Global Disasters/ Significant Events – 5 May 2013

Fifth of UK households borrowed money or used savings to cover food costs

One in five UK households, or the equivalent of five million households, borrowed money or used savings to cover food costs in April, according to a survey.

• The figures defy official statistics released last week that showed personal bankruptcies had dropped to a 5-year low.

• The households who used savings, or borrowed money to pay for food, were mostly low income families. Among this group:
• 82% worried about food prices
• 55% said they were likely to cut back on food spending in the next few months
• 57% said they found it difficult to cope on their current income
• 32% borrowed money from friends and family in April, said the report.

The executive director of “Which?”, the organization that carried out the survey,  said: “Our tracker shows that many households are stretched to their financial breaking point, with rising food prices one of the top worries for squeezed consumers.

“It’s simply shocking that so many people need to use savings or credit to pay for essentials like food.”

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Image of the Week

Crates of pesticides and fertilizer at a strawberry farm are destroyed as a raging brush fire  pushes towards the coast, in Camarillo (Ventura County, SoCal) May 2, 2013.  The so-called Springs Fire was just under 60 percent contained, as of posting. Credit: Reuters/Gene Blevins

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Israel strikes Syria again

Israeli jets bombed Syria on Sunday, rocking Damascus for several hours and sending columns of flame into the night sky.

• Syrian state television reported that the bombing that occurred around a military research facility at Jamraya had caused ‘many civilian casualties and widespread damage’ and quoted a letter from the foreign minister to the United Nations saying: ‘The blatant Israeli aggression has the aim to provide direct military support to the terrorist groups after they failed to control territory.'”

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Death toll from Bangladesh factory collapse reaches 610

The death toll from Dhaka factory collapse climbed to 610 on Sunday after the authorities pulled dozens of bodies from the wreckage of Rana Plaza, the eight-story building that housed five garment factories.

• The toll is expected to rise further, an official told reporters.
  

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Chinese no longer trust the Red Cross! 

Many people in China no longer trust the Red Cross Society and refused to donate through the organization because the charity’s image has been seriously damaged by a series of scandals, said a report.

In contrast to making generous donations through the Red Cross after the earthquake in Wenchuan 5 years ago, many people choose to donate to other charities, or contributed nothing, after the recent Lushan quake.

[Search blog content for the role of Red Cross in disappearance of  donations after  911 and Haiti quake.]

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DISASTER CALENDAR – May 5, 2013 — 
SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,042 Days Left 

Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.

• SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,042 Days Left to ‘Worst Day’ in the brief Human  History
• The countdown began on May 15, 2011 …

GLOBAL WARNINGS

• WARNING: Human impact 2.85 x Earth’s diminishing carrying capacity
• WARNING: RAPID PLANETARY DECLINE IN PROGRESS!
• Europe: The First Phase of Collapse Has Started 
• United States: The First Phase of Collapse Has Begun

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

How Corporate America Pushing People Over the Edge

U.S. Suicide rate quadrupled under Obama Presidency

More Americans now die of suicide than in car accidents. In 2010 there were 38,364 reported suicides and 33,687 deaths from motor vehicle accidents in the U.S.

[NOTE: An unknown percentage of fatal accidents may be incidents of suicide.]

Between 1999 and 2010, the suicide rate among Americans aged 35 to 64 increased by 28.4%, from 13.7 per 100,000 population to 17.6 , according to CDC.

• The suicide rate for middle-aged men surged to 27.3 deaths per 100,000 (from 21.5), while for women it was 8.1 deaths per 100,000.

• Suicide rates climbed significantly across all four geographic regions and in 39 states, with Wyoming reporting the highest increase, a 78.8 percent jump to 31.1 per 100,000.

Despite the massive reported increases in suicide rates, some experts believe the actual rates are much higher.

“The boomers had great expectations for what their life might look like, but I think perhaps it hasn’t panned out that way,” said Julie Phillips, an associate professor of sociology at Rutgers University. She warns that the number is actually even higher. “We know we’re not counting all suicides… It’s vastly under-reported.”

A steady increase in suicide rates between 1999 and 2007 suddenly intensified to a four-fold hike from 2008 to 2010, under the Presidency of Mr Obama, America’s “Corporate President.”

The surge in the U.S. suicide rates occurred at the same time as the Great Recession precipitated in the late 2008.

“The increase does coincide with a decrease in financial standing for a lot of families over the same time period,” said Aaron Reeves , a UK researcher.

In 2010, “the top 1% captured 93% of the income gains … Such an uneven recovery can help explain the recent public demonstrations against in equality,” says a report titled, Striking it Richer: The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States.

Do you pay more Federal Income Taxes than Facebook, Southwest Airlines, GE, Pepco…

YES, You do! Many of the profitable Fortune 500 companies in a range of sectors of the U.S. economy manipulate the tax system to avoid paying even a dime of tax on billions of dollars in profits. In fact, some of them receive tax benefits. Source: Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ).

During the Great Recession,  some 4 million homes were foreclosed, while many US corporations, some of which were rescued by taxpayer-funded bailout, avoided paying any taxes on their earnings, thanks to fierce lobbying for tax breaks and innovative accounting.

“Is the rash of suicides across a broad spectrum of the American population a direct result of the wealth hoarding by the top income earners – many of them US corporate ‘individuals’? Since it is clear that Monsters Inc. have all but hijacked the American dream, not to mention the US political process, the evidence seems to point in that dark direction.”

Related Links

• Suicide rate quadrupled under Obama Presidency
• Suicide Rates Rise Sharply in U.S.
• Suicide watch: Is corporate power pushing Americans over the edge?

• G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether
• Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)