Welcome to Camp Runamuck; a tent "community" beside the Providence River in Rhode Island. Runamuck contains about 80 citizens, a cheif, and a code of conduct. Mr. John Freitas did prison time, worked ina factory, and went back and forth between motels and the streets throughout his early adult life. When he and his girlfrend came across the bypass bridge over the Providence River, they decided it would make a perfect place for them to reside. The community has rules about equal share of labor, booze and violence, and the most imporant rule that no one person should be held more important than the next. When someone disobeys part of the pact, the rest of the community can vote for them to be "kicked off the island". Officials are soon forcing the community to disperse to another place that is not public property. Its amazes me to see how people are dealing with the state of the economy. I knew people were living in tent communities but I didn't know that there were ones that weer organized and actually operated as a real town. Kudos to Mr. Freitas for starting the community and to the rest of the followers for keeping it in tact.
Barry, Dan. "This Land- Living in Tents, and by the Rules, Under a Bridge." CNN: U.S. CNN, 31 July 2009. Web. 22 Aug. 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/us/31land.html?_r=1&sq=&st=nyt&adxnnl=1&scp=39&adxnnlx=1250953567-JwifTC6cnFY8pr9++z+CFg.
International: Cuba Suspends Communist Party Congress and Lowers Projection for Economy
On Friday, July 24th, the Central Commitee of the Communist Party in Cuba held a meeting and decided to cancel the Communist Party for the first time since 1997. This change is supposed to help Cuba's leaders to positively influence their economy. The country's 2009 growth estimate dropped from 2.5% to 1.7% . The rough economics times started last summer and were caused by 3 hurricanes causing $10 billion dollars in damages and the international recession everyone is in these days. Raul Castro, Fidel's brother, explains that the state of the economy must be seriously bad if they are canceling the Communist Congress. The Congress will be postponed until this "crucial stage" is over with. I think this was very smart of Cuban leaders and definately needed to happen. Canceling one Congress will obviously not save the economy but it will definately help, and it seems that Cuba needs all the help it can get.
The Associated Press. "Cuba Suspends Communist Party Congress and Lowers Projection for Economy." CNN: World. CNN, 31 July 2009. Web. 22 Aug. 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/01/world/americas/01cuba.html?scp=32&sq=&st=nyt.
Economic: "Cash for Clunkers": A Car Buyer's Guide
The economic article I chose this week was in a different format than usual; it had a series of questions that readers hadasked about the program and answers that a CNN reporter gave. The Cash for Clunkers program was thrown into chaos after it spend $1 billion dollars in only a few days. The Q and A part of the article revealed a lot of basic but good info about the governement program such as : the program is not yet out of money and that it should last until the end of the week, you cannot reserve credit in advance unless you buy a vehicle which has to happen in person, about 40,000 people have bought cars under the program and about 200,000 applications are waiting to be screened, and if the program runs out of money and you haven't closed a deal than you are out of luck. I don't think that the government has the money to be spending on the program and that it is risky to take part in because if you decide to apply and go about the process and the program runs out of money you are stuck. I don't think the program will generate enough profit to have a solid positive effect on the economy.
Maynard, Michelle. ""Cash for Clunkers" : A Car Buyer's Guide." CNN: Business. CNN, 31 July 2009. Web. 22 Aug. 2009.
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