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the workplace to keep the family afloat. It also explains the massive growth in consumer debt and lack of personal savings. The middle-class was not necessarily acting irresponsibly. It was acting out of desperation and necessity. Clearly many in the middle-class (and elsewhere) have added debt too recklessly. But pric... |
have inexorably grown faster, year after year, than the growth of real middle-class income. In addition fixed costs for the American family (mortgage costs, insurance, child care, health care, etc.) are much higher as a percentage of income than they were 35 years ago. Sources: Census Bureau.gov The Financial Help |
Center.com Median Income devastated by inflation Divided by the CPI (which has been understated for decades) the “adjusted” Median Household Income has barely grown at all since 1973. When measured in terms of ounces of gold instead of dollars, median income has plunged. This chart shows median income peaked in |
1970, when it would buy 240 ounces of gold. The devastating inflation of the 1970’s sent real median income down to its low in 1980, where it could only buy 29 ounces of gold. One can see the current direction of “real” median income since 2001, and we haven’t even |
felt the eventual inflationary effects of the credit crisis. As we stand today, the Median Household Income can buy approximately 65 ounces of gold, one of the lower levels since 1945. Home equity on the decline One key source to fill the gap of falling wage growth was home equity. |
Quite simply, Americans have been slowly transferring ownership of their homes to the banking system over the last 50+ years. These figures would look much worse if the roughly 1/3 of homes owned “free and clear” (mostly by seniors) were removed from the data, but you can see the trend |
is toward less equity and more debt. This is not a sign of a prospering middle-class. Historic turning point The availability of easy credit the last two decades was a key mechanism to keep the middle-class above water. Now the easy and available credit is going away, and with it |
much of the quality of life of the middle-class. The early 1970’s was clearly an historic turning point for millions of Americans. With the 1971 severing of the gold-backed dollar by the Nixon Administration, the fate of the middle class was sealed. Unlimited fiat money creation led to unlimited debt |
and a rapidly depreciating dollar. Middle-class “real” wage growth would never again keep up with “real” inflation, especially in key areas such as health care and college tuition, which have greatly exceeded the stated rate of inflation. Do you think the strapped middle-class family feels better when hearing that infl... |
is “only” 4%, instead of 11.6%, as measured prior to 1983? Not likely. Understated inflation does not help remove the sting of declining purchasing power. It just adds to the confusion and desperation. The pain is still real, even as trust in government continues to decline. With the current world-wide |
deleveraging, inflation rates are coming down, for the short to medium term. With trillions upon trillions of government debt soon to flood the financial system, inflation will not be gone for long. Inflation or deflation- middle class loses Be it a hyperinflationary or deflationary scenario in the coming years, the |
middle-class will suffer. Either from a massive loss of buying power (hyperinflation) or explosive debt burdens (deflation). Eventually, foreign creditors will likely bolt the dollar for something with more enduring value; i.e. gold. It would be a good idea, whether you are middle class or not, to prepare by accumulati... |
some gold while it is still relatively cheap and somewhat available. The US dollar has been the global monetary standard since the Bretton Woods Agreement in 1944. Unfortunately, the dollar has not been a good store of value since Nixon severed the dollar’s link to gold in 1971. The Federal |
Reserve has always functioned as the lender of last resort, and is now becoming the “spender of last resort.” Unprecedented debasing of the US currency could be on our horizon. Pawns in a chess game While fulfilling its classic role as the backbone of the American economy, the middle-class also |
is the unwitting pawn in the complex chess game of global finance and government excess. The problem with being a pawn is that one has no control of the game, or its outcome. Historically, the middle-class is always the group to feel the greatest pain and reap the fewest rewards |
from the machinations of Wall Street and Washington. The period dead ahead will be no exception. The extraordinary debt levels will only make matters worse. The middle-class has been under growing pressure for over 30 years, as its purchasing power has been steadily under attack. Things will very likely get |
worse before we see any light. The middle-class must retrench even further. But it must also search for a store of value as its dollars buy less and less. It is my belief that once the severe de-leveraging is finished, the commodity sector, particularly gold, will serve as that life |
raft. The struggling middle-class, and everyone else for that matter, will need something to stay afloat if the USS dollar slowly sinks in the murky seas of the global currency markets. The way forward Historically, one great quality of America is resilience. It is my sincere hope that out of |
this crisis will emerge a more rational way forward. I believe the best way forward for our country would be a system of honest money; a new currency backed by gold that would enforce discipline on government spending and allow families to plan and save for their futures. And it |
might just provide our children and generations unborn their own shot at the American Dream. We owe them that much. The stock markets shot higher for a second straight session Monday as investors bet that President-elect Barack Obama's plans to increase infrastructure spending will help lift the economy back to |
health. The major market indexes jumped more than 3 percent, and the Dow Jones industrials' nearly 300 point advance gave the blue chips their highest close in a month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 298.76, or 3.46 percent, to 8,934.18, its highest close since it finished at 9,139.27 on |
Nov. 5th. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 33.63, or 3.84 percent, to 909.70; and the Nasdaq composite index jumped 62.43, or 4.14 percent, to 1,571.74. It was the ninth advance in 11 sessions for the Dow and the S&P 500. Oil futures surged 7% Monday, buoyed by expectations |
that the OPEC oil cartel may deliver a substantial cut in production as well as by U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's pledge of massive new infrastructure investment to revive the economy. Crude oil for January delivery surged $2.90, or 7.1%, to end at $43.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile |
Exchange. Earlier, the contract hit an intraday high of $44.70 a barrel. Gold and other metals futures rallied Monday, getting a boost from soaring oil prices, weakness in the U.S. dollar and President-elect Barack Obama's pledge of a massive new infrastructure investment to buoy the U.S. economy. Gold for February |
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Joint research between Florida Museum of Natural History and Chinese scientists to discover and interpret the world’s earliest known flowering fossil is the subject of a PBS |
NOVA documentary, “First Flower,” which debuts at 8 p.m. April 17. The origin of flowers is one of botany’s deepest mysteries, and in the NOVA documentary, Florida Musuem paleobotanist David |
Dilcher guides viewers through segments of the amazing story of the evolution of flowers. “There’s no doubt about it, flowers are all about sex,” said Dilcher, a graduate research professor |
and paleobotany curator at the Florida Museum and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. The search for the world’s first flower drew Dilcher to a remote Chinese lake |
where colleague Sun Ge of Jilin University in Changchun, China, discovered a 125 million-year-old fossil that scientists believe is the earliest known flower. Although the fossil lacked the aesthetic petals |
associated with modern flowers, Dilcher recognized the plant stalk had seeds enclosed within carpels, which are female reproductive structures found in flowers. This led him to conclude the fossil was |
in fact an early form of a flower. The fossil was named Archaefructus liaoningensis, which means “ancient fruit from Liaoning Province of northeast China.” Flower production demands an amazing amount |
of a plant’s precious energy, which leads some scientists to question why and how the world’s first flowers evolved. Angiosperms, or flowering plants that have male pollen and female ovaries, |
are thought to have made their first appearance on earth roughly 130 million years ago. Today, they dominate the plant world. Today, bees, moths, hummingbirds and other insects facilitate plant |
reproduction by spreading pollen, but this is the culmination of a complex relationship that evolved over millions of years and that scientists are still decoding. “Flowering plants were the first |
advertisers in the world,” Dilcher said. “They put out beautiful colors, colorful patterns, they put out fragrances. And they gave a reward such as nectar or pollen for any insect |
that would come and visit them.” Flowers go to elaborate lengths to advertise their sexual organs, the female parts and the male parts, Dilcher said. “If they could attract these |
mobile pollinators to visit, crawl around, and feed in flowers, pick up pollen on their legs, pick up pollen on their bodies,” Dilcher said, “and then fly to another flower |
some distance away, and repeat this process, they could effectively transfer their male genetic material some distance away to another flower.” Pamela and Doug Soltis, Florida Museum researchers who study |
plant and flower DNA to better understand evolutionary origins, also are interviewed in “First Flower.” The Soltis’ work addresses evolutionary origins of flowers and flowering plants, plant speciation and the |
conservation genetics of endangered plant species in Florida. Doug Soltis also is chair of UF’s Department of Botany. The journal Science featured Sun’s and Dilcher’s fossil flower research on its |
cover in 1998 and 2002. Sun is a geologist and director of the paleontology and stratigraphy lab at Jilin University. Dilcher holds professorial appointments and teaches at Jilin University and |
Wool rugs have what is called a particular "hand" or texture that reflects the level of 'scratchiness' found in the finished product. The manner of grooming and shearing and resulting processing of the fiber can vary widely amongst carpet producers. Further complications regarding the wide range in texture is the fact ... |
individual sheep, as well as differences related to and based on the actual sex of the sheep. Add in nutritional factors, age and the general health of the sheep, and you have yet another class of variables to mix into the fold. Wool rugs, such as in many Oriental designs, incorporate a process in which the individual ... |
longer wool fiber bearing a greater overall density, sometimes twice the size of other wool fiber, thus giving rise to a very different finished wool area rug. The resulting product, whether oriental or not, retained a luster often missing from modern designs which typically utilize inappropriate or inferior wool fiber... |
the weaving process. Modern machine woven techniques lack the subtlety in coloring and texture as well as even the element of human error and irregularity uniquely found and favored in antique productions found in such places as Persia or India . Wool rug research into synthetic dyeing processes intensified in the 19th... |
reproduce the complexity, design and detail of the nomadic Oriental weaver. This led to a literal mass production so that European and American consumers could participate in the home furnishings phenomenon. Coloring properties were expanded to accept color treatments based on fuchsin dyes, with colors ranging from fuc... |
Oriental or contemporary design elements could now use these fuchsin dyes to achieve an initially startling effect. One drawback though, however, was that these same fuchsin dyes were highly light sensitive, and accordingly would rapidly fade or gray with exposure to normal levels of diffused sunlight. Even during the ... |
utilized. The result was that these chemically unstable fuchsin dyes guaranteed an underlying flow of repeat buyers who would eventually discard their now graying and dull flooring after only a short number of years of use, and purchase a new one. Meanwhile, the antique market, which is based solely on organically prod... |
9.0 SleepWatch ® ( Actigraphy) Measure of Sleep on Workdays and Non-Workdays It was hypothesized that deployment of a combination of four fatigue management technologies would result in increased sleep time (actigraph determined) under both Canadian hours-of-service (Study Phase 1) |
and U.S. hours-of-service (Study Phase 2). However, analyses of actigraphy data for sleep episodes in the NO FEEDBACK versus FEEDBACK conditions revealed no statistically significant differences in sleep duration in either the Canada study phase or the U.S. study phase |
(see "Prior Sleep" variable in Tables 13 and 24). "Prior Sleep" was defined by all the sleep time found in each 24-hour period (from noon to noon, across consecutive days in the 2-week period for each condition) using an actigraphic |
software program called "Action 4" (developed by Ambulatory Monitoring, Inc., Ardsley, NY), as well as software that could recognize and eliminate from consideration periods of time when the actigraph was not on the wrist of a driver. Although the overall |
comparisons of actigraphically-defined 24-hour cumulative sleep time (Prior Sleep) were not different between the FEEDBACK and NO FEEDBACK conditions, it was clear that the U.S. study phase drivers had an average of 50 minutes less sleep per day than their |
Canadian counterparts during the NO FEEDBACK condition, and 39 minutes less sleep per day than their Canadian counterparts during the FEEDBACK condition (compare "Prior Sleep" in Tables 13 and 24). The reduced daily sleep times in the U.S. drivers were |
consistent with the differences between study phases in the predominant time-of-day for driving-Canada drivers had approximately 75% of their driving in daylight (and therefore, slept mostly in the nighttime), while U.S. drivers had approximately 90% of their driving at night |
(and therefore slept more in the daytime). It has long been established that sleep duration is reduced when people work nights, owing to circadian biological forces and environmental factors, which alone or together can truncate daytime sleep durations. Analyses were |
performed to determine whether the actigraphically-defined sleep duration differences of 50 minutes (NO FEEDBACK difference between Canada and U.S.) and 39 minutes (FEEDBACK difference between Canada and U.S.) were statistically significantly different from each other. In addition, sleep durations would |
likely be affected by workdays and non-workdays, especially in the night driving U.S. subjects, such that non-workdays would likely involve significantly more sleep than workdays. As a result of these considerations, a series of analyses were conducted comparing actigraph-defined sleep |
obtained by Canada drivers and U.S. drivers on workdays and non-workdays, during the NO FEEDBACK 2-week period and the FEEDBACK 2-week period. These analyses yielded important new insights into the impact of FMT FEEDBACK on drivers' sleep durations. Tables 49 |
through 58, and Tables 7 through 9, display the results these analyses. 9.1 Sleep Durations on workdays and non-workdays Tables 51, 52, 53, and 54 reveal that drivers slept significantly more on non-workdays than on workdays. During the NO FEEDBACK |
2-week period of the Canada study phase, drivers averaged 7 hours and 17 minutes sleep per 24 hour period on non-workdays compared to 6 hours and 15 minutes on workdays (p = 0.023), a mean difference of 1 hours and |
2 minutes (Table 51). Similarly, during the FEEDBACK 2-week period of the Canada study phase, drivers averaged 7 hours and 31 minutes of sleep per 24 hours on non-workdays compared to 6 hours and 14 minutes on workdays (p = |
0.0005), a mean difference of 1 hour and 17 minutes (Table 53). Comparable results were obtained in the U.S. study phase. During the NO FEEDBACK 2-week period of Study Phase 2, the U.S. drivers averaged 6 hours and 32 minutes |
of sleep per 24 hours on non-workdays compared to 5 hours and 14 minutes on workdays (p = 0.018), a mean difference of 1 hour and 18 minutes (Table 52). Similarly, during the FEEDBACK period, U.S. drivers averaged 7 hours |
and 32 minutes sleep compared to 5 hours and 1 minute on workdays (p = 0.0004), a mean difference of 2 hours and 31 minutes (Table 54). These are relatively large differences in 24-hour sleep durations, suggesting that drivers developed |
sleep debts across the workweek. Figure 7 graphically displays the workday versus non-workday sleep durations controlling for feedback condition. It reveals that the differences in mean daily sleep between workdays and non-workdays significantly differed between U.S. and Canada study phases |
(p = 0.028), which are referred to as "location" in Figure 7. Therefore, the NO FEEDBACK vs. FEEDBACK comparisons between U.S. and Canada were performed separately for workdays and non-workdays. Figure 8 reveals that during workdays, the NO FEEDBACK vs. |
FEEDBACK comparison did not significantly differ between U.S. and Canada study phases (p = 0.392) (Tables 55, 56, 57, 58). After removing the interaction, there was no main effect for feedback (p = 0.916), but mean sleep duration was significantly |
less for U.S. drivers compared to Canadian drivers (p = 0.011). Figure 9 shows that during non-workdays, the NO FEEDBACK vs. FEEDBACK comparison did not significantly differ between U.S. and Canada study phases (p = 0.506), and differences between U.S. |
and Canada were not significant during non-workdays (p = 0.460). Most importantly, in contrast to workdays, there was a significant increase in mean sleep duration during non-workdays in the FEEDBACK condition relative to the NO FEEDBACK condition (p = 0.046). |
In other words, FMT FEEDBACK resulted in drivers in both countries significantly increasing their non-workday daily sleep durations by an average of 45 minutes per day over what was the case in the NO FEEDBACK condition. This finding provides clear |
support for the hypothesis that a combination of four fatigue management technologies would result in more sleep (actigraph determined) under both Canadian hours-of-service (phase 1) and U.S. hours-of-service (phase 2). While it might have been expected that increased sleep time |
would also have occurred on workdays when FMT FEEDBACK was provided, this did not occur. It is possible that workday schedules prevent drivers from acting on information from FMT devices indicating they need more sleep. Barriers to obtaining sleep may |
be absent on non-workdays, allowing drivers to increase sleep time. It remains uncertain if this pattern of increased sleep on non-workdays would be sustained over months and years with FMT FEEDBACK. Much more needs to be understood about the factors |
that determine when and where drivers obtain sleep on workdays and non-workdays, on the barriers to obtaining adequate sleep on workdays, and on the factors that convince them to get more recovery sleep on non-workdays. An average of 45 minutes |
(both study phases) more sleep per non-workday was associated with FMT FEEDBACK. While this may seem modest, research suggests it is especially beneficial in promoting recovery from chronic sleep debt in persons sleeping less than 6.5 hours per day, which |
The ILC promises extraordinary power in the study of the Terascale. The annihilation of an electron and its antiparticle, the positron, allows the understanding of collisions to an unparalleled level of detail and precision. As others have comprehensively documented, the ILC view of the Terascale, complementary to the ... |
discovered at these extreme energies. It makes the ILC the top priority at Fermilab for a future global facility. A superconducting ILC cavity Credit: Fermilab Visual Media Services The ILC's opportunities for discovery have motivated the global particle physics community to come together in an effort to design the acc... |
Report in early 2007 and the structuring of a collaborative worldwide R&D program represent successful community efforts. Fermilab has contributed strongly to this effort: the design of the accelerator; the development of superconducting radio-frequency, or SCRF, technology in the U.S.; the design of the physics and ex... |
and the establishment of a test-beam facility for the development of ILC detectors. The ILC and related SCRF efforts at Fermilab make up by far the laboratory's largest future program. In the next phase of the ILC effort, Fermilab's aim is to be a leader in the global engineering design and in the development of the SC... |
to reach a decision early in the next decade to build the ILC. Fermilab is building the required infrastructure and test facilities and is coordinating the national efforts in the development of SCRF technology, in collaboration with national and international partners in Europe, Asia and the U.S. To these efforts Ferm... |
development skills. Innovative detectors will be key to exploiting the ILC physics opportunities. In general, an improvement in resolution of both tracking and calorimetric detectors over the present state-of-the-art detectors will allow experimenters to distinguish the signals of new physics from backgrounds much more... |
world. Just as important for the global ILC effort, Fermilab has developed and will operate a flexible high-energy test beam to provide a variety of particles and energies for testing detector technologies. A simulation of the decay of a Z + Higgs to four jets in an ILC detector Credit: Norman Graf Fermilab's goal is t... |
and geologically, the site is nearly optimal and could house the central facilities of the ILC, such as damping rings and experimental halls. Two important aspects of Fermilab's activities over the next three years are the study of the site and the design of conventional facilities necessary for the engineering design ... |
with hosting the ILC in the region. Fermilab has vigorously collaborated with local residents over the last two years, first with the Community Task Force and currently with the ILC Citizens' Task Force and the Envoy Program. These activities will strengthen over the next three years of engineering design. Finally, Fer... |
toward the design of global accelerators. Unlike the case of the detector community, which is accustomed to building detectors collaboratively across continents, much less collaboration has taken place in the development of global accelerators. The ILC is breaking new ground in this regard, and it is important that Fer... |
to lead in the integration of components produced around the world into a functioning accelerator. The ILC is key to the future of U.S. particle physics and to Fermilab's future. |
Some food and nutrition messages are being heard by American consumers, with survey data from the International Food Information Council Foundation’s (IFIC) indicating that 70 and 63% of consumers trying |
to consume less sugar and HFCS, respectively. Data from IFIC’s annual survey, published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, also indicated that awareness of trans-fats increased |
between 2006 and 2010, from 81 to 90%, while omega-3 awareness has stayed constant at around 74%. On the flip side, no increase in efforts to consume more omega-3s has |
been observed in the 1,000-plus consumers participating in the survey. “Having five years of consumer research offers invaluable insights on how the communication of dietary guidance impacts consumers,” said Marianne |
Smith Edge, MS, RD, LD, FADA, Senior Vice President, Nutrition & Food Safety at the IFIC Foundation and co-author of the article. “And, we have not stopped at five years. |
The IFIC Foundation remains committed to continuing to field this Survey to gain and share insights on consumers’ knowledge and behaviors. Further, this helps focus consumer communication efforts on areas |
where they are needed most.” Calories and weight gain However, many health and nutrition messages are not being heard, with the survey also revealing that a staggering 70% of consumers |
could not correctly identify that “calories in general are what causes weight gain”. The IFIC survey also revealed that “Americans consistently reported that they actively used food and beverage packaging |
label information when deciding whether to purchase or consume food and beverages”. The top source was the Nutrition Facts panel (68% in 2010), followed by expiration date (66% in 2010). |
Interestingly, brand names are increasingly being used to influence purchases, with 50% of consumers saying this influenced their purchase and consumption habits in 2010, up from 38% in 2006. “During |
the 5 years of the survey, there has been an explosion in access to technology and information, including food, nutrition, and health counsel, yet this has not appeared to facilitate |
greater consumer understanding or action,” wrote the authors. “These data raise the question of whether traditional nutrition communications may have contributed to consumer confusion and perhaps, the lack of motivation |
expressed by many Americans.” “Some nutrition and health messages are indeed being heard and Americans desire to engage in healthful behaviors. Imparting knowledge and direction through education may foster short-term |
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