May 16, 2013

Why Erasing All The World's Borders Would Double GDP

http://www.good.is/posts/why-erasing-all-the-world-s-borders-would-double-gdp/?utm_medium=tdg&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=ltitle&utm_content=How%20a%20Border-Free%20Globe%20Would%20Double%20Your%20Salary


Learn in Global Citizenship, Environment and Education
May 16, 2013 at 9:00 AM
Why Erasing All The World's Borders Would Double GDP


Economists have estimated that opening the world’s borders to migration could double world GDP. To get the gist of that number, imagine that your boss walked into your office tomorrow and said, “we’re doubling your salary”—and the same thing happened to everyone else, too.
What would we all do with the money?

Buy better food, more cars, better educations for our children, medical care, books, vacations, and other entertainment. We’d take more leisure and patronize the arts more, enjoy more of the charm of life and more of the latest technology, and lead happier, more fulfilling lives.

In short, higher standards of living.

These estimates, though admittedly speculative, are actually rather conservative. If the whole world population migrated to the U.S. and earned what Americans earn, world GDP would multiply more than four-fold. That isn’t actually possible, and researchers take that into account in various ways, thus bringing estimates of the impact of open borders down to a mere doubling of world GDP. Poor countries aren’t poor because their people are defective individuals. The proof of that is that when they migrate to rich countries, they usually close most of the earnings gap quickly. Some countries are cursed by geography—it’s hard to be productive in malarial, landlocked regions of Africa—while poverty partly reflects a lack of capital, public (e.g., roads) and private (e.g., structures and equipment). Predatory, corrupt and/or foolish governments bear some of the blame. Many places are improving, but fixing countries is usually harder than moving people.

Open borders would be far more disruptive than everyone just getting a pay raise. They would probably lead in fairly short order to epic mass migrations. In the burgeoning cities of the United States and western Europe, there would be far more visible poverty than there is today. Of course, open borders would not create that poverty. In fact, they would improve it. But they would also make it visible to the rather complacent middle classes of America and Europe, for whom the border serves as a convenient blindfold.

snip

May 9, 2013

Looks like we finally have spring.. tornadoes in OK & KS

and only a few weeks from hurricane season... what a weird winter we had.. we even had one in Bakersfield (more of a dust-devil, but it scared the crap out of people)
http://www.wunderground.com/tornado/?show=recent&lat=48.28319&lon=-98.52539&zoom=4
stay safe , all..

May 8, 2013

More babies die on their first day of life in the US than in any other industrialized country

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130508-united-states-babies-newborn-mothers-infant-mortality-save-the-children/


Young parents hold their stillborn daughter in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Ryan and Sandra Doherty cuddle the blanket that their daughter was placed in after a stillborn delivery.
Alexis Manning

National Geographic News

Published May 8, 2013

The United States has the highest rate of first-day deaths in babies than any other industrialized nation, according to a report released this week by the humanitarian group Save the Children. Throughout the world, the first day of life is the most hazardous time for a baby; just over one million children die each year within 24 hours of being born.

Save the Children's annual "State of the World's Mothers" report ranks 176 countries on levels of well-being among children and mothers. This year's edition puts a special emphasis on newborn health, featuring its first-ever Birth Day Risk Index. The index ranks countries from the safest to the most dangerous for a baby to be born in.

In the United States, babies are 50 percent more likely to die on the same day they were born than in all of the other industrialized countries combined, according to the report. Each year, nearly 11,300 babies die on the day they were born in the United States, making American babies twice as likely to die in their first 24 hours as European Union babies.

Why the Gap?

The findings don't surprise Save the Children president and CEO Carolyn Miles, who said in an e-mail interview that the U.S. consistently has a preterm birth rate far above those of other industrialized countries. Its high rate of premature births and its large population may partially explain why the U.S. tops other industrialized nations in first-day deaths for babies. Factors like poverty, stress, and teenage pregnancy also play a role, Miles said. Babies born to the poorest mothers are 40 percent more likely to die than babies born to wealthy mothers, said Mile

snip

May 8, 2013

It's comforting to know that there is no news today

Nothing of any importance is happening anywhere..

Jodi Arias is tweeting...the twiitersphere is going gaga.. we simply must stop all news so we can see what the jurors think..

I long for the days when Court TV covered this shit..and no one else..

The rest of us were spared the gory details..

May 8, 2013

Shame on the media.

Amanda Berry wants to speak, but the chaotic mess in front of the house is atrocious.

That family needs a spokesperson who can help them with logistics.

She needs a private sit-down somewhere AWAY from the hyenas who just want to scream inane questions at her so they can get a byline..

May 5, 2013

Why has no one shut down the Ted Cruz for president nonsense?

I am annoyed to the nth degree at how the media is gushing over his presidential aspirations...and how no one steps up when he says shit like "That's for other people to decide" when asked about his CANADIAN birthplace.

The fact that he's a teaparty guy whose supporters have assaulted the current president and who once upon a time (2K) had snickered about their own potential candidate (Walnuts) for having been born in Panama (but the tea party then.,.but the same sorts of people)

Cruz was not born in the USA..we have long associated the "natural-born" citizen thing to mean IN THE US OR ON A MILITARY BASE outside the US..

Not in Canada or anywhere else.

I know that Romney tried to run way back in the day, but no one thought he was a viable candidate so they never wasted much time going into the weeds about how he was from Mexico..

Cruz is another story. He is determined to suck all the oxygen out of any room he enters, so the time to shut him down is N.O.W.

May 2, 2013

The path to meaningful immigration (and weapons) legislation.

DNC needs to register EVERY single Hispanic/Latino/Mexican-American/Haitian/Puerto Rican-American/Domincan-American/etc. they can find, and then stress how important it is for them to show up and vote..

Pay for whatever flaming-hoop ID their state has mandated..(lawsuits are fine, but there is no problem being proactive)

then

Engage with every black leader they can find, to do the same with their constituency/congregation etc.

If these groups of people can band together and vote as a bloc (like the religious right/money-grubbers/racists have done with the republican voters) there WILL be reforms passed because there will be majorities elected who will have to pay attention to how they vote.

Obama will not be on the ballot anymore, so it's unlikely that we will see an inspirational candidate for a while, but it is of utmost importance to not let the recalcitrant minority that is the republican party continue their stranglehold on congress.

A meaningful coalition that votes reliably, regularly and votes democratic, is the ONLY way we will ever see change made..