Tag Archives: Economics

Recession is Looming: How can we prepare?

Posted on by
Reply

Via Mustard Seed Associates

When we started planning this issue of the Seed Sampler, the near meltdown on Wall Street was still a few weeks away. We had no idea how pertinent this information would be become. In light of recent events, recession preparedness (and response) plans in churches and communities are going to be vital to the well-being of countless families and neighborhoods.

On September 7th, we gathered a group of church leaders to discuss methods of preparation and response for likely disaster. Tom Sine gives a fuller description of the event in the Seed Story, and the first Seed Share is a report of the ideas generated there. Read articles from Eileen Hanson and Rick Reynolds for new ideas and programs already in the works. Penny Carothers’ article documents the similarities between established disaster response plans and possible recession plans. And to keep a global perspective, Samantha Baker-Evans shares what the current crisis looks like in Cambodia.

You might notice that this issue of the Seed Sampler is coming a little later than it usually would. That is mostly because we wanted to include the most up-to-date information on the bailout plan and the likely future of our struggling economy, so that we can help you prepare. We hope that you will take these ideas to heart and reach out to the vulnerable in your neighborhoods.

Seed Story | Recession Is Looming: How Can We Prepare? by Tom Sine, MSA team

Liturgy | Prayer in the Face of Economic Downturn by Christine Sine, MSA team

Reflection | Abundance For Sharing by Christine Sine, MSA team

Seed Share | What Recession Looks Like In Cambodia by Samantha Baker-Evans, InnerCHANGE Cambodia

Seed Share | Report From the Brainstorming Session

Seed Share | Lessons Learned From Church Disaster Plans by Penny Carothers

Seed Share | How to Help the Most Vulnerable by Rick Reynolds, Operation Night Watch

Seed Share | Rediscovering the Domestic Lost Arts by Eileen Hanson, Trinity Lutheran Church, Lynnwood, WA

Resources | click here

Union of South American Nations – UNASUR

Posted on by
Reply

Se Viene el Estallido!

UNASUR Official site -Español & English

Union of South American Nations – Wikipedia


The Union of South American Nations (Dutch: Unie van Zuid-Amerikaanse Naties, Portuguese: União de Nações Sul-Americanas, Spanish: Unión de Naciones Suramericanas, and abbreviated as UNASUR and UNASUL) is a supranational and intergovernmental union that will unite two existing customs unions – Mercosur and the Andean Community – as part of a continuing process of South American integration. It is modelled on the European Union.
The UNASUR Constitutive Treaty was signed on May 23, 2008, at the Third Summit of Heads of State, held in Brasília, Brazil. [2] According to the Constitutive Treaty, the Union’s headquarters will be located in Quito, Ecuador. The South American Parliament will be located in Cochabamba, Bolivia, while its bank, the Bank of the South, will be located in Bogota, Colombia. The Union’s former designation, the South American Community of Nations, abbreviated as CSN, was dropped at the First South American Energy Summit on April 16, 2007.

The Origins:

Simón Bolívar, directly responsible for the independence of Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and parts of Peru and Bolivia in the early years of the 19th century, and honored with statues in the capital cities of practically every Latin American country, had the goal of creating a federation of nations to ensure prosperity and security after independence. Bolívar never achieved this goal, and died an unpopular figure because of his heavy-handed attempts to establish strong central governments in the nations he led to independence. Throughout the years, many in South America have called for social, political, and economic union. UNASUR is intended to be a concrete step towards the achievement of such union.

UNASUR Official site

Read the full Constituent Treaty of UNASUR (Spanish)