The recent financial crisis is the first systemic crisis of the 21st Century. By learning its lessons we cannot only avoid a destabilizing cycle of more acute future financial crises, but also equip the world to handle other looming catastrophes such as climate change, global pandemics and bio-terrorism.
One lesson in particular is inescapable -- that the world's governing bodies, from the UN to the World Bank, from the G20 to the IMF, can no longer cope with systemic risks of these kinds. A radical reform of the national and global system is required to ensure that the constantly evolving catastrophic 'weapons of mass destruction' are identified before they explode. Otherwise the next decade will see new problems thrown at old and outdated institutions.
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January 8, 2010
January 6, 2010
Fed Officials: Unemployment Will ‘Remain Elevated For Quite Some Time’
In yet another sobering acknowledgment that jobs will continue to remain scarce despite the seemingly improving economic situation, Federal Reserve officials believe that unemployment levels will "remain elevated for quite some time," according to minutes released Wednesday of a recent Fed meeting.
"Participants expected the economic recovery to continue, but, consistent with experience following previous financial crises, most anticipated that the pickup in output and employment growth would be rather slow relative to past recoveries from deep recessions," the December 15-16 meeting minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee show. The committee is the Fed's policy-making body.
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"Participants expected the economic recovery to continue, but, consistent with experience following previous financial crises, most anticipated that the pickup in output and employment growth would be rather slow relative to past recoveries from deep recessions," the December 15-16 meeting minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee show. The committee is the Fed's policy-making body.
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November 26, 2009
Sharing the Privilege of Abundance
Thanksgiving always evokes memories of the days when, as mothers of young children, we would bundle them up to deliver turkey baskets -- family to family -- to those in Washington, DC who couldn't afford a holiday dinner of their own.
That simple act connected our children to the original spirit of Thanksgiving -- where families stop not only to give thanks for plenty, but to share with strangers in need. Thanksgiving is one of the few days where soup kitchens and food pantries around the country burst at the seams -- not just with turkey and stuffing, but with volunteers eager to serve.
Americans, in fact, are the most generous people in the world when it comes to private philanthropy: 85 percent of American families give their time or money, with private giving averaging $300 billion a year.
This year Thanksgiving strikes at a critical hour for families everywhere who have been hit hard by the global financial meltdown.
In the United States, one in nine people rely each month on food stamps. Demand at food pantries and homeless shelters is at record levels. And 17 million American households have had difficulty putting food on the table during the last year -- a 14-year high.
Yet while we concentrate our efforts on addressing hunger at home, we must remember another face of hunger in our world -- one that's largely invisible until we glimpse it on our TVs from some distant country, when a typhoon, earthquake, flood, drought or conflict makes the evening news.
It's easy to forget the silent tsunami of hunger that rips an ever-greater swath through the places where there are no streets, where mothers wonder if their malnourished babies will survive and fathers despair that they cannot provide even a single meal for their desperate families. The compounding impact of the food, fuel and financial crises has pushed the numbers of those suffering chronic hunger past one billion -- one in six people on earth -- for the first time in history.
Those in the "Bottom Billion" subsist on a dollar a day or less. Each day, hunger and related ailments claim 25,000 lives, mostly children -- making hunger the world's No. 1 public health threat. Even when chronic hunger does not kill, it maims -- shattering health, longevity, and hope.
Malnutrition in children under age two causes irreversible damage to their minds and bodies. In countries like Ethiopia, Pakistan and Guatemala, one in two children is stunted. Not only is this an incalculable human loss, but it is a quantifiable financial loss to these nations. Studies show malnutrition causes tens of billions of dollars in losses to poor countries -- or as much as 11 percent of GDP.
As we've traveled the world, the two of us have shared stories and tears with other mothers -- far from Washington -- who have watched, helplessly, as their children slipped from their grasp into the maws of hunger. For them, Thanksgiving never comes.
Although the mind reels with the huge needs of the world, the solutions are surprisingly achievable. Many nations -- Ireland, China, Brazil, and a growing number of African countries -- have beat back the worst of hunger. Inexpensive nutritional interventions can dramatically improve the health -- and lives -- of women and children. For just 25 cents a day, we can feed a child at school, giving them a real shot at forging a better future.
And with $3.2 billion a year -- or $1.5 billion less than Americans spend on Halloween annually and a fraction of America's private giving -- we can feed the 66 million children worldwide who go to school hungry. This alone won't end hunger, but it would be a huge step forward.
If we are to solve hunger, it will take the political will and resources of governments. It's encouraging that the Obama administration and Congressional leadership recognize that a sustainable, comprehensive food security strategy is vital to ensure our planet's future peace and prosperity.
Yet every one of us, at all levels, can make a difference -- especially if we work together. The World Food Programme's first Internet citizens' campaign, www.wfp.org/1billion, is mobilizing the online community: if a billion Internet users donate a dollar a week, we could transform the lives of a billion hungry people across the world.
As we enter the season of colossal Wall Street bonuses and a frenzy of holiday spending, it is time for us to once more share the privilege of plenty. It is time to declare, once and for all, that not a single child should die from -- or be irrevocably stunted by -- hunger.
Not on our watch.
Read more HuffPost Thanksgiving coverage and commentary
That simple act connected our children to the original spirit of Thanksgiving -- where families stop not only to give thanks for plenty, but to share with strangers in need. Thanksgiving is one of the few days where soup kitchens and food pantries around the country burst at the seams -- not just with turkey and stuffing, but with volunteers eager to serve.
Americans, in fact, are the most generous people in the world when it comes to private philanthropy: 85 percent of American families give their time or money, with private giving averaging $300 billion a year.
This year Thanksgiving strikes at a critical hour for families everywhere who have been hit hard by the global financial meltdown.
In the United States, one in nine people rely each month on food stamps. Demand at food pantries and homeless shelters is at record levels. And 17 million American households have had difficulty putting food on the table during the last year -- a 14-year high.
Yet while we concentrate our efforts on addressing hunger at home, we must remember another face of hunger in our world -- one that's largely invisible until we glimpse it on our TVs from some distant country, when a typhoon, earthquake, flood, drought or conflict makes the evening news.
It's easy to forget the silent tsunami of hunger that rips an ever-greater swath through the places where there are no streets, where mothers wonder if their malnourished babies will survive and fathers despair that they cannot provide even a single meal for their desperate families. The compounding impact of the food, fuel and financial crises has pushed the numbers of those suffering chronic hunger past one billion -- one in six people on earth -- for the first time in history.
Those in the "Bottom Billion" subsist on a dollar a day or less. Each day, hunger and related ailments claim 25,000 lives, mostly children -- making hunger the world's No. 1 public health threat. Even when chronic hunger does not kill, it maims -- shattering health, longevity, and hope.
Malnutrition in children under age two causes irreversible damage to their minds and bodies. In countries like Ethiopia, Pakistan and Guatemala, one in two children is stunted. Not only is this an incalculable human loss, but it is a quantifiable financial loss to these nations. Studies show malnutrition causes tens of billions of dollars in losses to poor countries -- or as much as 11 percent of GDP.
As we've traveled the world, the two of us have shared stories and tears with other mothers -- far from Washington -- who have watched, helplessly, as their children slipped from their grasp into the maws of hunger. For them, Thanksgiving never comes.
Although the mind reels with the huge needs of the world, the solutions are surprisingly achievable. Many nations -- Ireland, China, Brazil, and a growing number of African countries -- have beat back the worst of hunger. Inexpensive nutritional interventions can dramatically improve the health -- and lives -- of women and children. For just 25 cents a day, we can feed a child at school, giving them a real shot at forging a better future.
And with $3.2 billion a year -- or $1.5 billion less than Americans spend on Halloween annually and a fraction of America's private giving -- we can feed the 66 million children worldwide who go to school hungry. This alone won't end hunger, but it would be a huge step forward.
If we are to solve hunger, it will take the political will and resources of governments. It's encouraging that the Obama administration and Congressional leadership recognize that a sustainable, comprehensive food security strategy is vital to ensure our planet's future peace and prosperity.
Yet every one of us, at all levels, can make a difference -- especially if we work together. The World Food Programme's first Internet citizens' campaign, www.wfp.org/1billion, is mobilizing the online community: if a billion Internet users donate a dollar a week, we could transform the lives of a billion hungry people across the world.
As we enter the season of colossal Wall Street bonuses and a frenzy of holiday spending, it is time for us to once more share the privilege of plenty. It is time to declare, once and for all, that not a single child should die from -- or be irrevocably stunted by -- hunger.
Not on our watch.
Read more HuffPost Thanksgiving coverage and commentary