Doing away with one another: UN report on homicide

Thanks to Jo6Pac, since AP doesn’t want anyone to know they exist, I looked up the UN report on homicide. From the report:

Since 1995, the homicide rate has decreased in many countries, mainly in Asia, Europe and Northern America, to the extent that it can be a relatively rare occurrence. Yet it has increased in others, particularly Central America and the Caribbean, where today it can be seen to be nearing crisis point.
…
Higher levels of homicide are associated with low human and economic development. The largest shares of homicides occur in countries with low levels of human development, and countries with high levels of income inequality are afflicted by homicide rates almost four times higher than more equal societies. Homicide and property crime were affected by the global financial crisis of 2008/2009, with increases in homicides coinciding with drops in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and rises in the Consumer Price index (CPI) in a sample of countries affected by the crisis.
…
This [disproportionate amount of male homicides of males] translates into a much higher risk of men being murdered than women, with global homicide rates of 11.9 and
2.6 per 100,000, respectively [despite the greater risk of domestic violence that women face].
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Globally, UNODC estimates that the total number of annual homicides in 2010 was 468,000. An initial disparity in homicide distribution around the globe can be seen when disaggregating that figure by region, with the largest proportion, some 36 per cent or 170,000 homicides, estimated to occur in Africa, 31 per cent, or approximately
144,000, in the Americas and 27 per cent, or 128,000, in Asia. Europe and Oceania account for significantly less at 5 per cent, or 25,000, and under 1 per cent, or 1,200 homicides, respectively.
…
The homicide rate in the Americas is, at 15.6 per 100,000, more than double the world average (figure 1.3), while, at 17.4 per 100,000, Africa has the highest rate among all regions, although it also has the largest uncertainty range due to large discrepancies
between criminal justice and public health data.4 Asia falls between 2.4 and 4.3 per
100,000, and both Europe and Oceania also fall below the global average at 3.5 per 100,000, respectively.
…
the homicide rate usually increases when countries move from very high to lower levels of development.
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Inequality is also a driver of high levels of homicide. Homicide rates plotted against the Gini Index, an important measure of inequality, show that at global level countries with large income disparities (Gini Index higher than 0.45) have a homicide rate almost four times higher than more equal societies.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of the violence is driven by drug trafficking.

Everything’s hunkydory in Oligarch Land

He actually said this:

President Obama hosted Honduran President Porfirio Lobo at the White House on Wednesday, the first time a Honduran head of state has visited Washington since the June 2009 coup ousting then-President Manuel Zelaya. Obama said the visit marks a new phase for Honduran-U.S. ties.

President Obama: “Today also begins a new chapter in the relationship between our two countries. Two years ago we saw a coup in Honduras that threatened to move the country away from democracy and, in part because of pressure from the international community, but also because of the strong commitment to democracy and leadership by President Lobo, what we have been seeing is a restoration of democratic practices and a commitment to reconciliation that gives us great hope.”

Well, yes, I guess if by “strong commitment to democracy,” you mean “putting thugs and narcotraffickers in charge of a country,” sure.

Meanwhile, I understand that Hillary Clinton put a lobbyist for the carbon lobby in charge of fielding public comment on the Keystone XL pipeline. He just happened to be her deputy campaign manager. Hillary Clinton’s former deputy campaign manager is now a lobbyist for Transcanada, so approvals have in considerable measure involved personal relationships rather than concern for the public good. There is a Naomi Klein interview which is pretty good.

Maybe we should have elected Mike Gravel.

All the hullabaloo/updated

…is over this:

As you can see, the market broke below a technical level, and then bounced up. As always, there are more than one way to see it. Bulls will say that the attempt to break below (by the SPY index is denominated as the S&P 500 divided by 10) failed, and that market direction is up, up, and away! Bears will say this could be the start of a new downward channel.

I can’t see anything in the news that makes me think that any basic problems have been solved. Trichet is out at the ECB, so they can do rate cuts. I always thought Trichet was reliable and serving the mandate he was given (price stability). Europe should have changed the mandate. Instead they changed the person.

Sorry for all the stock market stories, but these are, I believe, key signals for what is happening behind the scenes unreported. That is, a consensus is building that Europe has to forgo price stability for bank stability. Let Greece riot. Let the Irish abandon their ancestral home in yet another wave of emigration. Europe is going to do a TARP, and save the &$%# banks. [Updated: Atrios apparently agrees with this assessment of the news from Europe. ]