Thanks for the quote from the Post. My point is that Americans don't have much right to point fingers. As Harry has pointed out with his love for nuclear power, the problems of Japan are here except we have so much more space, resources and a smaller population that we sometimes think we can get away with losing a few hundred square miles of territory for the benefit of the non carbon energy. Generally I am more impressed with Japanese culture and the ability to handle large systems than I am with America on the same turf.
REH From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of D and N Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 1:13 AM To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION Subject: Re: [Futurework] What really Happened at Fukushima I got the Miracle bit 'cause Sam Smith posted the WaPost article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-sad-facts-behind-rick-perrys-texa s-miracle/2011/08/16/gIQAxc3zJJ_story.html <http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-sad-facts-behind-rick-perrys-tex as-miracle/2011/08/16/gIQAxc3zJJ_story.html> highlights: Harold Meyerson, Washington Post - Consider the Texas that Perry holds up to the rest of the nation for admiration. It has the fourth-highest poverty rate of any state. It tied with Mississippi last year for the highest percentage of workers in minimum-wage jobs. It ranks first in adults without high school diplomas. Twenty-six percent of Texans have no health insurance - the highest percentage of medically uninsured residents of any state. It leads the nation in the percentage of children who lack medical insurance. Texas has an inordinate number of employers who provide no insurance to their workers, partly because insurance rates are high, thanks to an absence of regulations. Perry seems quite comfortable with the state's lagging performance in what we might term the pursuit-of-happiness index. Consider his indifference toward education: In 2008, the state comptroller found that 12 percent of Texans lacked high school diplomas and that the level would rise to 30 percent by 2040 unless the state's commitment to education was considerably increased. This year, though, when confronted with a $27 billion budget deficit, Perry did not raise taxes but instead slashed $4 billion from K-12 schools. And I presumed that child poverty would almost rival the US because of somewhat similar economies and educational systems. I could make the leap about at-risk environment being the lot of the poor. But what I sent in had to do with criminal nuclear energy maintenance negligence and mismanagement and convenient earthquake/tsunami cover-up, casting further doubts on nuclear energy safety anywhere. So to my mind, the connection is vague, and I'm curious if more was meant. Meltdowns and near meltdowns occur in wealthier countries too, with varying degrees of secrecy. All people worry about keeping their jobs. Ray, what were you saying? Natalia On 8/28/2011 2:25 PM, Robert Stennett wrote: I cannot speak for Ray's thinking, but I can state that the poor tend to be under-nourished (not always malnourished, but that problem affects some, as well), and thus less resilient to environmental teratogens, toxins, or other shocks to the system. In addition, in the US (and presumably in Japan and other countries), the poorest individuals live in the most undesirable neighborhoods - closest to landfills, powerplants (nuclear and conventional), industrial areas. This ensures a greater exposure to environmental toxins, and thus, a greater 'load' to overcome. You and Ray may want to look at http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ed20100125a2.html. I've pasted the article below. Ray's reference to the "Texas miracle" is a reference to a current US politician with presidential aspirations. The governor of Texas has claimed that his policies have helped protect Texas from the current recession, but this doesn't seem to be true.... https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/the-texas-unmiracle.html for more details on this. Ray's link showed the child poverty rate in a number of areas of the US. In Texas, it ranges from 25% to 37%, depending on the area of the state, and is 11.7% in Canada (18.8% in B.C., according to data from Statistics Canada) Barry On Aug 28, 2011, at 4:13 PM, D and N wrote: Could you please make the connection that you have in mind? Natalia On 8/27/2011 2:41 PM, Ray Harrell wrote: I wonder what the child poverty rate was in Japan? Check out the Texas miracle. REH Monday, Jan. 25, 2010 <http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ed-a-all.html> Poverty in Japan Japan's relative poverty rate as of 2007 stood at 15.7 percent, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry announced last October. This marks the first time the government has officially released its own data on the subject. Past rates were known only through surveys conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The public announcement of this data is a welcome end to the willful denial of previous administrations, but one demanding a response and action. The 2007 relative poverty rate, up from 14.9 percent in the 2004 OECD survey, is the fourth-highest among OECD's 30 member nations. With half the median income for all income earners in the nation serving as the dividing line, the relative poverty rate is likely to have worsened in the past few years, but we will never know until more recent data is forthcoming. For now, though, the reality is that 19 million Japanese are living below the poverty line, or nearly one in every six citizens. Japan may imagine itself as middle class and, compared with other OECD countries, the distribution of income before redistribution has remained better than many, but Japanese society is increasingly becoming pear-shaped. The elderly, older workers, recent unemployed graduates and especially single mothers and their children make up an ever-larger portion of those in poverty. According to the OECD survey, some 59 percent of those below the poverty line are single parents. This figure was one of the worst of all OECD countries in 2004. Now that the administration has announced its base figure for the first time, it will have a clear, public benchmark. Once ministries start announcing statistics, academic researchers, independent organizations and the press can check these figures. That will help to hold the current and future administrations accountable. Admitting the problem is the first, big step, but finding solutions is the more important second step. As welcome as this announcement was, facts are sometimes not as visible as the human beings in poverty. Last year's "temporary workers village" in Hibiya Park over the new year holidays caused the administration to scurry around this year to find shelter and extend unemployment benefits to over 230,000 people. The hard work of creating a fair and just economic system will demand a substantial readjustment of Japan's past socioeconomic norms and practices. Now that the government has admitted there is poverty, action must follow. _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
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