Stephan: This is what a country looks like when it structures its government for fostering wellbeing, instead of serving the rich. Why is America incapable of producing wellbeing for its people? It's not that complicated, as Finland, the Nordic countries, The Netherlands, and New Zealand demonstrate. If you want America to change you better get out there and work for it. If the Republicans take over the House and the Senate in 2022, it will probably be too late.
Citizens of Finland. Credit: The Nomad Today
Finland has retained the famous title of the happiest country in the world for the fourth time, which is an unprecedented achievement.
For the fourth year in a row, Finland has been named the happiest country on the planet. This is according to the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, a global project for the United Nations, which publishes the yearly World Happiness Report.
Finnish happiness, which appears to be a constant, can be linked to a variety of variables, but many Finns attribute it to their relationship with nature and the outdoors, with over 90% of Finland covered in either forest or water.
So, why is Finland so extremely happy? There are reasons for Finland’s increased contentment, according to Visit Finland, the country’s official tourism body.
The United Nations defined happiness in 2012 as “the amount of a person’s satisfaction with his life,” and created an annual index of criteria to quantify it, in which Finland ranked first worldwide, namely:
1. Finland has one of the highest GDP per capita globally, with […]
Robert Reich, The Carmel P. Friesen Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California - Reader Supported News
Stephan: I think Robert Reich is correct in what he says. For instance, I learned tonight that the firefighters who fire the wildfires in the West are only paid $13.50 per hour. Twice in my life I was almost caught in a forest fire, and these were the scariest experiences of my life, including the Army. When you consider the courage it takes to risk your life fighting a multi-thousand acre fire in a forest, $13.50 is not just wrong, it is an insult. You can't get a handy man for casual labor on my island for less that $25.00 an hour.
Robert Reich Credit: Getty
For the first time in years, American workers have enough bargaining leverage to demand better working conditions and higher wages – and are refusing to work until they get them.
Here’s where that leverage comes from. After a year and a half of the pandemic, consumers have pent-up demand for all sorts of goods and services. But employers are finding it hard to fill positions to meet that demand.
The most recent jobs report showed the number of job openings at a record high. The share of people working or looking for work has dropped to a near-record low 61.6 percent. In August, 4.3 million Americans quit their jobs, the highest quit rate since 2000.
Republicans have been claiming for months that people aren’t getting back to work because of federal unemployment benefits. Rubbish.
The number of people working or looking for work dropped in September – after the extra benefits ran out on Labor Day.
The reluctance of people to work doesn’t have anything to do with unemployment benefits. It has everything to do with workers being […]
David Gelles and Emily Steel, Investigative Reporters - The New York Times
Stephan: Because of the legal corruption built into the American federal government by Citizens United, and the moral depravity of so many members of Congress, the country's economic system has been deliberately rigged to always favor corporate interests and to lay off to taxpayers -- you and me -- as many corporate expenses as possible. This sad and depraved story is an example of what I mean.
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — One humid day this summer, Brian Long, a senior executive at the chemical company Chemours, took a reporter on a tour of the Fayetteville Works factory.
Mr. Long showed off the plant’s new antipollution technologies, designed to stop a chemical called GenX from pouring into the Cape Fear River, escaping into the air and seeping into the ground water.
There was a new high-tech filtration system. And a new thermal oxidizer, which heats waste to 2,000 degrees. And an underground wall — still under construction — to keep the chemicals out of the river. And more.
“They’re not Band-Aids,” Mr. Long said. “They’re long-term, robust solutions.”
Yet weeks later, North Carolina officials announced that Chemours had exceeded limits on how much GenX its Fayetteville factory was emitting. This month, the state fined the company $300,000 for the violations — the second time this year the company has been penalized by the state’s environmental regulator.
Stephan: What amazes me about this story is not that it is yet another story to go with Trump Steaks, Trump University, and the rest. Trump is a grifter; this is the way he always behaves. He believes himself to be above the law with justification. He has been all his life. What amazes me is that this will not make a whit of difference to the MAGAts. There doesn't appear to be anything that will stop them from being worshipful followers. And that tells you a lot about the United States.
Donald Trump plays golf at Trump National Doral (screen grab)
Former president Donald Trump’s golf resort in Westchester, New York, effectively “took money out of the pockets of local school meal programs,” according to a former federal prosecutor.
Danya Perry, who once served as assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, appeared on MSNBC on Thursday night to discuss the Westchester County district attorney’s investigation into whether Trump’s golf course misled local officials about the property’s value to reduce its taxes.
The investigation was first reported by the New York Times on Wednesday.
Host Rachel Maddow noted that after the town of Ossining assessed the value of the golf course at $15 million, the Trump Organization claimed it was worth only $1.4 million. Meanwhile, on financial disclosures, Trump reported the golf course’s value at more than $50 million.
“Lying is one thing, but lying to tax authorities for the purpose of reducing your tax burden is a crime, and that appears to be what’s under investigation by yet another state prosecutor, […]
Stephan: This is excellent good news about clean water and salmon, and the correction of a particularly malignant Trump decision. However, it also reports a compromised position on the part of the Biden administration. I think this probably occurred because there are still MAGAts in the federal ranks. Anyway, thanks to the court, it ends well.
A salmon jumps as it swims upstream against a waterfall. Credit: josullivan.59/Flickr
Environmental and Indigenous advocates on Friday cheered as a federal judge rejected a Biden administration request to temporarily keep in place a Trump-era Clean Water Act rule that one attorney said would have “devastated” states’ ability to manage their rivers.
“The Trump administration took an industry wish list and ran with it, trampling over state and tribal authority and public rights to clean water in the process.”
On Thursday, Judge William H. Alsup of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco threw out a June 2020 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule changing the Clean Water Act Section 401 certification process to allow federal agencies to approve large projects—including fossil fuel pipelines, hydroelectric dams, industrial plants, wetland developments, and municipal facilities—against the wishes of states and Native American tribes.
In July 2020, 20 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration over the rule change. That September, Indigenous tribes and green groups also filed […]
