Economics

New York, New York - December 29, 2011

The United States is proud to have negotiated, alongside our international partners, a strengthened, more efficient, and more effective United Nations budget that saves the American taxpayers millions of dollars and sets the United Nations on the path of real fiscal discipline and continued reform. Highlights of the 2012-2013 biennium budget include:

· A 5% overall cut in the size of the UN budget. The total budget of $5.153 billion represents the first time in 14 years – and only the second time in the last 50 years – that the General Assembly has approved a regular budget level below the previous biennia’s final appropriation ($5.41 billion in 2010-2011). When factoring in the difference between the likely budget level based on historic patterns and the budget approved last week, this budget represents a savings to American taxpayers of as much as $100 million.

This article by Alon Ben-Meir at NYU's Center for Global Affairs brings to light a globalizing transformation being driven by youth using social media, which he predicts has long-lasting world-changing implications. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alon-benmeir/the-arab-spring-a-new-era_b_1082577.html

The below Guardian article provides a map and lists of where Occupy Everywhere protests are emerging.  They are primarily, but not exclusively in the U.S. and Europe, in countries where the economy is in significant decline and inequities are significant.  In most of these places, the youth fear that their future will be worse than their parents, due to the greed of a global elite insensitive to the destruction they have caused economically and environmentally.

The list includes 951 cities in 82 countries.

To see the story and full list, go to:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/oct/17/occupy-protests-world-list-map