Pretty soon the only thing Mexico will be exporting is Mangoes and Papaya (yummy!). $18/hr isn't too shabby for a Mexican worker. I thought these dudes were paid hardly nothing?

Couple years they'll be lining up at the border trying to get back in Mexico.

Or, in other words, bribe the ruling elite, then send in advisors so they can use their troops to keep the oil flowing to us. Their own troops can brutalize the population, while we keep our hands clean.

So this is sold as one of America's more progressive cities?

Twilight,
A lot of cities in the US have rotted in the center, and grown around the outside, like a hollow tree, leaving cheap areas where the poor gravitate, and a ring of more affluent development around it where the good stores are. Hard to change something like that, which took 50 years to create, sort of by accident.

patience wrote:
Twilight, A lot of cities in the US have rotted in the center, and grown around the outside, like a hollow tree, leaving cheap areas where the poor gravitate, and a ring of more affluent development around it where the good stores are. Hard to change something like that, which took 50 years to create, sort of by accident.

That's true for some cities, but nothing could be further from the truth for Seattle.

If they live in a shelter, with disruptive bed checks throughout the night, children often come to school sleep-deprived. Uncertain of where they'll be living the next week and traumatized by aspects of homelessness, impoverished students and their parents might view education strikingly different than middle-class families.

Teaching low-income children requires a knowledge of "Poverty 101," speakers said Wednesday at the 13th annual fundraising breakfast for First Place, a nonprofit Seattle school for children whose families face the risk or realities of homelessness.

Poverty Stats for the Population of Seattle (Census 2000)
Total Population below poverty level: 11.8%
47.5% of those are Male
52.5% of those are Female

Worldwide, food prices have risen 45% in the past nine months, posing a crisis for millions, says the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization.

Because of the current economics of food, and changes in federal farm subsidy programs designed to make farmers rely more on the markets, large U.S. reserves may be gone for a long time.

The upshot: USDA has almost no extra food to supplement the billions in cash payments it spends to combat hunger at home and in developing nations.

A coalition of religious and farm groups, in an open letter to Congress this week, warned that low supplies increase the risk of hunger and higher prices, calling for creation of a strategic grain reserve.

"As a matter or national security, our government should recognize and act on its responsibility to provide a stable market for food in an era of unprecedented risk," says the letter from the National Family Farm Coalition and various groups.

With Israel's high dependence on food imports, it is no surprise that prices are rising. The country imports over 90 percent of its cereals, 70-80 percent of its fish and beef, and half of its pulses, oilseeds and nuts. We may soon be relying far more on Israeli potatoes, fruit and vegetables, since the present crisis appears to be part of a worrying long-term trend.

The striking fact is that from 1974 to 2005, real food prices dropped by 75 percent globally. So what can explain this sudden and aggressive upturn? Though it has been played down in official reactions, the obvious explanation is staring us in the face: the dramatic rise in oil prices.

So this is sold as one of America's more progressive cities?

In Pennsylvania, for instance, the state contributed $30 million in seed capital to lure grocery stores to low-income neighborhoods.

American communities were built with the car in mind.
And, she's got two lazy 18 yo daughters at home...

This is more than a little concerning.