This is not about right versus left … about the poor versus the rich … It’s about right versus wrong. When people are loosing their homes, their pensions or their jobs having worked whole lives often multiple jobs at the same time while those very few who profit from the current “business climate” often have never really worked all their life, breaking and bending the law left, right and back, not paying or paying nearly no taxes while those who have nearly nothing pay most, something is substantially wrong and must change very quickly before the overall situation explodes. But this is maybe what some of those few “really” want besides bringing back fascism and slavery…

Click on the image below for the link

“We are tired, overworked, and FED-UP. We are the 99%“

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Click on the image below for the link

“I work 60+ hours/week. The head of My Company makes my entire yearly salary every 2 weeks. I’m the 99%“

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Click on the image below for the link

“My parents both DIED of cancer and in debt before they could even think of retiring. Dad was 70. Mom was 65. They were the 99%. (And I am too) “

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Click on the image below for the link

“I am 53 years old and have worked since I was 13. I have lost 2 401Ks and a pension. I lost my home in 2007 due to mortgage fraud. I am ONE paycheck away from homelessness. I pay more in taxes than GE, Exxon and Bank of America combined. My plan for retirement is WORK UNTIL I DIE. I AM THE 99%. I VOTE!“

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Click on the image below for the link

“In 2010, JP Morgan Chase made $17.4 BILLION in profits, but paid ZERO taxes. I am the 99% who think corporate GREED is EVIL.“

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Click on the image below for the link

“I am 51 yrs. old. I have no retirement, no home. I care for my 75 y.o. mother on the same pay I earned 10 years ago.My home was foreclosed. My retirement was used while I was unemployed for 14 months.
I am the 99%
I am fed up.

#occupywallst
Occupywallst.org“

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Click on the image below for the link

“I have a master’s degree from a top university and $75,000 in student loan debt. I have applied to jobs all over the country but I can’t even get an interview. My mom lost her job in 2010 and hasn’t been able to find anything since. I don’t know what we will do when her unemployment runs out. I’ve given up all hope in having a future.
I am the 99%!

occupywallst.org“

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Click on the image below for the link

“I was arrested and held for 10 hours for standing on a bridge the NYPD told me to walk on to. I AM THE 99%
Occupywallst.org“

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Click on the image below for the link

“When you’re young, you’re told you can be anything. I’m sick of being fed lies. I graduated with a BA in 2009 and have been searching for a job ever since. My generation is lost, depressed, in debt, struggling. We are taking unpaid internships and temporary contracts with no health insurance out of desperation. We will forever be living in our parents’ house. I don’t want to be a millionaire, I just want stability. I don’t want to have to worry everyday. I wish someone had warned me that this was what life would be. What happened to our country?
I am the 99%

occupywallst.org“

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Click on the image below for the link

“I am a college professor, teaching our future generations. But like more than 50% of all college professors, I’m an Adjunct ‘contractor’. This means I can be fired for any reason; this means I receive no paid vacation; this means I receive no health insurance; this means I receive no sick days; this means I receive no retirement; this means I receive no unemployment; this means I pay double Social Security taxes!

And I am paid little better than minimum wage.

I too am the 99%.
occupywallst.org“

(image source tumblr)

Click on the image below for the link

“I graduated high school with honors in the top 5% of my class. I attend a top-ranked university, seeking two degrees. I’m only halfway done with college, and I have a 3.65 GPA and $25,924 in debt.

I’m currently taking 17 credits. I work 20 hours a week. I volunteer at an after school program for underprivileged kids in a poor neighborhood.

I live with my older sister, and she pays way more than half the rent. She pays for our internet, electricity, and cell phone bills.

My single mother works two jobs. She took at a $10,000 loan to help pay for my education, but she hasn’t been able to pay any of it back. She pays for my health insurance.

My father can’t cosign for me because he’s still paying back his own student loans. He recently missed three weeks of work due to illness, had emergency heart surgery, and can’t afford his bills. He pays for my car insurance.

Last year I lived on campus and earned minimum wage. After paying atrociously high rent, I barely had enough money to buy food. My boyfriend invited me over to dinner every night so I wouldn’t have to buy groceries.

I’m dependent on everyone else.

I’m one of the lucky ones.

All I want is a good job and a well-earned degree, a family, a wonderful husband and kids, but I don’t want to raise children in a world like this.

I’m terrified for my future.

I am the 99%.
occupywallst.org
occupymn.org“

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Click on the image below for the link

“All I want is a roof over my head, food on the table, and the dignity of an honest paycheck. Is that asking too much? I am the 99%“

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Click on the image below for the link

“I stayed in school in hopes that the economy would rebound. IT DIDN’T.

With my family too broke to help pay, I took out loans.

SEVEN years;
TWO degrees;
$60,000 of debt;
and NO job prospects later…

I am the 99%

#occupytogether
#occupywallst“

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Click on the image below for the link

“My wife and I live in different cities because we can’t find jobs in the same one.

The job that laid me off would only take me back if I took a pay cut and a demotion.

I can’t look for more work because I can’t pay for daycare for our kids.

I am, we are the 99 Percent.
occupywallst.org“

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Click on the image below for the link

“

• 61 years old
• No health care
• No savings
• No pension

I am the 99 percent.

Occupy Wall Street“

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Click on the image below for the link

“I have done awful things to make my mortgage payments…including selling my body.

But I am no longer willing to sacrifice my remaining shreds of dignity on the altar of a faceless institution that gave me an ill-advised loan to begin with.

Are you guys really THAT greedy?“

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Click on the image below for the link

“I am 22 years old. No job. No welfare. No unemployment. Unpaid medical bills. I can hardly afford clothes and shoes.
ALL I WANT IS MY AMERICAN DREAM
I am the 99%
occupywallst.org“

(image source tumblr)

Click on the image below for the link

“I am a 32 year old Cancer Patient who works in a factory to pay for my Meds.
I am the 99%
occupywallst.org

If the disease doesn’t kill you the treatment will.“

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Click on the image below for the link

“I bought my house on a ‘fixed rate’ mortgage.
My payments go up every 6 months because of adjustments in interest & escrow payments.
I’m afraid that I won’t be able to afford my home soon
I AM THE 99%

occupywallst.org“

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I am aged, old + frail.
I worked and paid taxes all my adult life.
Now, I have to choose between medicine and food.
It feels like a very slow death.

I AM THE 99%

Politicians are like diapers – you should change them from time to time – …and for the same reasons.

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image via Flickr by AForestFrolic

With climate extrema continue to expose human and natural system vulnerabilities, natural disaster cost are skyrocketing and dozens of billions in damages each year become common, many are asking how this will continue.

According to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) 2011 is estimated to become the costliest year for weather-related disasters since they began tracking billion-dollar disasters in 1980. There seems to be a pattern of more extreme, more frequent and more hazardous weather disasters emerging. Based on HVRI data (in 2009 USD) 6 of the 15 costliest years of the last 50 years where during the last decade. With losses of property & crop in 2009 totaling up to USD 67.4 billion after the record losses of USD 111.6 billion in 2005 and the almost 3 times the average (USD 11.4 billion) year of 2004 with USD 30.4 billion, losses of USD 23 billion in 2008, USD 16.2 billion in 2001 and USD 11.9 billion in 2006 these 6 peak years of the last decade combined have caused damages of USD 260.5 billion. That there is a change in extreme weather phenomena happening becomes even clearer when looking at the overall damage totals from the last 50 years (USD 573.6 billion) where those 6 peak years of the last decade represent more than 45% of all losses occurred during the recorded time frame (HVRI has data published from 1960 – 2009).

The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) tracked 3 more than an USD billion disasters for 2010 and 2011 has already topped their 30 year record of 2008 (8 events) with so-far 10 (multi)-billion disasters (Hurricane Irene being the 10th).

Click on the image below for the link

(image source NCDC)

Munich Re which has the worldwide largest database of natural catastrophes has a total of 950 natural catastrophes recorded for 2010 globally, the second-highest number of natural catastrophes since 1980. The U.S. got lucky that year escaping one of the severest hurricane seasons of the past 100 years with no hurricane hitting the U.S. during 2010. Their data also shows that Asia and America are most frequently hit by catastrophes, with 365 events recorded on the American continent and 310 in Asia during 2010 (The global distribution of natural catastrophes in 2010 was comparable to previous years). According to Munich Re already in June 2011, record global damages this year have surpassed the entirety of 2005, the previous record-holder of the most damaging year.

In the U.S. 2011 has so far seen the longest list of billion-dollar disasters with damage estimates without the Upper Midwest Flooding Summer 2011 and Hurricane Irene already beyond USD 30 billions for these most severe events alone. Add at least USD 3 Billion for the Upper Midwest Flooding Summer 2011 of which some predict that damages could be as high as the USD 25 billion record flood of 1993, and Hurricane Irene of USD 7 billion, 2011 will become another peak year on the list of the 15 most costliest years during the last 50 years. These estimates might rise substantially when all numbers have become available later this year.

When looking at data for the past decades it becomes clear that the economic cost of disasters have been continuously on the rise for the last 50 years. Already at the beginning of this decade losses were more than 7 times greater than during the 1960s. And most of these losses are reported from highly developed countries.

Many of these numbers account only for direct losses of property, infrastructure and other assets but do not take into account other economic implications like reduced levels of production, future productivity or output e.g. with farming, property value impacts etc. In Florida, for example, the U.S. government a few years ago had to indemnify property insurers from potential extreme losses of natural disasters by taking over coverage of damage payouts above a certain (few billions) level. Otherwise insurers would have most likely already stopped covering most ocean front property from natural disaster damages. With the high share of these properties in the overall U.S. property value this weather related change alone would have had devastating consequences for the U.S. housing markets and overall economy – most likely at least at a scale similar to the economic / housing crisis of 2008.

Even more life and long term changes are occurring in Texas where Governor and wanna-be U.S. president Perry is suggesting to his voters to pray for rain as a remedy for the now already year long exceptional (beyond extreme) drought affecting more than 82% of the lone state. Currently 98% of the pasture and range land in Texas is considered to be in poor or very poor condition. The image from Drought Monitor below shows the current extend of the exceptional drought that earlier the year also reached into the South-Eastern states of Alabama, Kentucky and Florida. We would like to suggest to Gov. Perry to watch a movie from a religious group of farmers & gardeners called “Back To Eden” that reminds everyone to return to sustainable farming, repair the land and not to further deplete resources and start preparing for the years to come (This might of course not go down so well with the lobbyists backing/paying that person).

Click on the image below for the link

(image source Drought Monitor)

In Texas, the corn harvest is already lost, cattle is dying in thousands of thirst on dry pastures, drinking water shortages in main cities are increasing. Many farmers are since months selling whole herds of cattle before they die from the drought. Thousands of farmers and their families often having harvested their land for generations, are now considering to give up ranching and farming. Once most of their water holes have fallen dry and they can not rent other land or feed their cattle with purchased supply, they have to sell their herds or watch them dying. With the driest period since 1917 bush and forest fires that have this year already devastated more than 10’000 square miles are doing the rest. And many of the cowboys that now have found work at cattle auctions & markets will become unemployed by the year end with little chance to find new work afterwards. Even if it would now start raining for a long period so that water reservoirs would refill to normal levels, ranchers will need years to rebuild their livestock. Many of their haggard cows if they manage to survive will certainly not have calves next year.
Already now only 1 out of 5 ranchers can live of their land alone, the extreme drought means that even more will have to look for a second job aside.

Click on the image below for the link

(image source NCDC)

While previous sell-outs of livestock have deteriorated meat prices, this time with the ever increasing global demand for meat, prices have remained merely stable. As a consequence for the next years this most likely also means that meat prices will further rise when U.S. production will not return to levels before the drought. Other farm commodity prices could also rise substantially – hay (alpha-alpha) for example has so-far seen a doubling of its price during the last 12 months.

And the outlook for the area from California to Texas is rather bleak.

In difference to Gov. Perry who is in full denial and seemingly does not care for the consequence to millions of Americans (as long as it does not affect himself), even U.S. government agencies have started to acknowledge that much of this climate change, the increase in frequency and strength of hazardous weather is man-made by pollution and the way we use our resources.

The U.S. Climate Change Science Program has already warned in a 2008 report that more frequent heat waves and warm spells, more frequent and intense heavy downpours, increased areas affected by droughts and more intense hurricanes will become more likely and more frequent in the future. Based on simulations and decades of data most of these weather phenomena were linked to human activity and their likeliness strongly increasing if pollution levels will not reduce over the next years.

The pattern of change is visible and laid out in front of us. The time to act is now.

Further information and data:

• Munich Re
• NCDC – Billion-Dollar Weather/Climate Disasters 2011
• NCDC – chart of 1980 – 2011
• NCDC – Overview
• Sheldus database
• HVRI – 2009 summary
• HVRI – 1960 – 2009 summary
• Weather and Climate Extremes in a Changing Climate / U.S. Climate Change Science Program SAP
• NOAA – State of the Climate – National Overview – August 2011
• Drought Monitor

This is ground control to Major Tom …. can you hear me Major Tom …

…and I’m sitting in a tin can, far above the moon, planet Earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do…

Finally the ultimate background info on Facebook we’ve all been waiting for.

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If you’re not paying for it you might not be the customer. You might be the product being sold.

cartoon by Geek & Poke

Not only in the Arabic world where young protesters have overturned regimes installed decades ago and kept alive by generous aid from abroad and oppression of their citizens, this summer also in Europe young people in many countries were filling the streets with their protest and anger.

In Lisbon, Portugal earlier this year about 300’000 people were protesting against so-called austerity cuts and the way how current politicians want to remedy the damages from the global financial crisis on the back of the poorest and the young. These were the biggest protests in Portugal since the Carnation Revolution in 1974 that overturned dictatorship.

A song that got accidentally famous on the Internet in Portugal is currently making its way across Europe. It strongly expresses the feelings of the “lost generation” in Portugal and other European countries where unemployment in this age group can be as high as 40% (Portugal 27%) with many of the “others” receiving just marginal pay for their work as interns.

The song is by the Portuguese group Deolinda and is called “Parva que sou” (“I’m a fool”). You’ll find the Portuguese lyrics with the video below on YouTube. We’ve included our best shot at a translation and the English lyrics for “Parva que sou”.

English translation for “Parva que sou”: