The Great Millennial Recession
| SEASONED NUTS: QUOTABLE |
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“Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others.” – Rosa Parks |
| IN A NUTSHELL: MUST READ |
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A Pox to Pax Austere Britannica: On May 19th, millions of people worldwide tuned in to witness the pomp and pageantry of another royal wedding. The majesty of that day demonstrated one England; another exists that is unknown to most of those watching. While wealthy Britons enjoy creature comforts like lavish homes, private medical care, top-notch schools, and five-star restaurants, the poor, elderly, disabled and jobless are living an alternate reality – one caught up in the throes of governmental austerity that is the protracted campaign of budget cutting, started in 2010 by a Conservative Party government. Austerity measures were imposed in the name of eliminating budget deficits and sold as a shared experience that responsible adults were forced to undertake to forestall the nation’s growing debt. There was a sense that belt-tightening was virtuous, an unpleasant but unavoidable task. Yet those who impose austerity are insulated by Britain’s political system from the pain and anger of those on the receiving end. London makes the cuts, but local politicians must do the dirty work of allocating the pain. In the eight years since London began sharply curtailing support for local governments, some cities and towns have seen their budgets cut by one-half to two-thirds. Municipalities have closed fire stations, libraries, police stations, museums, and parks, while rising crime rates, opioid addiction, infant mortality, childhood poverty, and homelessness point to a deteriorating quality of life. According to a report from the Center for Regional Economic and Social Research, by 2020 reductions already in motion will produce cuts to British social welfare programs exceeding $36 billion a year compared with a decade earlier, more than $900 annually for every working-age person in the country. Cuts to the National Health Service are making the lives of poor people more miserable. Some argue that British society is being refashioned to look less like the rest of Western Europe, with generous social safety nets and an egalitarian ethos, and more like the US, where millions lack health care and job loss can ignite a precipitous downward spiral. |
| MIXED NUTS: QUICK TAKES ON WORLD NEWS |
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– Britain’s parliamentary members welcomed Russian money to their shores for decades. Now MPs are suddenly concerned about how much of this money was “dirty,” if Russian president Vladimir Putin could influence British institutions through his power over his country’s super-rich, and whether Brits have sold this kleptocrat the very rope to hang them with. (The Guardian) – On Sunday, in Colombia’s presidential election, the highest vote totals went to two polar opposite candidates, one from the far-right and the other from the hard-left. 41 year-old Iván Duque, a conservative former senator (who won about 39%) and 58-year-old Gustavo Petro, a former leftist rebel (who won about 25%), beat out three other major candidates. The two will go head to head in a final vote-off June 17. (NYT) – The UN warns that a severe drought in two-thirds of Afghanistan could lead to devastating food shortages for up to two million more people this spring and summer. This adds to the nearly two million people who have already been forced from their homes in recent years due to violence. (NYT) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will pay a working visit to China next month to attend a regional summit of the China and Russia-led security bloc, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. China’s deputy foreign minister said China and Iran want “to avoid major disruption of joint projects.” Translation: They want to try saving Iran’s nuclear deal and make some money after America pulled out. (Reuters) More News Reads:
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| NUTS AND BOLTS: SHOULD READ |
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In Political Lobbying We Trust: America’s Christian nationalists are taking a page from the handbook for ALEC, the corporate lobbying group that crafts and promotes model legislation that advances business interests. The four member steering for “Project Blitz” plans to promote their legislative goals in state capitals across the country by overwhelming state legislatures with bills based on model legislative templates advancing their version of Christianity. The authors of the Project Blitz program have a guidebook for state legislators and other allies. Their model legislation has three categories: symbolic gestures, like resolutions to emblazon the motto “In God We Trust” on anything and everything; bills intended to promote the teaching and celebration of Christianity in public schools and elsewhere; and “the Mississippi missile.” This last group refers to the 2016 law, or Mississippi HB 1523, which allows private businesses and government employees with “sincerely held religious beliefs” to discriminate, for example, against LGBT people. The Mississippi bill provides extraordinary protections to a very narrow set of very conservative beliefs. An Oklahoma bill, which appears to be based on the templates, has passed the legislature and is awaiting the governor’s signature. This bill allows adoption and foster care agencies to discriminate on the basis of their own religious beliefs. There are currently more than 70 bills in state legislatures that appear to be based on these templates. Franklin Graham, the son of the late Billy Graham, is carrying his evangelical message across California. He is urging like-minded voters to break down the state’s “blue wall,” which represents the secular values that have taken root on the country’s west coast. He is leading a three-bus caravan through the state, holding 10 political-type rallies, seeking converts, touting his international humanitarian organization “Samaritan’s Purse,” and telling evangelicals to win back California for Jesus on primary day, June 5. Graham insists his hope doesn’t lie in Republicans or Democrats, only in Jesus. But his evangelical vision is actually closely aligned with Republican policy priorities. He is a staunch Trump supporter and strongly defends Trump’s Muslim ban. In fact, new Pew research reports that only 25% of evangelicals believe the US has a responsibility to accept refugees. |
| NUTS IN AMERICA |
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Rudy Can Fail: Oh, Rudy. Were you supposed to go on CNN Sunday and admit that the whole “Spygate” thing was a publicity stunt, a tactic by President Trump to sway public opinion and limit the risk of his being impeached? Yep. “It is for public opinion,” Giuliani said of his public campaign of dissimulation. Democrat Adam Schiff, ranking member of the House intelligence committee, was not impressed, saying on ABC’s This Week: “This is part of the propaganda machine. Let’s spread a completely fallacious story and then say it needs to be investigated, and give it a life of its own.” (The Guardian)
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| HEALTH NUTS |
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– As reported earlier (March 28th and March 29th), many scientists worry about the overprescription of antibiotics for people. But perhaps we should be worried not just about the overuse of antibiotics in people but also in the meat industry. Many in the meat industry rely heavily on antibiotics not only to fight off diseases in livestock but also as a means of speeding up growth. Some scientists now worry that the antibiotic use in animals is affecting human health. Cattle “require 27 months to get to market without antibiotics, more than twice as long as it takes cows pumped full of antibiotics … The C.D.C. also estimates that more than 400,000 United States residents become ill with infections caused by antibiotic-resistant food-borne bacteria every year, with about one in five resistant infections caused by germs from food and animals.” (NYT) – Our overuse of antibiotics is also “Why New Antibiotics Are So Hard to Find”: “We have also discovered many of the obvious antibiotics derived from nature, and are running out of low-hanging fruit. All but one (ceftaroline) of the broad-spectrum antibiotics we use today were discovered over a decade ago, with almost half found in the ‘Golden Age’ between 1950 and 1960.” (Nautilus) – In the military we had to spray our uniforms with permethrin so that they would be tick resistant. At the time we thought, “Oh no, perhaps, this is another random chemical we are asked to use that will cause infertility.” Here’s the good news, it actually works well and EPA “research indicates that permethrin is ‘poorly absorbed’ through the skin, and there’s no evidence that treated clothing could be harmful to children or pregnant women.” (CBS News)
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| LOOSE NUTS: FASCINATING NEWS |
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Some of America’s crown jewels are public libraries, community colleges, and clean tap water. In Tennessee, the state has made “community college free for graduating high school seniors, part of a broader plan to dramatically increase the number of adults in Tennessee with college credentials. It was called, grandly, the Tennessee Promise.” Meanwhile, there are people like “Mike Meru, a 37-year-old orthodontist, [who] made a big investment in his education. As of Thursday, he owed $1,060,945.42 in student loans.” (NPR & WSJ) Mr. Meru might not be a millennial but he can likely economically identify with one as “the net worth of a typical family headed by someone born in the 1980s was 34% below what was expected, according to a new Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis study titled “A Lost Generation?” Unsurprisingly, there are no millennials in the list of “Highest-Paid CEOs.” The highest paid CEO in 2017 made more than $100 million annually. (CNN & NYT) Meanwhile students, parents, and colleges are starting to view college less as a place to receive an education and more like vocational school. And who is to blame them given the economic uncertainty faced by recent graduates despite record low unemployment? “History is on the ebb. Philosophy is on the ropes. And comparative literature? Please. It’s an intellectual heirloom: cherished by those who can afford such baubles but disposable in the eyes of others. I’m talking about college majors, and talk about college majors is loud and contentious these days.” (NYT) More Fascinating Reads:
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| LAST MORSELS |
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“Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today’s mighty oak is yesterday’s nut that held its ground.” – Rosa Parks |
