Last week, a report was released examining the support for the #OWS movement. The report, “Mainstream Support for a Mainstream Movement” by Héctor R. Cordero-Guzmán Ph.D, analyzes data gathered from an anonymous survey posted October 5th on occupywallst.org, concluding that those involved in the #OWS movement are representative of the 99 percent. To see how Cordero-Guzmán’s 99 percent compares with the U.S. 100 percent, I decided to compare the results with nationally representative data from the American Community Survey (ACS) and Current Population Survey (CPS).

The survey is not perfect. The results are conditional on visiting occupywallst.org on October 5th – of the 350,346 visits to the website on the 5th, only 1,619 individuals completed the survey. However, despite this non-random design, Cordero-Guzmán is providing us with data that has been in short supply since the start of #OWS movement. There has been a lot of discussion on who is actually participating and supporting the protests, and thanks to this survey we have a first look at the make-up of the #OWS 99 percent.

According to the survey, there is great support for the movement, with little outright disapproval of #OWS (see the figure with responses to Question 3, below). By October 5th, early in the protest, a quarter of respondents had participated in the protests (see the figure for Question 4). Since then there has been growth in the movement, with demonstrations springing up in both U.S. and international cities, and greater participation.

Mark WeisbrotFolha de São Paulo (Brazil), October 27, 2011Em Português

As the AP reported last week, the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission’s (IHRC) mandate expired on Friday, October 21. The mandate had called for a transition to a Haitian government development authority to take the place of the commission. The date passed with little fanfare and no official statements from the IHRC itself. Reports in the Haitian press indicate that newly designated Prime Minister Gary Conille intends to submit a bill asking for the panel’s extension to Parliament, where some members have already expressed their reluctance to vote for it. Conille is a former advisor to Bill Clinton; Clinton co-chairs the IHRC.

Throughout the relief and reconstruction process, many have pointed out that the Haitian government has largely been bypassed and that Haitians themselves have been left out of the decision making process. In response, donors often point to the IHRC. The United States, for instance, said in January 2011 that “[t]o ensure that the reconstruction is Haitian-led, the U.S. Government coordinates all its recovery assistance through the IHRC.”

For its part the United State seems convinced the panel will be renewed. Although the U.S. government has made no official statement, USAID extended the contract of an undisclosed foreign contractor on September 30. The award description states, “The purpose of this modification is to extend the POP from September 30, 2011 to October 21, 2012 to serve as the disbursing agent of the IHRC; and increment funds in $45,387.00.” Then on October 20, the day before the mandate expired, the same contractor received an additional $20,000. Overall USAID has given more than $500,000 to this contractor to act as a steward of IHRC funds. It is unclear why the US would extend the contract until October 2012 without knowing if the IHRC would even continue to operate.

Mark WeisbrotFolha de São Paulo (Brasil), 27 de outubro, 2011Em Inglês

October 2011, Juan A. Montecino

October 27, 2011

October 27, 2011 (GDP Byte)

Faced with the prospect of cuts to the Defense Department's budget, the defense industry is pushing the story of the military spending fairy on members of Congress. They are telling them that these cuts will lead to the loss of more than 1 million jobs over the next decade.

Believers in the military spending fairy say things like "the government can't create jobs," but also think that military spending creates jobs. Under the military spending fairy story, if the government spends $1 billion dollars paying people to do research or to build items related to the civilian economy it is just a drag on the private economy; however if the same spending goes to military related purposes, then it creates jobs.

It's not clear exactly how the military fairy blesses projects to make them helpful to the economy rather than harmful. For example, the highways were built in the 50s ostensibly in part for defense purposes. They made it easier to move troops and military equipment around the country in the event of an attack. Government subsidized student loans were also originally dubbed as defense loans since they were ostensibly intended in part to produce more graduates in science and engineering who could help us compete with the Soviet Union in defense related technologies.