EFTA01205723.pdf

From: Gregory Brown To: undisclosed-recipients:; Bcc: jeevacation@gmail.com Subject: Greg Brown's Weekend Reading and Other Things.... 04/19/2015 Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2015 07:09:10 +0000 Attachments: 5_Charts_That_Show_How_the_Middleflass_Is_Disappearing_Katie_Quandtian_26,_20 15.docx; Maps,_How_Ukraine_became_Ulcraine_Ishaan_Tharoor_TWP_03.09.2015.docx; How_Many_Mutual_Ftmds_Routinely_Rout_the_Market,_ZeroJEFF_SOMMER_March_l 5,_2015.docx; Ohio_Players_bio.docx Inline-Images: image.png; image(1).png; image(2).png; image(3).png; image(4).png; image(5).png; image(6).png; image(7).png; ATT00060jpg; image(8).png; image(9).png; image(10).png; image(11).png; image(12).png; image(13).png; image(14).png; image(15).png; image(16).png; image(17).png; image(18).png; image(19).png; image(20).png; image(21).png; image(22).png; image(23).png; image(24).png; image(25).png; image(26).png; image(27).png; image(28).png DEAR FRIEND The End of White Christian America is Approaching In the on-line news magazine Alternet, Brooklyn writer and journalist Amanda Mancotte recently wrote — The end of white Christian America is nigh: Why the country's youth are abandoning religious conservatism — As White Christians are now a minority in 19 states and America's growing racial diversity only tells part of the story. New data from the American Values Atlas shows that while Caucasians continue to be the majority in all but 4 states in the country, white Christians are the minority in a whopping 19 states. And, nationwide, Americans who identify as Protestant are now in the minority for the first time ever, clocking in at a mere 47 percent of Americans and falling. EFTA01205723 The most obvious reason for this change is growing racial diversity. Most Americans still identify as Christian, but "Christian" is a group that is less white and less Protestant than it has been at any time in history. The massive growth in Hispanic Catholics, in particular, has been a major factor in this shift in the ethnic and religious identity of this country. White Catholics used to outnumber Hispanic Catholics 3 to 1 in the 2000s, but now it's only by a 2 to 1 margin. But another major reason religious diversity is outpacing the growth of racial/ethnic diversity is largely due to the explosive growth in non-belief among Americans. One in five Americans now identifies as religiously unaffiliated. In 13 states, the `Scones" are the largest religious group. Non-religious people now equal Catholics in number, and their proportion is likely to grow dramatically, as young people are by far the most non-religious group in the country. This isn't some kind of side effect of their youth, either. As Adam Lee has noted, the millennial generation is becoming less religious as they age. These changes explain the modern political landscape as well as any economic indicator. While not all white Christians are conservative, these changing numbers definitely suggest that conservative Christians are rapidly losing their grip on power. And while some non-white Christians are conservative, their numbers are not making up for what the Christian right is losing. And whether conservative leaders are aware of the exact numbers or not, it's dear that they sense that change is in the air. Just by speaking to young people, turning on your TV, or reading the Internet, you can sense the way the country is lurching away from conservative Christian values and towards a more liberal, secular outlook. And conservative Christians aren't taking these changes well at all. To look at the Christian right now is to see a people who know they are losing power and are desperately trying to reassert dominance before it's lost altogether. The most obvious example of this is the frenzy of anti-abortion activity in recent years. Anti-choice forces have controlled the Republican Party since the late '7os, but only in the past few years have they concentrated so singlemindedly on trying to destroy legal abortion in wide swaths of the country. In 2011 alone, states passed nearly three times as many abortion restrictions as they had in any previous year. None of this is a reaction to any changes in people's sexual behavior or reproductive choices. It's not like there was a spike in abortions causing this panic. In fact, the abortion rate has been declining. And despite continuing media panic over adolescent sexuality the fact is that teenagers are waiting longer to have sex, on average, than in the past. Despite this, not only are you seeing a dramatic increase in attacks on legal abortion, the Christian right has expanded its attacks to contraception access, suggesting that something has worked them into a panic they believe can only be resolved by trying to reassert their religious and sexual values. That something isn't changes in sexual behavior, but it's reasonable to believe it's because of changes in sexual values. People might not be having more sex, but they are feeling less guilty about the sex they are having. Since Gallup first started polling people in 2001 on moral views, acceptance of consensual sex between adults has skyrocketed. In a decade's time, acceptance of premarital sex swelled from 53% to 66% of Americans and acceptance of gay Americans grew from a mere 38% to a majority of Americans. Even polyamory has become more acceptable for Americans, rising from being accepted by 5% of Americans to 14%. EFTA01205724 The fact that these changes in attitude are rising alongside the growth of irreligiosity is not a coincidence. More perhaps even than the 1960s, Americans are in a period of questioning rigid sexual and religious mores, and concluding, in increasing numbers, that they are not down with guilt-tripping people for victimless behavior and demanding conformity for its own sake. Some of them-now a whopping 22% of Americans! — are leaving religion entirely. Some are continuing in their faith but choosing to interpret their values differently than Christian conservatives would like. And so we see Christian conservatives cracking down in a desperate bid to regain control. They claim that they're being oppressed by increasing tolerance for religious diversity. They have latched onto, with some success, the claim that "religious freedom" requires giving Christians the right to oppress others. The Republican Party is in complete thrall to the religious right, to the point where giving the Christian right one go-nowhere symbolic bill instead of another one created a major political crisis. The irony is that this panic-based overreach is just making the situation worse for the Christian right. One of the biggest reasons the secularization trend has accelerated in recent years is that young people see the victim complex and the sex policing of the Christian right and it's turning them off. And they're not just rejecting conservative Christianity but the entire idea of organized religion altogether. In other words, the past few years have created a self-perpetuating cycle: Christian conservatives, in a panic over changing demographics, start cracking down. In reaction, more people give up on religion. That causes the Christian right to panic more and crack down more. In the end, Christian conservatives are going to hasten their own demise by trying to save themselves. And as Mancotte says, "not that any of us should be cryingfor them." The Myth of the Mutual Fund 0 toe. it ors *.tttfr 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 How Many Mutual Funds Routinely Rout the Market? Zero EFTA01205725 New York Times writer and podcast editor Jeff Sommer made a startling discovery based initially on a study last summer called "Does Past Performance Matter? The Persistence Scorecard," conducted by S&P Dow Jones Indices twice a year. The edition of the study that he focused on began in March 2009, the start of the bull market. The bull market in stocks turned six last month, and despite some rocky stretches — it has generally been a very pleasant time for money managers, who have often posted good numbers. The study included 2,862 broad, actively managed domestic stock mutual funds that were in operation for the 12 months through 2010. The S&P Dow Jones team winnowed the funds based on performance. It selected the 25 percent of funds with the best returns over those 12 months — and then asked how many of those funds actually remained in the top quarter in each of the four succeeding 12month periods through March 2014. The answer was remarkably low: two. Just two funds — the Hodges Small Cap fund and the AMG SouthernSun Small Cap fund — managed to hold on to their berths in the top quarter every year for five years running. And for the 2,862 funds as a whole, that record is even a little worse than you would have expected from random chance alone. In other words, if all of the managers of the 2,862 funds hadn't bothered to try to pick stocks at all — if they had merely flipped coins — they would, as a group, probably have produced better numbers. Instead of two funds at the end of five years. Basic probability theory tells us there should have been at least three. The study seemed to support the considerable body of evidence suggesting that most people sshouldn'teven try to beat the market: Just pick lowcost index funds, assemble a balanced and appropriate portfolio for your specific needs, and give up on active fund management. The data in the study didn't prove that the mutual fund managers lacked talent or that you couldn't beat the market. But, as Keith Loggie, the senior director of global research and design at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in an interview last week, the evidence certainly ddidn'tbolster the case for investing with active fund managers. "Looking at the numbers, you can't tell whether there is skill involved in what they do or whether their performance is just a matter of luck,"Mr. Loggie said. "I believe that many of them do have skill. But even if they do have it, based on how they've done in the past you really can't predict how they will petform in thefuture." And although those two funds had manage to perform splendidly during the last study - at the time of the article we were two weeks away from the completion of another 12 months since the end of that last study, and up to then it had been a mediocre for those two mutual funds, leaving Mr. Sommer to conclude that at the end there would be none. Here are the dismal statistics: The SouthernSun Small Cap fund has actually lost money for investors over the 12 months through Thursday. It was down 3.2 percent, according to Morningstar, and for the nine months through December, it was in the bottom quartile of funds in the S&P. Dow Jones study. The Hodges Small Cap fund has done better, gaining almost 6 percent through the middle of March. S.&.P Dow Jones Indices says that put it in the third quartile — or secondtoworst one — through December. While it's mathematically possible, it is highly unlikely that either will climb to the top quartile in the next few weeks, Mr. Loggie said. This is an indication that one can never use past performance to predict future returns. Yes It is always possible that any one of these funds will beat the market over the long term and some of them will. But the problem is that we don't know which of them will do that in advance. And that, in a nutshell, is the kernel of the argument for buying index funds. As much as mutual funds will tell you that their strategies employ science, it is a science that is less predictable than the weather forecast on EFTA01205726 your local television station's news program. So why are so niany Americans not realizing that almost all Mutual Funds underperforms the market and continue to pay them millions and billions of dollars in fees? * * * * * * A Tale of Two States • ifit It's hard to compare states so I found Randi Weingarten recent article in The Washington Post — It's a tale of two states — as both sit side by side along sharing the shoreline with Lake Superior Their economies both grew from foundations in manufacturing, farming and mining, and they each boast a strong history of organized labor. And in 2010, still reeling from the recession, they elected new governors. Except that the governors took these two states -- Minnesota and Wisconsin -- have gone down two very different paths. Today, Minnesota's unemployment rate is 3.6 percent -- far below the nationwide rate of 5.7 percent - while Wisconsin's job growth has been among the worst in the region and its income growth has been among the worst in the nation. Since his election, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton turned his state's budget deficit into a projected surplus of nearly $2 billion. While Republican front-runner for the 2016 Presidential election, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has swollen his state's budget deficit to a projected $2 billion. Meanwhile, Dayton has boosted the minimum wage, invested in public education and supported workers' rights. (And Minnesota has the most union members of any state in the Midwest.) And Walker has slashed funding to public schools, and is dismantling the state's public university system. On March 9, he signed a bill that makes Wisconsin the 25th so-called right to work state, which, research shows, contrary to the hype, drives down wages and destroys good jobs. Why? All in an effort to eviscerate Wisconsin's labor unions. Hasn't someone told Governor Walker that Trickle-Down Economics doesn't work and frankly and it never has. Therefore if we want to restore a healthy middle class, we need a different approach. If we want a strong middle class, which both Governors say that they want, then you can't take out the unions that built it. If you want good jobs with higher wages, then workers need a voice. If we want to restore a healthy middle class, we need a different approach, a virtuous cycle that begins with a high- quality public education that gives students the skills they need to get good jobs with fair wages, helping each generation climb the ladder of opportunity. Another crucial step is to enable more workers to form and join unions. EFTA01205727 As Hillary Clinton recently noted, "The American middle class was built, in part, by the rightfor people to organize and bargain." And at Weingarten pointed out in her article Secretary Clinton is right. When unions were at their peak, more workers -- upwards of 5O percent -- were in the middle class. Conversely, a decline in union membership - spurred on by trickle-down economics, ideological attacks and globalization -- is directly linked to the rise in income inequality. At a time when only the wealthiest 1O percent have reaped the benefits of any gains in productivity, workers once again need a voice on the job. Collective bargaining can lift all boats, even those boats that aren't carrying a union card. HOW UNIONS COUNTER INEQUALITY 60% ° ° Share of income going to the top 10 percent • •Union membenhip 20% 1923 1933 1943 1953 1963 1973 1983 1993 2003 2013 I On-, 0-- ()s.a.e. O'ne- Look at wages. In the heyday of the American labor movement, non-managerial workers' wages went up 75 percent. As unions have been on the decline, these workers have only seen a four percent bump. Still, even today, union workers earn 28 percent more than nonunion workers. When two-thirds of our economic activity is driven by consumer spending, ifs critical that working families have more money in their pockets to spend. Broadly shared prosperity will remain elusive as long as workers' buying power is limited. And then there is retirement security. Eighty-six percent of Americans believe our nation faces a retirement security crisis. Unions bargain a secure retirement on behalf of workers, often in the form of pensions. Pensions both ensure that workers can retire with financial dignity and are important investors in our economy. For every dollar paid in pension benefits, there's $2.37 in economic output. Plus, long-term capital funds create hundreds of thousands of jobs in asset classes like infrastructure, venture capital and real estate. Collective bargaining has a multiplier effect. So do laws meant to take collective bargaining away. Workers in so-called right-to-work states make about $1,5oo less per year. When wages are lower, workers leave the state, depressing job creation, and there's a sizable economic loss to the state. Marquette University economist Abdur Chowdhury estimates the impact of right-to-work on Wisconsin will be "a net loss of direct and indirect income of at least $5.8 billion annually." EFTA01205728 Governors and state policymakers have a clear choice. They can push ideological policies to break the backs of unions and further disempower workers, have their deficit grow, workers' wages sink and their state ranked at the bottom for business and economic climate, as Walker's Wisconsin is. Or they can -- like Minnesota, which is ranked in the top ten in the nation for its business and economic climate -- strengthen unions and workers' rights, invest in public education and infrastructure, and create more good jobs. And as Weingarten also pointed out, "It's a clear choke, and if we care about working families accessing the American dream -- it's not a hard one." ****** America's Mass Incarceration Habit Needs a Serious Fix Michael K. Williams is the ACLU ambassador for ending mass incarceration. He is an actor thing in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. When Michael Williams was growing up in East Flatbush, one of the toughest neighborhoods in Brooklyn, one of his very best friends was something else. He, let's call him MZ, could have had Hollywood on a string. He was actually William's inspiration for becoming an actor. MZ, however, suffered from bipolar disorder. Too poor to get the mental health care he needed, he ended up behind bars, and it wrecked him. He was no longer the friend and brother I knew. Between the disorder and what he experienced in prison, he's never been the same — a shell of his former self. Stories like MZ's are all too common. Our society has been using jails and prisons as a dumping ground for the mentally ill and those addicted to drugs. These human beings don't belong in prison, they belong in treatment, yet we've pushed them into cages and denied them their humanity. Is it shocking that these same valuable citizens, like my friend MZ, emerge worse off than when they went in? Let's face it: America is addicted to mass incarceration, and it's making our society sick. Our habit of locking away human beings is a particularly unseemly kind of addiction for a country that prides itself on freedom, especially when the United States incarcerates more of its citizens than China, Russia, or Iran. Right now America has about 5 percent of the world's population but is responsible EFTA01205729 for 25 percent of the world's incarcerated population. In other words, one out of four people in prison today are inside U.S. jails and penitentiaries. That is nearly 2.4 million human beings — an obscene number. In America, it is black men, more than anyone else, who suffer from our dependence on mass incarceration. Currently, black men are six times more likely to be imprisoned in federal and state prisons and local jails than white men. This horrifying racial disparity comes in part from the war on drugs, which has been devastating communities of color for the past four decades. Although blacks and whites use illegal drugs at roughly the same rates, African-Americans make up nearly 4o percent of those put away for drug offenses in state or federal prison, even though we only make up 13 percent of the U.S. population. We need to realize that these statistics represent human beings. These men are someone's child, someone's parent. Someone loves them and still wants the best for them. These men have dreams of being great, too. Ruining people's lives for small, nonviolent offenses tied to drug use, drug addiction, or mental illness is not the way to go. Health problems are health problems, not criminal justice problems. It's by the grace of God that I didn't get into more serious trouble. If I had, there's no way I'd be where I am today. There are far too many people of color with bright futures that have been relegated to our prison systems. However, instead of being provided with opportunities to express themselves or their creativity safely or getting the right support, they make mistakes which cost them dearly. The costs of those mistakes are high and these men pay with their futures. Once people have done hard time, the world closes in on them. It's damn near impossible to get a job. Depending on where you live, you likely can't vote. The possibility of becoming a productive citizen is foreclosed on by a system that denies those who have served their time with another chance. Instead, they're forever seen as ex-cons. And don't forget the huge cost of confinement. The U.S. spent $80 billion in 2010 on locking up people on the local, state, and federal level, which could be better spent on education, health care, or simply getting at-risk people the counseling they need so they don't fall back into addiction and petty crime. We have spent the last 4o years stuffing our prisons, mostly with black and brown men, and for what? This isn't who we are. America, we can do better. We have to, for all people. Because MZ deserved better, and there are hundreds of thousands more like him. Unbelievable GOP Statements on Voter Suppression EFTA01205730  Gov. Chris Christie during a campaign stop in Connecticut for Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley. You would think that making it easier for citizens to vote would be something for everyone in a democracy to celebrate. But the shocking remarks by these six government officials — some of whom will be on the November ballot — tell a different story. Governor Chris Christie: Same-Day Voter Registration Is a "Trick" and GOP Needs to Win Gubernatorial Races So They Control "Voting Mechanisms" In early March, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie spoke at a US Chamber of Commerce gathering in Washington, DC. In his comments, The Record reports that Christie "pushed further into the contentious debate over voting rights than ever before, saying Tuesday that Republicans need to win gubernatorial races this year so that they're the ones controlling `voting mechanisms' going into the next presidential election." This isn't the first time Christie's come clean about GOP intentions at the ballot box. In August, while campaigning in Chicago for Bruce Rauner, the GOP candidate challenging Gov. Pat Quinn, Christie complained that Illinois would become the nth state to permit same-day voter registration this November — a move supporters say will increase turnout and improve access. Christie didn't see it that way, calling it an underhanded Democratic get-out-the-vote tactic. Christie said of Quinn: "I see the stuff that's going on. Same-day registration all of a sudden this year comes to Illinois. Shocking,"he added sarcastically. "I'm sure it was all based upon public policy, good public policy to get same-day registration here in Illinois just this year, when the governor is in the toilet and needs as much help as he can get." He added that the voter registration program is designed to be a major "obstacle" for Republican gubernatorial candidates. Fran Millar: Georgia Senator Complains About Polling Place Being Too Convenient for Black Voters Georgia state Senator Fran Millar (R-Dunwoody) wrote an angry op-ed following the news that DeKalb County, part of which he represents, will permit early voting on the last Sunday in October. The voting will take place at the Gallery at South DeKalb mall. Here's what Millar wrote in The Atlanta-Journal EFTA01205731 Constitution: "Ennis location is dominated by African American shoppers and it is near several large African-American mega churches such as New Birth Missionary Baptist... Is it possible church buses will be used to transport people directly to the mall since the poll will open when the mall opens? If this happens, so muchfor the accepted principle of separation of church and state." Millar, who is senior deputy whip for the Georgia Senate Republicans, promised to put an end to Sunday balloting in DeKalb County when state lawmakers assemble in the Capitol in January. Doug Preis: An Ohio GOP Chair Says We Shouldn't Accommodate the "Urban — Read African-American — Voter-Turnout Machine" In 2012, Republican officials in Ohio were limiting early voting hours in Democratic-majority counties, while expanding them on nights and weekends in Republican counties. In response to public outcry, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted mandated the same early voting hours in all 88 Ohio counties. He kept early voting hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays from October 2 to 19 and broadened hours from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. from October 22 to November 2. But he refused to expand voting hours beyond 7 p.m. during the week, on weekends or three days prior to the election — which is when voting is most convenient for many working-class Ohioans. Here's what the Franklin Party (Columbus) Ohio GOP chair, Doug Preis, and close adviser to Ohio Gov. John ICasich, said about limiting early voting. "I guess I really actuallyfeel we shouldn't contort the voting process to accommodate the urban — read African-American — voter-turnout machine." (And yes, he actually said "read AfricanAmerican," that wasn't inserted.) Greg Abbott: Texas AG Says Partisan Districting Decisions Are Legal, Even if There Are "Incidental Effects" on Minority Voters The 2010 Census results showed that 89 percent of the population growth in Texas came from minorities, but "when it came tofitting those new seats in the map, Republican lawmakers made sure three of them favored Republicans, who tend to be white," according to the Associated Press. The Justice Department claims that Texas lawmakers intentionally redrew the state's congressional districts in order to dilute the Hispanic vote. Attorney General Greg Abbott, who is running for governor of Texas, wrote the following in a letter to the Department of Justice defending the state's voting maps: "DOJ's accusations of racial discrimination are baseless. In 2011, both houses of the Texas Legislature were controlled by large Republican majorities, and their redistricting decisions were designed to increase the Republican Party's electoral prospects at the expense of the Democrats. It is perfectly constitutional for a Republican-controlled legislature to make partisan districting decisions, even if there are incidental effects on minority voters who support Democratic candidates." Ted Yoho: Only Property Owners Should Vote While running for a Florida congressional seat in 2012, Ted Yoho suggested that only property owners should have the right to vote, as you can watch in this video. Here's what he said: "I've had some radical ideas about voting and it's probably not a good time to tell them, but you used to have to be a EFTA01205732 property owner to vote." He also called early voting by absentee ballots "a travesty." And yes, Yoho won the election, and is now a member of Congress. Don Yelton: North Carolina GOP Precinct Chair: Voter ID Law Will "Kick Democrats in the Butt" and Hurt "Lazy Blacks" In an interview last year with The Daily Show, Don Yelton, a GOP precinct chair in Buncombe County, North Carolina, defended the state's new voter ID law, saying so many offensive things, he was asked to resign the day after it aired. Yelton admits at the start of the segment that the number of Buncombe County residents who commit voter fraud is one or two out of 60,000 a year. The interview correspondent, Aasif Mandvi, replies that those numbers show "there's enough voter fraud to sway zero elections," and then Yelton replies, "Mmmm...that's not the point." He goes on to say that "If it hurts a bunch of lazy blacks that want the government to give them everything, so be it." and then adds, "The law is going to kick the Democrats in the butt." After the segment aired, the Buncombe County GOP Chair issued a statement on Yelton's comments, calling them "offensive, uniformed and unacceptable of any member within the Republican Party"and called for Yelton's resignation. He obliged. Voter suppression is both appalling and un-American. But this is what Republicans really think and it's ugly.... It would be one thing if these were aberrations but they aren't. The Republican Party leadership not only doesn't see this type of language and accompanied actions as a problem, because of their partisan distain of Democrats, minorities and especially our first Black President, they truly believe that anything that they do, no matter how vile and despicable is okay to do even if this includes subverting the democratic process and this is my rant of the week.... WEEK's READINGS The Incredibly Shrinking American Middle Class Although the economy has pretty much recovered with company profits soaring, financial markets at all-time highs, unemployment at a low of 5.5% and inflation at historic lows it is apparent that the Middle Class has been left out of this largess. Even though most have done what would have been called doing the right thing all of their lives — raising children and taking care of their families do to good paying jobs, for millions of Americans all gone now, including for many families the house. And although many have found jobs, they are working at jobs making a third of what they used to. And unlike Wall Street there was no bail out for the middle class. EFTA01205733 A typical American household made about $51,017 in 2012, according to new figures out from the Census Bureau. That number may sound familiar to anyone who remembers George H. W. Bush's first year as president or Michael Jackson in his prime. That's because household income in 2012 is similar to what it was in 1989 (but back then it was actually higher: you had an extra $600 or so to spend compared to today). That sobering statistic gives an indication of where the American middle class appears to be headed. Take a look below at a snapshot of where the middle class is now, the problems they face and what our Facebook audience has to say about squeaking out a living these days. A note on the term "middle class": There is no single, universal definition so we turned to economic analyst Robert Reich — who spoke to us this week — for some direction. Reich suggested defining middle class as those with income levels 5o percent above and below the median income. Median is a term that means the "middle of the middle." Median earnings are a key indicator of how the middle class is doing. A Snapshot Median Household Income, 1967-2012 in 2012 dollars 1999 556.4434, $56.os. 354.000 1989: $51,000 551.681 .28112: $51,017 $50.000 $48..300 $46.000 $44.000 1967• $4?.934 1970 1975 198$ 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 SOURCE: CENSUS MOM Mother Jones The income range to be considered middle class:$25,500 — $76,500 The median middle class household income in 2012: $51,017 and in 1989: $51,681 Year inflation-adjusted median household income peaked at $56,080: 1999 Income needed in a two parent, two child home in St. Louis for an adequate living standard: $64,673 and in New York City: $94,676 The Problem Share of self-described middle-class adults who say it's more difficult now than a decade ago for middle-class people to maintain their standard of living: 85 EFTA01205734 Percentage of Americans that consider themselves to be "lower class" (the highest percentage ever): 8.4 Percentage increase in salary growth for the median worker from 1979 to 2012: 5 Percentage drop in average real income per family since 2007: 8.3 The median net worth of a family in 2010: $7,300 and in 2007: $126,400 Percentage of Americans that are unemployed/underemployed rate: 14 Number of states in which poverty rates rose between 2007 and 2010: 46 Approximate poverty rate from 2009 to 2012: 15 The last time it remained at or above 15 percent for three years running: 1965 The Work Average number of hours U.S. workers put in annually: 1,790 what the Norwegians work: 1,420 and the French: 1,479 Percent increase in productivity from 1979 to 2012: 75 What the median middle-class income ($51,017) would be if wages grew at the same rate: $7,131 Number of guaranteed days of paid vacation given to U.S. workers: o Number of vacation days U.S. workers are entitled to, but don't take, in a typical year: 175 million Number of paid maternity days in Germany: 98 (1no% pay) Number of paid maternity days in France: 112 (100% pay) Number of paid maternity days in U.S.: 0 Number of industrialized countries that do not mandate paid maternity leave: 1 (yes, the U.S. is the only one that does not require paid leave.) The Costs Average out-of-pocket health care expenses per household in 2012: $3,600 and in 2011: $3,280 and in 2005: $2,035 Average amount needed to send a child to an in-state college for the 2012-13 academic year: $22,261 and for a private college: $43,289 Percentage of Americans near retirement with less than $30,000 in their retirement accounts: 75 EFTA01205735 Percentage increase in housing prices since 199o: 56 Share of Americans that do not have enough money saved to pay their bills for six months: 3/4 The Inequality Average Household Income, 1967-2012 in 2012 dollars, by percentile TOPS% 5300.000 5250.000 5200.000 tor 10% $150,00o 5100.000 SECOND 20% THIRD 20% 550.000 POURTH 20% .0110M 20% 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 SOURCE: CENSUS BUREAU Mother Jones What Happen To The American Dream The US Middle Class Lags Behind Much of the World The fl ed an earenCan ealt tnan ore-Quartet o? the sedan Au,lial an; 5200 000 150.000 100000 50.000 l iful ' 1 1 1 111 1 ,1 ) 1 101 ! • 3 "'Seriously thinking of moving overseas. Economically, many countries are struggling, but they seem to still have better quality of life. Not everything is perfect, there is still crime, there are still rich stupid idiots, but there is less of the government being the evil empire as much as here in the U.S. and more support for smaller less, global corporations. Environmental concerns are evident in legislation and policies. Healthcare is a right which supersedes any right to carry a gun in public. Someone once wrote, `Americans have rights to protection; Europeans have rights to be protected from."" EFTA01205736  — Saundra Hopkins From 1979-2012, the 1 Percent's Incomes Grew by 181 Percent h the same period. to rest of me country sax an incmase of Just 26 percent '3)4 - 2.0c: Top 1Percents Income Bottom 99 Percents Income Increase Increase Although economist may disagree, I view the economy as a zero sum game and if this is true we have to ask why since 1970 to the Top 196's income grew by 1.81.% while the bottom 99%'s income only grew by 2.6% and worker' productivity grew by almost 90%. It is obvious who is getting the short end. And unless Wall Street, stockholders and management decide that it is important to share the wealth with workers the Middle Class squeeze is only going to get worse. ****** NCAA The Hypocrisy in College Sports EFTA01205737 In a second installment of my weekly readings, as you know the NCAA which offers scholarships to its student athletes refuses to pay them like typical employees but what you may not know, the true cost of that arrangement is staggering. Often student athletes injured while playing can sometimes become so debilitated from their injuries that even after recovery they can be classified as disabled, enabled to play sports or concentrate in the classroom and after leaving school can't hold a job. These injured student athletes learn something ugly. Once you are done with college, college is typically done with you and not only are they stuck with the injuries they sustain, they are also stuck with the medical bills. Career ending injuries almost always means medical bills with no end in sight. Even with medical insurance thanks to Obamacare the co-pays and deductibles can cost these injured ex-student athletes tens of thousands of dollars a year. The NCAA says that it is always looking out for its student athletes which is why they consider them student athletes to begin with... to protect them by keeping them as amateurs and not as paid employees who could be exploited by an overly aggressive sports program. But it turns out that not being an employee is the very thing that puts student athletes at risk because it deprives them of the benefit that virtually every worker in all 50 United States is guaranteed by law, Worker's Compensation Insurance which pays for all medical care if they get hurt on the job. Worker's compensation pays i00%, just like the coaches and the guys selling peanuts in the grandstands. So why not the student athletes who have the most dangerous jobs or are the most likely to get injured? Many student athletes end up paying the universities that they played for as a result of the injuries sustained while playing for their same university. This truly seems a little odd but no accident because the term student athlete was created by the NCAA in the 195os in an effort to not have to pay Worker's Compensation after a football player in Colorado was actually killed during a game, and when his family pressed the school for the same survivor benefits that they gave their employees, the NCAA said that he wasn't an employee at all. And invented a new term, student athlete. A term that helped give them the control of an employer without the obligations. This move saved the NCAA an untold fortune because new research shows that former NCAA athletes often suffer physical ailments for the rest of their lives. An Indiana University study last year found that half of them will have chronic injuries by their early 5os, a rate twice that of non-athletes. When you suffer s spine, back or neck injury you are not just EFTA01205738 going to be out for the rest of the season. You are potentially going to be debilitated for the rest of your life. You are going to be restricted in your career opportunities. It can result in a catastrophic illnesses that you will carry for the rest of your life. Some injured student athletes are so debilitated (especially in football but also includes soccer, diving, swimming, water polo, hockey, track & field, eitc.) that they are prohibited from working by their doctors or even driving. They are often in such bad shape that the Federal Government labels them as 'legally disabled' and a ward of the state with their medical bills and living expenses paid by taxpayers. More disturbing is that because schools don't cover injuries a number of critics believe that they are not doing the things normal employers would do to prevent injuries, which means that athletes are not just on the hook for their medical bills but are more likely to get injured to begin with. The whole point of Workman's Comp was to recognize that we want employers who are benefiting from the activities of their employees to bare the costs of their injuries and to try to take steps to reduce the risk of injuries. The biggest problem here is that they don't have very much incentive to reduce those injuries. These student athletes go to college hoping to enhance their earning potential and instead for far too many it has been just the opposite. Many of these injured athletes are unable to sit or work on their feet for sustained periods making it impossible for them to do office work, work as drivers or become police officers or firemen. When actual employees get hurt on the job and lose earning potential Workmen Comp makes up most of the difference so they don't lose money. But since student athletes are not considered employees, they are on their own. And to add insult to injury the schools seen to not care. Few injured student athletes ever hear from their coaches or schools after leaving. Something is wrong. And for those who argue that changing the rules could bankrupt some sports programs.... I say malarkey. With billions of dollars in college sports, why not set aside some money dedicated to the athletes and this can be a piece of the TV revenues and maybe you don't have to pay the coach $6 million and pay him $5 million. It is not implausible that that a system can be created that funnels at least some of the money that goes to pay everybody else, making some very rich in the system except the players to at least at a minimum to provide healthcare. Guaranteed medical coverage should be the be the number one priority in college sports. The other dirty secret in college sports is mental abuse because being a student athlete can be hazard to one's mental health. From day one student athletes are told that if they don't thrive in their meets or games they can kiss their dreams goodbye. Most college coaches make it absolutely clear to their athletes that if they don't perform they will be fired, losing their scholarship and sent home. And if they die they will be replaced in a nanosecond. This type of 'tough coaching' which is common in college sports often borders on abuse and at a much higher rate than in health services, manufacturing, financial institutions, education and the military according to the Ohio State Tepper Scale of Industry Differences in Abuse. Dr. Bennett J. Tepper blames the NCAA system. One that makes it very hard for athletes to transfer schools and punishes coaches who don't deliver wins. They have created a system where you have bosses who are under tremendous strain. The pressure to win is really high. Their job insecurity is really high. That combined with students who have very little power, who can't get away, can't escape and completely vulnerable and even when the NCAA knows of the abuse they more often take little action... leads to a pattern of continued abuse. Yes, the NCAA's rules cap the number of hours a week that a student can spend on sports at 20 per week, so that they have time to eat, sleep and study but the reality is much different as it can total 40 to EFTA01205739 5o hours and more. Coaches don't calculate travel times, chalk sessions, game meals, viewing game tapes, conditioning, 'voluntary drills' which are really mandatory. Some kids can handle being yelled at but there are far too many who end up with PTSD. And when these student athletes, whether they be elite caliber or those who are overworking just to survive it is up to the colleges themselves to protect them and not exploit them. But again we have to find better ways to protect our young people not only from themselves but from the very institutions who are supposed to protect them, instead of exploit. As a result we have to acknowledge that the NCAA system is broken and needs to fixed for our children's sake as the NCAA's win at any cost mantra has bled all away down to Pew Wee leagues and Pop Warner game play.... Rebuild Gaza, and avert the next war A Palestinian schoolgirl walks though the rubble ofdestroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip on March 11. Nearly seven months after the end of the latest war in Gaza, none of the underlying causes of the conflict have been addressed. In the meantime, the people of Gaza are experiencing unprecedented levels of deprivation, and the prospect for renewed armed conflict is very real. In June 2014, the Hamas-backed government in Gaza was dissolved, and a reunified Palestinian Authority cabinet was created under the leadership of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The international community reached a consensus, with tacit support from Israel, to empower this government to lead reconstruction in Gaza and, together with the United Nations, to track the delivery and use of building materials to address fears that cement and other supplies could be diverted to build tunnels into Israel. The $5.4 billion pledged for rebuilding was predicated on the Palestinian Authority asserting itself in Gaza. However, relations between Hamas and its political rivals, Abbas's Fatah party, remain fraught. EFTA01205740 The authority has proven unwilling or unable to govern in Gaza. As a result, the promised reconstruction money has not been delivered. The shortage of funds is the most immediate problem, but it is not the only one: Israel has restricted access to Gaza, with three of four commercial crossing points closed. There is n