Norway tops the Social Progress Index

On April 25, 2015April 25, 2015 By Rick McIn economics, education, ethics, government, happiness, health & fitness, Islam, travelLeave a comment

Gross Domestic Product has become the yardstick by which we measure a country’s success. But, says Michael Green, GDP isn’t the best way to measure a good society.

His alternative? The Social Progress Index, which measures things like basic human needs and opportunity. …

The Social Progress Index determines what it means to be a good society according to three dimensions: Basic Human Needs (food, water, shelter, safety); Foundations of Wellbeing (basic education, information, health and a sustainable environment); and Opportunity (do people have rights, freedom of choice, freedom from discrimination, and access to higher education?) …

Some countries over-perform on social progress relative to their GDP per capita. Costa Rica is the biggest aggregate over-performer, showing strength across all the dimensions. The key lesson here is that building social progress takes persistence. Costa Rica has had strong education, health and welfare systems for a long time, as well as a long democratic tradition. SPI measures outcomes — life expectancy, literacy rate — not inputs, like laws passed or money spent. There are no cheats or quick fixes

WHY WE SHOULDN’T JUDGE A COUNTRY BY ITS GDP

slide-14-michael-green

Saudi Arabia is the biggest underachiever. I’ve ~~just arrived~~ … Actually I’m scheduled to get to San Jose, Costa Rica May 1st, my first visit.

trickle-down #voodoonomics

On April 22, 2015April 20, 2015 By Rick McIn economics, ethics, GOP USALeave a comment

Nonsense perpetuated by the rich. 😦

“Trickle-down economics“, also referred to as “trickle-down theory”, chiefly and originally in United States politics, is the idea that economic benefits provided to businesses and upper income levels, or money appropriated by government via taxation, will indirectly benefit poorer members of society when the resources inevitably “trickle down” to them.

The term has been attributed to humorist Will Rogers, who said during the Great Depression that “money was all appropriated for the top in hopes that it would trickle down to the needy.

In more recent history, the theory is most closely identified with critics of the economic policies known as “Reaganomics” or laissez-faire. David Stockman, who as Reagan’s budget director championed these cuts at first but then became skeptical of them …

See this cartoon on Facebook.

Gwynne Dyer: why terrorism is overblown

On April 14, 2015April 10, 2015 By Rick McIn economics, ethics, GOP USA, government, IslamLeave a comment

Gwynne Dyer has an MA in military history from Rice University, Houston, Texas and a PhD in military and Middle Eastern history at King’s College London.

Let’s just admit he’s got more experience and knowledge than you or I.

Don’t panic. Terrorism is a very small problem. And any western president or prime minister who thinks they’ll severely damage ISIS by dropping bombs on its fighters is terribly mistaken. …

“Well, we lost two people in the last year to terrorism and we lost about 250 a month on the roads,” Dyer said. “You know, the Americans lost 3,000 people on 9/11, but they also lost 3,000 people on the roads and another 3,000 to gunshot wounds, mostly delivered by their nearest and dearest.

“The scale of the terrorism is tiny compared to its presence in the media,” Dyer continued. “Really, we should, as much as possible, ignore it. We certainly don’t need to overreact by sending troops to the Middle East …

In fact, according to Dyer, if western countries expand their bombing campaigns against ISIS into Syria, it will only make the Islamic State stronger.

That’s because it will reinforce ISIS’s message that western infidels are attacking and killing Muslims. Dyer said that this provides a perfect recruiting tool to attract more desperate people to join their cause. …

… terrorism is “the weapon of the weak”. And he pointed out that it has been used for centuries in many parts of the world against governments to achieve very specific objectives. …

He also repeatedly characterized terrorism as a “technique” for revolutionaries “who don’t have an army, don’t have heavy weapons, and don’t have a great deal of money”. …

… the Arab world is the second poorest region in the world. Given current economic growth rates in Africa, he predicted that the Arab countries will become the poorest within 15 years.

“There’s virtually no science done in the Arab countries,” Dyer said, characterizing the region as being gripped with “poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, and despair”.

It’s to be expected that under these circumstances, revolutionary movements would emerge. …

What is the Islamic State?

Dyer acknowledged that it’s helpful for Islamists that they have a territorial base in northwestern Iraq and parts of Syria, which is known as the Islamic State. But he also emphasized that it’s a profoundly weak base, mostly open desert, with few resources. …

“Is this a great power arising that we need to worry about?” he asked. “No, it’s not. It’s astounding how little the Middle East matters. I mean, it monopolizes our news media, but the Middle East contains 10 percent of the world’s people. Only five percent of the world’s people are Arabs. And it accounts for about three percent of the world’s economy, including all the oil.”

Gwynne Dyer explains why terrorism is overblown and why Islamists want western countries to attack the Islamic State

tap to pay

On April 13, 2015April 10, 2015 By Rick McIn Apple, economics, product complaintsLeave a comment

Give me convenience or give me death. 🙂

I’m getting quite addicted to tapping my Debit card to pay for pretty much everything.

This is the future.

(Colin)

Study: People Try Apple Pay Once, Don’t Go Back

every day should be ‘Buy Nothing’ day

On April 12, 2015April 11, 2015 By Rick McIn Apple, economics, ethics, happiness, health & fitness, philosophyLeave a comment

🙂

‘Live Rich’ – A spoken word film about the true meaning of wealth.

‘Live Rich’ is a film about our relationship with money in a world where we are always being sold to, and how the most important things in life can’t be bought.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Written, Performed & Directed by Gary Turk
Original Score by New Desert Blues
Featuring Megan Turk & Jonathan Royston-Claire

Spend less. Live more.

Buy more experiences, fewer things.

(via Films for Action)

only 6% of scientists identify as Republican

On April 11, 2015April 7, 2015 By Rick McIn economics, GOP USA, governmentLeave a comment

Stat via Economist (2010)

The facts have a well known left leaning bias. 🙂

I have Republican friends who get irked when I claim that the GOP are the anti-Science Party.

The GOP are the anti-Science Party. There is no doubt.

should a business be allowed to deny service?

On April 4, 2015April 4, 2015 By Rick McIn economics, ethics, governmentLeave a comment

You run a storefront business. Should you have the right not to sell to women? To visible minorities? To Norwegians?

I don’t think so.

What’s the difference between this woman …

bigot

… and this guy?

I believe in freedom. But not freedom to discriminate.

Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana should stay closed. Instead of selling pizza only to heterosexuals, owners can live off donations from the homophobes. (Over $800,000 donated, so far. This stunt turned out to be very profitable, even if the owners are in hiding.)

details – Anti-equality Indiana pizza joint gets seriously trolled, shuts up shop

why I joined the Liberal Party of Canada

On March 30, 2015March 30, 2015 By Rick McIn economics, ethics, governmentLeave a comment

To Joan Crockatt, my current Member of Parliament:

Hello Joan,

I will be actively campaigning in your riding against the Conservative Party in the upcoming election.

Born in Calgary, a fiscal conservative, still I cannot support your military mission in Iraq. It’s a waste of money. And will likely backfire, making Canada a more prominent target for any Canadian extremist or kook. It’s making me and my family less safe, not more.

Scholars Pape and Feldman:

… more than 2,100 documented cases of suicide bombings from 1980 to 2009 and concluded that most of the perpetrators were acting in response to U.S. intervention in the Middle East. …

The Canadian military should be Peace Keepers.

My other main issue is online privacy. I’m almost certainly going to be strongly against the coming omnibus public safety bill (Bill C-51). The NSA has proven that method doesn’t work. It’s not at all the best way to find terrorists in Canada.

Rick McCharles
Sarcee Meadows, Glamorgan

P.S.

I do like your work for women’s rights, by the way. But not enough to offset my disgust with your Party bombing and shooting innocent women and children in the Middle East.

Sergeant Andrew Joseph Doiron was killed by friendly fire in Iraq

___

Joan Crockatt did not reply. Not even a form letter.
___

So I bought a $10 Liberal Party membership.

Justin Trudeau:

We will not be supporting the government’s efforts to deepen this combat mission and expand it into Syria.

Speech by Justin Trudeau on the government’s motion to extend the combat mission in Iraq and expand into Syria

I’m hoping the Liberal candidate will be my Mayor’s chief of staff, Chima Nkemdirim.

I’ve written the NDP Party, as well, asking why I should vote for them instead of the Liberals.

Mulcair says NDP would pull Canadian troops from Iraq mission

rich getting richer, the poor poorer

On February 26, 2015February 24, 2015 By Rick McIn economics, education, ethics, GOP USA, governmentLeave a comment

Why is that?

Many of the rich (Cheap-Labor Conservatives) like “cheap labour”.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Though former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich overstates a bit, his key points are true.

Click PLAY or watch a trailer for Robert Reich’s documentary on YouTube. Inequality for All.

I can’t see why any poor or under-employed person should vote for the Republican Party. The American Tea Party hates the poor. Despises any program that gives one dollar to the poor. Yet wants to waste hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars in the Middle East.

I’m still trying to find a national American politician who’s a true fiscal conservative.

Films for Action – The Cheap-Labor Conservatives’ “Dirty Secret”: They Don’t Really Like Prosperity