San Jose Mercury News:
“Rising income inequality is undermining the growth of tax revenue in states across the United States, according to a new report by Gabriel Petek of San Rafael, an analyst with Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.
Petek's report comes out a month after Beth Ann Bovino, a chief economist with Standard & Poor's, issued a report concluding that income inequality in the U.S. is contributing to slower economic growth and that this represents a structural, rather than a cyclical change. Both reports have attracted the attention of the national media. …
Petek reported that from 1980 to 2011, average annual state tax revenue growth dropped from 10 percent to 5 percent while the share of total income for the top 1 percent of earners doubled. During this 31-year span, the portion of total income going to the top percentile grew from 10 percent to about 20 percent.”
—>Most of our major media did not cover this story that highlights how the very rich suppress economic growth, and diminish state revenues that can be used for education, healthcare and other social needs. The NY Times avoids stories like these that criticize the very people that sit on its board of directors.
UPDATE: The NY Times has finally covered this story.
UPDATE: The NY Times has finally covered this story.
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Portside:
“Israel Outsources West Bank Security to ‘Uncontrolled Militias.’
A new report from Yesh Din, Volunteers for Human Rights, denounces the Israel Defense Force's (IDF) privatization of law enforcement in the occupied territories. The Israeli Human Rights group accuses the IDF of transferring the power to arrest, search, question, and detain West Bank Palestinians to settler militias ‘who are motivated by an aspiration to seize additional Palestinian land and who refuse to recognize Palestinian land rights.’
Privatizing the state’s use of force should be a source of concern to us all. Such a process – and particularly when the powers are transferred to a body with a clear political agenda – creates uncontrolled militias. This is the process that has occurred in the West Bank due to the army’s policy of delegating some of its law enforcement powers to civilian security coordinators, as discussed in Yesh Din’s new report, ‘The lawless zone.’
—>The NY Times didn’t print this report, although if our government had appointed the KKK to police Mississippi the story would have been on page one.
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Common Dreams:
"An Israeli-owned container ship that was blocked from unloading its cargo at the Port of Oakland by pro-Palestinian protesters over the weekend was headed to Los Angeles on Monday, according to a ship-tracking website.
The Zim Shanghai left Oakland with its cargo still onboard on Sunday evening, according to the website marinetraffic.com. It was expected to arrive in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Some 200 people angry over Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas rocket salvoes staged a protest of the Zim Shanghai at the Port of Oakland on Saturday morning and again that afternoon.“
—>This growing movement to stop Israeli cargo ships from unloading at US and Canadian ports is a huge story. Not only is apartheid Israel being challenged, but a united group of students and labor activists are leading the BDS effort.
