We are becoming familiar with PTSD, and we have no difficulty understanding the trauma of those who went through the holocaust. Now some are raising questions about what is termed secondary traumatization or transgenerational trauma, the trauma experienced by people who weren’t there, who didn’t undergo it themselves. Dan Glass, a 29-year old whose grandfather was a holocaust victim and whose father did nothing but relate his own father’s stories, has formed “Never Again Ever” a group addressing Continue reading “Transgenerational Trauma”
Category: Social Issues
Mergers and Consumers’ Interest
A number of mergers have made the news: Anthem acquiring Cigna, AT&T acquiring Direct TV, Charter acquiring Time Warner Cable, in each case claiming that those mergers are ultimately good for consumers. In one of his recent pieces Los Angeles Times columnist David Lazarus points out he interviewed several economists who all agree that ultimately mergers aren’t good for consumers. They reduce competition and increase prices while Continue reading “Mergers and Consumers’ Interest”
You Decide
While checking out a news website I hadn’t known about, mic.com, I ran across an article by Jon Levine about a recent interview with actress and activist Susan Sarandon who’s loved for so many roles and where she openly admitted that she used marijuana to relax. Morgan Freeman has also admitted using it in order to ease his fibromyalgia. There’s a growing movement to legalize it the article reminded readers. A bipartisan group in Congress has in fact introduced a bill to legalize marijuana for medical uses in the 23 states which already allow it, and more than the majority of people now believe that it should be legalized. Also relevant is that 69% Continue reading “You Decide”
Toward The End of Water Privatization
In Lagos, Nigeria, a water privatization project did not turn out as expected, according to a recent article by Michelle Chen in The Nation. It was neither workable nor profitable. A key reason lay in the lack of infrastructure. To bring water to people a company needs pipes, a task that in a country like Nigeria, or in any other developing nation, is not particularly easy. The project was mismanaged, was not delivering water to most people. In some areas water was stolen, and those who paid were often those who could least afford it. Another reason the Lagos project failed was that the World Bank refused to fund it, Continue reading “Toward The End of Water Privatization”