We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, February 13, 2016

The Incarceration Industry – 2 graphs

Click here to access article by David Ruccio from Real-World Economics Review Blog

We're number one! Again! We are number one spending our national treasure on military weapons, and we are also number one in the world for locking up our citizens! We are truly an exceptional nation--who can argue against that? I wonder how many other ways that we are exceptional: percent of population that are homeless? percent of population that wants but cannot afford health care? percent of population that wants to go to university but can't afford it?