Prepare for Change

This is a useful film to engage thinking about what needs changing and how to start changing it.  I don't like some of the speakers, and don't think the gold standard is any solution, but the movie is still worth watching and pondering over.

http://infinitefreetime.com/2015/11/18/in-which-i-tell-you-how-your-religion-works/ "There are reasons to oppose bringing Syrian refugees to America.  None of them are good reasons.  Most of them are sickeningly racist.  And  all of them are deeply, obviously, blatantly and clearly unChristian.  You  cannot object to helping these people and call yourself a Christian.  Jesus  himself would rebuke you.  He already  has , in fact.  Reread verses 41-46 if you need to.   If you refuse to help the sick and the destitute and the needy, you are going to Hell . There is literally no way to make that any clearer.  Christians are  commanded to help those who are in need.  Not requested.  Not asked.  Not begged.   Commanded .  In plain and clear language.  By Jesus.  There’s no way to wriggle out of this, folks.  You either help these people– or, to do the  absolute minimu...

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/11/20/9764324/welfare-cash-transfer-work "To some degree, this actually undersells cash programs. Two recent RCTs have suggested that giving cash to poor people in the developing world could actually, in some cases, encourage work. One paper by Christopher Blattman, Nathan Fiala, and Sebastian Martinez evaluated a program that gave cash grants ($382 per person, on average) to groups of young, unemployed Ugandans to help them learn skilled trades, and found that hours of work rose by 17 percent, and earnings by 38 percent. Another paper , by Blattman, Eric Green, Julian Jamison, and Jeannie Annan, looked at a program in Nigeria that gave about $150 and some basic business skills training to women in northern Uganda. Work hours increased by 61 percent ." There is no evidence that shows people on welfare don't want to work. Reagan's welfare queens were and are phoney.

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/33721-another-money-is-possible-holland-leads-experiment-in-basic-income "Because the term 'basic income' is viewed controversially, many of the trials aren't using those words even as they push basic income features. In practice, those currently receiving social security benefits will instead be paid a non-means tested sum, without further obligations. Single-person households will receive around €950 ($967), with more going to families with children. Recipients will have enough to live on - but unlike basic income, not everyone will receive all of the money in the initial stages. The basic income concept has received consistent support across the political spectrum in Holland, said Hoeijmakers, which is why it is now being packaged in different ways to see what works best. Most of the major Dutch political parties, with the exception of the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, in some wa...

"The water that supplies aquifers and wells that billions of people rely on around the world is mostly a non-renewable resource that could run out, a new Canadian-led study has found. While many people may think groundwater is replenished by rain and melting snow the way lakes and rivers are, underground water is actually renewed much more slowly. In fact, just six per cent of the groundwater around the world is replenished within a "human lifetime" of 50 years, reports University of Victoria hydrogeologist Tom Gleeson and his collaborators in a new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience today." Well crap. That's news to me. And it is very, very bad for the future. Lots of countries rely on groundwater to grow crops. 

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/11/11/1448606/-Living-with-Denmark-s-Democratic-Socialism?detail=facebook "What concerns me is why so many Americans want to  - choose to - find evil in Denmark’s form of democratic socialism.  I’ve been participating in the roller coaster commentary threads following Ana Swanson’s interview with Michael Booth in the Washington Post   and I’m sad to see that so many of the comments are harsh and vitriolic in nature. No amount of evidence or clarification is enough to mollify some of these commentators. They just get angrier and more irritated because positive comments are assumed to be lies or to have negative ulterior motives. You would think that Americans would be curious about Denmark after both Bernie and Hillary mentioned it in the Democratic debate. Why so much anger? Here’s my best educated guess: Most Americans have been brought up to believe that the USA is the best country in the world and that most peopl...

http://continuations.com/post/91111911845/more-on-basic-income-and-robots " First, it sets human creativity free to work on whatever comes to mind. For many people that could be making music or learning something new or doing research. Second, it does not suppress the market mechanism. Innovative new products and services can continue to emerge. Much of that can be artisanal products or high touch services (not just new technology). Third, it will allow crowdfunding to expand massively in scale and simultaneously permit much smaller federal, state and local government (they still have a role – I am not a libertarian and believe that market failures are real and some regulation and enforcement are needed, eg sewage, police). Fourth, it will force us to more rapidly automate dangerous and unpleasant jobs. Many of these are currently held by people who would much rather engage in one of the activities from above. Fifth, in a world of technological deflation, a bas...

http://inhabitat.com/finland-prepares-universal-basic-income-experiment/ "When fully implemented, the universal basic income would provide every Finnish citizen with a monthly taxfree payment of 800 euros, equivalent to about USD 881. This would replace currently existing social benefits received through the Finnish welfare system. Any income earned beyond the basic income will be taxable. Kela’s basic income proposal includes a trial period in which the payment delivered to citizens is only 550 euros, while existing benefits such as housing and income support would not be affected." This isn't so crazy as you might think. Consider how many people in the US get government help right now. This is just a sort of consolidation and equalizing of what is already being done now to a large extent.  Simpler, easier, more equitable.