Thursday, February 28, 2013

NASA's Aquarius sees salty shifts

Feb. 27, 2013 ? Colorful new images chronicle the seasonal stirrings of our salty world: Pulses of freshwater gush from the Amazon River's mouth; an invisible seam divides the salty Arabian Sea from the fresher waters of the Bay of Bengal; a large patch of freshwater appears in the eastern tropical Pacific in the winter. These and other changes in ocean salinity patterns are revealed by the first full year of surface salinity data captured by NASA's Aquarius instrument.

"With a bit more than a year of data, we are seeing some surprising patterns, especially in the tropics," said Aquarius Principal Investigator Gary Lagerloef, of Earth & Space Research in Seattle. "We see features evolve rapidly over time."

Launched June 10, 2011, aboard the Argentine spacecraft Aquarius/Sat?lite de Aplicaciones Cient?ficas (SAC)-D, Aquarius is NASA's first satellite instrument specifically built to study the salt content of ocean surface waters. Salinity variations, one of the main drivers of ocean circulation, are closely connected with the cycling of freshwater around the planet and provide scientists with valuable information on how the changing global climate is altering global rainfall patterns.

The salinity sensor detects the microwave emissivity of the top 1 to 2 centimeters (about an inch) of ocean water -- a physical property that varies depending on temperature and saltiness. The instrument collects data in 386 kilometer-wide (240-mile) swaths in an orbit designed to obtain a complete survey of global salinity of ice-free oceans every seven days.

The Changing Ocean

The animated version of Aquarius' first year of data unveils a world of varying salinity patterns. The Arabian Sea, nestled up against the dry Middle East, appears much saltier than the neighboring Bay of Bengal, which gets showered by intense monsoon rains and receives freshwater discharges from the Ganges and other large rivers. Another mighty river, the Amazon, releases a large freshwater plume that heads east toward Africa or bends up north to the Caribbean, depending on the prevailing seasonal currents. Pools of freshwater carried by ocean currents from the central Pacific Ocean's regions of heavy rainfall pile up next to Panama's coast, while the Mediterranean Sea sticks out in the Aquarius maps as a very salty sea.

One of the features that stand out most clearly is a large patch of highly saline water across the North Atlantic. This area, the saltiest anywhere in the open ocean, is analogous to deserts on land, where little rainfall and a lot of evaporation occur. A NASA-funded expedition, the Salinity Processes in the Upper Ocean Regional Study (SPURS), traveled to the North Atlantic's saltiest spot last fall to analyze the causes behind this high salt concentration and to validate Aquarius measurements.

"My conclusion after five weeks out at sea and analyzing five weekly maps of salinity from Aquarius while we were there was that indeed, the patterns of salinity variation seen from Aquarius and by the ship were similar," said Eric Lindstrom, NASA's physical oceanography program scientist, of NASA Headquarters, Washington, and a participant of the SPURS research cruise.

Future goals

"The Aquarius prime mission is scheduled to run for three years but there is no reason to think that the instrument could not be able to provide valuable data for much longer than that," said Gene Carl Feldman, Aquarius project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "The instrument has been performing flawlessly and our colleagues in Argentina are doing a fantastic job running the spacecraft, providing us a nice, stable ride."

In future years, one of the main goals of the Aquarius team is to figure out ways to fine-tune the readings and retrieve data closer to the coasts and the poles. Land and ice emit very bright microwave emissions that swamp the signal read by the satellite. At the poles, there's the added complication that cold polar waters require very large changes in their salt concentration to modify their microwave signal.

Still, the Aquarius team was surprised by how close to the coast the instrument is already able to collect salinity measurements.

"The fact that we're getting areas, particularly around islands in the Pacific, that are not obviously badly contaminated is pretty remarkable. It says that our ability to screen out land contamination seems to be working quite well," Feldman said.

Another factor that affects salinity readings is intense rainfall. Heavy rain can affect salinity readings by attenuating the microwave signal Aquarius reads off the ocean surface as it travels through the soaked atmosphere. Rainfall can also create roughness and shallow pools of fresh water on the ocean surface. In the future, the Aquarius team wants to use another instrument aboard Aquarius/SAC-D, the Argentine-built Microwave Radiometer, to gauge the presence of intense rain simultaneously to salinity readings, so that scientists can flag data collected during heavy rainfall.

An ultimate goal is combining the Aquarius measurements to those of its European counterpart, the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity satellite (SMOS) to produce more accurate and finer maps of ocean salinity. In addition, the Aquarius team, in collaboration with researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is about to release its first global soil moisture dataset, which will complement SMOS' soil moisture measurements.

"The first year of the Aquarius mission has mostly been about understanding how the instruments and algorithms are performing," Feldman said. "Now that we have overcome the major hurdles, we can really begin to focus on understanding what the data are telling us about how the ocean works, how it affects weather and climate, and what new insights we can gain by having these remarkable salinity measurements."

Aquarius was built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Goddard. JPL managed Aquarius through its commissioning phase and is archiving mission data. Goddard now manages Aquarius mission operations and processes science data. Argentina's space agency, Comisi?n Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE), provided the SAC-D spacecraft, optical camera, thermal camera with Canada, microwave radiometer, sensors from various Argentine institutions and the mission operations center. France and Italy also contributed instruments.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/FvauzHGFAyE/130227165152.htm

nfl combine 84th annual academy awards beginners 2012 oscars the shore meryl streep oscar wins sasha baron cohen oscars

Coast Guard investigates report of Gulf oil well leak

(Reuters) - The Coast Guard was responding to a report that a crewboat struck an inactive wellhead off the Louisiana coast, and that the platform was discharging an unknown quantity of an oily-water mixture, the agency said on Wednesday.

It said reports indicated a 42-foot (13-metre) crewboat, the Sea Raider, had struck a wellhead owned by Swift Energy on Tuesday evening, and that the energy company had said the wellhead was shut down in 2007.

A small sheen had developed, Ensign Tanner Stiehl said.

"We don't know the specific oil content," said Stiehl.

The Coast Guard was working with federal, state and local agencies plus Swift Energy on the response.

Swift Energy had no immediate comment but said it would issue a statement soon.

The incident occurred about nine miles southwest of Port Sulphur, a small town along the lower Mississippi River some 50 miles south of New Orleans.

There has been a heightened awareness of spills of any magnitude since the Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 rig workers and spilled millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

Oil giant BP is currently on trial in a civil case in New Orleans over the spill.

Potential liabilities stretch into the tens of billions of dollars if the judge determines BP or the other defendants were grossly negligent. Oil came ashore from Texas to Florida, threatening livelihoods and state economies dependent on seafood and tourism.

Fire boats battle a fire at the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon April 21, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. Multiple Coast Guard helicopters, planes and cutters responded to ... more? Fire boats battle a fire at the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon April 21, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. Multiple Coast Guard helicopters, planes and cutters responded to rescue the Deepwater Horizons 126 person crew after an explosion and fire caused the crew to evacuate. (Photo by U.S. Coast Guard via Getty Images) less? ?

(Reporting by Kathy Finn and Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Bob Burgdorfer)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-coast-guard-responds-report-wellhead-leak-off-165710890--finance.html

Kliff Kingsbury Amish Mafia Dave Grohl 121212 Cal State Fullerton Pacific Rim tumblr

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Mindy McCready's funeral held in southwest Florida

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) ? As her music played in the background, country music star Mindy McCready was remembered Tuesday by friends and family as a fun and talented singer who also "wanted to be healed" from her past.

About 200 friends and family gathered in the 37-year-old singer's Florida hometown of Fort Myers. A large screen behind the altar of Crossroads Baptist Church was filled with her images and her portrait stood nearby.

"Our Mindy was so tired. She felt helpless," said McCready's mother, Gayle Inge. "She was in her darkest moment and she was hurt by so many allegations. She was too emotional to understand."

McCready, whose real name was Malinda Gayle McCready, committed suicide Feb. 17 at her home in Arkansas, days after leaving a court-ordered substance abuse treatment program. The mother of two died from a single gunshot to the head about a month after her longtime boyfriend David Wilson's death, also thought to be suicide, in the same place.

Inge acknowledged that her daughter had faced many battles but now: "Her spirit found healing on the other side."

McCready's personal problems started in 2004 and included a custody battle with her mother over one of her sons. She was briefly hospitalized in 2010 after police responded to an overdose call to a home her mother owned in North Fort Myers, Fla., and she later appeared on "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew," where she declared herself clean from drugs.

McCready's family declined to address any custody issue at the funeral.

"She wanted them to know that nothing, not even death, could separate her from them," Gayle Inge said of McCready's two sons, Zander Ryan and Zayne Christopher. "She's healed. She's no longer sick," she added, referring to what she told McCready's sons.

A separate funeral organized by her friends and the music community is tentatively scheduled for March 6 in Nashville, Tenn.

McCready's stepfather, brothers and cousin also shared their fondest ? and often funny ? memories of McCready.

"You all know I grew up coming from a broken home," said brother Timothy McCready, wiping away tears. "It makes your brothers and sisters really important to you. We used to joke about how she raised us...we raised each other, all of us. And she probably got us all in a lot more trouble than she got us out of," he later joked about his sister.

"I just know that Mindy is on vacacioun where she is," said younger brother Skylar Phelan, referring to how McCready often used the Latin word for "vacation" to get out of chores.

McCready grew up in Fort Myers, where she took private vocal lessons and later sang in karaoke bars.

Family friend Julie Ende-Killion remembers the day when McCready won her first award for "Ten Thousand Angels."

"And I remember her coming out of the trailer," she recalled. "I think she was in Kenny Chesney's trailer because she didn't even have her own dressing room at that time. Nashville is a pretty cool place. She made her mark on it."

McCready arrived in Nashville in 1994 and hit the top of the country charts before her personal problems sidetracked her career.

In 1996, her "Guys Do It All the Time" hit No. 1. Her other hits included "Ten Thousand Angels," which her stepfather sang during the funeral.

"She's our special angel," said Michael Inge. "She sang a song years ago about 'Ten Thousand Angels' watching over her and now she is in the presence of all those 10 thousand angels," Michael Inge said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mindy-mccreadys-funeral-held-southwest-florida-080238802.html

Yahoo memo sparks debate on pros and cons of working at home

LONDON (Reuters) - An internal memo at Yahoo Inc introducing a ban on working from home has sparked a debate on whether remote working leads to greater productivity and job satisfaction or kills creativity and is just a chance to slack off.

Working remotely has become commonplace due to technology and has been welcomed particularly by people with young families or those facing long and expensive commutes.

Statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labour show nearly 25 percent of full-time workers did some work at home in 2010.

A survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) found 59 percent of UK companies in 2011 offered some kind of teleworking, a jump from 13 percent in 2006, with small companies leading the trend to help cut office costs.

But Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer has ruled that staff can no longer work from home from June this year, as outlined in the widely leaked internal memo which appeared on newspaper websites and online forums on Tuesday.

"Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussion, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home," said the memo attributed to Yahoo human resources head Jacqueline Reses.

Asked about the memo, a Yahoo spokesman said the company does not comment on internal matters.

Mayer, 37, who returned to work two weeks after the birth of her first child last year, was brought to Yahoo from Google to revive the company's diminishing fortunes.

Her decision to clamp down on remote working met a wall of criticism from proponents of a flexible workplace to improve the work-life balance, boost motivation, and keep women at work.

"It's incredibly disappointing," said Jennifer Owens, spokeswoman for website Working Mother, adding most women were delighted when a pregnant Mayer took over the helm of Yahoo.

"Her plan ... is to lead her workforce back to the last century by banning work-from-home policies across the company."

STEP BACKWARDS

Richard Branson, head of Virgin Group, said the move by Yahoo! undermined the trust that staff would get their work done wherever, without supervision, as working is no longer 9-5.

"This seems a backwards step in an age when remote working is easier and more effective than ever," Branson wrote in a blog on the Virgin website.

"If you provide the right technology to keep in touch, maintain regular communication and get the right balance between remote and office working, people will be motivated to work responsibly, quickly and with high quality."

Britain's BT Group, one of the first UK companies to adopt teleworking, said about 69,000 of its 89,000 staff were equipped to work flexibly of which about 9,400 are home workers.

The company said this led to benefits like accommodation savings, increased productivity and reduced sick absence, adding 99 percent of women returned to BT after maternity leave.

"Our flexible working policies can also achieve a better balance between work and family commitments, which can be especially important for those with young families or caring responsibilities," a BT spokesman said.

Flexible working was cited in a careerbuilder.com survey released last month as one of the most important factors in job satisfaction and staying with a company.

The Harris Interactive survey of 3,900 U.S. workers between November 1 and 30 last year found 59 percent said flexible schedules were important and 33 percent cited the ability to work from home over having an office or a company car.

Guy Bailey, CBI's head of employee relations, said flexibility can be a real win-win for companies and their staff, acting as a recruitment and retention tool for businesses and letting staff balance their working and home lives.

"However, it needs to work for both parties, so home-working arrangements will understandably vary from company to company," he told Reuters.

A 2011 survey of 1,500 workers in 15 European nations commissioned by Microsoft Corp found only 52 percent of people trust colleagues to work productively away from the office.

This was reflected in comments by some former employees of Yahoo who backed Mayer, saying she was making the right call because many employees were abusing the system.

Several unnamed ex-employees told the website Business Insider that Yahoo's large remote workforce led to "people slacking off like crazy, not being available, and spending a lot of time on non-Yahoo projects."

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/yahoo-memo-sparks-debate-pros-cons-working-home-183104075--sector.html

Fecal microbiota transplantation cures gastrointestinal diseases

Fecal microbiota transplantation cures gastrointestinal diseases [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 26-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Aimee Frank
media@gastro.org
301-941-2620
American Gastroenterological Association

Stool transplants highly efficient for Clostridium difficile infections and other gastrointestinal conditions -- 2nd World Summit 'Gut Microbiota For Health' held in Madrid

(26 February 2013) Clostridium difficile infections have developed into a virtual pandemic over the past two decades. The outcome of standard antibiotic treatment is unsatisfactory: the recurrence rates are high with every relapse increasing the risk of further follow-ups. Faecal microbiota transplantation offers a rapidly acting and highly effective alternative in treating recurrent Clostridium difficile infections (RCDI), as Professor Lawrence J. Brandt (Montefiore Medical Center, New York, USA) points out. According to him, more than 90 per cent of the patients are being cured within a short period of time. Further information on this issue one of many topics presented at the 2nd World Summit "Gut Microbiota For Health" in Madrid, Spain, from 24 to 26 February 2013 can be found at http://bit.ly/SUN24PR.

To keep themselves up to date on the rapidly increasing advances in the field of gut microbiota research, scientists and health-care professionals came together at the 2nd Gut Microbiota For Health World Summit. This year, the event was hosted by the Gut Microbiota & Health Section of the European Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility (ESNM) a member of United European Gastroenterology (UEG) and the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), with the support of Danone Dairy.

###

About the Gut Microbiota For Health Experts Exchange website

The www.gutmicrobiotaforhealth.com Experts Exchange, provided by the Gut Microbiota & Health Section of ESNM, is an online platform for health-care professionals, scientists, and other people interested in the field. Thanks to being an open, independent and participatory medium, this digital service enables a scientific debate in the field of gut microbiota.

Connected to www.gutmicrobiotaforhealth.com, the Twitter account @GMFHx, animated by experts, for experts from the medical and scientific community, actively contributes to the online exchanges about the gut microbiota. Follow @GMFHx on Twitter. Join the event on #GMFH2013.

About the Gut Microbiota & Health Section of ESNM

ESNM stands for the European Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, a member of United European Gastroenterology (UEG). The mission of the ESNM is to defend the interests of all professionals in Europe involved in the study of neurobiology and pathophysiology of gastrointestinal function. The Gut Microbiota & Health Section was set up to increase recognition of the links between the gut microbiota and human health, to spread knowledge and to raise interest in the subject. The Gut Microbiota & Health Section is open to professionals, researchers, and practitioners from all fields related to gut microbiota and health. www.esnm.eu/gut_health/gut_micro_health.php?navId=68

About the AGA

The American Gastroenterological Association is the trusted voice of the GI community. Founded in 1897, the AGA has grown to include more than 16,000 members from around the globe who are involved in all aspects of the science, practice and advancement of gastroenterology. The AGA Institute administers the practice, research and educational programmes of the organisation. www.gastro.org

About Danone Dairy and Gut Microbiota For Health

Danone's conviction is that food plays an essential role in human health namely through the impact that gut microbiota may have on health. That is why Danone Dairy supports the Gut Microbiota For Health World Summit and Experts Exchange web platform with the aim to encourage research and increase knowledge in this promising area, in line with its mission to "bring health through food to as many people as possible.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Fecal microbiota transplantation cures gastrointestinal diseases [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 26-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Aimee Frank
media@gastro.org
301-941-2620
American Gastroenterological Association

Stool transplants highly efficient for Clostridium difficile infections and other gastrointestinal conditions -- 2nd World Summit 'Gut Microbiota For Health' held in Madrid

(26 February 2013) Clostridium difficile infections have developed into a virtual pandemic over the past two decades. The outcome of standard antibiotic treatment is unsatisfactory: the recurrence rates are high with every relapse increasing the risk of further follow-ups. Faecal microbiota transplantation offers a rapidly acting and highly effective alternative in treating recurrent Clostridium difficile infections (RCDI), as Professor Lawrence J. Brandt (Montefiore Medical Center, New York, USA) points out. According to him, more than 90 per cent of the patients are being cured within a short period of time. Further information on this issue one of many topics presented at the 2nd World Summit "Gut Microbiota For Health" in Madrid, Spain, from 24 to 26 February 2013 can be found at http://bit.ly/SUN24PR.

To keep themselves up to date on the rapidly increasing advances in the field of gut microbiota research, scientists and health-care professionals came together at the 2nd Gut Microbiota For Health World Summit. This year, the event was hosted by the Gut Microbiota & Health Section of the European Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility (ESNM) a member of United European Gastroenterology (UEG) and the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), with the support of Danone Dairy.

###

About the Gut Microbiota For Health Experts Exchange website

The www.gutmicrobiotaforhealth.com Experts Exchange, provided by the Gut Microbiota & Health Section of ESNM, is an online platform for health-care professionals, scientists, and other people interested in the field. Thanks to being an open, independent and participatory medium, this digital service enables a scientific debate in the field of gut microbiota.

Connected to www.gutmicrobiotaforhealth.com, the Twitter account @GMFHx, animated by experts, for experts from the medical and scientific community, actively contributes to the online exchanges about the gut microbiota. Follow @GMFHx on Twitter. Join the event on #GMFH2013.

About the Gut Microbiota & Health Section of ESNM

ESNM stands for the European Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, a member of United European Gastroenterology (UEG). The mission of the ESNM is to defend the interests of all professionals in Europe involved in the study of neurobiology and pathophysiology of gastrointestinal function. The Gut Microbiota & Health Section was set up to increase recognition of the links between the gut microbiota and human health, to spread knowledge and to raise interest in the subject. The Gut Microbiota & Health Section is open to professionals, researchers, and practitioners from all fields related to gut microbiota and health. www.esnm.eu/gut_health/gut_micro_health.php?navId=68

About the AGA

The American Gastroenterological Association is the trusted voice of the GI community. Founded in 1897, the AGA has grown to include more than 16,000 members from around the globe who are involved in all aspects of the science, practice and advancement of gastroenterology. The AGA Institute administers the practice, research and educational programmes of the organisation. www.gastro.org

About Danone Dairy and Gut Microbiota For Health

Danone's conviction is that food plays an essential role in human health namely through the impact that gut microbiota may have on health. That is why Danone Dairy supports the Gut Microbiota For Health World Summit and Experts Exchange web platform with the aim to encourage research and increase knowledge in this promising area, in line with its mission to "bring health through food to as many people as possible.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/aga-fmt022613.php

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Wall Street Records Biggest Profit Since Before The Financial Crisis


WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. banking industry in 2012 recorded its highest earnings since before the 2007-2009 financial crisis, according to data released on Tuesday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
The FDIC said the industry's full-year earnings were the second-highest on record at $141.3 billion, an increase over 2011 of $22.9 billion, or 19.3 percent.
Bank earnings peaked in 2006 at $145.2 billion.
Much of the earnings growth in 2012 came from banks reducing the amount they set aside in case of losses on loans, the FDIC said. Banks also saw gains on loan sales and higher servicing income.
"While there is still room for further income growth, we don't expect the pace of earnings growth to continue at these levels," FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said in a statement.
The report will likely be seen as a sign that the industry is healing after the financial crisis, although some bigger banks cut jobs last year to cope with persistent pressures such as declines in trading volume.
The industry's earnings for the fourth quarter of 2012 totaled $34.7 billion, up $9.3 billion, or 36.9 percent, from the same period in 2011, the FDIC said.
Net operating revenue during the fourth quarter was $169 billion, up $7.3 billion, or 4.5 percent, from a year earlier, the FDIC said. (Reporting By Emily Stephenson; editing by John Wallace)

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/26/bank-earnings-high-2012_n_2765354.html

Landmark civil rights law faces critical Supreme Court test

Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images, file

U.S. Supreme Court members (first row L-R) Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, (back row L-R) Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice Samuel Alito and Associate Justice Elena Kagan.

?

By Pete Williams, NBC News Justice Correspondent

The U.S. Supreme Court this week will consider whether a landmark civil rights law, the Voting Rights Act, remains constitutionally valid, given the growth in the political power of minority voters and candidates.

Civil rights groups fear the court's conservatives are prepared to gut what the ACLU calls "the most important piece of civil rights legislation Congress has ever enacted."

The justices will hear oral arguments in the case Wednesday and rule sometime before the current court term ends in late June.

Passed by Congress in 1965 and renewed four times since then, most recently in 2006, a key provision of the law requires states with a history of discrimination at the polls to get federal permission before making any changes to their election procedures ? from congressional redistricting to changing the locations of polling places.

The law was at the core of last year's successful efforts to block strict voter photo ID laws in Texas and South Carolina and to prevent Texas from redrawing its legislative and congressional boundaries in a manner that challengers claimed would have discriminated against minority voters.

"The last election vividly showed that voter suppression and voting discrimination are not just problems of the past. They continue to undermine our democratic process," says the ACLU's Steve Shapiro.

The challenge to the law comes from Shelby County, Alabama, a mostly white suburb south of Birmingham.? It argues that the pre-clearance requirement ? which covers nine entire states and 66 counties or townships in seven others ? is unconstitutional.

The areas covered by the law, it says, include some localities that have made substantial reforms but leave out other parts of the country that have failed to root out discrimination at the polls.

"Florida has been forced into pre-clearance litigation to prove that reducing early voting from 14 days to 8 is not discriminatory, when states such as Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania have no early voting at all," says Bert Rein of Washington, DC, the lawyer for the county.

While the history of blatant discrimination at the polls justified renewing the law in the past, Shelby County says, Congress failed to marshal enough evidence in 2006 to justify extending it for another 25 years.? "At most, the 2006 legislative record shows scattered and limited interference with voting rights, a level plainly insufficient" to sustain the pre-clearance requirement, Rein says.

Since 1990, adds Alabama?s Attorney General, Luther Strange, African Americans in the state have registered and voted in larger percentages than in states outside the South.

?African Americans hold seats in the legislature at percentages that are roughly commensurate with Alabama?s 26 percent African-American population,? Strange says.

But the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund says the current map is a close enough fit to cover the areas of greatest concern.? "Congress is not a surgeon with a scalpel when it acts to legislate across the fivty states, but it can reasonably attack discrimination where it finds it," the group says.

If the law were struck down, civil rights groups fear the areas covered by the law would revert to their old habits.

Warns the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human rights, ?There is a significant risk of backsliding and a likelihood that millions of minority voters will face new barriers to the exercise of their most fundamental human right.?

President Obama expressed a similar sentiment in a radio interview last week. If covered jurisdictions no longer had to defend their electoral changes in advance, Obama said, civil rights groups would be forced to file lawsuits after voting changes were already in place.

?There are some parts of the country where obviously folks have been trying to make it harder for people to vote. So generally speaking, you?d see less protection before an election with respect to voting rights,? Mr. Obama said.

The Justice Department, which is defending the law before the Supreme Court, argues that the coverage formula is flexible, allowing local governments to bail out of the pre-clearance requirement if they can demonstrate they have not discriminated against minority voters for at least ten years.

During the past three decades, 38 bailouts have been granted, freeing 196 local jurisdictions of the preclearance requirement, the Justice Department says.? They include the first ever granted from parts of Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and Virginia, four of the states that are otherwise covered by the law.

Four years ago, the Supreme Court strongly suggested that several justices had doubts about its constitutionality, given recent electoral reforms. "Things have changed in the South," the court said in 2009.? "Blatantly discriminatory evasions of federal decrees are rare."

The court then went on to reject a constitutional challenge to the pre-clearance requirement, but it strongly suggested Congress should update the coverage formula.? Because, however, no changes have since made, the court may prepared to go the rest of the way this time.

Source: http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/26/17077448-landmark-civil-rights-law-faces-critical-supreme-court-test?lite

Pentax MX-1


The Pentax MX-1 ($499.95 direct) is the company's first attempt at a compact digital camera with a larger-than-average image sensor. The 12-megapixel shooter packs a 1/1.7-inch BSI-CMOS sensor, but its exterior is what turned heads when it was announced at CES. Available in silver or black, it simply exudes style. The top and bottom plates are painted brass, and the paint will wear over time to develop a patina that classic camera lovers will appreciate. When it comes to performance, The MX-1 doesn't come close to ousting our current high-end compact Editors' Choice, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 from its perch, but its rating would likely improve if a firmware update is able to alleviate some of its quirks.

Design and Features
The MX-1's design is reminiscent of its namesake, the Pentax MX, a 35mm SLR that was the company's flagship camera in the late 1970s. The MX-1 is much smaller than an SLR, it measures about 2.4 by 4.8 by 2 inches and weighs 13.8 ounces. It's not too far off in size from the 12.2-ounce Olympus XZ-2, which measures 2.6 by 4.4 by 1.9 inches. Both cameras feature a 4x (28-112mm f/1.8-2.5 equivalent) lens, but the Olympus features a hot shoe that can accommodate an external flash or electronic viewfinder.

Control layout is one of the MX-1's strong points. You'll find a Mode Dial, EV Compensation Dial, and Movie Record button on the brass top plate, along with the shutter release, zoom control, and Power button. The rear of the camera features a control dial so you can quickly adjust aperture, shutter speed, or other settings. Rear buttons include Exposure Lock, Drive Mode, Focus Mode, Flash control, and ISO control. There's also the Pentax Green Button, which can be used to undo any changes you've made when shooting in Program mode. The Green shooting mode is equivalent to the "smart automatic" modes found on competing cameras.

The sharp, 921k-dot, 3-inch rear display boasts a 3:2 aspect ratio, slightly wider than the 4:3 ratio of the MX-1's image sensor. And the display is hinged so that it can tilt up or down. Nikon's take on this type of camera, the Coolpix P7700 also sports a 921k-dot display, but one with a vari-angle design that lets you swing it out to the side of the camera. One feature that works in the MX-1's favor is the digital level that appears along the top and right side of the display, which checks both horizontal orientation and the camera's yaw forward and back. This makes it possible to get shots where you are plumb with your subject, which be difficult when using an LCD for composition. The level can be turned on or off via the camera's menu system. If it's on, it's always on?even when you minimize the information displayed on the LCD by hitting the rear OK button. There's no optical viewfinder?the only cameras in this class that offer them are the Canon PowerShot G15 and the Fujifilm X20.

While neither is common enough to be an expected feature in this level of camera, Pentax chose not to include GPS or Wi-Fi in the MX-1. If you're looking for a Wi-Fi-enabled camera with a bigger sensor and a fast lens, take a look at the Samsung EX2F, it has one of the better wireless implementations we've tested. The Canon PowerShot S110 also has Wi-Fi, and can add GPS information to your photos when paired with a smartphone. ?The previous-generation PowerShot S100, which can still be found at retail, has a dedicated GPS module, but no Wi-Fi support.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/a59wWsY39Vw/0,2817,2415673,00.asp

Monday, February 25, 2013

BEST OF THE WEB: Is the U.S. Republic ending? 8 striking parallels between the Fall of Rome and the U.S.

Lawrence Lessig's Republic Lost documents the corrosive effect of money on our political process. Lessig persuasively makes the case that we are witnessing the loss of our republican form of government, as politicians increasingly represent those who fund their campaigns, rather than our citizens.

Anthony Everitt's Rise of Rome is fascinating history and a great read. It tells the story of ancient Rome, from its founding (circa 750 BCE) to the fall of the Roman Republic (circa 45 BCE).

When read together, striking parallels emerge -- between our failings and the failings that destroyed the Roman Republic. As with Rome just before the Republic's fall, America has seen:

1 -- Staggering Increase in the Cost of Elections, with Dubious Campaign Funding Sources: Our 2012 election reportedly cost $3 billion. All of it was raised from private sources - often creating the appearance, or the reality, that our leaders are beholden to special interest groups. During the late Roman Republic, elections became staggeringly expensive, with equally deplorable results. Caesar reportedly borrowed so heavily for one political campaign, he feared he would be ruined, if not elected.

2 -- Politics as the Road to Personal Wealth: During the late Roman Republic period, one of the main roads to wealth was holding public office, and exploiting such positions to accumulate personal wealth. As Lessig notes: Congressman, Senators and their staffs leverage their government service to move to private sector positions - that pay three to ten times their government compensation. Given this financial arrangement, "Their focus is therefore not so much on the people who sent them to Washington. Their focus is instead on those who will make them rich." (Republic Lost)

3 -- Continuous War: A national state of security arises, distracting attention from domestic challenges with foreign wars. Similar to the late Roman Republic, the US - for the past 100 years -- has either been fighting a war, recovering from a war, or preparing for a new war: WW I (1917-18), WW II (1941-1945), Cold War (1947-1991), Korean War (1950-1953), Vietnam (1953-1975), Gulf War (1990-1991), Afghanistan (2001-ongoing), and Iraq (2003-2011). And, this list is far from complete.

4 -- Foreign Powers Lavish Money/Attention on the Republic's Leaders: Foreign wars lead to growing influence, by foreign powers and interests, on the Republic's political leaders -- true for Rome and true for us. In the past century, foreign embassies, agents and lobbyists have proliferated in our nation's capital. As one specific example: A foreign businessman donated $100 million to Bill Clinton's various activities. Clinton "opened doors" for him, and sometimes acted in ways contrary to stated American interests and foreign policy.

5 -- Profits Made Overseas Shape the Republic's Internal Policies: As the fortunes of Rome's aristocracy increasingly derived from foreign lands, Roman policy was shaped to facilitate these fortunes. American billionaires and corporations increasingly influence our elections. In many cases, they are only nominally American - with interests not aligned with those of the American public. For example, Fox News is part of international media group News Corp., with over $30 billion in revenues worldwide. Is Fox News' jingoism a product of News Corp.'s non-U.S. interests?

6 -- Collapse of the Middle Class: In the period just before the Roman Republic's fall, the Roman middle class was crushed -- destroyed by cheap overseas slave labor. In our own day, we've witnessed rising income inequality, a stagnating middle class, and the loss of American jobs to overseas workers who are paid less and have fewer rights.

7 -- Gerrymandering: Rome's late Republic used various methods to reduce the power of common citizens. The GOP has so effectively gerrymandered Congressional districts that, even though House Republican candidates received only about 48 percent of the popular vote in the 2012 election -- they ended up with the majority (53 percent) of the seats.

8 -- Loss of the Spirit of Compromise: The Roman Republic, like ours, relied on a system of checks and balances. Compromise is needed for this type of system to function. In the end, the Roman Republic lost that spirit of compromise, with politics increasingly polarized between Optimates (the rich, entrenched elites) and Populares (the common people). Sound familiar? Compromise is in noticeably short supply in our own time also. For example, "There were more filibusters between 2009 and 2010 than there were in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s combined."

As Benjamin Franklin observed, we have a Republic -- but only if we can keep it.

About the Author

Steven Strauss was founding Managing Director of the Center for Economic Transformation at the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC). Steven was one of the NYC leads for Applied Sciences NYC, NYC BigApps and many other initiatives to foster job growth, innovation and entrepreneurship. He is an Advanced Leadership Fellow at Harvard University for 2012. In 2010, Steven was selected as a member of the Silicon Alley 100 in NYC. He has a Ph.D. in Management from Yale University, and over 20 years' private sector work experience. Geographically, Steven has worked in the US, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Source: http://www.sott.net/article/258780-Is-the-US-Republic-ending-8-striking-parallels-between-the-Fall-of-Rome-and-the-US

db cooper

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Insane Levels of Inequality ? Which Hurt the Economy ? Are ...

by Washington?s Blog

?

published on Washington?s Blog 24 Feb 2013
republished her with their permission

?

Preface: All capitalist systems have some inequality.? We don?t want to prevent all inequality ? just economy-wrecking levels:

?

Lawrence Katz, a Harvard economist, adds that some inequality is necessary to create incentives in a capitalist economy but that ?too much inequality can harm the efficient operation of the economy.?

?

And you might assume that conservatives don?t worry about rampant inequality ? but that is a myth.

?

Rampant Inequality ? Which Hurts the Economy ? Is Skyrocketing

?

A who?s-who?s of prominent economists in government and academia have all said that runaway inequality can cause financial crises. Extreme inequality helped cause the Great Depression, the current financial crisis ? and the fall of the Roman Empire. But inequality in America today is actually twice as bad as in ancient Rome , worse than it was in in Tsarist Russia, Gilded Age America, modern Egypt, Tunisia or Yemen, many banana republics in Latin America, and worse than experienced by slaves in 1774 colonial America. Inequality has grown steadily worse:

Aevrage Household income before taxes.

?

?

?

It is worse under Obama than under Bush. A recent study shows that the richest Americans captured more than 100% of all recent income gains. And see this.

?

There are 2 economies: one for the rich, and the other for everyone else.

Alan Greenspan said:

Our problem basically is that we have a very distorted economy, in the sense that there has been a significant recovery in our limited area of the economy amongst high-income individuals?

?

***

?

They are fundamentally two separate types of economies.

?

Why is Inequality Going Through the Roof?

?

The world?s top economic leaders have said for years that inequality is spiraling out of control and needs to be reduced. Why is inequality soaring even though world economic leaders have talked for years about the urgent need to reduce it?

Because they?re saying one thing but doing something very different. And both mainstream Democrats and mainstream Republicans are using smoke and mirrors to hide what?s really going on.

And it?s not surprising ? Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says that inequality is caused by the use of money to shape government policies to benefit those with money. As Wikipedia notes:

A better explainer of growing inequality, according to Stiglitz, is the use of political power generated by wealth by certain groups to shape government policies financially beneficial to them. This process, known to economists as rent-seeking, brings income not from creation of wealth but from ?grabbing a larger share of the wealth that would otherwise have been produced without their effort?[59]

Rent seeking is often thought to be the province of societies with weak institutions and weak rule of law, but Stiglitz believes there is no shortage of it in developed societies such as the United States. Examples of rent seeking leading to inequality include

  • the obtaining of public resources by ?rent-collectors? at below market prices (such as granting public land to railroads,[60] or selling mineral resources for a nominal price[61][62] in the US),
  • selling services and products to the public at above market prices[63] (medicare drug benefit in the US that prohibits government from negotiating prices of drugs with the drug companies, costing the US government an estimated $50 billion or more per year),
  • securing government tolerance of monopoly power (The richest person in the world in 2011, Carlos Slim, controlled Mexico?s newly privatized telecommunication industry[64]).

(Background here, here and here.)

Stiglitz says:

One big part of the reason we have so much inequality is that the top 1 percent want it that way. The most obvious example involves tax policy ?. Monopolies and near monopolies have always been a source of economic power?from John D. Rockefeller at the beginning of the last century to Bill Gates at the end. Lax enforcement of anti-trust laws, especially during Republican administrations, has been a godsend to the top 1 percent. Much of today?s inequality is due to manipulation of the financial system, enabled by changes in the rules that have been bought and paid for by the financial industry itself?one of its best investments ever. The government lent money to financial institutions at close to 0 percent interest and provided generous bailouts on favorable terms when all else failed. Regulators turned a blind eye to a lack of transparency and to conflicts of interest.

?

***

?

Wealth begets power, which begets more wealth ?. Virtually all U.S. senators, and most of the representatives in the House, are members of the top 1 percent when they arrive, are kept in office by money from the top 1 percent, and know that if they serve the top 1 percent well they will be rewarded by the top 1 percent when they leave office. By and large, the key executive-branch policymakers on trade and economic policy also come from the top 1 percent. When pharmaceutical companies receive a trillion-dollar gift?through legislation prohibiting the government, the largest buyer of drugs, from bargaining over price?it should not come as cause for wonder. It should not make jaws drop that a tax bill cannot emerge from Congress unless big tax cuts are put in place for the wealthy. Given the power of the top 1 percent, this is the way you would expect the system to work.

?

Bloomberg reports:

?

The financial industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars every election cycle on campaign donations and lobbying, much of which is aimed at maintaining the subsidy [to the banks by the public]. The result is a bloated financial sector and recurring credit gluts.

?

Indeed, the big banks literally own the Federal Reserve. And they own Washington D.C. politicians, lock stock and barrel. See this, this, this and this.

?

Two leading IMF officials, the former Vice President of the Dallas Federal Reserve, and the the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Moody?s chief economist and many others have all said that the United States is controlled by an ?oligarchy? or ?oligopoly?, and the big banks and giant financial institutions are key players in that oligarchy.

?

Economics professor Randall Wray writes:

?

Thieves ? took over the whole economy and the political system lock, stock, and barrel.

?

No wonder the government has saved the big banks at taxpayer expense, chosen the banks over the little guy, and said no to helping Main Street ? while continuing to throw trillions at the giant banks.

?

No wonder crony capitalism has gotten even worse under Obama.

?

No wonder Obama is prosecuting fewer financial crimes than Bush, or his father or Ronald Reagan.

?

No wonder:

All of the monetary and economic policy of the last 3 years has helped the wealthiest and penalized everyone else. See this, this and this.

?

***

?

Economist Steve Keen says:

?This is the biggest transfer of wealth in history?, as the giant banks have handed their toxic debts from fraudulent activities to the countries and their people.

?

Stiglitz said in 2009 that Geithner?s toxic asset plan ?amounts to robbery of the American people?.

?

And economist Dean Baker said in 2009 that the true purpose of the bank rescue plans is ?a massive redistribution of wealth to the bank shareholders and their top executives?.

?

Quantitative easing doesn?t help Main Street or the average American. It only helps big banks, giant corporations, and big investors. And by causing food and gas prices skyrocket, it takes a bigger bite out of the little guy?s paycheck, and thus makes the poor even poorer.

?

As I noted in March 2009:

The bailout money is just going to line the pockets of the wealthy, instead of helping to stabilize the economy or even the companies receiving the bailouts:

  • A lot of the bailout money is going to the failing companies? shareholders
  • Indeed, a leading progressive economist says that the true purpose of the bank rescue plans is ?a massive redistribution of wealth to the bank shareholders and their top executives?
  • The Treasury Department encouraged banks to use the bailout money to buy their competitors, and pushed through an amendment to the tax laws which rewards mergers in the banking industry (this has caused a lot of companies to bite off more than they can chew, destabilizing the acquiring companies)

As I wrote in 2008:

The game of capitalism only continues as long as everyone has some money to play with. If the government and corporations take everyone?s money, the game ends.The fed and Treasury are not giving more chips to those who need them: the American consumer. Instead, they are giving chips to the 800-pound gorillas at the poker table, such as Wall Street investment banks. Indeed, a good chunk of the money used by surviving mammoth players to buy the failing behemoths actually comes from the Fed.

?

Government Policy Is Increasing Inequality

?

Without the government?s creation of the too big to fail banks (they?ve gotten much bigger under Obama), the Fed?s intervention in interest rates and the markets (most of the quantitative easing has occurred under Obama), and government-created moral hazard emboldening casino-style speculation (there?s now more moral hazard than ever before) ? things wouldn?t have gotten nearly as bad.

?

Goosing the Stock Market

?

Moreover, the Fed has more or less admitted that it is putting almost all of its efforts into boosting the stock market.

?

Robert Reich has noted:

?

Some cheerleaders say rising stock prices make consumers feel wealthier and therefore readier to spend. But to the extent most Americans have any assets at all their net worth is mostly in their homes, and those homes are still worth less than they were in 2007. The ?wealth effect? is relevant mainly to the richest 10 percent of Americans, most of whose net worth is in stocks and bonds.

AP writes:

The recovery has been the weakest and most lopsided of any since the 1930s.After previous recessions, people in all income groups tended to benefit. This time, ordinary Americans are struggling with job insecurity, too much debt and pay raises that haven?t kept up with prices at the grocery store and gas station. The economy?s meager gains are going mostly to the wealthiest.

Workers? wages and benefits make up 57.5 percent of the economy, an all-time low. Until the mid-2000s, that figure had been remarkably stable ? about 64 percent through boom and bust alike.

?

David Rosenberg points out:

?

The ?labor share of national income has fallen to its lower level in modern history ? some recovery it has been ? a recovery in which labor?s share of the spoils has declined to unprecedented levels.?

?

The above-quoted AP article further notes:

?

Stock market gains go disproportionately to the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans, who own more than 80 percent of outstanding stock, according to an analysis by Edward Wolff, an economist at Bard College.

?

Indeed, as I reported in 2010:

?

As of 2007, the bottom 50% of the U.S. population owned only one-half of one percent of all stocks, bonds and mutual funds in the U.S. On the other hand, the top 1% owned owned 50.9%.***

(Of course, the divergence between the wealthiest and the rest has only increased since 2007.)

?

Professor G. William Domhoff demonstrated that the richest 10% own 98.5% of all financial securities, and that:

?

The top 10% have 80% to 90% of stocks, bonds, trust funds, and business equity, and over 75% of non-home real estate. Since financial wealth is what counts as far as the control of income-producing assets, we can say that just 10% of the people own the United States of America.

?

As Tyler Durden notes:

?

In today?s edition of Bloomberg Brief, the firm?s economist Richard Yamarone looks at one of the more unpleasant consequences of Federal monetary policy: the increasing schism in wealth distribution between the wealthiest percentile and everyone else. ? ?To the extent that Federal Reserve policy is driving equity prices higher, it is also likely widening the gap between the haves and the have-nots?.The disparity between the net worth of those on the top rung of the income ladder and those on lower rungs has been growing. According to the latest data from the Federal Reserve?s Survey of Consumer Finances, the total wealth of the top 10 percent income bracket is larger in 2009 than it was in 1995. Those further down have on average barely made any gains. It is likely that data for 2010 and 2011 will reveal an even higher percentage going to the top earners, given recent increases in stocks.? Alas, this is nothing new, and merely confirms speculation that the Fed is arguably the most efficient wealth redistibution, or rather focusing, mechanism available to the status quo. This is best summarized in the chart below comparing net worth by income distribution for various percentiles among the population, based on the Fed?s own data. In short: the richest 20% have gotten richer in the past 14 years, entirely at the expense of everyone else.

?

***

Lastly, nowhere is the schism more evident, at least in market terms, than in the performance of retail stocks:

?

Saks chairman Steve Sadove recently remarked, ?I?ve been saying for several years now the single biggest determinant of our business overall, is how?s the stock market doing.? Privately-owned Neiman- Marcus reported ?In New York City, business at Bergdorf Goodman continues to be extremely strong.?

In contrast, retail giant Wal-Mart talks of its ?busiest hours? coming at midnight when food stamps are activated and consumers proceed through the check-outs lines with baby formula, diapers, and other groceries. Wal-Mart has posted a decline in same-store sales for eight consecutive quarters.

?

Indeed, as CNN Money pointed out in 2011, ?Wal-Mart?s core shoppers are running out of money much faster than a year ago ?? This trend has only gotten worse: The wealthy are doing great ? but common folks can no longer afford to shop even at Wal-Mart, Sears, JC Penney or other low-price stores.

?

Durden also notes:

?

Another indication of the increasing polarity of US society is the disparity among consumer confidence cohorts by income as shown below, and summarized as follows: ?The increase in equity prices has raised consumer spirits, particularly among higher-income consumers. The Conference Board?s Consumer Confidence index for all income levels bottomed in February/March of 2009. The recovery since then has been notable across the board, but nowhere as much as for those making $50,000 or more.?

?

?

Over-Financialization

?

When a country?s finance sector becomes too large finance, inequality rises. As Wikipedia notes:

?

[Economics professor] Jamie Galbraith argues that countries with larger financial sectors have greater inequality, and the link is not an accident.[66][67]

?

Government policy has been encouraging the growth of the financial sector for decades:

?

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKQHjeBm1oFtjkPA1dA7KNEQBqkGfvWP9w-5LnlA2glYvSe3mfKuN9CvL70n_4CDpJvOdcTCxfFVHc2JEmDmyDCCCenkSUxwEhFh88kMuk2lp7ImzLhXBNuQ81wx0by28tPnJshAoKuiU/s1600/financial+and+nonfinancial+sectors+-+compensation+Les+Leopold.jpg

(Economist Steve Keen has also shown that ?a sustainable level of bank profits appears to be about 1% of GDP?, and that higher bank profits leads to a ponzi economy and a depression).

?

Unemployment and Underemployment

?

A major source if inequality is unemployment, underemployment and low wages.

?

Government policy has created these conditions. And the pretend populist Obama ? who talks non-stop about the importance of job-creation ? actually doesn?t mind such conditions at all.

?

The?jobless recovery? that the Bush and Obama governments have engineered is a redistribution of wealth from the little guy to the big boys.

?

The New York Times notes:

?

Economists at Northeastern University have found that the current economic recovery in the United States has been unusually skewed in favor of corporate profits and against increased wages for workers.

In their newly released study, the Northeastern economists found that since the recovery began in June 2009 following a deep 18-month recession, ?corporate profits captured 88 percent of the growth in real national income while aggregate wages and salaries accounted for only slightly more than 1 percent? of that growth.

The study, ?The ?Jobless and Wageless Recovery? From the Great Recession of 2007-2009,? said it was ?unprecedented? for American workers to receive such a tiny share of national income growth during a recovery.

***

The share of income growth going to employee compensation was far lower than in the four other economic recoveries that have occurred over the last three decades, the study found.

?

Obama apologists say Obama has created jobs. But the number of people who have given up and dropped out of the labor force has skyrocketed under Obama (and see this).

?

And the jobs that have been created have been low-wage jobs.

?

For example, the New York Times noted in 2011:

?

The median pay for top executives at 200 big companies last year was $10.8 million. That works out to a 23 percent gain from 2009.

***

Most ordinary Americans aren?t getting raises anywhere close to those of these chief executives. Many aren?t getting raises at all ? or even regular paychecks. Unemployment is still stuck at more than 9 percent.

***

?What is of more concern to shareholders is that it looks like C.E.O. pay is recovering faster than company fortunes,? says Paul Hodgson, chief communications officer for GovernanceMetrics International, a ratings and research firm.

According to a report released by GovernanceMetrics in June, the good times for chief executives just keep getting better. Many executives received stock options that were granted in 2008 and 2009, when the stock market was sinking.

Now that the market has recovered from its lows of the financial crisis, many executives are sitting on windfall profits, at least on paper. In addition, cash bonuses for the highest-paid C.E.O.?s are at three times prerecession levels, the report said.

***

The average American worker was taking home $752 a week in late 2010, up a mere 0.5 percent from a year earlier. After inflation, workers were actually making less.

?

AP pointed out that the average worker is not doing so well:

?

Unemployment has never been so high ? 9.1 percent ? this long after any recession since World War II. At the same point after the previous three recessions, unemployment averaged just 6.8 percent.

? The average worker?s hourly wages, after accounting for inflation, were 1.6 percent lower in May than a year earlier. Rising gasoline and food prices have devoured any pay raises for most Americans.

? The jobs that are being created pay less than the ones that vanished in the recession. Higher-paying jobs in the private sector, the ones that pay roughly $19 to $31 an hour, made up 40 percent of the jobs lost from January 2008 to February 2010 but only 27 percent of the jobs created since then.

?

Alan Greenspan noted:

?

Large banks, who are doing much better and large corporations, whom you point out and everyone is pointing out, are in excellent shape. The rest of the economy, small business, small banks, and a very significant amount of the labour force, which is in tragic unemployment, long-term unemployment ? that is pulling the economy apart.

?

Money Being Sucked Out of the U.S. Economy ? But Big Bucks Are Being Made Abroad

?

Part of the widening gap is due to the fact that most American companies? profits are driven by foreign sales and foreign workers. As AP noted in 2010:

Corporate profits are up. Stock prices are up. So why isn?t anyone hiring?

Actually, many American companies are ? just maybe not in your town. They?re hiring overseas, where sales are surging and the pipeline of orders is fat.

***

The trend helps explain why unemployment remains high in the United States, edging up to 9.8% last month, even though companies are performing well: All but 4% of the top 500 U.S. corporations reported profits this year, and the stock market is close to its highest point since the 2008 financial meltdown.

But the jobs are going elsewhere. The Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank, says American companies have created 1.4 million jobs overseas this year, compared with less than 1 million in the U.S. The additional 1.4 million jobs would have lowered the U.S. unemployment rate to 8.9%, says Robert Scott, the institute?s senior international economist.

?There?s a huge difference between what is good for American companies versus what is good for the American economy,? says Scott.

***

Many of the products being made overseas aren?t coming back to the United States. Demand has grown dramatically this year in emerging markets like India, China and Brazil.

?

Government policy has accelerated the growing inequality. It has encouraged American companies to move their facilities, resources and paychecks abroad. And some of the biggest companies in America have a negative tax rate ? that is, not only do they pay no taxes, but they actually get tax refunds.

?

And a large percentage of the bailouts went to foreign banks (and see this). And so did a huge portion of the money from quantitative easing. More here and here.

?

Capital Gains and Dividends

?

According to a study published last month by a researcher at the U.S. Congressional Research Service:

?

The largest contributor to increasing income inequality?was changes in income from capital gains and dividends.

?

Business Insider explains:

?

Drastic income inequality growth in the United States is largely derived from changes in the way the U.S. government taxes income from capital gains and dividends, according to a new study by Thomas Hungerford of the non-partisan Congressional Research Service.

Essentially, what Democrats have been saying about income inequality ? that it?s in a large part due to favorable taxation and deduction policies for high income Americans ? is largely right

***

The study ? conclusively found that the wealthy benefitted from low tax rates on investment income, which in turn caused their wealth to grow faster.

Essentially, taxing capital gains as ordinary income would make the playing field more fair, and reduce over time income inequality.

?

Joseph Stiglitz noted in 2011:

?

Lowering tax rates on capital gains, which is how the rich receive a large portion of their income, has given the wealthiest Americans close to a free ride.

?

Indeed, the Tax Policy center reports that the top 1% took home 71% of all capital gains in 2012.

Ronald Reagan?s budget director, assistant secretary of treasury, and domestic policy director all say that the Bush tax cuts were a huge mistake. See this and this.

?
?
Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the authors(s). News Beacon Ireland will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect in this article. News Beacon Ireland grants permission to cross-post original News Beacon Ireland articles on community internet sites as long as the text & title are not modified. The source and the author?s copyright must be displayed. For publication of News Beacon Ireland articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: editor@news-beacon-ireland.info
www.news-beacon-ireland.info may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of ?fair use? in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic, cultural, scientific, spiritual and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than ?fair use? you must request permission from the copyright owner.
?

Source: http://news-beacon-ireland.info/?p=11181

What Time Does The Superbowl Start 2013 Psalm 91 Super Bowl 2013 Commercials Evasi0n NFL.com Superdome Iron Man 3 Trailer

Sponsored By:

We were unable to forward you to the advertisement you clicked on.

The likely cause for this is that your browser, feed reader, or email application is configured to not accept cookies, or your reader may launch an external browser to view links without sharing cookies.

  • If you're using Internet Explorer, make sure your privacy setting is at medium or below.
    • Select 'Internet Options' from the 'Tools' menu in your browser window
    • Click the Privacy tab
    • Adjust your privacy setting if necessary
      ?
  • If you're using a reader that embeds Internet Explorer (examples: Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Feed Demon), you'll also need to select Internet Explorer as your default web browser.
    • Open Internet Explorer
    • Select 'Internet Options' from the 'Tools' menu in your browser window
    • Click the 'Programs' tab and check the box for Internet Explorer to check if it is the default browser and save your change
    • Close your browser, re-open it, and when prompted, select Internet Explorer as your default
    • You can then click on an ad in your newsletter and visit the site you wish to view

Source: http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=80fad30c66587cde829450ac1f795cf9&p=4

g8 summit netanyahu aipac vanessa minnillo super tuesday epidemiology total eclipse of the heart

They bailed on mortgage but want to buy again

Home sales are slowly climbing back, thanks to investor demand, improving consumer confidence in housing, and the surprising return of former homeowners who once walked away from their commitments.

These so-called "strategic defaulters," some of them investors and some owner-occupants, are coming back to the market, despite damaged credit, and apparently the market is welcoming them back.

Read More: The Real Estate Recovery, in Your Neighborhood

A new survey of past clients by YouWalkAway.com, a website that assists borrowers in the legal pitfalls of strategic default, found that nearly 80 percent expressed a desire to buy a home again within the next 12 months. It also cites data by Moody's analytics, showing that the number of eligible home buyers who have had a previous foreclosure will be 1.5 million by the first quarter of 2014.

Crashing home prices and sketchy mortgage products caused millions of Americans to default on their loans and eventually lose their homes. For some, it was a tragic fight to the end to keep their single largest investment; for others it was a conscious decision to walk away from their mortgage commitments, given the real fact that they would likely not see home equity again for many years to come.

Some saw this as morally reprehensible, others as a sensible business decision.

Read More: Fewer Borrowers Are Behind on Mortgages, but for How Long?

While home ownership has fallen dramatically since the recent housing boom, from a high of 69.2 percent in 2004 to 65.4 percent at the end of 2012, according to the U.S. Census, the desire to own a home is still strong. About 70 percent of Americans surveyed by online real estate website Trulia.com said homeownership was still a part of the "American Dream." Of those surveyed by Fannie Mae in January of 2013, 65 percent said that if they had to move, they would buy a home, rather than rent.

Coming back to home ownership may not be as difficult as some think. Consumers who only defaulted on their mortgage during the recent recession were far better risks than those who went delinquent on multiple credit accounts, like credit cards and auto loans, according to a 2011 study by TransUnion.

"There appears to be a pocket of opportunity among mortgage-only defaulters that is not the result of excess liquidity, but rather the unique circumstances of the recent recession," said Steve Chaouki, group vice president in TransUnion's financial services business unit in the study release. "This new market segment that the recession created is an important one for lenders to understand. They have the potential, today, to be stronger and more reliable customers."

Not surprisingly, given this potential, YouWalkAway.com is launching the "AfterForeclosure.com Pass/Fail App," which claims to tell potential borrowers in just one minute, "if they have a shot at home ownership."

"We want people to know that it's possible and, in a lot of cases, it's advantageous," says Jon Maddux, former CEO and co-founder of YouWalkAway.com.

Read More: Americans Are Using Their Houses as ATMs Again

It is possible, but mortgage underwriting is far more strict today than during the housing boom, and there are varying waiting periods before former homeowners who went through foreclosure can qualify for a new loan. The Federal Housing Administration, the government insurer of home loans which now backs just over 20 percent of new loan originations, requires a three-year wait. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which own or guarantee the bulk of the remaining new loan originations, require up to seven years for a strategic defaulter to qualify again for a mortgage.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/they-bailed-mortgage-now-want-buy-again-1C8496356

dionne warwick patricia heaton arsenic and old lace leslie varez ward solar storms uganda

Saturday, February 23, 2013

How to Root Galaxy S2 I9100 Running on Official Android 4.1.2 XWLSE Jelly Bean [Guide]

The Android 4.1.2 XWLSE Jelly Bean official firmware has been recently released for the international version of Galaxy S2 with model number I9100. ?The XWLSE Jelly Bean is an unbranded version of firmware, which bundles bug fixes as well as feature enhancements along with.

Galaxy S2 users, who have already upgraded their devices with Android 4.1.2 XWLSE Jelly Bean firmware, may follow our step-by-step instruction guide below to root the same. The tutorial uses Siyah Kernel for rooting the phone and automatically installs ClockworkMod (CWM) recovery.

IBTimes UK reminds its readers that it will not be held liable for any damage to the device. Users are advised that the root method works only with Samsung Galaxy S2 I9100 running on Android 4.1.2 XWLSE Jelly Bean firmware and flashing this on any other variants is likely to brick the device. ??

Pre-requisites

1) Install USB Drivers for Samsung Galaxy S2 on the computer.

2) Enable the USB Debugging Mode.?[Press Menu>> Settings>> Applications. From there navigate and click on Development option and ensure the USB Debugging Mode is turned on.] ??

3) Create back-up for all the data of the phone.

4) The battery of the Galaxy S2 should have more than 80 per cent of charge.

5) ?The phone should be factory unlocked.

6) Rooting the device will void manufacturer's warranty.

Steps to root Galaxy S2 I9100 on Android 4.1.2 XWLSE Jelly Bean

1) Download root kernel I9100XWLSE for Galaxy S2 to the computer

2) Download Odin v1.85 which will help to root Android 4.1.2 firmware

3) Turn off the phone and boot into Download Mode. Press and hold the Volume Down, Home and Power buttons together until the construction Android robot and a triangle appears. Press the Power button again to confirm enter into Download Mode

4) Open Odin on the computer

5) Connect the phone to the computer using USB cable while it is in the Download Mode. When the phone is successfully connected to the computer, one of the ID: COM boxes will turn yellow with the COM port number. This step may take some time

6) In Odin, click on PDA and select the 'Siyah-s2-v2.0b4.tar'

7) Ensure the Auto Reboot and F.Reset Time options are selected in Odin

8) Double check everything and click the Start button in Odin to begin the installation. The process will take about a few minutes to complete

9) Once the installation process is completed, the phone will restart automatically. After the Home screen arrives, safely unplug the USB cable from the phone?

Samsung Galaxy S2 I9100 running on Android 4.1.2 XWLSE Jelly Bean official firmware is now successfully rooted. Check with the SuperSU app in the app list. To ensure the above root method is installed and working properly, verify with Root Checker app, available at Google Play Store.

[Source: Team Android]

To report problems or to leave feedback about this article, e-mail:

To contact the editor, e-mail:

Source: http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/438208/20130222/galaxys2-i9100-root-android412-xwlse-jellybean-official.htm

vince young evan longoria ryan seacrest kentucky derby beltane capitals john edwards

YouTube data now part of Billboard Hot 100 chart

NEW YORK (AP) ? Viral videos are hits on the Web, and now they can help propel a song to the top of the Billboard charts.

Billboard has announced that U.S. YouTube data is now one of the factors when ranking Hot 100 songs and songs on its other charts.

The new rule went into effect this week, with the viral-video hit "Harlem Shake" debuting at No. 1. Other factors include radio airplay, digital download sales, physical single sales, on-demand audio streaming and online radio streaming. Billboard's new rule incorporates all official videos on YouTube, including Vevo.

"Harlem Shake" by Brooklyn producer Baauer features few lyrics. The video has a heavy dance-flavored beat. It became a viral success thanks to hundreds of YouTube videos of people dancing to the song.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/youtube-data-now-part-billboard-hot-100-chart-173313743.html

michael jordan Safe Haven Robbie Rogers WWE Rita Ora Meteor Russia jay z

Newer Posts Older Posts Home