September 2011 - P2P-Foundation - lists.ourproject.org

Fwd: ZeroExchange
by Michel Bauwens 19 Sep '11

19 Sep '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <dante.monson(a)gmail.com> Date: Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 5:24 PM Subject: Fwd: ZeroExchange To: econowmix(a)googlegroups.com On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 8:19 AM, korobokbarabok wrote: > Hi all, > I develop ZeroExchane. It's the java-based system that could help > strangers collaborate to achieve common goals by grouping in the > collective contracts and performing their obligations according this > contract. > Public business reputation stimulates people to be a reliable > partners. Ability of money usage allows seamlessly integrate ZE in the > existent currency systems. Each contract can be interpreted as an > 'freelance'-based enterprise which allows many unfamilar people group > together to produce demanded goods and services and exchange it to > money or other goods/services. Also I plan to implement currency which > will be based on working hours, demand/supply measurement and > reputation. I think this approach will be much more better and healthy > than classical 'money has no smell' principle. > You can find the details on the page http://zeroexchange.sourceforge.net/. > > Anyone who want to contribute or have any constructive ideas - please > drop me a line. > > Regards, > Dmitry (korobokbarabok). > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Global Survival" group. > To post to this group, send email to global-survival(a)googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > global-survival+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/global-survival?hl=en > > PROJECTS > * Global Survival System http://www.automenta.com/global-survival-system > * Collective Intelligence Magnifier > http://www.google.com/url?sa=D&q=https://docs.google.com/present/view%3Fid%… > * Enformable http://enformable.com > * Mailpool http://mattmahoney.net/agi2.html > * Netention http://automenta.com/netention > -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Fwd: [Commoning] Success of the Pirate Party in Berlin/Germany
by Michel Bauwens 19 Sep '11

19 Sep '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Stefan Meretz <stefan(a)meretz.de> Date: Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 2:47 PM Subject: [Commoning] Success of the Pirate Party in Berlin/Germany To: commoning(a)lists.wissensallmende.de Hi all, yesterday the Pirate Party entered the Berlin House of Deputies. They jumped over the 5%-threshold which 8.9% of the votes. This was quite a surprise. All of their candidates won a seat. The success was so big, that some of the seats won in the parallel communal elections will remain unused, because they have not enough candidates. It is expected, that Berlin will get a socialdem-green government. Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_state_election,_2011 Best, Stefan -- Start here: www.meretz.de _______________________________________________ Commoning mailing list Commoning(a)lists.wissensallmende.de http://lists.wissensallmende.de/mailman/listinfo/commoning -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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THE politics of egalitarianism
by Michel Bauwens 19 Sep '11

19 Sep '11

Hi Vasilis, Wonder if I could draw on your assistance while I'm travelling ... see http://www.vizkult.org/propositions/alineinnature/pdfs/Gailey-CommStateSoci… could you find out more about the Politics of Egalitarianism and the reference on primitive communism (starting quote), Michel -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Fwd: When parents model the "healthy selfishness" of partnership...
by Michel Bauwens 19 Sep '11

19 Sep '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <dante.monson(a)gmail.com> Date: Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 6:11 PM Subject: When parents model the "healthy selfishness" of partnership... To: econowmix(a)googlegroups.com excerpt : Children internalize partnership values when their parents believe that Love is abundant. Such parents tend to nurture generously and unconditionally. Younger children are naturally narcissistic. When parents model the "healthy selfishness" of partnership and don't resist their children's narcissism, the children eventually learn that it feels good to care for others. http://dailygroove.net/healthy-selfishness ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Scott Noelle - The Daily Groove <lists(a)enjoyparenting.com> Date: Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 12:55 PM Subject: [Daily Groove] Healthy Selfishness To: Dante-Gabryell <dante.monson(a)gmail.com> ** *THE DAILY GROOVE* ~ *by Scott Noelle* www.enjoyparenting.com/dailygroove *---> DID YOU SEE the Announcement!? I'm presenting a free teleseminar/interview called "One Big Happy Family: Four Powerful Secrets to Creating a Joy-filled Home." It's part of an online series called "The Great Parenting Show," hosted by Jacqueline Green, and you can access the whole series for free when you sign up here <http://bit.ly/greatparenting>: *http://bit.ly/greatparenting *:: Healthy Selfishness ::* Conventional thinking has it that if children get "too much" of what they want, they'll become narcissistic adults who only care about themselves. But this thinking is locked inside the box of the "dominator paradigm," where you "win" by exploiting, excluding, or defeating others. Outside the dominator box is PARTNERSHIP. In partnership it's understood that we're all connected, so *your* wins are *my* wins, and vice versa. Children internalize partnership values when their parents believe that Love is abundant. Such parents tend to nurture generously and unconditionally. Younger children are naturally narcissistic. When parents model the "healthy selfishness" of partnership and don't resist their children's narcissism, the children eventually learn that it feels good to care for others. Today, notice all the ways in which *giving* makes you feel good, and how others feel good when you allow them to give to you. Let the line between giving and receiving dissolve. That's the magic of partnership! http://dailygroove.net/healthy-selfishness *Take the next step...* *Join the PATH Program:* http://www.enjoyparenting.com/path/info *Get "The Daily Groove" BOOK!* http://www.enjoyparenting.com/book *Share this groove on...* [image: [Facebook button]] *Facebook*<http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.enjoyparenting.com/da…> [image: [Twitter button]] *Twitter*<http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.enjoyparenting.com/daily-groo…> *Feel free to forward this message to your friends! (Please include this paragraph and everything above.) Copyright (c) 2011 by Scott Noelle* *PATH Program members: See WHAT'S NEW<http://www.enjoyparenting.com/path/new> * *"Inspiration & Coaching for Progressive Parents"* http://www.ScottNoelle.com http://www.EnjoyParenting.com PO Box 19901 Portland, OR 97280 USA -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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critique of lazy reason 2
by Michel Bauwens 19 Sep '11

19 Sep '11

http://www.ces.uc.pt/bss/documentos/A%20critique%20of%20lazy%20reason.pdf I think I mentioned this essay before, I think it's an important critique of certain kinds of rationality ... Franco, I'd like to present this to our readers, but for some reason, I can't copy the pdf .. can you help? -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Fwd: David Morris on Militarization of the Commons
by Michel Bauwens 18 Sep '11

18 Sep '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jay Walljasper <jay(a)jaywalljasper.com> Date: Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 11:29 PM Subject: David Morris on Militarization of the Commons David Morris has done a important analysis of the new military strategizing about the commons, which you will want to read and may want to circulate. http://www.onthecommons.org/military-and-commons The Military and the CommonsWhy would we want the military to command the commons?BY DAVID MORRIS <http://www.onthecommons.org/users/david-morris> SHARE - [image: Facebook]<http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.onthecommons.org%2Fmi…> - [image: Twitter]<http://twitter.com/home/?status=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.onthecommons.org%2Fnode%2F…> - [image: Digg]<http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.onthecommons.org%2Fmili…> - [image: del.icio.us]<http://del.icio.us/post?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.onthecommons.org%2Fmilitary-an…> - [image: LinkedIn]<http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ontheco…> [image: Print]Print <http://www.onthecommons.org/print/military-and-commons> A few days ago I received notice of a New America Foundation (NAF) hosted conference in Washington, D.C. called “Beyond Primacy: Rethinking American Grand Strategy and the Command of the Commons.” At the conference NAF released a formal report<http://newamerica.net/publications/policy/whither_command_of_the_commons> on the subject: *Whither Command of the Commons? Choosing Security Over Control *. The authors, Sameer Lalwani, Research Fellow at NAF and Joshua Shifrinson, Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School explained their perspective, “This paper…takes U.S. command of the commons as a given, but asks whether there are less costly and more appropriate ways to achieve it in an increasingly multi-polar world.” “Command of the commons”, they explain, means “the ability to project military power and engage in trade at times and places of its choosing while denying the same privileges to others.”** For us commoners the idea that we would take military command of the commons “as a given” is both infuriating and preposterous. Which raises the question. Why did they use the word at all? There was no pressing need. The thesis, that the United States can no longer afford to spend trillions of dollars to maintain an armed presence everywhere on the planet and can no longer dictate to the rest of the world and must devise ways to cooperate without undermining our security, could have been just as well presented without using the term. Substitute the words “the seas” for “maritime commons” and the argument doesn’t suffer. But NAF self-consciously did use the word “commons”, indeed so extravagantly that it was repeated more than 200 times in this brief 21 page document, twice as many times, interestingly, as they used the word “military”. So they are making a point. But what is the point? A commons is widely accepted to have certain characteristics. Resources are collectively owned and shared. A commons is inclusive rather than exclusive. People can access it on a more or less equal basis. Benefits are equitably shared. A commons is meant to be preserved. The military has a structure and a mission antithetical to the preservation and expansion of the commons. To call for the military to command the commons is to call for its weakening and decline. Perhaps the authors recognize this since the piece talks only about commanding the commons. There is nothing about protecting the commons. The NAF report focuses on the “maritime commons” but never mentions the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS), a legal document the emerged from a movement to recognize the seas and the sea beds as commons to be used for the benefit of humanity, equitably shared. In 1970, the United Nations declared the seabed, ocean floor, and subsoil to be “the common heritage of mankind…. (T)he exploitation of its resources shall be carried out for the benefit of mankind as a whole, irrespective of the geographical location of states, whether landlocked or coastal, and taking into particular consideration the interests and needs of the developing countries …([It ensured) the equitable sharing (of its) benefits.” Given its support of the military commanding the commons would have been instructive to hear NAF’s perspective on the U.S. involvement in negotiations over the UNCLOS. Carol Thompson Professor of International Political Economy at the Northern Arizona University offers insights into that history. She writes<http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCoQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F…>, “The apparent first act for enclosure of the seas was by President Harry Truman, who declared in 1945 that the United States had the exclusive right to exploit its territorial waters, defined as on or under the continental shelf. From 1945 to 1957, 41 other enclosure declarations or laws were enacted by various countries. In response, by 1956, landlocked countries started discussions for a United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS) to halt these national territorial claims.” The United States directed the discussions over the definition of territorial waters under UNCLOS. “Its delegations especially wanted to define the freedom of navigation, right of innocent passage, and over-flight rights in ways to facilitate the movement of its armed forces around the world”, writes Professor Thompson. The U.S. military got its way. But when it came to subscribing to the equitable sharing of benefits from the sea, the U.S. balked, bogging down negotiations for more than a decade. The United States successfully demanded the elimination of provisions in early drafts that required sharing deep-sea technology with other countries. Even with all these concessions, the United States is one of only a handful of states that has yet to ratify UNCLOS. As a result U.S. is now barred from membership on the Law of the Sea Tribunal and the Continental Shelf Commission, and can no longer name members to arbitration panels. As an antidote to a report explaining how the military can continue to command the commons, one might want to read the seven part series<http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&sqi=2&ved=0CCwQFjAC&url=http…> published in Truthout this summer. Written by Patricia Hynes a retired professor of environmental health at Boston University School of Public Health and chair of the board of the Traprock Center for Peace and Justice the series is entitled, *War and the Tragedy of the Commons*. One interesting tidbit in Ms. Hynes’ articles relates to the impact of the military on another commons, the sky. “The amount of land and airspace mandated by armed forces for war games, including bombing and shooting ranges, has increased by at least 20 times since World War II. Up to half of US airspace is used for military purposes.” One might argue that the military not only occupies disproportionate parts of the sky, it assaults the sky. According<http://www.iacenter.org/o/world/climatesummit_pentagon121809/> to environmental journalist Johanna Peace, the military accounts for a full 80 percent of the federal government’s energy demand. Yet during the Kyoto Accords negotiations, the US demand, and received, an exemption from measurements or reductions of its military operations worldwide and all operations it participates in with the U.N. and/or NATO. In May 1998 the U.S. Congress passed a bill explicitly guaranteeing U.S. military exemption. And military activities continue to be exempt from an executive order signed by President Barack Obama that calls for federal agencies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Michael Renner may have best summed<http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/26354/subject/Medicine/?view=usa&sf=toc&ci=97…> up the relationship of the military to the environment. “A world that wants to make peace with the environment cannot continue to fight wars or to sacrifice human health and the earth’s ecosystems preparing for them.” I realize the New America Foundation did not invent the phrase “command of the commons”. The term has crept into military writing over the last few years, perhaps beginning with a 2003 article<http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/publication/271/command_of_the_commons.…> by Barry Rosen entitled, “Command of the Commons: The Military Foundation of U.S. Hegemony”. But 2011 is a historical moment. A worldwide movement has arisen to defend and expand the commons at the same time strong sentiment exists in this country that we cannot continue to police the world. What we need now is a report that talks about the military AND the commons and explores whether the relationship between the two can become more supportive and less hostile. Jay Walljasper **Writer *Speaker *Storyteller* JayWalljasper.com <http://www.jaywalljasper.com/> * * * * -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Fwd: "Giving Statistics"
by Michel Bauwens 18 Sep '11

18 Sep '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <dante.monson(a)gmail.com> Date: Sun, Sep 18, 2011 at 12:41 AM Subject: "Giving Statistics" To: econowmix(a)googlegroups.com http://www.nps.gov/partnerships/fundraising_individuals_statistics.htm GIVING STATISTICS A widely-held perception is that corporations and foundations are the biggest sources to tap for grants and donations. The reality is that four out of five or *80 percent of philanthropic dollars are contributed by individuals* and bequests. That *rises to 87 percent if you include family foundation giving*. Corporations and foundations are easier to target. Their contribution of 5 percent and 14 percent respectively was 19 percent of the total philanthropic dollars in 2010. Individuals are more of a challenge to reach and solicit, but are by far the largest philanthropic resource. -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Fwd: Digital AlterNatives with a Cause?
by Michel Bauwens 18 Sep '11

18 Sep '11

Dear Chris, Could you post this on Ning? I'll make a summary later for the regular blog ... greetings from amazing Istanbul .. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Prasad Krishna <prasad(a)cis-india.org> Date: Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 1:01 AM Subject: Digital AlterNatives with a Cause? To: Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004(a)gmail.com> Dear Michel Bauwens, Digital AlterNatives with a Cause? Hivos (The Hague) and The Centre for Internet and Society (Bangalore) consolidate their 3 year knowledge inquiry into the field of youth, technology and change in the 4 book collective "Digital AlterNatives with a cause?". This collaboratively produced collective, edited by Nishant Shah and Fieke Jansen,asks critical and pertinent questions about theory and practice around 'digital revolutions' in a post MENA (Middle East - North Africa) world. It works with multiple vocabularies and frameworks and produces dialogues and conversations between digital natives, academic and research scholars, practitioners, development agencies and corporate structures to examine the nature and practice of digital natives in emerging contexts from the Global South. The books are available for a free download in a .pdf format. *Introduction* In the 21st Century, we have witnessed the simultaneous growth of internet and digital technologies on the one hand, and political protests and mobilisation on the other. Processes of interpersonal relationships, social communication, economic expansion, political protocols and governmental mediation are undergoing a significant transition, across in the world, in developed and emerging Information and Knowledge societies. The young are often seen as forerunners of these changes because of the pervasive and persistent presence of digital and online technologies in their lives. The “ Digital Natives with a Cause?” is a research inquiry that uncovers the ways in which young people in emerging ICT contexts make strategic use of technologies to bring about change in their immediate environments. Ranging from personal stories of transformation to efforts at collective change, it aims to identify knowledge gaps that existing scholarship, practice and popular discourse around an increasing usage, adoption and integration of digital technologies in processes of social and political change. *Methodology* In 2010-11, three workshops in Taiwan, South Africa and Chile, brought together around 80 people who identified themselves as Digital Natives from Asia, Africa and Latin America, to explore certain key questions that could provide new insight into Digital Natives research, policy and practice. The workshops were accompanied by a ‘Thinkathon’ – a multi-stakeholder summit that initiated conversations between Digital Natives, academic researchers, scholars, practitioners, educators, policy makers and corporate representatives to share learnings on new questions: Is one born digital or does one become a Digital Native? How do we understand our relationship with the idea of a Digital Native? How do Digital Natives redefine ‘change’ and how do they see themselves implementing it? What is the role that technologies play in defining civic action and social movements? What are the relationships that these technology based identities and practices have with existing social movements and political legacies? How do we build new frameworks of sustainable citizen action outside of institutionalisation? *Rationale* One of the knowledge gaps that this book tries to address is the lack of digital natives’ voices in the discourse around them. In the occasions that they are a part of the discourse, they are generally represented by other actors who define the frameworks and decide the issues which are important. Hence, more often than not, most books around digital natives concentrate on similar sounding areas and topics, which might not always resonate with the concerns that digital natives and other stake-holders might be engaged with in their material and discursive practice. The methodology of the workshops was designed keeping this in mind. Instead of asking the digital natives to give their opinion or recount a story about what we felt was important, we began by listening to their articulations about what was at stake for them as e-agents of change. As a result, the usual topics like piracy, privacy, cyber-bullying, sexting etc. which automatically map digital natives discourse, are conspicuously absent from this book. Their absence is not deliberate, but more symptomatic of how these themes that we presumed as important were not of immediate concerns to most of the participants in the workshop who are contributing to the book*.* *Structure* The conversations, research inquiries, reflections, discussions, interviews, and art practices are consolidated in this four part book which deviates from the mainstream imagination of the young people involved in processes of change. The alternative positions, defined by geo-politics, gender, sexuality, class, education, language, etc. find articulations from people who have been engaged in the practice and discourse of technology mediated change. Each part concentrates on one particular theme that helps bring coherence to a wide spectrum of style and content. *Book 1: To Be: Digital AlterNatives with a Cause? Download here<http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/exter…> * The first part, *To Be*, looks at the questions of digital native identities. Are digital natives the same everywhere? What does it mean to call a certain population ‘Digital Natives”? Can we also look at people who are on the fringes – Digital Outcasts, for example? Is it possible to imagine technology-change relationships not only through questions of access and usage but also through personal investments and transformations? The contributions help chart the history, explain the contemporary and give ideas about what the future of technology mediated identities is going to be. *Book 2: To Think: Digital AlterNatives with a Cause? Download here<http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/exter…> * In the second section, *To Think,* the contributors engage with new frameworks of understanding the processes, logistics, politics and mechanics of digital natives and causes. Giving fresh perspectives which draw from digital aesthetics, digital natives’ everyday practices, and their own research into the design and mechanics of technology mediated change, the contributors help us re-think the concepts, processes and structures that we have taken for granted. They also nuance the ways in which new frameworks to think about youth, technology and change can be evolved and how they provide new ways of sustaining digital natives and their causes. *Book 3: To Act: Digital AlterNatives with a Cause? Download here<http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/exter…> * *To Act* is the third part that concentrates on stories from the ground. While it is important to conceptually engage with digital natives, it is also, necessary to connect it with the real life practices that are reshaping the world. Case-studies, reflections and experiences of people engaged in processes of change, provide a rich empirical data set which is further analysed to look at what it means to be a digital native in emerging information and technology contexts. *Book 4: To Connect : Digital AlterNatives with a Cause? Download here<http://crm.cis-india.org/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/exter…> * The last section, *To Connect*, recognises the fact that digital natives do not operate in vacuum. It might be valuable to maintain the distinction between digital natives and immigrants, but this distinction does not mean that there are no relationships between them as actors of change. The section focuses on the digital native ecosystem to look at the complex assemblage of relationships that support and are amplified by these new processes of technologised change. We see this book as entering into a dialogue with the growing discourse and practice in the field of youth, technology and change. The ambition is to look at the digital (alter)natives as located in the Global South and the potentials for social change and political participation that is embedded in their interactions through and with digital and internet technologies. We hope that the book furthers the idea of a context-based digital native identity and practice, which challenges the otherwise universalistunderstanding that seems to be the popular operative right now. We see this as the beginning of a knowledge inquiry, rather than an end, and hope that the contributions in the book will incite new discussions, invoke cross-sectorial and disciplinary debates, and consolidate knowledges about digital (alter)natives and how they work in the present to change our futures*.* *Contact us: nishant(a)cis-india.org and fjansen(a)hivos.nl if you want more information, resources, or dialogues* Nishant Shah Fieke Jansen Thank you Prasad Krishna Publication Manager Centre for Internet and Society Unsubscribe<http://crm.cis-india.org/index.php?option=com_civicrm&task=civicrm/mailing/…> #194, Second 'C' cross Domlur Second Stage Domlur Bangalore, 560071 -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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cartels are winning, prohibition must end
by Michel Bauwens 18 Sep '11

18 Sep '11

*Former Cops: The Drug Cartels Are Winning*<http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/09/16/former-cops-the-drug-cartels-are-winn…> STEPHEN C. WEBSTER - The Raw Story *Everybody knows the War on Drugs has done almost no good, but has caused vast and continuing harm to the country. However, hypocrisy and greed are so powerful that we seem unable to turn away even as the evidence piles up detailing what we have done. We just don't seem to be able to organize our society around life-affirming principles. Even honest Republican law enforcement people get it. Terry Nelson, whose three-decades in law e! nforcement saw him serving the U.S. Border Patrol, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Customs Service say this, with which I completely agree -- as anyone dealing with facts must similarly conclude: "If you legalize it, you take the violence and the obscene profits out of [drugs]," he added. "Legalization does not help your drug problem, it helps your crime problem. Over the years in this war, we've made no progress. Legalization, education and treatment is the best way." * "[Look] at Phoenix, Arizona," Neill Franklin, a former undercover police officer in Maryland, told Raw Story recently. "That is the number two kidnapping capital in the world. A couple years back they were averaging one drug-related kidnapping every day. We do already have these [cartels] in the United States, but you just don't hear about them very often. And when we do, it's not the 'undocumented workers' as people are often led to believe, it's the result of our drug policies." Suggesting Phoenix has the second most number of kidnappings out of any city in the world is not new: for instance, that very claim was immediately disputed after Sen. John McCain said it in 2010. However, a review of kidnapping statistics by a team of judges and criminologists earlier this year nearly doubled the official 2008 numbers, lending at least some credibility to the statement. No matter what statistic it is that's examined, be it the kidnapping ranking of Phoenix, shootings in El Paso, marijuana arrests in Brownsville or the number of new gang members in San Diego, the reality of today's America is that drug violence has become a pervasive and pressing threat to most citizens. "We have got to fix this problem, or else it's going to get a lot worse for us here at home," explained Terry Nelson, whose three-decades in law enforcement saw him serving the U.S. Border Patrol, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Customs Service. "We talk a lot about the 40,000 people who've died in the last five years in Mexico's drug war, but we don't talk a lot about Central and South America. The drug deaths down there per 100,000 are just as great as Mexico. Guatemala, El Salvador ... These countries are just wiped out by drug cartels, and it's not even in the news." Just last week, people on both sides of the border were shocked when authorities discovered a chilling scene where two bodies were hanging from a bridge, mutilated beyond recognition, next to a handwritten poster warning to avoid publishing about the cartels on social media or blogs. The situation has become so extreme that today more Mexican youths die from murder than vehicle accidents. But what does this mean for American citizens? In short: the drug cartels have won, but it doesn't have to be this way. Both Nelson and Franklin are members of the non-profit advocacy group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, which aims to win the hearts and minds of law enforcement and conservative lawmakers, who've largely stood in the way of any significant changes to the nation's drug policies. Franklin, LEAP's director whose time as an undercover officer came amid the height of the cocaine craze in the 1980s, explained that what used to be a large bust to him -- a kilo or two of cocaine -- is now little more than a few handfuls of powder. "They're bringing it in with giant shipping containers now," he said. "Boats. 18-wheelers. Submarines even." "These are businessmen," Nelson said. "These are people who own shopping malls and service businesses. By all appearances, these appear to be legitimate businessmen. Their money is in the banks. Law enforcement and busts have just become the cost of doing business for them. There's really no stopping them anymore." Nelson also said that even in Colombia, where U.S. authorities have spent billions strengthening the Colombian military, going so far as to send U.S. troops and drone aircraft to patrol for smugglers, it has not deterred the cocaine producers, and the costs to the U.S. taxpayer have skyrocketed, to little effect. Both men agreed that the dramatic escalation in the sheer volume of drug shipments is indicative of a growing business savvy among the cartels, which the Department of Justice says are now the major distributors of illicit substances in every large U.S. population center. "As you're trying to find out who all these people are in these networks, we felt like we were being effective in interrupting the drug supply," Franklin said. "But a significant seizure today is a container-load, we're talking tons of cocaine, tons of heroin. And when we intercept those today, the streets don't even hiccup. The availability doesn't change. The cartels build their losses into what they ship. They know, percentage-wise, how much to write off." For any business that exists outside the law, the consequences for mistakes are much greater than in the private sector: and for the lower-level cartel members, or their opponents, that consequence is often death. "The worst thing I saw quite often in South America is people being stuffed into barrels and soaked with diesel fuel, then set on fire," Nelson said. "That's got to be the worst kind of death, even worse than all the beheading we've seen in Mexico lately." "We still have violence associated to the cartels in our country," Franklin added. "Most of it is probably on members of the cartels themselves. When their workers don't do what they're supposed to do, they suffer the consequences." Nelson, a life-long Republican, said that he believes many conservative lawmakers are beginning to come around to their view of drug policy as counter-productive to the overall goals of the drug war. "They're just waiting for when it becomes politically viable to take action," he said. "I hope that happens. It needs to." "If you legalize it, you take the violence and the obscene profits out of [drugs]," he added. "Legalization does not help your drug problem, it helps your crime problem. Over the years in this war, we've made no progress. Legalization, education and treatment is the best way." -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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attitudes in the U.S. are changing ...
by Michel Bauwens 18 Sep '11

18 Sep '11

*How the Great Recession Has Changed Life in America*<http://pewsocialtrends.org/2010/06/30/how-the-great-recession-has-changed-l…> Rew Research Center *This poll cuts through the polemics, the politics, and the delusions, and places us in the bracing world of facts. It is not a pretty picture.* I. Overview Of the 13 recessions that the American public has endured since the Great Depression of 1929-33, none has presented a more punishing combination of length, breadth and depth than this one. A new Pew Research survey finds that 30 months after it began, the Great Recession has led to a downsizing of Americans’ expectations about their retirements and their children’s future; a new frugality in their spending and borrowing habits; and a concern that it could take several years, at a minimum, for their house values and family finances to recover. The survey also finds that more than half of the adults in U.S. labor force (55%) have experienced some work-related hardship - be it a spell of unemployment, a cut in pay, a reduction in hours or an involuntary move to part-time work. In addition, the bursting of the pre-recession housing and stock market bubbles has shrunk the wealth of the average American household by an estimated 20%, the deepest such decline in the post-World War II era, according to government data. While nearly all Americans have been hurt in one way or another, some groups have suffered more than others. Blacks and Hispanics have borne a disproportionate share of both the job losses and the housing foreclosures. Young adults have taken the biggest losses on the job front. Middle-aged adults have gotten the worst of the downturn in house values, household finances and retirement accounts. Men have lost many more jobs than women. And across most indicators, those with a high school diploma or less education have been hit harder than those with a college degree or more. Whether by choice or necessity, many Americans have already significantly scaled back their pre-recession borrow-and-spend habits. According to government data, household spending has gone down, savings rates have gone up, consumer credit has remained stable and mortgage debt has plunged during this recession. The survey finds that the public is starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. More than six-in-ten survey respondents (62%) say they expect their personal financial situation to improve in the coming year-the most optimistic reading on this question since before the recession began. Likewise, about six-in-ten (61%) say they believe the damage the recession has inflicted on the U.S. economy will prove to be temporary rather than permanent. This report sets out to present a comprehensive balance sheet on the Great Recession by looking at economic outcomes, behavioral changes and attitudinal trends among the full population as well as various subgroups. Our analysis is drawn from two sources-a comprehensive Pew Research telephone survey of a representative, national sample of 2,967 adults conducted from May 11 to May 31, 2010 (see Appendix for details), and a Pew Research analysis of government economic and demographic trend data. One striking finding of the survey is that some of the demographic groups that have suffered the worst economic hits are also the ones most optimistic about a recovery-both for themselves personally and for the U.S. economy as a whole. Blacks and Hispanics are more upbeat than whites. The young are more optimistic than middle-aged and older Americans. And Democrats are more upbeat than Republicans, even though Democrats have lower incomes and less wealth and have suffered more recession-related job losses. These group differences are apparent not just in responses to specific survey questions, but also in a set of statistical models that examine the independent impact of race, partisanship and age on the likelihood that a respondent will express optimism on six different attitudes about the economy tested in the survey, controlling for a range of demographic variables and recession-related experiences. 1 The analysis finds that blacks, Democrats and, on most questions, younger adults are more likely than whites, Republicans and older adults to hold positive views about the national economy and their personal finances, regardless of their income, education, gender or whether they have had difficulty paying their bills, making mortgage or rent payments; getting or paying for medical care; or have had to cut spending during the recession. One likely explanation for these seemingly counterintuitive patterns is that in an age of highly polarized politics, Democrats and Republicans differ not only in their values, attitudes and policy positions, but, increasingly, in their basic perceptions of reality. This is not the first Pew Research survey taken in the past year that shows that the election of Barack Obama (which came at the height of the recession in November 2008) appears to have put his most enthusiastic supporters-especially blacks, Democrats and young adults-in a more positive frame of mind than Obama’s detractors about many aspects of national life. 2 For example, since Obama was elected Democrats have become more optimistic than Republicans about the state of the national economy. For most of the time that George W. Bush was in office, the reverse was true: Republicans were more upbeat-often, much more upbeat-than Democrats. In addition to race, party identification and age, the logistic regression models include gender, education, income and whether the respondent had experienced recession-related problems to predict the respondents' views on the current state of the economy, their personal financial situation and how they think their family will fare financially in the coming year. ↩ For similar findings of this nature from another Pew Research Center survey, see 'Blacks Upbeat about Black Progress, Prospects, ” January 12, 2010. II. An Historical Perspective Modern-era recessions in the U.S. have generally been less severe than those of the 19th and early 20th centuries. But this one stands out for two features that, taken together, validate its by-now-familiar designation as the worst recession since the Great Depression. The Surge in Long-term Unemployment: The typical unemployed worker today has been out of work for nearly six months (23.2 weeks). This is almost double the previous post-World War II peak for this measure-12.3 weeks-in 1982-83. Long-term unemployment of this magnitude and duration raises a vexing question: Beyond a 'normal” cyclical downturn, might the U.S. economy be going through some long-term structural changes that will lead to relatively high rates of unemployment for years to come? The Meltdown in Household Wealth: This recession has eroded more household wealth than any other episode in the post-World War II era-not surprising in that it was triggered by the bursting of bubbles in both the housing and stock markets, the two principal sources of household wealth. According to the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics (PSID) 3 , median household wealth decreased by an estimated 19% from 2007 to 2009. On a percentage basis, this loss of wealth was greater among middle-income households than among those in either the lower or upper income tiers. Similarly, it took a much bigger percentage bite out of the (relatively modest) wealth of black and Hispanic households than of white households. Two-and-a-half years after this recession began, it’s easier to take stock of its effects than to be certain of its duration. The nation’s gross domestic product has been registering gains for nearly a year, leading some economists to asse rt that the recession is already over-and has been for some time. But with the nation’s overall unemployment rate remaining stubbornly high-9.7% as of May 2010-the quasi-official arbiters of the nation’s business cycles at the National Bureau of Economic Research4. The NBER is a private, not-for-profit economic research organization based in Cambridge, Mass. It counts more than 1,000 professors of economics among its research associates. Since forming its Business Cycle Dating Committee in 1978, it has been the quasi-official arbiter of the timing of expansions and recessions in the U.S. economy.] (NBER) have yet to declare that it is over. To further complicate matters, this doesn’t necessarily mean it isn‘t over. Because of the way the NBER operates, there is often a lag time of a year or more between its declaration of the end of a recession and the date that recession is retrospectively said to have ended. (For details, see Chapter 2). 3. PSID, started in 1968, is a longitudinal study of U.S. families, that is, it follows the same families and individual members of those families over time. It features an oversample of low-income families. The original sample size was about 4,800 families, and it has grown since to about 8,000 families today. A refresher sample of immigrant families was added in 1997 to keep the study representative of the U.S. population. The study is conducted at the Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. III. The Recession: An Overview It Ain‘t Over Till It‘s Over: The public shares the NBER’s caution about declaring the recession over. More than half (54%) of the respondents to the Pew Research survey say the economy is still in a recession, 41% say it’s beginning to come out of the recession and just 3% say the recession is over. Whites (57%) are more inclined than blacks (45%) or Hispanics (43%) to say the recession is ongoing. Republicans (63%) are more inclined than Democrats (43%) to say the same. Half Say Their Finances Are in Worse Shape: About half of Americans (48%) say their household’s current financial situation is worse now than before the recession. About one-in-five (21%) say they are in better shape. The rest say there has been no change. Grouped by income, those at the lower end of the scale are most likely to say they are in worse shape. Grouped by age, those in late middle age (50 to 64) are the most likely to say they are in worse shape. Many Foresee a Long Road to Recovery: Among those who say their family finances have lost ground during the recession, 63% predict it will take at least three years to recover. Blacks are more optimistic than whites that their recovery time period will be two years or less (55% versus 29%). Among college graduates who lost ground, fully 30% believe it will take six or more years to recover. Among those who did not attend college and lost ground, just 18% see a recovery period of six or more years. A Growing Lower Class? Asked to place themselves into one of five socioeconomic classes (upper, upper-middle, middle, lower-middle and lower), a slightly higher share of Americans put themselves in the lower two groups now than before the recession began-29% now vs. 25% in March 2008. Half say they are middle class (down from 53% in 2008), while 20% place themselves in the upper two classes (virtually unchanged from 2008). Blacks, as a group, are an exception to this overall pattern. The share of blacks who now identify with the upper class has gone up during this recession, to 20% now from 15% two years ago. Not Everyone Got Whacked: Even in these bad times, some people have made out OK. As noted above, about two-in-ten (21%) adults say their household finances are in better shape now than before the recession began. Among all currently employed workers, 20% say they were promoted or found a better job during the recession. And about four-in-ten say they have gotten at least one raise during the past 30 months (a proportion that is likely much lower than it would have been if the economy had been more robust). IV. The New Frugality Making Ends Meet: Americans have changed their lifestyles in many different ways to make ends meet during this recession. More than seven-in-ten (71%) say they have bought less expensive brands. Nearly six-in-ten (57%) say they have cut back or canceled vacation plans. About half (49%) say they have loaned money to someone, and 24% report having borrowed money from someone. Three-in-ten say they have cut back on alcohol or cigarettes. Nearly one-in-ten (9%) say they have moved back in with their parents (among adults ages 18 to 29, this figure rises to 24%). Overall, higher-income adults report making fewer of all these lifestyle adjustments than do lower-income adults. Likewise, adults ages 65 and older report making fewer of them than do younger and middle-aged adults. Neither a Spender Nor a Borrower Be: More than six-in-ten (62%) Americans say that since the recession began, they’ve cut back on household spending. Half say they have reduced the amount they owe on mortgages, credit cards, car loans and other borrowing. Of those who have savings or retirement accounts, more than four-in-ten (42%) say they’ve adopted a more conservative approach to saving and investing, compared with just 8% who say they’ve taken a more aggressive approach. These new habits of thrift and caution could well outlive this recession. Asked to predict their financial behaviors once the economy recovers, 48% say they plan to save more, 31% say they plan to spend less and 30% say they plan to borrow less. Only small percentages say the reverse-that they plan to save less and borrow and spend more. V. Retirement Worries Retirement Confidence Down: Even though the stock market has rallied by more than 50% from its recession-era bottom in March 2009, Americans have continued to lose confidence in their ability to afford retirement. Some 32% of adults now say they are 'not too” or 'not at all” confident they will have sufficient income and assets for retirement, up from 25% who said the same in February 2009. This uncertainty is greater among younger and middle-aged adults than among older adults. It is also greater among adults with low incomes. Retirement Delayed: Among adults ages 62 and older who are still working, 35% say they’ve already delayed retirement because of the recession. Among adults ages 50 to 61 who are currently employed, six-in-ten say they may have to delay retirement because of the recession. Raiding the Cookie Jar: Four-in-ten adults (41%) who have a checking, savings or retirement account say that during the recession they have had to withdraw money from their savings account, 401(k) account or some other retirement account to pay their bills. Younger and middle-aged adults report having done this at higher rates than those ages 65 and older. Lower-income adults have done it at higher rates than have upper-income adults. VI. Short-term Optimism; Long-Term Uncertainty Next Year Will Be Better: More than six-in-ten (62%) adults say they expect their financial situation to improve in the coming year, compared with just 19% who say they expect it to get worse. That is the most upbeat reading on this measure since September 2007, just before the recession began. Among the most optimistic demographic groups are blacks (81% expect their finances to improve in the coming year), Hispanics (74%) and 18- to 29-year-olds (85%). But Will Our Children Do Better? During the past decade, Americans have grown increasingly skeptical about the standard of living of future generations-and this skepticism has deepened during this recession. Today fewer than half (45%) of adults believe that when their children become the age they are now, their children will enjoy a better standard of living than they have now. Even more striking, 26% now say their children’s standard of living will be lower. This is a 'positive/negative” gap of just 19 percentage points on a question that tests the public’s faith in a core tenet of the American dream-the idea that children grow up to live better than their parents. At the start of the recession in early 2008, this gap was 35 percentage points. In 2002, it was 51 percentage points. Overall, blacks, Hispanics and young adults are more upbeat about the idea of generational progress than are whites and older adults. Public Says Mix of Economic News Is Unchanged: About two-thirds of adults (65%) say that these days they are hearing a mix of good and bad news about the economy, while 30% say they are hearing mostly bad news and just 4% say they are hearing mostly good news. These shares have barely budged in the past year. However, back in December 2008, when the recession was about a year old, fully 80% of adults said they were hearing mostly bad news about the economy. Recession Impact: Permanent or Temporary? Most Americans (70%) believe that the recession has inflicted major changes on the U.S. economy, but most (61%) say that these changes will prove to be temporary. Older adults are more downbeat than younger adults (21% of those ages 50 and older see major, permanent changes, compared with just 13% of those ages 18-24); college graduates are more pessimistic than whose with a high school diploma or less education (22% of the former see major, permanent change, compared with 14% of the latter); and Republicans are more pessimistic than Democrats (22% vs. 12%). When asked a similar battery of questions about the impact of the recession on the way they live their lives, a smaller share of respondents-just 8%-say they believe the changes will prove to be both major and permanent. An additional 12% say the changes will be minor and permanent. Still the Land of Prosperity? By a two-to-one margin, 63% to 31%, Americans agree with the statement that 'although there may be bad times every now and then, America will always continue to be prosperous and make economic progress.” Blacks, Hispanics, Democrats and young adults register the most optimistic views on this question. Also, those who self-identify with the middle class are more optimistic than those who classify themselves as upper or lower class. VII. The Labor Force The Unemployment Blues: High as they are, measures such as the unemployment rate (9.7% in May 2010) and the median length of unemployment (23.2 weeks) still don’t fully convey the scope of the employment crisis that has unfolded during this recession. A broader measure from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that also includes involuntary part-timers and other marginal workers puts the combined unemployment and underemployment rate at 16.6%. And the Pew Research survey finds that among all adults in the labor force, fully 32% say that they are either now unemployed or that they had been unemployed for some period of time since the recession began. The Long-term Blues: Of all currently-unemployed adults, 46% have been out of work for six months or more, by far the highest share measured by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in the post-World War II era. Short-term spells of unemployment typically do not lead to significant breaks in career paths or major financial losses-but long-term spells often do. The Payday Blues: The unemployed are not the only ones hit by this recession. More than four-in-ten (42%) currently employed workers say that during the recession they have experienced at least one of the following: had their hours reduced (28%); had their pay cut (23%); had to take unpaid leave (12%) or saw their full-time jobs shrink to part time (11%). Workers across all demographic groups were affected, but these blows landed most heavily on minorities and workers with only a high school diploma or less education. Career Impact: About a quarter (24%) of all adults-and 43% of all currently unemployed adults-say the recession will have a big impact on their ability to achieve their long-term career goals. Also, workers who lost a job during this recession but have since found a new one (26% of currently employed adults) are less likely than other workers to say they are satisfied with their job and more likely to say they are overqualified. VIII. The Recession Hits the Home The Housing Bubble Bursts: About half of all homeowners (48%) say the value of their house has declined during the recession (26% say 'a lot,” and 22% say 'a little”). A third say their homes have held their value during the recession, and one-in-eight say their homes have increased in value. Homeowners most likely to report their home lost value include those who are middle-aged, upper income and live in the West. Also, Republicans (52%) are more likely than Democrats (42%) to say their house has lost value. 'Underwater”: More than two-in-ten (21%) of all homeowners say they currently owe more on their mortgage or other home loans than they could sell their house for in today’s market. In real estate vernacular, they are 'underwater.” Hispanic and black homeowners are more likely than whites to be in this circumstance; lower-income homeowners are more likely than upper-income homeowners to face this problem, and middle-aged homeowners more likely than either younger or older homeowners to be in this situation. Not Coming Back Anytime Soon: Among those who say their houses have lost value during this recession, the overwhelming majority believe it will take at least three years for values to return to pre-recession levels. This includes 47% who say they expect it will take three to five years and 39% who say it will take six years or longer. Just 10% say they expect a recovery in two or less years. Despite this, eight-in-ten Americans agree that a house is the best long-term investment the average person can make. (However, the share who 'strongly agree” with this statement is just 39% now, down by 10 percentage points from the share who said the same in a 1991 survey.) -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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