times, ‘Stop Coddling the Super-Rich’. He followed the article up with an interview on Charlie Rose. Warren explained that his last year’s “all –in” tax rate at 17%, on over 60 million in earnings, was approximately half the average rate paid by those working in his office. So much for the notion of shared sacrifice.
My point is simple. The poor and the middle class are being disenfranchised in the developed world. The London Riots should be a warning to American policy makers. If you don’t start designing polices, like a fiscal stimulus, that will get the poor working again your system will become destabilized and may implode. For those who say it can’t happen here because of American exceptionalism, I say it’s already happening. Sarah Palin, when pushed, couldn’t recount Paul Revere’s historic warnings. Let's hope she and her Tea Party friends can heed contemporaneous political warnings. There is a new British invasion underway, and it doesn’t involve cute guys with mop tops.
American policy makers have been warned, take a lesson from Brazil. Otherwise expect violent unrest, kidnapping and flash mobs.
As the Kaiser Chiefs warned:
Watching the people get lairy
Is not very pretty I tell thee
Walking through town is quite scary
And not very sensible either
A friend of a friend he got beaten
He looked the wrong way at a policeman
Would never have happened to Smeaton
An old Leodensian
La-ah-ah, lalala la la la
Ah-ah-ah, lalala la la la
I predict a riot, I predict a riot
I predict a riot, I predict a riot
I tried to get to my taxi
A man in a tracksuit attacked me
He said that he saw it before me
Wants to get things a bit gory
Girls scrabble around with no clothes on
To borrow a pound for a condom
If it wasn't for chip fat, they'd be frozen
They're not very sensible
La-ah-ah, lalala la la la
Ah-ah-ah, lalala la la la
I predict a riot, I predict a riot
I predict a riot, I predict a riot
And if there's anybody left in here
That doesn't want to be out there
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