Word: localism
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...very useful for coming up with practical and sustainable solutions. To remedy the financial whooping cough Americans are going through, policy experts, banks, municipalities, and individuals should form a community advisory board. This panel would consist of respected members of the community—small business owners, local bank executives, parents, teachers, lawyers, etc.—who would strictly advise, not mandate, whether those seeking to buy a home are capable of deciding for themselves what is in their best short-term and long-term interests...
Creating multiple linked fate communities for the sake of financial recovery will be tough. But if defaulting on a mortgage hurts the local bank, which in turn hurts the local businesses and the community as a whole, then all parties will be much more meticulous when it comes to making financial decisions. Real estate agents who aim to make a profit will have less incentive to be deceptive because they will shop at the same small businesses that will require loans from the local bank to operate, which in turn will require the homeowners to be current on their mortgages...
Criminal gangs are extorting larger amounts from local shopkeepers and bus drivers. They use unsuspecting residents, including children and women, to transport weapons or drugs. They recruit youth to fill the spots of their murdered members. "If you don't collaborate by giving them food or hiding them from police, you'll have to leave the neighborhood," says a community leader who has received death threats and did not want to be named for security reasons. Eduardo says criminal bands like his have to kill the family members and friends of enemies in order to win their battles. "This...
That's because much of the relative calm of recent years may have been due to the dominance of one local overlord. Paramilitary leader Diego Fernando Murillo, a.k.a. Don Berna, had a monopoly over the drug trade, ruling his empire and followers even from prison. But when Don Berna was extradited to the U.S. in 2008, mid-level narco-traffickers started fighting to fill the power vacuum the capo had left. "Little cats became tigers," says a former drug trafficker. Many demobilized paramilitary fighters picked up arms again instead of pursuing the work training and education opportunities offered...
...latest brouhaha was sparked by René Vandierendonck, the socialist mayor of the northern city of Roubaix, who this month railed against his local Quick outlet over its Nov. 30 decision to remove bacon burgers from its menu and replace them with a version using halal beef and a slice of smoked turkey. "It's discrimination" against non-Muslim customers, Vandierendonck said. The mayor has filed charges with justice authorities against Quick for what he says is prejudicial religious catering. He has also lodged a complaint with France's main antidiscrimination authority on the matter. "Yes to diversity...