Inflation, pensions, inequality among Chile’s economic challenges

Online News EditorNovember 15, 2021

 

Santiago, Nov 15 (EFE).- Skyrocketing inflation, an uncapitalized pension system and inequality that has been exacerbated during the pandemic are all challenges that Chile’s next president will face in a country that has stopped being the “oasis” it was before October 2019, when the most serious protests since the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship erupted.

The seven candidates vying for the presidency in the Nov. 21 elections represent a very broad political spectrum ranging from the extreme right that seeks to minimize the role of the state and cut taxes to the extreme left, seeking to expropriate mining, and including more moderate positions that seek to create a society with greater well-being for all.

Voter surveys, which have lost significant clout and prestige since the latest elections, forecast that no candidate will win the first electoral round outright and that the two biggest vote-getters who will face off in the Dec. 19 runoff in all likelihood will be leftist Gabriel Boric, with the Broad Front, and Jose Antonio Kast, with the ultrarightist Republican Party.

The experts, however, are saying not to be so quick to rule out centrist candidate Yasna Provoste or Sebastian Sichel, with the governing right, since these are the most uncertain elections Chile has held since democracy was reestablished in 1990 and 50 percent of the voters say they are still undecided on whom they will support.

“It will be a very difficult 2022, with annual growth projected at barely 2 percent and amid a context of reduction of fiscal transfers and the withdrawal of monetary stimulus, which implies higher interest rates,” Francisco Castañeda, the director of the Business School at the Universidad Mayor, told EFE.

Simultaneously, a convention made up mainly of progressive citizens is working at full speed to draft a new Constitution before next July, a document that will preserve the solidarity of the state and replace the prevailing one, which was inherited from the Pinochet dictatorship and is of a neoliberal bent.

Alejandro Micco, an economist with the Universidad de Chile and former undersecretary of finance, told EFE that the big challenge is “maintaining certainty regarding the future of the country’s economic policy” so that Chile’s “country risk (status) or taxes” are not adversely affected.

Along the same lines, the president of Chile’s big business organization, Juan Sutil, said that “Investors pause their decision-making until they have some certainty. And this is just what we’ve been seeing in recent months.”

The coronavirus pandemic caused a 5.8 percent plunge in Chile’s GDP in 2020, the worst drop in four decades, and the loss of almost two million jobs.

The recovery, however, is happening more quickly than expected. In the second quarter of this year, the GDP grew by an annualized 18.1 percent, the biggest jump since records have been kept, and the unemployment rate dropped in September to 8.4 percent.

The Central Bank of Chile expects growth for 2021 to come in at between 10.5 percent and 11.5 percent, and for 2022 it should be 2.5 percent.

Recaredo Galvez, with the progressive think-tank Fundacion Sol, said that “You have to push a reactivation that won’t be unstable, that’s the big challenge for the government and for Parliament,” with voters also selecting all the national congressman and one half of the senators the upcoming elections.

Copper, for which Chile is the world’s biggest producer, to a great extent has been pushing the recovery and will continue to do so, although one must be “attentive” to the slowdown in the Chinese economy, Galvez warned.

The red metal on May 10, 2021, reached its maximum price of $4.86 per pound, exceeding even the levels seen during the “supercycle” of 2011, and the Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco) estimates that it will close out the year at an average of $4.20 per pound.

Well-known economist Ricardo Ffrench Davis, the winner of the National Humanities and Social Sciences Award, told EFE that Chile must eliminate the endemic inequality that fostered the 2019 wave of protests, since only by doing so will there be “certainty and social peace.”

Regarding inequality, he said, “we’ve backslid during these past two years, with obstacles like having lost almost $50 billion in prior savings.”

“Money has gotten more liberalized: The critics of neoliberalism are doing neoliberalism when they say they want to manage their money themselves,” said Ffrench Davis, who proposed increasing taxes in 2022 and levying a one-time tax on people who earned more during the crisis.

Chile, a pioneer in Latin America in individual capitalization, has allowed three early withdrawals of 10 percent of retirement funds, paying more out than $48 billion.

The majority of the presidential candidates agree that the system provides very low retirement pensions and needs overhauling.

Inflation, the experts agree, could be one of the main headaches for the next president

Art murals tell the story of Puerto Rico’s independence

Online News EditorNovember 14, 2021

 

By Jorge J. Muñiz Ortiz

Lares, Puerto Rico, Nov 14 (EFE).- From Ramon Emeterio Betances to Rafael Cancel Miranda, prominent figures in Puerto Rico’s independence movement have become protagonists of several murals to reflect the country’s history.

The place chosen to have the faces of those figures on display is the town of Lares, where the first uprising against the Spanish colonial rule in 1868 has taken place in the country that is a commonwealth of the United States.

As part of El Grito del Arte Festival, the murals document the Puerto Rican independence struggle starting from that historic uprising until more recent events such as the 1954 shooting attack on the US capitol.

The face of Betances, one of the main revolutionaries in 1868, was painted together with the flag of the Grito de Lares movement by the Stencil Network, while the black and white mural of Pedro Albizu Campos, an emblematic figure of Puerto Rican nationalism and independence from the first half of the 20th century, was a courtesy of GoFive.

In addition, the portrait of Cancel Miranda also stands out in Lares, who was one of the four Puerto Rican nationalists who opened fire on the US House of Representatives, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison afterwards.

Don Remix, one of the famous Puerto Rican muralists, painted a colorful graffiti of Cancel Miranda with aerosol cans.

“He is a very important figure who fought with his life for the rights of us Puerto Ricans. It is an honor to also pay tribute to him,” Don Remix tells Efe shortly before getting back on a crane to finish his mural.

“It is an interpretation of his figure and his relationship with the community,” he says, referring to his work.

Puerto Rican artist Dennise Zoé González Crespo, known as Usuaria 210, created a historical chronology of the Grito de Lares since the uprising of 1868 on the island.

The Scream through Time seeks to highlight facts of the independence revolt and the groups that emerged later such as the Nationalist Party, the Boricua-Macheteros Popular Army and the Armed Forces of National Liberation.

All those artists perceive Lares, a mountainous municipality in the western area of ??Puerto Rico, as the birthplace of the 1868 uprising.

“It is a place that has a lot of history and that we must reflect on. We are here trying to bring something in line with the activity at a historical level. Our goal is that our history is passed from generation to generation,” Don Remix adds.

For Usuaria 210, a supporter of the independence movement, says “in the history of Puerto Rico, both past and present, Lares is a super important link.”

“Lares represents the feeling of a part of Puerto Rico that fights for rights inside and outside. Lares is the base of all those groups that were formed,” she highlights.

Other artists or groups that created pieces at the El Grito del Arte urban art festival, held this weekend, were the Morivivi Collective, Ana Maria, Sergio Vazquez, Andres Cortes, Javier Olmed and Luis Alejandro Rodriguez. EFE

jm/smq/mp

'The water is poison': Chinese activist spends life protecting polluted lake

Environmental activist Zhang Zhengxiang has successfully faced down hundreds of companies on the banks of one of China's most polluted lakes (AFP/Jade GAO)More

Patrick BAERT
Mon, November 15, 2021, 8:47 PM·4 min read

Environmental activist Zhang Zhengxiang is almost blind, and lives in poverty -- but he has successfully faced down hundreds of companies on the banks of one of China's most polluted lakes.

The 74-year-old strident campaigner has spent his life trying to protect the sprawling Lake Dian in southwestern China, challenging businesses to clean up their act around the local beauty spot and reporting those who pollute it.

"When I was a child, we could see the bottom of the lake. When I was thirsty, I drank the water from the lake -- we used it for cooking," he said.

"The water has become poison. We can't drink it, use it, or even touch it."

It can be risky work. In China grassroots social movements are heavily suppressed by the government, and environmental activists and the lawyers that represent them have in the past faced stiff reprisals and even jail terms.

Zhang says he has been attacked by disgruntled businesses, but is undeterred.

Several times a week, he patrols the red-soil banks with binoculars in search of polluters, snapping pictures on a small compact camera.

One of China's largest freshwater lakes, the vast expanse of water nestles the city of Kunming which recently hosted an international biodiversity conference.

But decades of agricultural, industrial, mining and human waste are destroying it.

Beijing has invested more than 50 billion yuan ($7.8 billion) to protect the lake, building dozens of treatment plants and diverting a river to supply it with fresh water.

But the surface of the water is still cloudy, and covered with green algae.

Environmental activist Zhang Zhengxiang has dedicated his life to fighting pollution (AFP/Jade GAO)

- Duty to defend -

Zhang was born in a village by the water's shore and spent years living off the lake, eating its fish and fruits from the surrounding forest.

His father died when he was five, and his mother left shortly afterwards, leaving him and his two siblings to fend for themselves.

His younger brothers died during the years of China's devastating famine, leaving Zhang entirely alone and living in the wild, learning to forage in the wild to survive.

"The lake is a living being, but it has no voice in the story. It is my duty to defend it", he told AFP.

"(The lake) is my second mother."

China's decades of breakneck growth saw industrialists flock to the region's rich mining soil and natural resources.

But the influx caused huge pollution.

Zhang started to denounce polluting companies who exploited resources or built without permission -- often facing an uphill struggle to reach sympathetic ears.

Local officials simply haven't done enough to protect the local environment, he says.

"Why? Because they had collaborated with these enterprises," he said.

Zhang's lakeside house is packed floor-to-ceiling with papers and reports about his work.

Businessman Zhou Guangwen's quarry closed nearly two decades ago after Zhang reported it to the authorities.

But the two men are close friends, and Zhou says although he lost all the money he invested in the mine, he now has sympathy for Zhang's environmental efforts.

Zhang claims he has brought about the closure of more than 200 factories -- but it has all taken a toll.

"Local executives, the owners of mines and quarries whom he denounced... many people hate him," added Zhou.

eEnvironmental activist Zhang Zhengxiang holding rocks that he says are polluted at an area which used to be a cement factory construction site near Dian Lake in Kunming, in southwestern China's Yunnan province (AFP/Jade GAO)

- Steel tiger -

In 2002, the activist was badly injured when hit by an unlicensed truck while gathering evidence about an illegal quarry.

Zhang believes the collision -- which left him partially blind and broke his arm -- was deliberate.

He says he has suffered other attacks over the years.

"They beat me, hurt me, tore down my house and grabbed my farmland," he told AFP.

"I'm not afraid. They are paper tigers and I am a steel tiger".

Environmental campaigners in China must walk a fine line or risk the wrath of local officials and businesses.

Teenage campaigner Howey Ou braved years of intimidation, including being kicked out of school, before leaving the country to lobby from abroad.

Zhang, who was lauded a "true ambassador of the environment" on the national TV show "Inspiring China", says he is finally being listened to.

In May, a giant real estate project on the lake's eastern shore was declared illegal.

And a former deputy mayor who held responsibility for tackling water pollution was placed under investigation last month.

"We have seen a turning point in water pollution in China since the mid-2000s," said Chinese environmentalist Ma Jun.

Two decades ago, a quarter of national water monitoring stations reported water quality worse than the lowest grade.

"From that time, thanks to concerted efforts, this has dropped to less than one percent in 2020," Ma said.

But a plan to divert fresh water to Lake Dian from the Yangtze river 400 kilometres away will take years to complete.

And a report from the environment ministry this year found that despite the treatment plants, 140 million cubic metres of sewage still pours into the lake each year.

Zhang will keep fighting.

"There is no way back," he said. "I'm walking on a single-log bridge. I will keep walking this path until I die."

bar/rox/lto

CIVIL SOCIETY VS UNCIVIL SOCIETY
Report: ‘Whole of society’ effort must fight misinformation

By DAVID KLEPPER

Television journalist ANCHOR Katie Couric attends the 60th annual Clio Awards at The Manhattan Center on Sept. 25, 2019, in New York. A new report says misinformation is hurting efforts to solve some of humanity's greatest challenges, be it climate change, COVID-19 or political polarization. The commission included experts on the internet and misinformation along with prominent names including journalist Katie Couric and Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

Misinformation is jeopardizing efforts to solve some of humanity’s greatest challenges, be it climate change, COVID-19 or political polarization, according to a new report from the Aspen Institute that’s backed by prominent voices in media and cybersecurity.

Recommendations in the 80-page analysis, published Monday, call for new regulations on social media platforms; stronger, more consistent rules for misinformation “superspreaders” who amplify harmful falsehoods and new investments in authoritative journalism and organizations that teach critical thinking and media literacy.

The report is the product of the Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder, a 16-person panel that includes experts on the internet and misinformation, as well as prominent names such as Prince Harry, the duke of Sussex.

“Hundreds of millions of people pay the price, every single day, for a world disordered by lies,” reads the report’s introduction, written by the commission’s three co-chairs: journalist Katie Couric, former White House cybersecurity official Christopher Krebs and Rashad Robinson, president of the organization Color of Change.

Specifically, the report calls for a national strategy for confronting misinformation, and urges lawmakers to consider laws that would make social media platforms more transparent and accountable — to officials, researchers and consumers.

Another recommendation would strip some of the platforms’ legal immunity when it comes to content promoted by ads, or for lawsuits regarding the implementation of their platform’s designs and features.

The authors of the report blame the proliferation of misinformation on factors including the rapid growth of social media, a decline in traditional local journalism and a loss of trust in institutions.

Falsehoods can prove deadly, as shown by the conspiracy theories and bogus claims about COVID-19 and vaccines that have set back attempts to stop the coronavirus. The report’s authors said misinformation is proving just as damaging when it comes to faith in elections or efforts to fight climate change.

During a briefing on the report’s findings Monday, Couric, Krebs and Robinson stressed that every American has a role to play in fighting misinformation, by reviewing where they get their information, by ensuring that they don’t spread harmful falsehoods, and by fighting the polarization that fuels misinformation.

“The path to making real change is going to require all of us,” Robinson said.

The Aspen Institute has shared its findings with several social media platforms including Facebook. A message seeking a response from that company was not immediately returned on Monday.

The Aspen Institute is a nonpartisan nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. The report was funded by Craig Newmark Philanthropies, a charity founded by the creator of Craigslist.

___

Klepper reported from Providence, R.I.

Sting: 'We're in a very dangerous political climate'

'Sting says new album 'The Bridge' is about looking for ways out of current environmental and political turmoil 

(AFP/Indranil MUKHERJEE)

Jordi ZAMORA
Mon, November 15, 2021

British singer Sting is back at the age of 70 with a hopeful new album, though he admits he sees a lot to worry him in the world right now.

"I think we're in a very dangerous political climate at the moment where the working class have felt abandoned by what they call the elite," he told AFP on a recent trip to Paris.

"It has left them vulnerable to demagogues, to right-wing nonsense, fakes, snake oil salesmen."

For the famously mild-mannered rock star, real name Gordon Sumner, the attacks on his liberal way of life have been piling up in recent years -- especially in Britain.

"For me, Brexit is a personal tragedy. I'm sad for my country. We knew it was going to be a disaster and we have to accept this, but I'm not happy," he said.

"Young British people have been robbed of the opportunity to experience Europe. It's insane."

He is also baffled by vaccine scepticism -- putting him at odds with some other veteran rockers like Van Morrison and Eric Clapton who have opposed vaccine mandates at their concerts.

Sting puts it politely: "I don't really understand the, uh, the science of the objection.

"I had no hesitation in taking the vaccine. I'm old enough to remember kids in my street with polio who were crippled, and that disease was eradicated overnight with the vaccine," he continued.

"I would like people to come to my shows to be vaccinated. I'm not going to enforce it, but that's my desire."

- The other side -

His new album "The Bridge" is out Friday and is about finding a way forward from this quagmire.

"All these people I'm writing about are in transition between relationships, between life and death, between being sick, being healthy.

"We're all looking for this bridge to somewhere different, somewhere more comfortable. How do we get to the other side? I don't know. I don't think anyone knows, but we're looking for it."

With 15 solo albums and 17 Grammy Awards to his name -- as well as a guaranteed place in the rock pantheon as founder of 1980s legends The Police -- Sting has little left to prove.

But past traumas still reverberate.

New song "Loving You" appears to recall his mother's infidelity that helped estrange him from his parents (he admitted skipping both their funerals in his autobiography "Broken Music").

That did not stop him following a similar path -- he had a decade-long affair with his current wife before finally getting a divorce from his first in 1992.

With his wife Trudi Styler, and two daughters Coco and Kate when receiving a knighthood in 2003

 KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH POOL/AFP

It all feeds his songwriting.

"I always avoid writing love songs that say, 'I love you and you love me'. It's a closed circle. Whereas 'I love you, but you love somebody else' -- that's an interesting scenario for a writer," he said.

"As a man of my age, I've experienced the entire spectrum of emotions from the greatest joy to the greatest misery. So when I write about love, I feel I can be authentic."

Sting has six children from his two marriages and most are following in his artistic footsteps. Two are actors, two are musicians and one is a filmmaker.

The youngest, however, wants to be a cop -- and that has nothing to do with his father's early band.

"He says 'You're all creative -- I want to do something useful!'" Sting said with a smile.

- Warm rapport -

"The Bridge" was recorded during Europe's lockdowns, with musicians scattered around different locations and Sting in his English mansion.

He didn't find that too unusual.

"It's not such a novelty to record remotely. Often the drummer can be in Los Angeles, I could be here in Paris, somebody else in Italy… and the technology has existed to do this remotely for many years.

"The secret is to make that situation intimate, to have a warm rapport that you can hear."

Now he's back on the road, trying to make up all the dates that were cancelled by the pandemic.

"I have to fulfil all my commitments. That may take me 18 months," he said.

"But that's my life. I've been on the road since 1976!"

jz/er/yad/reb

#MMIWG
Biden boosts crime fighting efforts on Native American lands

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE

1 of 10

President Joe Biden speaks during a Tribal Nations Summit during Native American Heritage Month, in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Monday, Nov. 15, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)


WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday ordered several Cabinet departments to work together to combat human trafficking and crime on Native American lands, where violent crime rates are more than double the national average.

Speaking at a White House summit on tribal nations, Biden signed an executive order tasking the Justice, Homeland Security and Interior departments with pursuing strategies to reduce crime. Biden also asked the departments to work to strengthen participation in Amber Alert programs and national training programs for federal agents, and appoint a liaison who can speak with family members and to advocates.

The administration also announced plans to pursue a 20-year ban on oil and gas drilling in Chaco Canyon, an ancient Native American heritage site in northwestern New Mexico.

“We have to continue to stand up for the dignity and sovereignty of tribal nations,” Biden said at the first tribal nations summit since 2016. The two-day summit was being held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected Indigenous peoples at disproportionate rates.

American Indians and Alaska Natives are more than twice as likely to be victims of a violent crime and Native American women are at least two times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted compared to other races, according to the Association on American Indian Affairs.

The administration also announced a long-sought action to protect Chaco Canyon, a national park and UNESCO World Heritage site northwest of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the Bureau of Land Management will study the possible withdrawal for a period of 20 years from federal lands within a 10-mile (16-kilometer) radius of Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Such a move would bar new federal oil and gas leasing and development on those lands. Those lands will not be eligible for leasing while the study is underway, though past administrations had already opted to impose the buffer administratively.

Environmentalists and some tribes have complained that such a move is temporary and that permanent protections are needed. But it isn’t so simple; while some tribes have fought for protections, the Navajo Nation, which has more to lose by curbing oil and gas, has asked for a smaller radius around the site, an ancient center of Pueblo culture.

“Chaco Canyon is a sacred place that holds deep meaning for the Indigenous peoples whose ancestors lived, worked, and thrived in that high desert community,” said Haaland, the first Native American to lead the Interior Department, the powerful federal agency that has wielded influence over U.S. tribes for generations. Haaland is a member of the Laguna Pueblo.

“Now is the time to consider more enduring protections for the living landscape that is Chaco, so that we can pass on this rich cultural legacy to future generations,” she said. The secretary represented New Mexico, where Chaco Canyon is located, in the U.S. House of Representatives before she was narrowly confirmed by the Senate to take over at Interior.

First lady Jill Biden, an English teacher, addressed the summit on the importance of preserving Native languages. Vice President Kamala Harris was set to speak Tuesday, the final day.

The tribal nations summit coincides with National Native American Heritage Month and is being hosted by the White House for the first time, with leaders from more than 570 tribes in the United States expected to participate. The summit was not held during the Trump administration; past conferences took place at the Interior Department.

Since taking office in January, Biden has taken several steps that the White House says demonstrate his commitment to tribal nations.

Among them are naming Haaland to lead the Interior Department. His coronavirus relief plan included $31 billion for tribal communities, and the administration has worked closely with tribal leaders to help make COVID-19 vaccination rates among Native Americans among the highest in the country, the White House said.

Navajo Nation Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty said she hoped the summit would help eliminate red tape when building critical infrastructure on tribal lands.

Biden also spoke about infrastructure, specifically to note that the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill he was signing into law Monday afternoon would direct $13 billion toward Native American communities to help provide such things as high-speed internet and clean drinking water.

Biden recently became the first president to issue a proclamation designating Oct. 11 as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, giving a boost to longstanding efforts to refocus the federal holiday celebrating Christopher Columbus toward an appreciation of Native peoples.

___

Associated Press writers Colleen Long in Washington and Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, N.M., contributed to this report.

THIRD WORLD USA
Thousands of military families struggle with food insecurity
By ASHRAF KHALIL

1 of 7

Brooklyn Pittman talks as she sits in her car with her dogs after receiving food from an Armed Services YMCA food distribution, Oct. 28, 2021, in San Diego. As many of 160,000 active duty military members are having trouble feeding their families, according to Feeding America, which coordinates the work of more than 200 food banks around the country. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

SAN DIEGO (AP) — It’s a hidden crisis that has existed for years inside one of the most well-funded institutions on the planet and has only worsened during the coronavirus pandemic. As many as 160,000 active-duty military members are having trouble feeding their families.

That estimate by Feeding America, which coordinates the work of more than 200 food banks around the country, underscores how long-term food insecurity has extended into every aspect of American life, including the military.

The exact scope of the problem is a topic of debate, due to a lack of formal study. But activists say it has existed for years and primarily affects junior-level enlisted service members — ranks E1 to E4 in military parlance — with children.

“It’s a shocking truth that’s known to many food banks across the United States,” said Vince Hall, Feeding America’s government relations officer. “This should be the cause of deep embarrassment.”

The group estimates that 29% of troops in the most junior enlisted ranks faced food insecurity during the previous year.

“It is what it is,” said James Bohannon, 34, a Naval E4 (petty officer third class) in San Diego who relies on food assistance to keep his two daughters fed.

“You know what you’re signing up for in the military,” he said, after emerging from a drive-thru food distribution organized by the local Armed Services YMCA branch. “But I’m not going to lie. It’s really tough.”

In addition to modest pay for junior enlisted ranks, the frequent moves inherent to military life make it difficult for military spouses to find steady work. Also, the internal military culture of self-sufficiency leaves many reluctant to speak about their difficulties, for fear they will be regarded as irresponsible.

The problem is exacerbated by an obscure Agriculture Department rule that prevents thousands of needy military families from accessing the SNAP government assistance program, commonly known as food stamps.

A volunteer loads food into a car at an Armed Services YMCA food distribution, Oct. 28, 2021, in San Diego. As many of 160,000 active duty military members are having trouble feeding their families, according to Feeding America, which coordinates the work of more than 200 food banks around the country. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

“It’s one of these things that the American people don’t know about, but it’s a matter of course among military members. We know this,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat and former Blackhawk pilot who lost both legs in a helicopter crash in Iraq. “We’re the mightiest military on the face of the earth and yet those who are on the lower rung of our military ranks are -- if they are married and have a child or two-- they’re hungry. How can you focus on carrying out the mission and defending our democracy. If you’re worried about whether or not your kid gets dinner tonight?”

Meredith Knopp, CEO of a food bank in St. Louis and an Army veteran, said the problem cuts across all branches of the military. She recalls being a young officer in Texas when she was approached by a new private with a baby.

“They were getting ready to turn off his electricity because he couldn’t pay his bills,” she said. “It was shocking to me.”

Perhaps the best indication of how entrenched the problem has become is that a robust network of military-adjacent charitable organizations such as the Armed Services YMCA and Blue Star Families has developed an infrastructure of food banks near most major domestic bases.

San Diego may be one of the epicenters of the phenomenon, with high housing costs and multiple military bases within driving distance. For Brooklyn Pittman, whose husband, Matthew, is in the Navy, the move to California from West Virginia this year was a financial shock.

“We had a nice savings built up and then we moved out here and it was rough,” she said. “We still had student loans and everything on top of everything else.”

Their savings quickly disappeared and the small income she earns from dog-sitting didn’t come close to covering the shortfall. For a while, the couple considered sleeping in their car on the base grounds until the next paycheck.

Pittman was one of 320 families participating in the Armed Services YMCA’s late October drive-thru food distribution. The organization had been hosting events like this for more than 10 years, but when the pandemic struck, expanded operations from six sites to 11 around the country and doubled the frequency of the San Diego-area events.

There’s a diversity of opinion as to how much of a stigma the issue carries within military communities.

Kelly Klor, who works on food insecurity issues for Blue Star Families, recalls a period of financial hardship 13 years ago as a young mother in Texas whose husband had just enlisted. The family pinched pennies at every opportunity, never eating out and relying on the local public library for entertainment. But they still depended on WIC — a similar program to food stamps that serves mothers and children — in order to afford expensive baby formula for her infant daughter.

“I felt embarrassed pulling out my vouchers,” she said. “But at the same time, I was thinking ‘Should it be this hard?’ ”

Klor recalls treating her financial trouble as a taboo subject, even through she suspected many families around her were in the same situation.

“It seemed like it wasn’t something that you share with other people,” she said.

But Maggie Meza, a Blue Star Families representative in San Diego, recalls the communal poverty as common knowledge and a bonding element among families.

“It was like ‘Your husband’s a sergeant, my husband’s a sergeant. We’re both broke. Let’s go find some free stuff,’ ” she said.

One of the strangest aspects of the problem is a mysterious Agriculture Department regulation that prevents thousands of needy military families from receiving food stamps. Families living outside the base grounds receive a Basic Allowance for Housing to help cover most of their costs.

But the 2008 Food and Nutrition Act dictates that the allowance counts as income in calculating eligibility to receive SNAP benefits, and that ends up disqualifying thousands of military families. The allowance doesn’t count as income for tax reasons or for WIC benefits.

Food security activists say they’re confused by both the original rule and the fact that it has endured for more than 12 years.

“No one seems to know why it’s still a law,” said Hall, the Feeding America official.

Dorene Ocamb, chief development officer for the Armed Services YMCA, speculated that the regulation is “just a case of unintended consequences.”

Added Sen. Duckworth: “I couldn’t tell you where it comes from. I can only tell you that they won’t change it.”

A spokesman for the USDA said in an email reply that the department is “taking a fresh look at our authorities with respect to this policy.”

The issue is more than just a humanitarian problem. It directly impacts national security, said Josh Protas, vice president of public policy for MAZON, an organization that has done extensive research on military hunger.

Armed forces members enduring food insecurity are more likely to be distracted in the field and less likely to re-enlist, he said. That talent loss may be generational because military service tends to run in families.

“We’re doing a disservice to future recruitment efforts,” Protas said. “We could be losing good people because they can’t support their families.”

Several people involved in the issue criticized the Pentagon for turning a blind eye to the problem.

“The denial by the Pentagon has been frustrating,” Protas said. “It’s embarrassing for our leaders to acknowledge the problem.”

Colleen Heflin, a professor of public administration at Syracuse University, said the lack of Pentagon interest has led to a critical shortage of proper study or data. “In my experiences, it’s hard to explain this to Department of Defense officials,” she said. “They find it embarrassing and something they would not like to acknowledge.”

But Ocamb pushes back against the criticism that the military is burying the issue.

She acknowledges that there are “some optics that people are trying to work around” but says most base commanders welcome the assistance and points out that the Navy literally owns the San Diego property where the ASYMCA food distributions take place.

“I think the military knows this is a complex issue and they rely on partners like us,” she said. “This concept that the military wants to sweep this under the rug … then why do they let us keep doing this on Navy-owned ground?”

Some of those who had complained about Pentagon reluctance to face the issue say the attitude has changed in recent months under the administration of President Joe Biden.

Shannon Razsadin, president of the Military Family Advisory Network, says she has felt a change in attitude from the Pentagon this year, and partially credits first lady Jill Biden for publicly championing the issue.

“They are focused on understanding it in the Pentagon,” she said. “Six months ago, I wouldn’t have said that.”

Efforts to secure Pentagon comment on this issue were unsuccessful. But a Pentagon official told The Associated Press that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would be publicly speaking on the subject in the near future.

There are fresh attempts by Congress to tackle the problem. Duckworth has sponsored a bill that would establish a Basic Needs Allowance payment for military families in need. Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., has appealed for a serious Pentagon study of the problem and a repeal of the USDA’s Basic Allowance for Housing regulation.

“At this stage, there’s no excuse for anyone in the top echelons of the Pentagon to say they don’t know this is a problem,” McGovern said. “It’s not rocket science. This is solvable ... somebody take responsibility and solve it.”

Greta Thunberg: COP26 deal was very vague


Climate activist Greta Thunberg at COP26 Jane Barlow

The climate activist said the summit 'turned out just the way I had expected'

Carl Bennett SENIOR DIGITAL PRODUCER
PUBLISHED Monday 15 November 2021 -

Activist Greta Thunberg said the climate deal reached by world leaders in Glasgow was “very vague” and left open the prospect climbing global emissions and the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure.

Countries at the COP26 conference agreed to “phase down” coal use, rather than “phase out”, after an eleventh hour change led by China and India, and the 18-year-old climate campaigner said the deal struck “succeeded in watering down the blah, blah, blah”.

“Unfortunately it turned out just the way as I had expected, and that many others had also expected, they even succeeded in watering down the blah, blah, blah, which is quite an achievement,” the Swedish protestor told BBC Scotland News on Monday.

“There is still no guarantee that we will reach the Paris Agreement. The text that it is now, as a document, you can interpret it in many, many different ways.

“We can still expand fossil fuel infrastructure, we can still increase the global emissions. It’s very, very vague.”

The Glasgow Pact, secured at the COP26 talks, committed countries to take more climate action and featured the historic – if watered down – move against coal.

Ministers and negotiators at the UN summit agreed to get countries to strengthen their emissions-cutting targets for 2030 by the end of next year as part of the bid to limit dangerous warming climbing above 1.5C.

She welcomed the move to meet more frequently, but warned: “Yes, it’s good that they say that they’re going to increase their ambitions more often, about that doesn’t really mean much if they don’t actually increase their ambition, especially if they don’t fulfil that ambition, as they have proven so far now.”

Negotiators have also sent a signal on the shift away from the world’s dirtiest fuel, with the deal calling for efforts to accelerate the “phase down” of unabated coal, as well as the phasing out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies.

It was the first time fossil fuels were mentioned in a COP deal, and she told the broadcaster this was a “crucial step”.

The campaigner, who marched through the streets of Glasgow during the conference, added: “I think many people were surprised to learn we have had 26 COPs, and not once have we mentioned fossil fuels in the document up until now, then you start to wonder what have they been doing all this time.”

In the wake of the deal, COP26 President Alok Sharma, who was close to tears on a couple of occasions during an hours-long final plenary, said the summit had met its key goal of keeping the 1.5C limit within reach.

Ms Thunberg admitted being the summit president was a “very difficult job” and she “would not trade my place for his”.

“He has a huge responsibility, not only that he has huge opportunity to make, not to make things right, I understand that this does not fall on just one individual, but he has an opportunity to push in the right direction. Being honest about where we are,” she said.

TAX EVASION

Shell plans UK relocation, sparking Dutch outrage

Date11/15/2021 
(MENAFN- AFP)

Energy giant Shell on Monday announced plans to move its headquarters from the Netherlands to the UK and drop Royal Dutch from its name in a major shakeup that angered the Dutch government.

The plan, seen as a post-Brexit boon for London, will see the company switch its tax residence to the UK.

Shell's plan to end its Anglo-Dutch structure also follows pressure by activists in the Netherlands for the company to slash its harmful emissions.

"We are unpleasantly surprised by this. The cabinet deeply regrets this intention," Economic Affairs Minister Stef Blok said in a statement on Twitter.

Royal Dutch would be dropped from the name for the first time in 130 years.

"We are in talks with Shell about the implications of this move for jobs, critical investment decisions and sustainability. Those are hugely important," Blok added.

Shell said it plans to relocate to the UK its chief executive Ben van Beurden and chief financial officer Jessica Uhl on condition of shareholder approval in a vote due December 10.

The company has been incorporated in the UK with Dutch tax residence since the 2005.

This followed the unification of Koninklijke Nederlandsche Petroleum Maatschappij and The Shell Transport and Trading Company under a single parent company.

Shell said in Monday's statement that it "is proud of its Anglo-Dutch heritage and will continue to be a significant employer with a major presence in the Netherlands".

The company said its projects and technology division, global upstream and integrated Gas businesses and renewable energies hub would remain located in The Hague.

Shares will continue to be listed in Amsterdam, London and New York, it added.

- Activist pressure -

The group however plans to "align Shell's tax residence with its country of incorporation in the UK, where it will hold board and executive committee meetings, and locate its chief executive and chief financial officer".

The proposal will meanwhile "establish a single line of shares to eliminate the complexity of Shell's A/B share structure", it added.

Shell's UK plans come after consumer goods giant Unilever became a wholly British company at the end of the last year after it completed a merger of its Dutch and British corporate entities.

Another setback for the Netherlands, and indeed Shell, saw a Dutch court in April order the company to slash its greenhouse gas emissions in a landmark victory for climate activists.

Shell must reduce its carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2030 as it is contributing to the "dire" consequences of climate change, the court in The Hague ruled.

The largest Dutch pension fund, ABP, then announced in October that it would stop investing in all fossil fuel companies including Shell.

At the same time however, Amsterdam has gained on London's financial hub following Brexit.

 

Shell Moves To UK, Drops 'Royal Dutch' In Share Structure Overhaul

By Tsvetana Paraskova - Nov 15, 2021

Royal Dutch Shell is asking shareholders to approve a proposal to drop its dual share structure and ‘Royal Dutch’ from its name as it looks to move its tax residence to the UK from the Netherlands and make its share structure simpler for investors to value and understand.

Shell’s board of directors will ask shareholders to vote on December 10, 2021 to establish a single line of shares to eliminate the complexity of Shell’s A/B share structure and align Shell’s tax residence with its country of incorporation in the UK, where it will hold Board and Executive Committee meetings, and locate its chief executive and chief financial officer, the company said on Monday.

Shell has been incorporated in the UK with Dutch tax residence and a dual share structure since the 2005 unification of Koninklijke Nederlandsche Petroleum Maatschappij and The Shell Transport and Trading Company under a single parent company. At the time of unification, it was never meant for the current A/B share structure to be permanent, Shell said.

A simpler share structure is expected to accelerate distributions by way of share buybacks, as there will be a larger single pool of ordinary shares that can be bought back. 

“The simplification will normalise our share structure under the tax and legal jurisdictions of a single country and make us more competitive. As a result, Shell will be better positioned to seize opportunities and play a leading role in the energy transition,” Shell’s Chair, Sir Andrew Mackenzie, said in a statement.

Shell, which has carried the “Royal” designation for more than 130 years, expects it will no longer meet the conditions for using the designation following the proposed change. Subject to shareholder approval, the company will be named Shell plc.

“We are unpleasantly surprised by this news. The government deeply regrets that Shell wants to move its head office to the United Kingdom,” Stef Blok, Dutch Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, said, as carried by Bloomberg.

Shell’s proposal to move to the UK and drop “Royal Dutch” from its name comes six months after a Dutch court ordered the supermajor to slash its carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2030 in a landmark ruling in a climate case brought by environmentalists.

Shell has also recently seen calls from activist investor Third Point to break up its legacy oil and gas business from the renewables division. Splitting up Shell’s oil and renewables divisions would not work as the supermajor’s strength is the integration and funding new energy solutions with the earnings from the legacy business, the company’s top executives say.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

Shell wants to move headquarters amid cleaner energy shift

A flag bears the logo of Royal Dutch Shell outside the head office in The Hague, Netherlands, on Monday, April 7, 2014. 

Danica Kirka And Mike Corder, The Associated Press
Published Monday, November 15, 2021 7:17AM EST
Last Updated Monday, November 15, 2021 7:17AM EST

LONDON (AP) -- Royal Dutch Shell proposed moving its headquarters from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom and streamlining its structure Monday in hopes of making it easier to move forward in a world transitioning away from a dependence on fossil fuels.

The company, which has been incorporated in the U.K. with Dutch tax residency and dual class shares since 2005, said it wanted to move to a more conventional structure to make the company more competitive as it seeks to meet the challenges of shifting toward cleaner energy.

Dutch officials said they were "unpleasantly surprised."

"The government deeply regrets that Shell wants to move its head office to the United Kingdom," Dutch Economic Affairs and Climate Minister Stef Blok said. "We are in talks with the top of Shell about the implications of this move for jobs, critical investment decisions and sustainability."

He said the company had assured the government that "the personnel consequences of this decision will be limited to the relocation of a number of executive, board positions from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom."

Shell said that while it was proud of its Dutch heritage, the changes mean it would no longer use "Royal Dutch" in its name.

"The simplification will normalize our share structure under the tax and legal jurisdictions of a single country and make us more competitive," Shell Chairman Andrew Mackenzie said in a statement. "As a result, Shell will be better positioned to seize opportunities and play a leading role in the energy transition."

Shareholders will be asked to vote on the measure at a meeting Dec. 10.

The proposal hints at the complications Shell and other energy giants face as they plan for the day when demand for oil fades and major economies turn to electric-powered cars. Chief Executive Ben van Beurden has made it clear in the past that he intends to have the company remain competitive in a world that gets more of its energy from renewable sources.

His comments came amid an increased focus on the future of the industry after the 2015 Paris climate agreement led governments to commit to tougher action on emissions and shareholders push for more long-term plans.

Shifting from a company that makes fossil fuels to net-zero emissions businesses will involve decreasing investment in one part of the firm and increasing it in another, said David Elmes, an energy expert at the Warwick Business School.

Shell has been challenged, meanwhile, by activist investment firm Third Point to split into a legacy fossil fuel company that returns funds to shareholders from producing oil and a net-zero firm that raises its own capital from markets, Elmes said.

"Shell have replied that it's both the funds from declining fossil fuel activities and their transferrable capabilities that will allow them to be successful in making the transition as a single firm," Elmes said. "They have resisted Third Point's call to split the company."

At a time of pressure, the company is proposing more clarity. Shell's dual share structure is a legacy of a 2005 merger that created the company as it is known today. The structure makes it less clear to investors what they were buying and who they could expect payments from -- or at least more complicated than many similar firms.

"Unifying the share structure is a step to make this whole process of transforming the company more transparent and simpler for shareholders," Elmes said.

There are other pressures as well. Shell lost a landmark case brought by climate activists in the Netherlands earlier this year. The Hague District Court ordered the company to cut its carbon emissions by a net 45% by 2030 compared with 2019 levels, a decision activists hailed as a victory for the planet.

Peer de Rijk of Friends of the Earth Netherlands said Shell's changes would have no effect on the case. Shell said in July it was appealing the ruling.

"This news has no negative consequences for Milieudefensie's climate case against Shell. In any case, this lawsuit will remain with the Dutch courts," De Rijk said.

"Rather, moving to the United Kingdom opens up a new front, including for future cases," he added.

Shell is not the first multinational company to turn its back on the Netherlands. Last year, consumer goods giant Unilever -- owner of household brands such as Dove, Lipton teas and Ben & Jerry's ice cream -- said it was ending its Anglo-Dutch corporate structure and would be headquartered in London.

14Mt a day show why China and India won’t quit coal

NOTICE THE COAL FIRES COAL FIELD INDIA

15TH NOVEMBER 2021

BY: BLOOMBERG

There’s a reason India and China defended coal’s future at the Glasgow climate summit: no nations have added more coal-fired power-plant capacity in the past decade than these two major emitters.

China and India are currently mining a combined 14-million tons a day of the dirtiest fossil fuel. Coal not only remains crucial to their current energy needs but it looks set to have a role for decades to come. That’s even as the two Asian giants install huge volumes of renewables and chase targets to zero out greenhouse gas emissions.

The global pipeline of coal power under development rose last year, the first advance since 2015, driven by a wave of proposed new facilities in China, according to Global Energy Monitor. India’s government forecasts coal plant capacity to grow to 267 GW by 2030 from 208 GW now.

Typically, new coal-fired plants would be expected to operate for at least 30 years, cementing the fuel’s role in the global energy mix beyond the middle of the century.


Negotiators grappled Saturday with last minute changes to the COP26 pact that reduced a call to accelerate the “phase-out” of unabated coal power to a pledge to “phase-down” use of the fuel following pushback from India and China. That sparked backlash against the two nations, with COP26 President Alok Sharma saying in a BBC interview that the countries will have to explain themselves.

Meanwhile, mines across China and India have been ramping up production in recent weeks to ease a supply crunch that’s caused widespread power shortages and curbs on industrial activity. China’s miners have beaten a government target to raise output to 12-million tons a day, while India’s daily production is close to 2 million tons.

“The power cuts since mid-to-late September show that we are still not prepared enough,” Yang Weimin, a member of the economic committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and a government advisor, told a conference in Beijing on Saturday. Additional funding is needed to ensure coal plants can be used to complement a rising share of renewables, he said.

Coal’s share in global electricity generation fell in 2020 to 34%, the smallest in more than two decades, though it remains the single largest power source, according to BloombergNEF.

In China, it accounted for about 62% of electricity generation last year. President Xi Jinping has set a target for the nation to peak its consumption of the fuel in 2025, and aims to have non-fossil fuel energy sources exceed 80% of its total mix by 2060.

For India, coal is even more important, representing 72% of electricity generation. The fuel will still make up 21% of India’s electricity mix by 2050, BNEF analysts including Atin Jain said in a note last month.

Coal “can help the country meet its energy needs without depending on imports,” particularly as alternatives like nuclear have been hampered by high cost and safety concerns, said Debasish Mishra, a Mumbai-based partner at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

Climate scientists insist the push by the top coal-consuming nations to allow prolonged use of the fuel is incompatible with efforts to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

“Coal has to be abandoned for us to secure a safe climate future,” Matthew England, Scientia Professor at the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, said in a statement. “Net zero cannot be achieved without urgent action to leave the world’s reserves of fossil fuels in the ground.”