Photo: jimw

Though the labor movement and the first May Day actually originated in the US in the late 19th century, it’s no longer celebrated on May 1 in the US.

But today, from Cuba to Cambodia, workers have the day off and many will gather publicly to support workers’ rights.

You can read more about the history of the day here.

Behind them, the real Atlantic City is easy to spot. Rows of dilapidated houses and apartment blocks peek out from between the hotel towers, just a few steps away.”

So I wrote in the Matador community blog a few hours after arriving in Atlantic City, NJ.

I’ve since had the chance to explore that “real” side of things, and the city’s glitzy front, too.

The contrast between the two, the immense gap between the frivolous spending at the high rollers’ tables and the daily realities of most of the city’s residents, is stark.

See for yourself:

Welcome to Atlantic City…

Home of the Donald, and his Trump Taj Mahal.

Almost 24% of Atlantic City’s population lives below the poverty line.

“It’s gotten a lot better around here,” a woman in the hotel elevator told me…

“since they knocked all them projects down.”

McMansions along the boardwalk, north east of the casino-hotel strip.

I guess these guys won big?

All photos by Eva Holland

Stocks keep tanking, credit is as structurally sound as Swiss cheese, and our nation pretty much owes 100% of our GDP. State and federal head honchos are starting to seriously consider flipping sofa cushions for the fleeting satisfaction of finding a few lost coins.

No one believes legalizing ganja is going to erase our deficit completely, but at this point, slowing the money hemorrhaging out of our already tapped out arteries might be nice for a change, no?

All moral debating aside, Matador has decided to look at this issue from a numbers standpoint.

$35 billion – The estimated value of total marijuana crops grown in the U.S. each year.

$2.4 billion – The estimated potential tax revenue earned if the U.S. taxed marijuana like all other consumer goods.

$6.2 billion – The estimated potential annual tax revenue earned if the U.S. taxed and regulated marijuana like alcohol.

$11 billion – The estimated cost to U.S. taxpayers for total annual marijuana arrests.

over $100 million – The estimated amount the U.S. government spends each year for the National Drug Control Strategy (of which marijuana is the primary target).

Of course, readers must take these numbers with a grain of salt. Economists can only provide broad estimations for a crop that remains essentially illegal and therefore, difficult to track financially. That being said, since these types of formal studies have been released, over here.

Photo: zzzack

As the effects of the economic crisis begin to be felt not just on the institutional level, but on the personal level, it’s been hard for me to feel empathy for the “pains” of the super rich.

A recent article in the New York Times reported that the city’s upper class was feeling miffed about being compelled to change its consumer and travel habits: instead of taking a private jet, they’ve begun scaling back… to first class.

But amidst all the “Oh, poor me” stories, a press release from someone who could easily put himself in that category but chooses not to helps restore my faith that some folks with deep pockets do remember the little guy.

Bill Marriott, Chairman and CEO of Marriott International–owner, manager, or franchiser of numerous hotel chains, including Marriott, Fairfield Inn, Renaissance, and the Ritz Carlton–released a statement announcing that he has voluntarily reduced his 2009 salary by 2/3.

Now that may not seem like such a loss for the man whose 2007 salary was almost $2 million, but in a corporate landscape that’s become overpopulated with “Take the money and run” executives, Marriott is setting an example some of his peers in the industry should follow.

Maybe you’ve heard about the four hour work week.

But how about the 12 hour work month?

That’s what the Australian Tourism Board is promising– along with a three bedroom villa (that comes with your own pool) and a $150,000 salary–to the applicant who is selected to fill the position of chief explorer and blogger.

Job duties include “having lots of fun” exploring Australia’s islands, bringing back stories, and finding an effective way to share them with the rest of the world. Only 12 hours of actual work are estimated per month for the position. And the job’s temporary– the new hire will be done with the gig in just six months.

Applicants proficient in SCUBA, snorkeling, and sailing will be given preference, as will those with skill in photography, blogging, and communications in general.

Sound like the dream job? Get all the application information here.

And if you win, let all your friends here at Matador know, won’t you?

Photo: idrewuk (Flickr creative commons)

Well, it sure looks that way.

One tourist-hungry British village is already accepting the currencies at par, hoping to attract for Irish and continental European visitors, and a financial expert quoted by the BBC recently called official parity “almost inevitable”.

The BBC story notes that at least one high-profile Forex, 100 euros will currently set you back £99.11. Sure, it’s not quite parity — but it’s close enough, right?

This is good news for European travelers interested in visiting the United Kingdom, but bad news for the Brits who love to flock to the Canaries and the beaches of Spain each winter.

It could also be bad news for continental European tourism industries.

When the Canadian dollar broke even with the US dollar (and eventually surpassed it) last fall, cross-border shoppers rejoiced. But for the Canadian travel industry, which relies for large chunks of its business on American tourists who view the Great White North as a discount holiday option, parity was nothing to cheer about.

Of course, US-Canadian parity didn’t last long, and our trusty CAD tumbled back down again this past summer. Our scenario was a blip, a product of immense American economic uncertainty on the one hand and sky-high oil prices (hurray for the tar sands?) on the other.

The Euro’s ascendancy, on the other hand, could be a longer-term reality.

What do you think?

If the European Union currency remains at par with Sterling, or even surpasses it, will the Brits consider joining the Euro-fold?

Does parity help or hinder your European travel plans?

Photo by Andrea Guerra (Creative Commons)

Well, tough economic times may be upon us, but at least one large-scale employer is looking for fresh blood — and travel experience is a plus. Yup, the US Foreign Service is hiring!

According to this New York Times story, the State Department is seeking funding to fill 800 positions this year, almost 200 of which are brand new (rather than jobs opened by internal turn-over).

There are a lot of factors at play in the hiring of new diplomats-to-be, but travel experience is certainly in the mix.

From the story:

Felix Salazar, hired as a junior officer by the State Department in September, said that during the interview process he felt “a sense of urgency, that they were actively hiring and really valued my experience.” Mr. Salazar, who spent three years in the Peace Corps, leaves in February for his first posting, in South Africa.

For more on the foreign service, check out my post over at The Traveler’s Notebook, The Life of a Diplomat.

The NYT story also has some solid, practical information and useful State Department links, so be sure to give it a thorough read.

Good luck, and let us know if you wind up throwing your hat into the ring!

Photo by Sekimura (Creative Commons)

Guest Post by Sascha Matuszak

The last time private prisons were in vogue in the US, the Civil War had just ended and the South was amok with wandering, defeated Confederates and wandering, emancipated Blacks.

The nation south of the Mason-Dixon was in shambles and the Union’s strongest presence came in the form of carpetbaggers and President Grant’s drunken incompetence.

Private jails flourished for awhile in this chaotic atmosphere, but were soon outlawed in the moral crusades that followed the Civil War era due to widespread abuse of prisoners and general skimping on food, shelter and clothing.

Now, in the 21st century, private prisons are back.

In the 1980s, several private corporations specializing in “correctional facilities” began taking prison management off the hands of overworked and understaffed federal and state agencies. Since then, those companies have grown into massive operations. They’re in almost every state in the Union and their complete takeover of the “correctional market” is predicted to happen in the next five years.

The largest, Corrections Corporation of America, boasts 82,000 beds in 66 facilities, in 19 states and Washington, DC. The corporation has grown by leaps and bounds since its inception in 1983, with stock going from $8 to $30 per share by 2000; it now stands at just over $17. The crime wave of the early 1990s, ensuing “three strikes” legislation, and the War on Drugs have made private prisons a profitable business.

Photo by crashmattb

All of the major investment banks, including Goldman Sachs and Co., Merrill Lynch, and Smith Barney, have a stake in private prisons. Today’s economic crisis has hit all sectors of the economy, but with joblessness on the rise and incomes plummeting, expect to see the stock prices of firms like CCA, the Geo Group and other fine institutions continue to rise.

Several factors have led to the increase in private prisons, but first and foremost is the incredible number of prisoners currently in American jails. No nation on earth has more incarcerated citizens than the US.

Even China, with a population almost five times that of the US and a well-documented history of gulag prisons and human rights abuses, cannot match the US in terms of numbers. Right now there are more than 2 million prisoners in the US. That is roughly 740 per 100,000 citizens.

Let’s kick the statistics:

740 in every 100,000 Americans are imprisoned.

1 in every 100 Americans is in jail or on probation.

The US has 5% of the population and 25% of the incarcerated population in the world.

The prison population has quadrupled since 1980.

Photo by Curious Expeditions

China has a documented (sentenced) prison population of 111 per 100,000 – according to some human rights activists, this number is ridiculous and should be ratcheted up to 740 per 100,000 to reflect roughly 10 million people in prison in China.

England and Wales have roughly 139 per 100,000 people in jail.

In the US, a ballooning number of people, predominantly Black males, are being imprisoned. The cost of managing all of these “correctional facilities” has ballooned accordingly:

The Bureau of Justice recorded an increase in spending from $9 billion for corrections in 1982 to $65 billion in 2005. Taking police and judicial expenditures into account, the numbers are insane: just over $35 billion in 1982 and just under $200 billion in 2005. A similar trend can be seen in the rising costs at the different governmental levels.

Not only are the numbers of facilities, prisoners and dollars rising exponentially, but the rate of rehabilitation is dismally low and the conditions in prisons remain horrible. A 2006 study by the Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons had this to say about the situation:

“We should be astonished by the size of the prisoner population, troubled by the disproportionate incarceration of African-Americans and Latinos, and saddened by the waste of human potential.”

Into this morass of incompetence, greed, racism, and disenfranchisement steps the private sector. A privately-run prison system has absolutely no incentive to reduce the rate of incarceration in the US; in fact, the only reason a private sector even exists is due to the quadrupling of prisoners since 1980.

It’s not just facilities management: weapons contractors, telecom providers and financiers underwriting prison construction are all getting into the booming business of lockdown.

Photo by John Carleton

The prison industrial complex is a deep and malignant problem within US society. The upper class has the wherewithal to profit from the incarceration of the lower class, while the middle class supports any and all initiatives to increase funding for prisons, police, and correctional facilities because they are afraid of what might happen if convicted criminals are released early.

Americans have no sympathy for repeat offenders, and there is an underlying, fearful racism in our society that surfaces whenever a young, Black man walks down the street in a hoodie bumping his music, or a tattooed Latino rolls by in his pimp-ride, or when a big, bald white man sneers from his 350 hpw hog. These are the images that keep the prison system as it is and keep middle class families furious at criminals and the liberal institutions and politicians who seek to reform the system.

Why are all these people breaking laws?

Why do we have the highest incarceration rate in the world?

Why aren’t any of these criminals learning their lesson and becoming productive members of society?

The answers to these questions lead down a complicated road.

Hardliners advocate throwing away the key. The soft-hearted call for rehab.

Are the causes due to a culture of profit and greed? Are we just a sick and demented society? Are Americans so focused on saving Tibet and Sudan and Chinese political dissidents and the tiny, tiny population of East Timor that saving your local hoodlum from a life of imprisonment just isn’t cool anymore?

Everyone I know is worried about the economic crisis.

And with reason.

401(k) values are plummeting. The safety net—if there ever was one—is fraying. Layoffs are becoming frighteningly common among people lucky to have a job in the first place.

But in the midst of all this bad money news, the economic crisis may just be an opportunity for travelers and travel writers.

Here are four reasons why:

1. One sector’s pain is another’s gain.

The somewhat diluted value of the dollar has had an effect on other countries’ currencies that benefits travelers.

Consider the Mexican peso, for instance. After enjoying a lengthy period of relative stability (with the exchange rate being about 10 pesos to every 1 US dollar), the peso’s value has plummeted, reaching a 15 year low. Mexico, long considered a budget destination for travelers, has become even easier on the wallet.

The same goes for Iceland.

Get there while the gettin’s good.

2. You can no longer justify your decision to keep your cubicle job because it offers “the comfort of a steady paycheck and benefits.”

The number one reason why people delay or forgo dreams of long-term travel or living abroad is the fact that they receive a steady paycheck and benefits. But with job insecurity plaguing nearly every industry, there’s no time like now to take that job and shove it.

3. The alleged death of print media might not actually be as terrible as it seems.

You’ll never get me to say that I hope electronic media will eclipse print media, but job cuts in print media shouldn’t freak you out if you’re a writer. Although gobs of print magazines and media outlets—O, Elegant Bride, Gannet, and Time, to name just a few—have cut thousands of jobs or gone under completely in the past two weeks alone, there may be a silver lining in this dark storm cloud.

If you’re writing for electronic media instead of print media, you’re likely to save on overhead. No more SASE’d queries (with the cost of stamps going up every time you turn around, such savings are a big deal), for one thing.

Get with the program and get online.

4. Press trips will be on the rise.

As tourism declines due to travelers’ fears that vacations are an expense they just can’t afford, I predict that tourism boards and other segments of the hospitality industry will start scrambling to do everything they can to get people on the road, in the air, or on the sea.

If I’m right, their pain may be your gain.

As they pony up the bucks to send travel writers on press trips, you’re likely to be able to travel for free (thus saving money!) while simultaneously gathering material for stories that you can sell (thus making money!).

In the meantime, make sure your resume of press clips is already in order. As opportunities become available, you’ll want to have your publication credits ready.

How can the economic crisis be turned around for travelers and travel writers? Share your thoughts below!

Photo: Roby72 (Flickr creative commons)

Let’s try to contextualize that amount so workaday schlubs like ourselves can try to gain some perspective on just how much revenue these giant corporations generate, even in just one quarter.

How much is $15 Billion Dollars?

If put into a pile, it would weigh around 16.5 tons.

If each dollar were laid end to end, it would travel the earth’s circumference 600 times.

If each dollar represented a year, it would exceed the age of the universe by roughly a billion years

If each dollar represented a species on a planet, it would be 1000 times more bio-diverse than Earth

$15 billion is almost 5 times Rwanda’s GDP in 2007

What Could $15 Billion Buy?

It could buy 3,000,000,000 watts of energy produced by industrial solar panels—enough to power approximately 300,000,000 homes for a month

It could compensate 300,000-500,000 public school teachers for a year’s salary

It could provide around half a year’s worth of medication for every HIV patient in the world

It could purchase 750,000,000 electric cars—that’s enough for the entire North American population, even people under 16, with enough left over for Brazil

It could pay the national average monthly mortgage for almost 9 million people

What would you do with $15 billion? Comment below!

Top photo by dsearls (Creative Commons)

Middle photo by Simon Davison (Creative Commons)

Bottom photo by Tracy O (Creative Commons)

I’ll admit that I don’t know much about Iceland, but the news left me wondering: How does a relatively wealthy country go from bling to broke in what seems like just a matter of days?

Until recently, Iceland had one of the world’s largest per capita GDPs- $40,400 USD. But since the beginning of 2008, all the country’s economic indicators have been taking a downturn:

“14 percent inflation, 15 percent interest rates and a currency that has lost 40 percent of its value against the euro”, according to The New York Times.

The AP reports that banks have closed, stocks can’t be sold, and the government began considering its own bailout options, including a rescue plan forwarded by Russia.

Well, at least they’ve still got the scenery, which is pure money:

Photo: omarrun (Flickr creative commons)

Photo: taivasalla (Flickr creative commons)

Photo: taivasalla (Flickr creative commons)

Because as everybody knows, there’s nothing sexier than exploited female sweatshop laborers.

Kelsey at Where Am I Wearing? keeps a sharp eye on the garment industry, and I came across this campaign on his blog.

Check it out to learn more, get a list of reasons why this is so inappropriate (in case you can’t come up with plenty on your own!), and hear about Ecko’s response to Kelsey’s complaint.

When you’re done reading, if you – like me – find this campaign at all objectionable, contact eckomfg@ecko.com or call 917-262-1002 (ask for Ecko Manufacturing).

A wage increase goes into effect today for American workers who get paid the hourly minimum.

Up 70 cents to $6.55, the two percent of Americans who earn minimum wage will find that the increase hasn’t moved them too far up in the ranks of the world’s working poor.

While they wouldn’t likely want to trade places with someone in Burundi, where the minimum wage is 160 Burundian francs (average annual income on minimum wage: $111 USD), or Georgia, where the minimum wage will, if you save it all, add up to $287 USD a year), American wage laborers still fall far short (to the tune of about $6,000) of other developed countries.

In Australia, a minimum wage worker can earn around $19,053 a year, in Luxembourg around $19,856, and in the Netherlands just around $18,267.

But even in these countries, when you factor in the cost of living there’s not a whole lot left over for travel or any other “disposable” items or experiences.

What do you think about the US minimum wage? Do you support the fair or living wage movements? Share your thoughts below!

Photo: ScooterFlix

Every traveler has encountered the dilemma: To give or not to give when confronted by someone asking for money in the street or on public transport?

Though hard numbers are difficult to come by due to the varied definitions applied to beggars (are all people who are homeless beggars?), the mobility of beggars, and the fact that they are often overlooked in official censuses, governments and social service organizations estimate that the number of beggars around the world is increasing:

Vancouver: 1,000-1,200 beggars on the street at any given time.

Makassar: 2,600 street children and beggars counted in 2008, up from 870 in 2006.

Dakar: 100,000 street children reported in 2006.

And as begging has increased, so have local government and law enforcement efforts to curb the practice. In Makassar, for instance, citizens are banned from giving money to beggars. China and France have considered moving beggars permanently (though not into shelters or social service programs that work on root issues of begging and related social problems).

More innovative programs have been implemented, including street collection boxes in Aberdeen, Scotland, though many end in failure.

Still, Mexico City thinks it’s come up with the solution for street begging and the moral discomfort it raises in the prospective giver. The program “El amor nos une,” or “Love will unite us,” lets those who are tired of or uncomfortable with cash donations give coupons instead. The coupons, which the recipient can redeem for food, can be purchased at grocery stores throughout the city. Similar programs exist in Colombia and are planned for Chile.

But is “Love will unite us” just another band-aid that covers up the real problems that perpetuate poverty and begging? What’s your opinion? What other anti-begging strategies have you come across in your travels?

Want to learn more about how you can deal with begging during your travels? Check out Michaela Lola’s article, “Ten Ways You Can Help Street Children Without Giving Money,” over at Brave New Traveler.

Photo: Dey

I’m recently back from a trip to New Orleans, and what impressed me as much as anything was the level of local entrepreneurial spirit and robustness of home-grown businesses.

My four favorite local biz picks are below. Be sure to check them out if you’re headed to the Big Easy… but even if you’re not, you can find all of these interesting entrepreneurs and their fantastic products online.

*Dirty Coast: 5704 Magazine Street OR www.dirtycoast.com
“…a city with 2-million t-shirt shops in the French Quarter and none of them were worth wearing.”
It’s a description that could be applied to most tourist-destination cities, but Dirty Coast founders decided cheesy t-shirts did not need to be the NOLA norm. Instead, they rolled out some whip-smart sayings and some witty designs and printed their tees on American Apparel shirts using lead-free inks at a local shop.

Shirts range in price from $10 to $25. Check out my favorites: “Onward. Upward. 9thWard.” and “Be a New Orleanian Wherever You Are.”

Dirty Coast also makes and sells stickers and other gear, my faves being the Geauxbama sticker and “Da Mayor in Your Pocket,” your very own portable Mayor Nagin.

*Joshua Lee Nidenberg’s Photography: www.joshualeestudio.com
Joshua Lee Nidenberg is a local photographer whose passion for New Orleans is evident in his work. If you’re planning a trip to New Orleans, you can meet Joshua and view his work at one of the city’s many art fairs (schedule is available on his website). His portfolio is also available on his website.

*Forrest Bacigalupi’s Handmade Jewelry: www.artskinetic.com
I met Forrest at the Palmer Park Art Fair and loved his handmade necklaces and earrings. They’re super creative and super affordable. If you can’t find him at one of the many art fairs around town, check out his website.

*Hometown Writers: Local writers–whether natives or transplants–are keeping New Orleans on the literary map with great books like Sara Roahen’s Gumbo Tales and Billy Sothern’s Down in New Orleans. Grab a copy at independent booksellers like Octavia Books or the quirky Faubourg Marigny Arts & Books on Frenchman Street.

Photo: smwarnke4 (creative commons)

What are your favorite local businesses? Share your favorite cities and their local entrepreneurs in the comments below.

For more news from New Orleans, check out this audio slideshow on my website, www.collazoprojects.com.

Photo by Wm Jas (Creative Commons)

Not so long ago, travel writer Kelsey Timmerman asked himself, Where am I wearing?

Or in other words: where, exactly, do the clothes we wear every day come from?

The question led him on a trek through the garment factories of Honduras, Cambodia, Bangladesh and China; it also led to a blog, and – soon – a book.

The blog is a great source for tidbits of news and opinion on the garment industry, globalization and responsible consumerism more generally. In the newest feature, Where I’m wearing today: Adventures of an engaged consumer, Kelsey checks out the credentials of the brand he finds himself in that day – in four quick steps.

The results make for an interesting read. They also show you just how easy it can be to learn more about the brands we wear, and to act accordingly.

So go ahead: do a background check on your sweater or your jeans.

Where are you wearing today?

Ever thought you might change your dollars for drugs, blood, or garbage?

In the most recent issue of COLORS Magazine , writers, photographers, and graphic designers take a look at the way people around the world exchange money for goods and how they exchange goods for money.

If you’re short on time, check out the articles about Colombian cocaine (used to pay for a doctor’s visit), Iraqis’ blood (sold in exchange for cash), community-based currencies (”dollars” developed for use in certain communities, including Ithaca, New York), and garbage (exchanged by residents of Curitiba, Brazil, for food and cash).

All of the articles are available online in English and Spanish.

Artist: Solovei Photo: Antonia Shultz.

Talk to us! What’s the craziest money experience you’ve had abroad? Share your thoughts below in the comments section.