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	Census numbers show persistent poverty, falling wages, and rising inequality by Economic Policy Institute & agencies USA   September 12, 2012   The latest US Census Bureau numbers on poverty, income inequality, and healthcare, coupled with newly released economic analysis of US public policy reveals the reality and the reasons behind the persistent rut of the poverty-stricken, the working-poor, and the middle class in America.   More than three years after the collapse of the housing bubble, the federal government"s bailout of Wall Street, and the start of the Great Recession, the US poverty rate remains persistently high with nearly 1 in 5 Americans living at or below the poverty line, according to new figures released on Wednesday by the US Census Bureau.   In addition, the numbers show rampant joblessness, stagnant or falling wages among workers, household incomes that continue to fall, and an inequality gap that continues to grow.   Meanwhile, the Economic Policy Institute released their annual review of US economic policy which includes a wide variety of data on family incomes, wages, jobs, unemployment, wealth, and poverty that allow for a clear, unbiased understanding of the economy’s effect on the living standards of working Americans.   As the Census reports, "the nation"s official poverty rate in 2011 was 15.0 percent, with 46.2 million people in poverty. After three consecutive years of increases, neither the poverty rate nor the number of people in poverty were statistically different from the 2010 estimates."   New data on the continued rise in inequality—where income inequality increased by 1.6 percent between 2010 and 2011—prompted Robert Greenstein, President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, to underscore that the nation"s wealthiest should begin to share in the sacrifices that will be needed to correct the economy in the coming years.   "Given the need for substantial sacrifice and the skewing of income gains to those at the top," he said in a statement, "it is difficult to justify extending the rather lavish tax cuts for high-income individuals that policymakers enacted in 2001 and 2003, which average $129,000 a year for people who make over $1 million a year, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center."   * Visit the link below for more details. See also Center on Budget and Budget Priorities: http://www.cbpp.org/ Visit the related web page
	UN singles out 16 countries, for government reprisals against critics by Associated Press & agencies   Sept, 2012   The United Nations has singled out 16 nations for cracking down on critics, saying most of those countries’ governments are going unpunished for their acts of reprisal.   U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told a special session of the Human Rights Council that the 16 nations detailed in a new report “have been far from sufficient” in preventing members of their own governments from resorting to intimidation and attacks on various activists.   “Reprisals and intimidation against individuals continue to be reported,” she told the 47-nation council. “People may be threatened or harassed by government officials, including through public statements by high-level authorities. Associations and NGOs may see their activities monitored or restricted. Smear campaigns against those who cooperate with the U.N. may be organized. Threats may be made via phone calls, text messages or even direct contacts. People may also be arrested, beaten or tortured and even killed.” Pillay said there also has been a “lack of accountability in relation to the majority of reported cases of reprisals.”   The report to the Geneva-based council for its session this month details alleged cases of killings, beatings, torture, arrests, threats, harassment and smear campaigns against human rights defenders, some arising out of backlash from the Arab Spring last year. The report covers mid-June 2011 to mid-July 2012 and cites cases in Algeria, Bahrain, Belarus, China, Colombia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lebanon, Malawi, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Uzbekistan and Venezuela.   A Colombian man who reportedly witnessed the execution of several civilians said, for example, that he was subjected to death threats and beatings after reporting it to U.N. officials, and then was threatened on a street in Baranquilla in May a day after he met with a UN official.   “What were you doing with the U.N. woman yesterday?” the man said he was asked.   One activist, Mohammed Al-Maskati, told the council Thursday that as president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights he had “received more than a dozen anonymous phone calls threatening my life and the safety of my family” during the previous three days because he tweeted that he would be attending the council session.   Pillay urged the council — and the world’s nations — to do more.   “We need more coherent and solid strategies to put an end to reprisals,” she said. “Reprisals are not only unacceptable: they are also ineffective in the long term. Preventing people from expressing their will or their dissent freely, does not succeed. Ultimately, freedom will always prevail. And information will always find its way to the outside word.” Visit the related web page
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