Taken From Thomas Piketty's "Capital and Ideology" > Local Impact of Economic Policies Here In Arizona and Maricopa County

In the current clash of ideologies, while it's probably no coincidence that Americans see Piketty as more left-wing than he sees himself, the respected and now world famous French economist released a new book yesterday that is one of the most important in the 21st Century. It's longer than Tolstoy's "War & Peace", takes off from Karl Marx's "Das Kapital" . . .  and like some others has been attached to socialism

Well and good, so yes let's get more social and drop the negative -ism.

. . . and here's one more book readers of this blog might want to take more than a quick look at >

It is right on-topic:
how rising inequality distorts the global economy and threatens international peace

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Before we get to Arizona, here are some more top stories in the last 24 hours:
 It's getting very social!

Top stories

Top stories

Thomas Piketty
Jumps the Shark

Bloomberg

21 hours ago

Thomas Piketty's
new book uses
data to trace how
inequality changes ...

Boing Boing

19 hours ago

Is Inequality Losing
Its Political Power?

Bloomberg

14 hours ago

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Let's go back-in-time to 2014 to this article

Thomas Piketty doesn’t hate capitalism

He just wants to fix it

By Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias matt@vox.com Apr 24, 2014, 7:00am EDT

"Thomas Piketty is not the anti-capitalist radical that his critics fear.

Piketty is unimpressed by arguments about political futility. A century ago, he says, the progressive income tax would have been regarded as an impossible pipe dream.
And yet it happened. Not just in a Europe terrified by the Bolshevik Revolution, but in the United States as well.
"The Constitution of the US made it, in principle, impossible to have an income tax," he observes, "and yet it happened." The role of scholars, he thinks, should not be to prognosticate on the political viability of various proposals but simply to try to assess their merits.
. . . "One of the main purposes of the wealth tax is that it should produce more information on wealth"

Piketty's eyes light up when he explains that "one of the main purposes of the wealth tax is that it should produce more information on wealth."
His key early contribution as an economist was to show that earlier studies of income inequality based on Census Bureau survey data were seriously misleading and that it's possible to use IRS income tax data to get a much clearer view.
The survey data only lets you look at relatively broad swaths of the population — the top 10 percent or the top 20 percent — and thus ended up entirely discounting the possibility that the top 1 or 0.1 or 0.01 percent would look very different. Since taxes are paid by individuals rather than representative samples, tax data lets you see what the extremely rich are up to. For the United States, that IRS data goes back to the origins of the income tax in the early 20th century but not further.. . . it's "the lack of financial transparency" — rather than interest group politics, sincere normative disagreement, or human tribal instincts — that "makes it very difficult to have a quiet political conversation and democratic debate about these things."
Data utopianism aside, it is true that not only is Piketty perhaps not so left-wing for a Frenchman but a bit less in line with mainstream Democratic Party politics than it at first appears.

. . . . It's easy for the wealthy to disparage a tax-raising agenda as simply meaning higher taxes and wasteful spending with no benefits for the rest of the population.
"I think it's a big trick and it's possible to do away with it."
We ought to organize ourselves and do the best out of capitalism and the market economy which, at the end of the day, is a system that has a lot of merit. But we need to find a way that everyone can get to share in this process.
You can read the interview with Matthew Iglesias > https://www.vox.com/2014/4/24/5643780/who-is-thomas-piketty 
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From The Sierra Club Newsroom: Recent Press Releases

The "Good Fight" for Environment Justice goes on almost everywhere else except here in the State of Arizona that brands itself as a business-friendly environment.
Fight Back Now: Help Protect Earth's Precious Natural Resources from Trump
Here are just a few from this source: https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases
Threats to natural resources on lands of the first people

In the Wake of Bipartisan Congressional Action Rejecting Drilling, Trump Administration Rushes to Drill in the Arctic Refuge

September 12, 2019

Today, the Department of the Interior released an environmental impact statement on its plan to hold a lease sale for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The planned sale will target the coastal plain, the biological heart of the Arctic Refuge, home to lands and wildlife vital for the subsistence way of life of the Gwich’in Nation

The Clean Water Act

Wheeler Does Bidding for Polluters and Puts Drinking Water for Millions of Families at Risk

September 12, 2019

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Former coal lobbyist and EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler finalized his rollback of America’s Clean Water Rule today, putting millions of people’s drinking water at risk from dangerous water pollution.

On-the-Road Toxic Transportation Emissions

Sierra Club Releases Report Calling for New York to Reduce Transportation Emissions 55% by 2035

September 12, 2019

ALBANY, NEW YORK -- Today, the Sierra Club released a report calling for Governor Cuomo to set a state-wide target to reduce on-road transportation emissions 55% by 2035, in order to meet New York’s long-term climate goals.

The report finds that, although New York’s transportation sector is not presently on track to meet its climate goals, the 55% by 2035 target would put the state on course, while saving New Yorkers billions of dollars in public health, environmental and transportation fuel costs.

Underground Chemical Contamination

From Former Military Bases

Michiganders, Sick From Military’s Pollution, Demand Congress Take Action on Chemical Contamination

September 11, 2019

Oscoda, MI-- Today, the Air Force’s Wurtsmith Restoration Advisory Board met in Oscoda to discuss environmental remediation plans at Wurtsmith Air Force Base-- a site highly contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) due to the agency’s use of PFAS-based fire fighting foams. Community leaders called from the U.S. Air Force to clean up the PFAS contamination from the former Wurtsmith Air Force. PFAS is linked to ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, and certain cancers

Ahead of 3M, DuPont Hearing on PFAS, Experts Urge Congress Make Polluters Pay

September 10, 2019

Washington, DC-- Today, at a hearing titled “The Devil They Knew: PFAS Contamination and the Need for Corporate Accountability, Part III,” Congress will hear from corporations responsible for the nation’s per and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) contamination crisis and the people suing the companies for negligence.

PFAS chemicals-- linked to cancers, infertility and immune system failure in children-- are now in the blood of 99% of Americans and more than 100 million Americans’ drinking water

Exclusive: Edward Snowden's full interview with France24

6 years after Snowden's disclosures and uploads. We here in America haven't heard much - here it is from France 24 in English for your interest . . .
A "Faustian Bargain" >

Published on Sep 12, 2019

Views: 28,875+

 

How Roberts killed Trump's citizenship question

Published on Sep 12, 2019

Views: 2,814+

Chief Justice John Roberts cast the deciding vote against President Donald Trump's attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, but only after changing his position behind the scenes, sources familiar with the private Supreme Court deliberations tell CNN.

How craving attention makes you less creative | Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Is it Pavlovian magic?

Published on Sep 12, 2019

Views: 25,170+

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has gotten more than his fair share of attention from his acting career. But as social media exploded over the past decade, he got addicted like the rest of us -- trying to gain followers and likes only to be left feeling inadequate and less creative. In a refreshingly honest talk, he explores how the attention-driven model of big tech companies impacts our creativity -- and shares a more powerful feeling than getting attention: paying attention.
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Barney Farms General Plan Amendment, Queen Creek Arizona

Hmmm ...5 years ago here's a slick re-vision of a look at lands that were once just dirt with low agricultural property tax assessments. It was produced by Jason Barney, who as a family member might have his own reasons to upload this.
Just coincidentally, the projections used are from the Urban Land Institute that clearly has vested interests in commercial real estate.

Published on Jul 26, 2014

Putting Barney Farms to work for Queen Creek by building roads, bringing jobs, and generating sales tax.

IMAGINE THAT! The Land-Baron Barney Family in Queen Creek: Turning The Family Farm Into A Real Estate Gold Mine

QC Mayor Gail Barney had to
recuse himself over a conflict
of interest for Barney Farms

Sure looks like Queen Creek is becoming a BIG BONANZA for "Sons of The Pioneers", six generations on where one of them _ Gail Barney - is the Mayor of Queen Creek, and another just happens to be the President/Chief Executive Officer of The East Valley Partnership.
Denny Barney - please use the Search box on this blog for more than a few posts, that include Denny Barney and Roc Arnett and the redevelopment of the Mesa Temple Area by City Creek Reserve, a for-profit affiliate of The Church of Jesus Christ of The Latter-Day Saints to build a small-scale version of the 23-acre City Creek in Salt Lake City, Utah. No financial details were every disclosed to the public.
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Note: Queen Creek Mayor Gail Barney recused himself due to "a conflict of interest" when motions were made in front of the city council
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In 2016, 500 acres of Barney Farms was rezoned to residential. The original family farm land holdings were 1,575 acres 
For a background and history, in a video from Jason Barney uploaded to YouTube telling the story they want to be told, readers of this blog can  click here.

"In 2018, the residential portion of Barney Farms was purchased by Fulton Homes. Construction on the 1,702 lots with a spectacular lake and park began in 2019.


Currently Available for Sale and Development:

• 90 Acres of Light Industrial
• 20 Acres of Commercial
• 20 Acres of Multifamily
• 40 Acres of Light Industrial
• Click for Map 
• Image to the right:
  The proposed sites for the Barney Farms lake well and well/tank site. (Submitted graphic)  Details farther down

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How about another one of those "pretty pictures"

 

< ... Here it is with a monument at the front.

Also included:

An Aquatic Center 

Source > http://www.barneygpa.com/ 

 

For more information:

Jason Barney

For More Information: Jason Barney

480-818-2000 - jason@jasonbarney.com

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"A $210,184 contract with Clear Creek Associates for design, construction management and evaluation services for two new wells to be drilled at the Barney Farms residential development was approved in a recent 6-0 vote by the Queen Creek Town Council.
The decision was made at a Sept. 19 town council meeting.
The wells are to be west of Meridian Drive, between Germann and Queen Creek roads.
“The two wells are identified to be constructed in areas agreeable to both the town and the developers of the Barney Farms project,” Paul Gardner, utilities director, said in a memo to the council. . .
Voting to approve the contract with Clear Creek Associates at the Sept. 19 meeting were Vice Mayor Emilina Turley and council members Jake Hoffman, Robin Benning, Dawn Oliphant (by phone), Julia Wheatley and Jeff Brown.
Mayor Gail Barney recused himself for a conflict of interest.
The Barney Farms lake well was included in the fiscal year 2018-19 approved budget.
The Barney Farms well and tank was originally programmed for the fiscal year 2018-20 timeline, Mr. Gardner said in the memo.
“An accelerated schedule is required to keep pace with development,” he said.
Source: https://queencreekindependent.com/news/
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Other news for QCI

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Revised impact fees to be considered Oct. 16 by Queen Creek council

Sep 5th, 2019 · Comments: 0

A public hearing held Sept. 4 on proposed changes to the Town of Queen Creek’s impact fees has been continued to Oct. 16 because of a miscalculation on three of the amounts. Residential and non-residential impact fees are one-time fees assessed to new development to pay for the new growth’s proportionate share of necessary infrastructure. […]

Meeting in the middle: Apache Junction, Queen Creek to share a border at State Route 24

Sep 2nd, 2019 · Comments: 0

When State Route 24 is constructed east from Ellsworth Road to Ironwood Drive, it will be the dividing line between the municipalities of Apache Junction and Queen Creek. Drivers in Mesa on Loop 202 Santan Freeway can take SR24, the Gateway Freeway, south to the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and east to Ellsworth Road, south of […]