G.O.O.D

Source: globalresearch.ca

The United States’ National Intelligence Council has released a report, entitled “Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World”. This declassified document is the fourth report of the Global Trends 2025: The National Intelligence Council’s 2025 Project,

The report outlines the paths that current geopolitical and economic trends may reach by the year 2025, in order to guide strategic thinking over the next few decades. The National Intelligence Council describes itself as the US Intelligence Community’s “center for midterm and long-term strategic thinking,” with the tasks of supporting the Director of National Intelligence, reaching out to non-governmental experts in academia and the private sector and it leads in the effort of providing National Intelligence Estimates.

The report was written with the active participation of not only the US intelligence community, but also numerous think tanks, consulting firms, academic institutions and hundreds of other experts. Among the participating organizations were the Atlantic Council of the United States, the Wilson Center, RAND Corporation, the Brookings Institution, American Enterprise Institute, Texas A&M University, the Council on Foreign Relations and Chatham House in London, which is the British equivalent of the CFR.[1]

Among the many things envisioned in this report to either be completed or under way by 2025 are the formation of a global multipolar international system, the possibility of a return of mercantilism by great powers in which they go to war over dwindling resources, the growth of China as a great world power, the position of India as a strong pole in the new multipolar system, a decline of capitalism in the form of more state-capitalism, exponential population growth in the developing world, continuing instability in Africa, a decline in food availability, partly due to climate change, continued terrorism, the possibility of nuclear war, the emergence of regionalism in the form of strong regional blocks in North America, Europe, and Asia, and the decline of US power and with that, the superiority of the dollar.

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Source: scienceblogs.com

One thing that the Thanksgiving Holidays has made clear: America, the land of plenty where holiday overeating is celebrated as a social good, is suffering from a food availability crisis. The Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture describes a range of food security categories, ranging from “food secure,” which includes high food security and marginal food security, and “food insecure,” which includes low food security and very low food security. Households whose food security was classified as either “low” or “very low” did not have enough money to purchase an adequate supply of food at least some of the time — and their numbers are increasing dramatically, as anyone who works at or depends upon a food bank or soup kitchen will tell you.

Across the country, more people are appearing at their local food banks and soup kitchens as they struggle to afford enough to eat. For example, the New York City Coalition Against Hunger’s (NYCCAH) Annual Hunger Survey reports that emergency food providers are serving 28% more people in 2008 than they had last year. But sadly, as New York City food banks point out, donations are down this holiday season just as the faltering economy has increased the need for their services.

“More people are unemployed. People are more desperate for food and scared that it will run out. We have people lining up for food two hours before we begin pantry distribution,” reports Christina Baal, Director of Immigrant and Family Services at Cabrini Immigrant Services.

This decline in food availability has caused NYC food banks and pantries to cut back on the amount and variety of food provided to the hungry and their total food supplies for the week are distributed within a few minutes instead of within an hour or longer. Worse, many pantries have been forced to open less frequently and to close earlier, and several dozen food banks in NYC have permanently closed their doors.

“We can’t nibble around this problem. Hunger is becoming a full blown crisis for our City, and our current economic downturn is only going to make it harder for thousands of New Yorkers to feed themselves and their families,” said Councilmember Bill de Blasio, Chair of the General Welfare Committee.

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