Vital Concerns for the World: The Tunisian Threat

Saturday, January 15, 2011

The Tunisian Threat

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/14/tunisia-unrest-street-clashes

Ian Black, Middle East editor for the Guardian, has an interesting report on the threat that the Tunisian riots can be to other regimes in the Arab world. Tunisia unrest a wake-up call for the region: Bloody street clashes in Tunis trigger fears of a domino effect that could shake other authoritarian states

Even so, I wonder. The demonstrations, so widespread, could easily turn into looting and rioting that other repressive states can use to justify their repressive measures. We certainly hope that these developments will induce social changes in the Middle East that will allow open debate and popular suffrage.

But repressive regimes have persisted for generations for a reason, and that reason has not changed: These are regimes that, if truly threatened, are willing to take extreme measures, including torture and illegal searches and seizures of persons and property.

In fact, it is significant that the Tunisian dictator in the end backed off. Will the others do so also?

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A major source of the American debt problem

Notable Concerns

"Not one has taken responsibility for the biggest foreign policy disaster in U.S. history." Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condolezza Rica, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith.
The crash of September 2008 brought the largest bankruptcies in world history, pushing more than 30 million people into unemployment and bringing many countries to the edge of insolvency. AlJazeera 10/15/11
GE, America's largest corporation, paid no taxes last year even though it made 5.1 billion dollars profit in the country [and even more outside the country] [source: same as below]
In 2009 the richest 5% held 63.5% of American wealth; the bottom 80% controlled 12.8%. [source: same as below]
Between 2000 and 2007 the richest 10% in America benefited from all of the average growth in the period. In the post WW II period the top 10% benefited from only one third of the growth, the bottom 90% benefiting from the rest of the growth. [Economic Policy Institute, cited by Bob Herbert, NYT 3/26/11]
In 2010 a "premier" investment bank paid each of its 26,000 employees an average of $370,000. [Bill Gross Pimco Investment Outlook Feb, 2011.]
In 2005, one-quarter of the corporations in America making a trillion dolars in revenue paid no taxes.
The 833% Medical Insurance Ripoff: Medicare charges 3% for service; the health insurance companies in Missouri charge 25% for services
The richest 1 percent of Americans have more net worth than the bottom 90 percent.
The richest 1 percent of Americans receive more income than the bottom 50%. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/dec/10/bernie-s/bernie-sanders-viral-speech-says-top-1$ >