Tag: poverty

Measuring the Cost of Violence

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER 01/12/12 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Michael Honda (D-CA) Homicide, other violent crimes, incarceration, policing, and guns are costing this country hundreds of billions of dollars, and millions of jobs, every year. According to conservative estimates by the Institute for Economics and Peace, if the United States […]

A Peace Dividend We Should All Want

THE HILL 12/21/11 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Michael Honda (D-CA) In light of Congress’s failure to wrestle up short-term cost-cutting measures for our country, we must not lose sight of longer-term concerns about the sustainability of our deficits, debts and, ultimately, our budgets.  While we tempt deadlines now, […]

After the Shooting Stops

THE GUARDIAN 11/28/08 By Michael Shank Post-catastrophe finger-pointing is both natural and necessary. Crisis responders frequently call for accountability (“Government, why didn’t you protect us?”) and summon mass appeals to rationality (“Why did this happen?”). Mumbai was no different. Hardly a manic minute passed after the massacre before Pakistan was […]

We Lead Developed World in Poverty and Inequality

THE HILL 11/17/08 By Michael Shank and U.S. Representative Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) Late last month, buried beneath the noise of last-minute presidential campaigning, a 2008 report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) cited rising inequality and poverty among member states. Press-released in Paris, this newsworthy point […]

Steer Concerned Celebrities Instead of Stifling Them

FINANCIAL TIMES 11/01/07 By Michael Shank Sir, Gideon Rachman (“The aid crusade and Bono’s brigade”, October 30) has it right: it is better to have rock stars roiling for debt relief than resorting to hotel room romping. Yet Mr Rachman sides with the cynics on celebrity campaigning by taking issue […]