Sunday, January 12, 2020
Water Scarcity - Challenges
In Nepal and many other countries, private tanker
operators profit from growing water scarcity.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/11/business/drought-increasing-worldwide.html
Climate change and population growth are making the world’s water woes more urgent
An informative piece on the water supply challenges facing Bengaluru/Bangalore – India’s tech capital and one of the world’s fastest growing cities:
Climate change and population growth are making the world’s water woes more urgent
Interesting experiment in India:
https://www.thebetterindia.com/173853/bengaluru-ground-water-crisis-well-digging-day-zero-zenrainman/An informative piece on the water supply challenges facing Bengaluru/Bangalore – India’s tech capital and one of the world’s fastest growing cities:
Is Bengaluru heading towards Day Zero?
“In the 16th century, when the local chieftain Kempe Gowda founded Bengaluru, the bulk of the city’s water needs were supplied by over 1,000 lakes spread across an undulating terrain. Rainwater collected in each of these structures and the excess flowed into the one at the level immediately below it. This self-sustaining model was disrupted in the 1890s as the city began to expand, and piped water became its lifeline.
With the transformation of Bengaluru into India’s Silicon Valley over the last two decades, leading to massive population pressure (the city’s population is slated to grow by an incredible 124.4% between 2011-2031, according to the Bangalore Development Authority) and a real estate boom, the interconnected system of lakes has been broken. The lakes have been encroached on steadily to build houses, leading to the disintegration of the water ecology—the number of lakes has dwindled to 200-300.”State Capacity and Economic Performance
African governments are trying to collect more tax
State Capacity and Economic Performance
Saturday, January 11, 2020
Fiscal Cost of Military Adventures
Brown University study notes:
“Since late 2001, the United States has appropriated
and is obligated to spend an estimated $6.4 Trillion through Fiscal Year 2020
in budgetary costs related to and caused by the post-9/11 wars—an estimated
$5.4 Trillion in appropriations in current dollars and an additional minimum of
$1 Trillion for US obligations to care for the veterans of these wars through
the next several decades”
Reforming Democracies
Saving Democracy from the Managerial Elite
Can Ranked-Choice Voting Save American Democracy?
Friday, January 10, 2020
Labor Union Power - France versus US
France – Too Much Labor Union Power?
Macron’s Pension Reforms and the French Labor
Unions
Business Owners in Paris Say French Pension Reform
Strikes Have Been ‘Devastating’
US – Too Little Labor Union Power?
Time for a New Grand Bargain with American Workers
Related:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/10/opinion/sunday/gig-economy-unemployment-automation.htmlThursday, January 9, 2020
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