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8 Reasons Young Americans Don't Fight Back: How the US Crushed Youth Resistance. The ruling elite has created social institutions that have subdued young Americans and broken their spirit of resistance.Bruce E. LevineAlterNet Traditionally, young people have energized democratic movements. So it is a major coup for the ruling elite to have created societal institutions that have subdued young Americans and broken their spirit of resistance to domination. Young Americans—even more so than older Americans—appear to have acquiesced to the idea that the corporatocracy can completely screw them and that they are helpless to do anything about it. A 2010 Gallup poll asked Americans “Do you think the Social Security system will be able to pay you a benefit when you retire?”

Among 18- to 34-years-olds, 76 percent of them said no. How exactly has American society subdued young Americans? 1. Today in the United States, two-thirds of graduating seniors at four-year colleges have student-loan debt, including over 62 percent of public university graduates. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Icelandic Anger Brings Debt Forgiveness in Best Recovery Story. Icelanders who pelted parliament with rocks in 2009 demanding their leaders and bankers answer for the country’s economic and financial collapse are reaping the benefits of their anger.

Since the end of 2008, the island’s banks have forgiven loans equivalent to 13 percent of gross domestic product, easing the debt burdens of more than a quarter of the population, according to a report published this month by the Icelandic Financial Services Association. “You could safely say that Iceland holds the world record in household debt relief,” said Lars Christensen, chief emerging markets economist at Danske Bank A/S in Copenhagen. “Iceland followed the textbook example of what is required in a crisis. Any economist would agree with that.” The island’s steps to resurrect itself since 2008, when its banks defaulted on $85 billion, are proving effective. Crisis Lessons People Vs Markets Activists say the banks should go even further in their debt relief. Fresh Demands Legal Aftermath. The Next American Revolution Won't Be Like the First - Wendy McElroy. One of my friends believes that a second American revolution is imminent and will be sparked by the economic instability now rocking the continent.

Frankly, I doubt it. Insurrections may occur, but I expect the US government to lumber along, dragging the world deeper into poverty and conflict for many years to come. Upon hearing my friend out, however, my first thought was, "if a revolution erupts, it will resemble the French one of 1789 more closely than the American one of 1776. " Then I sat back and tried to figure out why I had arrived at that sudden conclusion, and whether or not it had merit. One of the reasons for thinking that America might be "going French" is that current American society resembles descriptions I've read of pre-Revolution France more closely than America now resembles its young self.

Consider the issue of a class structure. Differences in wealth existed, of course. Americans of all ages, all conditions, and all dispositions, constantly form associations. Causes.com | Anyone can change the world. The World in Action. Why Those Wacky Anti-Capitalists Might Be On To Something. Media Consolidation: The Illusion of Choice. The politics of pensions | UC. Steve Cushion Crisis? What crisis? Prophets of doom in the government and their supporters in the press are currently issuing dire warnings that there is a crisis in the provision of pensions because we are all living longer.

This, we are told, can only be resolved if pensionable age is raised, benefit levels curbed and contributions from employees are increased. Before considering our response to these threats, it is worth considering if there really is a crisis. The recently published Green Paper states that life expectancy is 89 for men and 90 for women. There is considerable evidence, however, which links life expectancy to income. State Pension The existing basic state pension was set up in 1948 as part of the post war welfare reforms. The Thatcher government started many processes that shifted the balance of national income from the poor to the rich, but her pension reforms have gone largely unnoticed.

Occupational pensions Private pension schemes Green Paper Teachers’ Pensions. For-those-who-says-I-hate-Politics.jpg (JPEG Image, 720x540 pixels) The Price of Inequality by Joseph Stiglitz – review | Books | The Observer. An Occupy London protester outside the Bank of England. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA The ancient Greeks had a word for it – pleonexia – which means an overreaching desire for more than one's share. As Melissa Lane explained in last year's Eco-Republic: Ancient Thinking for a Green Age, this vice was often paired with hubris, a form of arrogance directed especially against the gods and therefore doomed to fail.

The Greeks saw tyrants as fundamentally pleonetic in their motivation. As Lane writes: "Power served greed and so to tame power, one must tame greed. " The Price of Inequality: The Avoidable Causes and Invisible Costs of Inequality by Joseph Stiglitz In The Price of Inequality, Joseph E Stiglitz passionately describes how unrestrained power and rampant greed are writing an epitaph for the American dream. In 2001, Stiglitz, a former chief economist at the World Bank, and arch critic of the IMF, won the Nobel prize for economics for his theory of "asymmetric information". Coalition of Resistance Against Cuts & Privatisation | A coalition of groups fighting cuts and privatisation. Firebox: Politics with your panini by Firebox London. Launched in October 2012, Firebox is a fantastic new project in the heart of King's Cross. We provide a welcoming space where progressive movements, local residents and left-leaning people can come together to learn about politics and organise campaigns.

Pop in for lunch and you'll discover second-hand books (on anything from the politics of disability to the history of trade unions), the opportunity to get involved in a range of campaigns, inspiring radical artwork and exciting weekly events. Of course, you'll also get a delicious meal, with our constantly evolving menu reflecting our wonderfully diverse location. You can pick up everything from a Bengali omelette to a full English, with a iced Greek frappe or syrupy Turkish baklava along the way.

Time Out loved our 'radical chic', and veteran activist Tony Benn cut the ceremonial ribbon and opened our little cafe in October. Our doors are now open; but there's so much more for us to do.

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