OXFAM: "100 richest people could end world poverty"

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Interesting back and forth between the 99% and the 1% in China:

Celebrity real estate developer Pan Shiyi, who has previously pushed for cities to publish more detailed air quality data and who is a delegate to Beijing's legislature, called Tuesday morning for a "Clean Air Act." By late afternoon, his online poll had received more than 29,000 votes, with 99 percent in favor.

On Monday, Wang Anshun was elected Beijing's mayor after telling lawmakers the municipal government should make more efforts to fight air pollution, according to Xinhua.

Last week, he announced plans to remove 180,000 older vehicles from the city's roads and promote government cars and heating systems that use clean energy.


Of course it took air so poisonous that you can't breathe it...or see...to spur this!

http://news.yahoo.com/smog-thick-enough-cancel-flights-hits-beijing-074510816.html

Matt

dogofwar said:
I think the important thing to take from Ed's post is that inequality in the world (and US) is growing...and that wealth is being concentrated in fewer and fewer people. To the point that a relatively few people hold a historically high proportion of the worlds wealth. And, without change, are going to hold a higher and higher proportion of it.

When wealth (power) becomes so concentrated, it's self-reinforcing in many cases: Money buys access and influence over policy. And this can be beneficial (in the case of, say, advocating for a benevolent cause)...or self-serving (in the case of, say, Too Big To Fail Banks ensuring that real regulatory oversight doesn't happen...or oil companies ensuring that tax loopholes remain and safer clean air standards don't become law). It's not a Democrat or Republican issue. It's an issue of money, power and influence. With over a BILLION dollars by each side spent directly and through Super PACs on the last election (and increasingly by Mega Donors), the impact of money on politics is becoming even worse.

Most people seem to think everything's OK. They got theirs, so F everyone else. Or are at least too busy watching the Kardachians or trying to make out one party or the other as the boogie man to do anything about it. Fortunately some of the mega rich are trying to work for progress. And lots of little people CAN make a difference.

China over the next decade is going to an interesting case study in the excesses of hyper growth / unregulated (crony) capitalism. Like our country at the turn of the 20th century (after the Gilded Age or Robber Barons and the like), China will be shaken by labor strife, corruption, environmental damage and other factors. If anyone is paying attention, China's neo-colonial activities in Africa and the Caribbean are in full swing. Deals with despots in Sudan? No problem...just give us your oil. Extract the (public) resources. Pay a few. And the populace suffers. I've seen that movie before. It doesn't end well. Although it's had a few sequels...

Matt
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dogofwar said:
Interesting back and forth between the 99% and the 1% in China:

Celebrity real estate developer Pan Shiyi, who has previously pushed for cities to publish more detailed air quality data and who is a delegate to Beijing's legislature, called Tuesday morning for a "Clean Air Act." By late afternoon, his online poll had received more than 29,000 votes, with 99 percent in favor.

On Monday, Wang Anshun was elected Beijing's mayor after telling lawmakers the municipal government should make more efforts to fight air pollution, according to Xinhua.

Last week, he announced plans to remove 180,000 older vehicles from the city's roads and promote government cars and heating systems that use clean energy.


Of course it took air so poisonous that you can't breathe it...or see...to spur this!

http://news.yahoo.com/smog-thick-enough-cancel-flights-hits-beijing-074510816.html

Matt
Click to expand...

I do not see the back and force you mentioned...

Mass transportation certainly makes sense in urban China...and last time I was there, the shanghai system was great.


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99% want a "Clean Air Act"...1% don't. Yet there isn't a "Clean Air Act" in China. I wonder why...

Things have evidently gotten so undeniably bad that the Mayor of Beijing has announced plans for local actions to address some of the problem.

Matt


ecoli73 said:
I do not see the back and force you mentioned...

Mass transportation certainly makes sense in urban China...and last time I was there, the shanghai system was great.


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Click to expand...
 
dogofwar said:
99% want a "Clean Air Act"...1% don't. Yet there isn't a "Clean Air Act" in China. I wonder why...

Things have evidently gotten so undeniably bad that the Mayor of Beijing has announced plans for local actions to address some of the problem.

Matt
Click to expand...

Do you ever think about what you write? The powers that be in china would vote in an online poll?

Lol


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The dynamic is going to be a little different in China. The new middle class and upper class people want clean air. The dirtiest factories tend to be low end factories with paper thin margins. Clean air act would affect those workers the most.

So the real conflict is between long turn health of people and pay check of the workers affected...

China in certain ways are trying to be green, the license tags for cars are severely limited in the city. The led lights adaptation is much broader than US. Pretty ironic too that a Chinese farmer pays more for electric power than a US homeowner.


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...so why haven't the wants of the new middle and upper class people in China translated into legislation / regulation to clean them up?

To provide a little context for the amount of coal that China burns: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...-much-coal-as-the-rest-of-the-world-combined/

China now burning as much coal as the rest of the world combined

china-burning-coal.png



Matt

ecoli73 said:
The dynamic is going to be a little different in China. The new middle class and upper class people want clean air. The dirtiest factories tend to be low end factories with paper thin margins. Clean air act would affect those workers the most.

So the real conflict is between long turn health of people and pay check of the workers affected...

China in certain ways are trying to be green, the license tags for cars are severely limited in the city. The led lights adaptation is much broader than US. Pretty ironic too that a Chinese farmer pays more for electric power than a US homeowner.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
Click to expand...

china-burning-coal.png
 
lp85253 said:
wont matter ... there are MANY people out there that will find a way to squander ANY wealth they receive (like they already do )... but feeding third world on a regular basis (part of this the RURAL southern USA)is A WORTHY ENDEVOUR :popcorn:
Click to expand...

Yeh. I grew up in Georgia and man it was rough. Barely two cars at any time. Could only go out to eat a few times a week. Once our TV died and we didn't have enough money to buy the full TV set and stand so we just put the new TV on top of the old one. If you are going to do some of your social justice and wealth relocation please only take from registered democrats in NY, SF and Chicago and send prius's to every poor southern family because I can tell you.. people need your help.

:ROFL:
 
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