06-07-2016, 08:30 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-08-2016, 03:39 PM by John J. Xenakis.)
*** 8-Jun-16 World View -- Kenya protests take an increasingly dangerous turn
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** Kenya protests take an increasingly dangerous turn
****
![[Image: g160607b.jpg]](http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g160607b.jpg)
Six-year old Jeremy Otieno, who was hit by a stray bullet during Monday's protests in Kisumu (The Star)
There were two new developments on Tuesday that indicate an
increasingly dangerous situation in Kenya.
As I wrote about at length yesterday about the upsurge in violence
related to next year's election, raising fears of a repeat of the 2008
tribal violence following the December 2007 election, resulting in
1200 people killed and 600,000 forced from their homes. ( "7-Jun-16 World View -- Increasing violence in Kenya revives fears of tribal war"
)
The Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD), led by Raila Odinga of
the marginalized Luo tribe is protesting against the government led by
president Uhuru Kenyatta of the market-dominant Kikuyu, and against
the government-created Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission
(IEBC), whose job it is to oversee the 2017 elections. Protesters are
claiming that the IEBC is biased, and will rig the election in favor
of Kenyatta, as has allegedly happened in the last three elections.
The two new developments on Tuesday are as follows:
First, the government issued regulations banning any protests
against the IEBC.
[indent]<QUOTE>"To avert further violence, destruction of property
and loss of life, from today the government prohibits all unlawful
demonstrations in the country. ...
It is extremely dangerous for anybody to challenge the government
decision. The consequences are grave."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
It's hard for me to imagine any government action that's more likely
to infuriate the protesters. They're now threatening to expand their
protests from once per week to twice per week. In view of the anger
and bitterness over the bloody 2008 violence, and the shooting of
protesters in Kisumu on Monday by police, there is absolutely no
chance at all that the ban will be obeyed.
The second development is that the protesters on social media are
uniting behind the hash tag #JusticeForBabyJeremy, referring to Jeremy
Otieno, a six year old boy who was hit by a stray bullet and killed by
police in Kisumu on Monday. The boy was not even participating in the
protests, but was shot in the back outside his home. The hash tag was
retweeted thousands of times on Tuesday, in a sign of growing anger at
the police.
The next election is still many months away, but already positions
have hardened irreparably and violence is increasing. As I wrote
yesterday, things have changed a great deal in Kenya since the 2008
violence. At that time, Kenya was in a generational Unraveling era,
and only 52 years had passed since the climax of Kenya's last
generational crisis war, the Mau-Mau Rebellion. Today, Kenya is well
into a generational Crisis era, and it would not take much to trigger a
full-scale crisis civil war that could kill hundreds of thousands of
people. The Star (Kenya) and Radio France Internationale and Deutsche Welle
****
**** Malawi's albinos 'face extinction' as they're killed and sold for body parts
****
Albinism is a condition where someone lacks the pigment melanin that
gives hair, skin and eyes their color. Malawi has an estimated
8-10,000 people with albinism in a population of 16 million -- a
prevalence of more than 12 times that of North America and Europe.
Although albinos have always faced discrimination because of their
startling appearance, the discrimination in Malawi has taken a macabre
turn since 2014, when Malawi's economy took a deep dive. Since then
there's been a surge in attacks on albinos, fueled by witchcraft and
by promises of large sums of money by idiots who believe that albinos'
bones contain gold or have special powers that bring wealth and
success.
The speculation has driven the price of albino body parts up
astronomically. According to media reports, one 17-year-old albino
boy was worth $66,000 to witch doctors, for use in potions.
According to the World Bank, Malawi is currently the poorest country
in the world, and a severe drought affecting the region has caused
major food shortages. The lure of big money is thought to be
the main reason for the upsurge in abductions and murders of
albinos.
The upsurge in violence is a personal crisis in the life of any of the
10,000 albinos in Malawi. As the number of murders increases, it's
thought that albinos may face total extinction. Nyasa Times (Malawi) and Newsweek and BBC
****
**** Colorado health insurance in crisis as Obamacare continues to collapse
****
Premiums for individual health-insurance policies are rising by as
much as 41% in Colorado next year as four insurer pull out of all or
some markets in the state.
UnitedHealthcare and Humana Insurance already announced that they
would not offer individual plans in Colorado next year. In addition,
Rocky Mountain Health Plans and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
Colorado are severely restricting their offerings.
About 92,000 people with individual plans will need to find other
coverage during the open enrollment period, Nov. 1, 2016–Jan. 31,
2017, representing approximately 20 percent of the 450,000 Coloradans
who get their insurance through the individual market,
According to Colorado Insurance Commissioner Marguerite Salazar:
[indent]<QUOTE>"Companies are still figuring it out — where to sell,
how to sell, how to price — which is why we’re seeing some
companies pull back on individual plans or requesting significant
increases, while still other companies are coming into the
market. Some companies have done a better job of figuring out how
to operate in this new environment and compete for people’s
business, while others must step back and reevaluate their
approach. ...
I’d rather these companies continued in the individual market.
But in the larger picture, what’s taking place is a market
correction; the free market is at work. And it is important to
recognize that this is a market correction taking place on a
national scale, not just in Colorado. While it was good initially
to have so many companies offering so many individual plans, this
could be an indication that there were too many options for the
market to support."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
The problem is that it's not a free market at all. It's the most
f--cked up regulated market possible, thanks to the disastrous
Obamacare legislation. And Salazar is correct that the same kind of
disaster is "taking place on a national scale, not just in Colorado."
As long time readers are well aware (because I've repeated it many
times), in July, 2009, when Obamacare was first announced, I wrote
that Obama's health plan is a proposal of economic insanity.
I compared it to President Richard
Nixon's wage-price controls, and I predicted that it would just as
much an economic disaster as Nixon's price controls. I wrote about it
most recently in "26-Apr-16 World View -- Obamacare continues death spiral as Britain's NHS faces strike"
.
Obamacare should have collapsed by now, but instead Obama has found
ways to transfer hundreds of billions of dollars of other money into
Obamacare to prop it up. Meanwhile, the health care industry
continues to be destroyed. Obamacare was supposed to reduce health
costs, but instead health costs have skyrocketed.
This is what I predicted would happen, because that's what happened
with Nixon's price controls. They were supposed to reduce inflation
from 4% to 2%, but they screwed up the economy so much that that
inflation increased to 12%. Obamacare is screwing up the economy
today in exactly the same way.
Obamacare was supposed to eliminate uninsured people, but instead it's
created millions more effectively uninsured people -- people who pay
insurance premiums, but can't find a doctor or who have astronomical
deductions, and so effectively have no insurance whatsoever. As
Jonathan Gruber said, Obamacare passed because of the stupidity of the
American people, and as I like to point out, he wasn't referring to
me, but to Obamacare supporters. Obamacare may well be the stupidest
economic policy in American history. Denver Business Journal and Colorado Division of Insurance
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Kenya, Kisumu, Jeremy Otieno, #JusticeForBabyJeremy,
Luo, Kikuyu, Uhuru Kenyatta, Raila Odinga, Mau-Mau Rebellion,
Coalition for Reform and Democracy, CORD,
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, IEBC,
Malawi, albinos,
Colorado, Obamacare, UnitedHealthcare, Humana Insurance,
Marguerite Salazar, Rocky Mountain Health Plans,
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Colorado
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Kenya protests take an increasingly dangerous turn
- Malawi's albinos 'face extinction' as they're killed and sold for body parts
- Colorado health insurance in crisis as Obamacare continues to collapse
****
**** Kenya protests take an increasingly dangerous turn
****
Six-year old Jeremy Otieno, who was hit by a stray bullet during Monday's protests in Kisumu (The Star)
There were two new developments on Tuesday that indicate an
increasingly dangerous situation in Kenya.
As I wrote about at length yesterday about the upsurge in violence
related to next year's election, raising fears of a repeat of the 2008
tribal violence following the December 2007 election, resulting in
1200 people killed and 600,000 forced from their homes. ( "7-Jun-16 World View -- Increasing violence in Kenya revives fears of tribal war"
)
The Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD), led by Raila Odinga of
the marginalized Luo tribe is protesting against the government led by
president Uhuru Kenyatta of the market-dominant Kikuyu, and against
the government-created Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission
(IEBC), whose job it is to oversee the 2017 elections. Protesters are
claiming that the IEBC is biased, and will rig the election in favor
of Kenyatta, as has allegedly happened in the last three elections.
The two new developments on Tuesday are as follows:
First, the government issued regulations banning any protests
against the IEBC.
[indent]<QUOTE>"To avert further violence, destruction of property
and loss of life, from today the government prohibits all unlawful
demonstrations in the country. ...
It is extremely dangerous for anybody to challenge the government
decision. The consequences are grave."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
It's hard for me to imagine any government action that's more likely
to infuriate the protesters. They're now threatening to expand their
protests from once per week to twice per week. In view of the anger
and bitterness over the bloody 2008 violence, and the shooting of
protesters in Kisumu on Monday by police, there is absolutely no
chance at all that the ban will be obeyed.
The second development is that the protesters on social media are
uniting behind the hash tag #JusticeForBabyJeremy, referring to Jeremy
Otieno, a six year old boy who was hit by a stray bullet and killed by
police in Kisumu on Monday. The boy was not even participating in the
protests, but was shot in the back outside his home. The hash tag was
retweeted thousands of times on Tuesday, in a sign of growing anger at
the police.
The next election is still many months away, but already positions
have hardened irreparably and violence is increasing. As I wrote
yesterday, things have changed a great deal in Kenya since the 2008
violence. At that time, Kenya was in a generational Unraveling era,
and only 52 years had passed since the climax of Kenya's last
generational crisis war, the Mau-Mau Rebellion. Today, Kenya is well
into a generational Crisis era, and it would not take much to trigger a
full-scale crisis civil war that could kill hundreds of thousands of
people. The Star (Kenya) and Radio France Internationale and Deutsche Welle
****
**** Malawi's albinos 'face extinction' as they're killed and sold for body parts
****
Albinism is a condition where someone lacks the pigment melanin that
gives hair, skin and eyes their color. Malawi has an estimated
8-10,000 people with albinism in a population of 16 million -- a
prevalence of more than 12 times that of North America and Europe.
Although albinos have always faced discrimination because of their
startling appearance, the discrimination in Malawi has taken a macabre
turn since 2014, when Malawi's economy took a deep dive. Since then
there's been a surge in attacks on albinos, fueled by witchcraft and
by promises of large sums of money by idiots who believe that albinos'
bones contain gold or have special powers that bring wealth and
success.
The speculation has driven the price of albino body parts up
astronomically. According to media reports, one 17-year-old albino
boy was worth $66,000 to witch doctors, for use in potions.
According to the World Bank, Malawi is currently the poorest country
in the world, and a severe drought affecting the region has caused
major food shortages. The lure of big money is thought to be
the main reason for the upsurge in abductions and murders of
albinos.
The upsurge in violence is a personal crisis in the life of any of the
10,000 albinos in Malawi. As the number of murders increases, it's
thought that albinos may face total extinction. Nyasa Times (Malawi) and Newsweek and BBC
****
**** Colorado health insurance in crisis as Obamacare continues to collapse
****
Premiums for individual health-insurance policies are rising by as
much as 41% in Colorado next year as four insurer pull out of all or
some markets in the state.
UnitedHealthcare and Humana Insurance already announced that they
would not offer individual plans in Colorado next year. In addition,
Rocky Mountain Health Plans and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
Colorado are severely restricting their offerings.
About 92,000 people with individual plans will need to find other
coverage during the open enrollment period, Nov. 1, 2016–Jan. 31,
2017, representing approximately 20 percent of the 450,000 Coloradans
who get their insurance through the individual market,
According to Colorado Insurance Commissioner Marguerite Salazar:
[indent]<QUOTE>"Companies are still figuring it out — where to sell,
how to sell, how to price — which is why we’re seeing some
companies pull back on individual plans or requesting significant
increases, while still other companies are coming into the
market. Some companies have done a better job of figuring out how
to operate in this new environment and compete for people’s
business, while others must step back and reevaluate their
approach. ...
I’d rather these companies continued in the individual market.
But in the larger picture, what’s taking place is a market
correction; the free market is at work. And it is important to
recognize that this is a market correction taking place on a
national scale, not just in Colorado. While it was good initially
to have so many companies offering so many individual plans, this
could be an indication that there were too many options for the
market to support."<END QUOTE>[/indent]
The problem is that it's not a free market at all. It's the most
f--cked up regulated market possible, thanks to the disastrous
Obamacare legislation. And Salazar is correct that the same kind of
disaster is "taking place on a national scale, not just in Colorado."
As long time readers are well aware (because I've repeated it many
times), in July, 2009, when Obamacare was first announced, I wrote
that Obama's health plan is a proposal of economic insanity.
I compared it to President Richard
Nixon's wage-price controls, and I predicted that it would just as
much an economic disaster as Nixon's price controls. I wrote about it
most recently in "26-Apr-16 World View -- Obamacare continues death spiral as Britain's NHS faces strike"
.
Obamacare should have collapsed by now, but instead Obama has found
ways to transfer hundreds of billions of dollars of other money into
Obamacare to prop it up. Meanwhile, the health care industry
continues to be destroyed. Obamacare was supposed to reduce health
costs, but instead health costs have skyrocketed.
This is what I predicted would happen, because that's what happened
with Nixon's price controls. They were supposed to reduce inflation
from 4% to 2%, but they screwed up the economy so much that that
inflation increased to 12%. Obamacare is screwing up the economy
today in exactly the same way.
Obamacare was supposed to eliminate uninsured people, but instead it's
created millions more effectively uninsured people -- people who pay
insurance premiums, but can't find a doctor or who have astronomical
deductions, and so effectively have no insurance whatsoever. As
Jonathan Gruber said, Obamacare passed because of the stupidity of the
American people, and as I like to point out, he wasn't referring to
me, but to Obamacare supporters. Obamacare may well be the stupidest
economic policy in American history. Denver Business Journal and Colorado Division of Insurance
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Kenya, Kisumu, Jeremy Otieno, #JusticeForBabyJeremy,
Luo, Kikuyu, Uhuru Kenyatta, Raila Odinga, Mau-Mau Rebellion,
Coalition for Reform and Democracy, CORD,
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, IEBC,
Malawi, albinos,
Colorado, Obamacare, UnitedHealthcare, Humana Insurance,
Marguerite Salazar, Rocky Mountain Health Plans,
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Colorado
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
