WORLD NEWS BRIEF
U.S. Aid to Haiti vs. Iraq
The U.S. government has pledged $379 million to aid Haiti following the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Research by the economist Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes in 2007 estimated the war in Iraq was costing the United States $720 million a day.
UNITED STATES NEWS BRIEFS
More Kids in Poverty
A new study by the National Center for Children in Poverty says that the number of children living in poverty increased by 21 percent between 2000 and 2008. There are at least 14 million American children living in poverty today.
Supreme Court: Corporations Have Rights, Too
The Supreme Court ruled in January 2010 that corporations are allowed to spend as much as they want to help elect and defeat candidates for office. The decision overturns a law that limited how much corporations could spend on elections, but the Court said this law violated the free speech rights of corporations. President Obama spoke out against the decision saying, “The last thing we need to do is hand more influence to the lobbyists in Washington or more power to the special interests to tip the outcome of elections.”
