W. Lance Bennett, Regina G. Lawrence, and Steven Livingston: When the Press Fails: Political Power and the News Media from Iraq to Katrina

Excerpt from When the Press Fails: Political Power and the News Media from Iraq to Katrina
by W. Lance Bennett, Regina G. Lawrence, and Steven Livingston
University of California Press



Press Politics in America
The Case of the Iraq War

We now know that officials in the Bush administration built a case for the U.S. invasion of Iraq that was open to serious challenge. We also know that evidence disputing ongoing official claims about the war was often available to the mainstream press in a timely fashion. Yet the recurrent pattern, even years into the conflict, was for the official government line to trump evidence to the contrary in the news produced by mainstream news outlets reaching the preponderance of the people. Several years into the conflict, public opinion finally began to reflect the reality of a disintegrating Iraq heading toward civil war, with American troops caught in the middle. But that reckoning came several years too late to head off a disaster that historians may well deem far worse than Vietnam.

There is little doubt that reporting which challenges the public pronouncements of those in power is difficult when anything deviating from authorized versions of reality is met with intimidating charges of bias. Out of fairness, the press generally reports those charges, which in turn reverberate through the echo chambers of talk radio and pundit TV, with the ironic result that the media contribute to their own credibility problem. Yet it is precisely the lack of clear standards of press accountability (particularly guidelines for holding officials accountable) that opens the mainstream news to charges of bias from all sides. In short, the absence of much agreement on what the press should be doing makes it all the more difficult for news organizations to navigate an independent course through pressurized political situations.

The key question is, can the American press as it is currently constituted offer critical, independent reporting when democracy needs it most? In particular, this book examines whether the press capable of offering viewpoints independent of government spin at two key moments when democracy would most benefit: (1) when government’s own public-inquiry mechanisms fail to question potentially flawed or contentious policy initiatives, and (2) when credible sources outside government who might illuminate those policies are available to mainstream news organizations. It may seem obvious that the press should contest dubious policies under these circumstances, but our research indicates otherwise. The great irony of the U.S. press system is that it generally performs well—presenting competing views and vigorous debate—when government is already weighing competing initiatives in its various legal, legislative, or executive settings. Unfortunately, quite a different press often shows up when policy decisions of dubious wisdom go unchallenged within government arenas.
The Iraq Story as Told by the Unwritten Rules of Washington Journalism

Our story begins with the post-9/11 publicity given to the Bush administration’s claims that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction (the now infamous WMDs), and had connections to the terrorists who attacked the United States. Leading news organizations so emphasized those claims over available information to the contrary that two prestigious newspapers later issued apologies to their readers for having gotten so caught up in the inner workings of power in an administration determined to go to war that they lost focus on other voices and other views. Here are excerpts from a now legendary New York Times report from the editors to their readers:

We have found a number of instances of coverage that was not as rigorous as it should have been. In some cases, information that was controversial then, and seems questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged. Looking back, we wish we had been more aggressive in re-examining the claims as new evidence emerged—or failed to emerge.

The problematic articles varied in authorship and subject matter, but many shared a common feature. They depended at least in part on information from a circle of Iraqi informants, defectors and exiles bent on “regime change” in Iraq, people whose credibility has come under increasing public debate in recent weeks. … Complicating matters for journalists, the accounts of these exiles were often eagerly confirmed by United States officials convinced of the need to intervene in Iraq. …

Some critics of our coverage during that time have focused blame on individual reporters. Our examination, however, indicates that the problem was more complicated. Editors at several levels who should have been challenging reporters and pressing for more skepticism were perhaps too intent on rushing scoops into the paper. … Articles based on dire claims about Iraq tended to get prominent display, while follow-up articles that called the original ones into question were sometimes buried. In some cases, there was no follow-up at all.

Despite this introspection, much the same pattern of deferring to officials and underreporting available challenges to their claims would soon repeat itself—beginning the very month in which this critical self-assessment appeared—in reporting on the treatment of prisoners in U.S. military detention centers in Iraq and elsewhere. The importance of the Abu Ghraib story for understanding the close dependence of the press on government spin is developed more fully in chapter 3. For now, the point is that this pattern of calibrating political reality in the news to the inner circles of Washington power will go on, despite occasional moments of self-examination by the press, unless leading news organizations and the journalism profession somehow resolve (and develop a standard) to temper their preoccupation with the powerful officials whose communication experts often manage them so well.

To Read the Rest of the Excerpt

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Information

Information
To the Best of Our Knowledge (Wisconsin Public Radio)

We’ve all heard we live in “the information age,” but what does this mean? We’ll give you a short history of information – from talking drums onward. But do we now have too much information? We’ll hear how information overload is actually re-wiring our brains. Also, the new theory in physics that information may be the basic fabric of the universe.

James Gleick on the History of Information



James Gleick's "The Information" is a sweeping history of information, going back to the invention of writing and the African tradition of talking drums. He tells Steve Paulson that the invention of information technologies has changed the very nature of consciousness.

Borges' "Library of Babel" reading



Borges' "The Library of Babel" has inspired generations of writers and now, many scientists. Here, we read several excerpts from the story.

Nicholas Carr on Internet and the Brain



Nicholas Carr believes the Internet is rewiring the human brain with its instant access to all sorts of information. Are we losing our ability to focus on one thing for any length of time?

Ann Blair on Information Overload



Information overload seems to be the quintessential 21st century problem. Actually, people have worried about this for centuries, going back to the ancient Romans. Ann Blair provides a short history of information-gathering.

Paul Davies on Physics of Information



What are the basic buildings blocks of the universe? Some physicists now say they're not subatomic particles or even the laws of physics, but information itself. Physicist Paul Davies explains.

To Listen to the Episode

The Burt Cohen Show: Taking On Monsanto's Massive Political Muscle

Taking On Monsanto's Massive Political Muscle
The Burt Cohen Show (WSCA: Portsmouth, NH)

We've seen it before in American history: farmers, workers, and young people taking to the streets, uniting against powerful forces of greed. In this case, it's Food Democracy Now and others taking it straight to Monsanto, maker of harm-causing genetically modified organisms. They've seen to it that we don't know when we're eating such foods and that farmers who object to Monsanto's power being subjected to legal harassment and intimidation. But today's guest David Murphy, founder of Food Democracy Now, says the fight for safe foods and farmers' rights has just begun. And we can all help.

To Listen to the Episode

U.S. Job Quality Crashes During The "Recovery"

I've asserted here at TDS a few times that the quality of the jobs being created during our great and glorious economic "recovery" on average pay less and provide fewer benefits that the jobs that were destroyed during the 2008-2009 timeframe. Now comes the confirmation in a story published this week by Market Watch:

U.S. employment is still down almost 6 million jobs since the Great Recession began, and industry growth has been uneven during the recovery.

A July report from the National Employment Law Project, a New York–based advocacy group, found that while employment losses during the recession were concentrated in midwage occupations, gains during the early part of the recovery were greatest in lower-wage occupations. During the early recovery, there was relatively large employment growth in lower-wage jobs such as retail salespeople and office clerks, compared with losses in higher-wage occupations such as police officers, first-line supervisors, and managers of construction trades and extraction workers.

With almost 13 million unemployed workers, competition is intense, and some workers with new jobs are taking cuts in pay and responsibilities. Henry Farber, an economist at Princeton University in New Jersey, studied employment in the Great Recession, and found that job losers who found new positions earned on average 17.5% less in the new job.

Not one to nitpick there, Professor Farber, but "job losers" is a rather unfortunate term to use when describing these people.

But wait, lower wages aren't the only problem:

Good jobs are associated with good benefits, said Austin Nichols, an economist at the Urban Institute, a Washington-based think tank.

“There’s a widening gap between the haves and the have-nots,” Nichols said.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, those covered by health insurance declined to 83% in 2009 from 86% in 1999. Over that time period, those with employment-based coverage fell to 56% from 64%...

Given the staggeringly high price of health insurance these days, it is pretty much a given that the 8% of the workforce that has lost its employer provided health care has a lot less money to spend on other things if they are paying the full amount themselves. Or maybe they are not paying at all, which means they are just one serious health problem away from bankruptcy and destitution.

Nevertheless, hope still springs eternal, especially if you are a Harvard economist who doesn't actually have to work for a living:

The economy is just starting its jobs recovery, and it will take years for the full impact of the current administration’s policies to manifest in the labor market in areas such as health care and infrastructure, said Lawrence Katz, an economist at Harvard University. While Republicans deride President Barack Obama’s record, the economy would be worse without federal stimulus, Katz contended.

“We probably have several million more jobs today than we would have had,” Katz said. “Given the direction that things were going, I think the administration’s policies played an important role in preventing something that looked like the Great Depression. No matter how bad things are now it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.”

See, all it took was for the country to borrow over $5 trillion it didn't have in just over three years to bring us all the way back to where we are slowly creating shitty jobs with no benefits. Of course, the author of this piece didn't bother to ask the esteemed Professor Katz what will happen when the day comes that the federal government can no longer afford to engage is such wild reckless deficit spending. Being a Harvard economist automatically shields you from ever being asked to come down out of your ivory tower and actually observe how things are in the real world.

So this is where we stand today: an anemic economic recovery purchased with trillions of dollars borrowed from the future that will never be repaid, with skyrocketing gasoline and food prices putting ever more pressure on the poor souls who even if they have been lucky enough to find another job are making far less money than they used to. The Great Muddle continues on, as clueless economists like Lawrence Katz cheerlead for the rearranging of the deck chairs on The Titanic.


Bonus: This fucking job

Wealthy people were more likely to steal candy from children

This is great!

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/economy/are-wealthy-less-ethical

What's common between the PIIGS and India's electricity utilities?

For a start, both are deeply in the red and require debt restructuring programs that need to go beyond mere rescheduling or re-packaging. Further, both need fundamental reforms that the respective policymakers and governments appear unwilling to embrace! And finally, in both cases, so far governments have been interested in merely kicking the can down the road.

Both governments appear to be treating the symptoms instead of the underlying problems. The Eurozone needs to face up to the reality that its peripheral economies' debt problems can recede only if their economies grow fast enough to bring down the debt-to-GDP ratios. This would require abandoning the current austerity programs and embracing policies that address fundamental issues like competitiveness problems (Ken Rogoff says wages should be halved), banking solvency, and fiscal transfers from the core economies.

In Eurozone, everyone realizes that the immediate problem is the resolution of the massive debt overhang faced by governments and financial institutions in many peripheral economies. After having exhausted all the conventional interest rate monetary policy tools and faced with ballooning debt finance costs by countries like Greece, the European Central Bank (ECB) first introduced a bond-purchase program in May 2010. After it failed to unfreeze the credit markets and lower yields and when fears of defaults mounted, threatening even Italy and Spain, in August 2011 the ECB announced a three-year concessional long-term capital provision program for Eurozone banks.

Some of those banks in turn used the money to buy higher-yielding government bonds, facilitating governments’ access to affordable credit without violating a legal ban that prevents the central bank from financing governments. The first infusion involved provision of of €489 billion (or $642.5 billion at the current exchange rate) in low cost three-year loans to 523 banks. The second round is slated for February 29, 2012.

In case of India's mostly state-owned distribution utilities, faced with an estimated losses (or non-performing loans) worth nearly Rs 70000 Cr over the last five years (since 2006) and a possible cumulative losses of over Rs 1.75 lakh Cr, the Government of India (GoI) is training its energies on a way out of this massive debt gridlock. A Planning Commission report has suggested that these loans be ring-fenced into special purpose vehicles guaranteed by the state government.

However, any sustainable solution would need both GoI and the state governments to implement policies that dramatically lower the shamefully high distribution losses, increase tariffs periodically to bring it in line with cost of service, and reduce the haemorrhage due to the free power for agriculture. A report released by credit rating agency Crisil estimated the gap between the average cost of supply per unit of power and the realization per unit was as high as 86 paise.

All stakeholders would do well to remember that such debt restructuring is not new to the electricity sector. Early last decade, before the current wave of deregulation and liberalization in the sector started, the accummulated losses of the State Electricity Boards (SEBs) were hived off their balance sheets and the SEBs were unbundled. Ten years down the line, nothing much appears to have changed as the next round of debt restructuring looms large.

In conclusion, both Eurozone countries and distribution utilities need to not only shake-away their debts but also undertake fundamental structural reforms. In the former, it will have to involve policies that sets the stage for recovery and economic growth, which in turn will reduce the debt-to-GDP ratios. The latter will have to follow a two-pronged approach of atleast partially off-loading their debts and simultaneously embracing all the earlier mentioned reforms.

SunCor Development (Arizona) Files For Bankruptcy

image: Abandoned Housing Development. Arizona Desert, 2009

Another major housing crash casualty was reported yesterday by The Arizona Republic:

Pinnacle West Capital Corp. subsidiary and once-prominent local developer SunCor Development Co. has filed petitions in U.S. Bankruptcy Court as a final step toward dissolving the company and its remaining subsidiaries.

Tempe-based SunCor Development's board of directors signed a resolution Friday authorizing the voluntary bankruptcy filing, which includes 17 SunCor subsidiaries.

This was another company that was flying high until the bubble burst, sending it plummeting back to Earth:

Incorporated in 1986, SunCor grew to become one of the Southwest's most prominent developers in the 1990s and early 2000s, developing residential communities, golf courses and commercial-real-estate projects.

At the peak of its success in 2005, SunCor had nearly 800 employees, according to Pinnacle West.

The company ran into serious financial trouble in 2008, after the collapse of both the residential and commercial real-estate markets.

And lo, we see the death of yet another company which had the long term viability of a golf course in the middle of the desert.


Bonus: Dry the rain

YRC Trucking Cutting 221 Jobs In Ohio

With the price of gasoline and diesel fuel skyrocketing again, I'm surprised we haven't seen more announcements like this one from the Dayton Business Journal:

YRC Worldwide is cutting jobs in Ohio as it cuts costs and reduces its presence through its trucking subsidiaries operating in the state, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

The Dispatch reported that YRC Freight notified Ohio officials it would cut 121 jobs from a trucking terminal in Columbus. The cuts include 64 drivers, 33 dock workers, 18 mechanics and six switchers, according to the report.

Last month the company said it was cutting 100 jobs in Akron.

Back in 2008 during the first major peak oil related spike in oil prices, there were a lot of stories in the news about distressed trucking businesses. Expect another such wave of stories if this current spike worsens as expected.


Bonus: The theme song for the silliest movie about trucks ever made

Psychology/Psychiatry: Peace and Conflict Studies Archive

Ariely, Dan. "The Upside of Irrationality." FORA TV (June 7, 2010)

Century of the Self (UK: Adam Curtis, 2002)

Fry, Douglas P. "Peace in Our Time: Steven Pinker offers a curiously foreshortened account of humanity's irenic urges." Bookforum (December/January 2012)

Heath, Roderick. "A Dangerous Method (2011)." Ferdy on Films (December 18, 2011)

Horowitz, Anthony, et al. "Mysteries of Childhood." To the Best Of Our Knowledge." (September 18, 2011)

The Icarus Project ["The Icarus Project envisions a new culture and language that resonates with our actual experiences of 'mental illness' rather than trying to fit our lives into a conventional framework. We are a network of people living with and/or affected by experiences that are commonly diagnosed and labeled as psychiatric conditions. We believe these experiences are mad gifts needing cultivation and care, rather than diseases or disorders. By joining together as individuals and as a community, the intertwined threads of madness, creativity, and collaboration can inspire hope and transformation in an oppressive and damaged world. Participation in The Icarus Project helps us overcome alienation and tap into the true potential that lies between brilliance and madness. The Icarus Project is a collaborative, participatory adventure fueled by inspiration and mutual aid. We bring the Icarus vision to reality through an Icarus national staff collective and a grassroots network of autonomous local support groups and Campus Icarus groups across the US and beyond."]

Levine, Bruce E. "Are Americans A Broken People?" The Burt Cohen Show (May 24, 2011)

---. "How Ayn Rand Seduced Generations of Young Men and Helped Make the U.S. Into a Selfish, Greedy Nation." AlterNet (December 15, 2011)

---. "Toward a Healthy Society." Equal Time for Freethought (June 4, 2011)

Pruitt, Jos. "Racist Psychology Today article claims black women are objectively less attractive than other women." Feministing (May 16, 2011)

To the Best of Our Knowledge: Mysteries of Childhood

Mysteries of Childhood
To The Best of Our Knowledge

Alex Rider, Nancy Drew, The Cat in the Hat, and Harold and the Purple Crayon – for millions of children of all ages, they're some of the most imaginative and mysterious stories around. But as it turns out, the authors sometimes have their own, personal mysteries to share. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll talk with Anthony Horowitz, the creator of the Alex Rider series, about his complicated past. Michael Chabon talks about some of the stories that shaped his childhood. And we'll hear about the radical political origins of some of best known children's books.

Anthony Horowitz on Fiction for Children



Anthony Horowitz has written dozens of books for children, including the teen superspy series featuring Alex Rider.

Ellen Handler Spitz on "The Brightening Glance"



Ellen Handler Spitz is the author of many books on psychology and aesthetics. She talks with Jim Fleming about her latest - "The Brightening Glance: Imagination and Childhood."

Michael Chabon on "Manhood for Amateurs"



Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Michael Chabon has written both for adults and young readers. In a recent book of essays, "Manhood for Amateurs," Chabon tackles his own childhood.

Julia Mickenberg on "Tales for Little Rebels"



Julia Mickenberg tells Steve that some of the best known children's book writers were longtime political radicals.

To Listen to the Episode

American Culture Research Paper

Research Paper on American Culture

American Style

The phenomenon of American culture can be explained by the fact that it was developing apart from traditional conservatism of European culture where prejudices and old beliefs dominated over the minds of people for a long time. Its early history and early evens which led to the creation of the new nation had contributed to the future American culture and American character. The idea of American culture has been always based on equity and democracy principles, even the first colonies of puritans were self governed and were the first cells of democracy. Historically favorable economical and political conditions made the USA a land of opportunities for Europeans and immigrants from Asia as they could fully realize themselves in case they worked hard.

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Geographical isolation from Europe and neutrality of the USA in major conflicts of continental Europe created a unique outlook and attitudes towards the rest of the world. Today American culture is a unique culture which is characterized by an individualism of outlook and unique attitudes toward material and spiritual components of one’s life. In many respects it’s of course based on traditional European values and European culture as both cultures have Christian religion as a main source of moral and are based on Christian values and Christian virtues.

Traditional American values are: material success, individualism, democracy and education played a key role in forming what is now known as American society. In many respects all of these values are mutually dependent as they re based on the principles of freedom and individualism. These principles play one of the major roles not only society but in economics and in nature in general. Suppressing freedom one can not achieve stability and prosperity. Freedom of trade, freedom of religion and freedom of speech these were the freedoms which were in the USA in the eighteenth century already and which were realized in Europe only fifty-seventy years later. Freedoms and democracy influenced the American culture and consciousness of people in different ways: Americans are sure that every one is equal behalf the law, everyone has equal opportunities. Equality and democracy are seen everywhere in the society: in the family, education, relations between representatives of different cultures in multi-ethnic communities of American cities, religious tolerance, and liberty in the issues of diversity of minorities and sexual issues. From the other side values of equality and democracy also contribute on the attitudes of a person towards the country and towards national symbols, as there are few countries where citizens demonstrate such patriotism as Americans do. 

Another value of material success and financial prosperity also influenced American consciousness. It’s seen in the desire of young Americans to quickly gain financial independence from their parents, individualism and desire to make decisions independently from early age. American youth becomes more responsible and financially independent earlier than their coevals from Europe or Asia, where there are closer inner family relations and bigger dependence of children upon the will of the parents. From this point material success, prosperity and social passion is measurement in American society, it’s a measurement of personality, his fortune and his abilities. In difference to other cultures the measurement of success and prosperity in the USA is hard work, persistence and diligence, none in America says “you are lucky” to the person who is richer or who got a higher grade on test.

Globalization processes of course play a great role on the dynamics in modern societies and cultures, and the USA is not an exception. It’s generally agreed that it was formed on the base of English; German and Irish culture in many respects but other cultures of Western, eastern and Southern Europe influenced it also. American culture got the influence from the African and Asian peoples as well. Still the first three cultures remained to be dominant. Probably today it’ hard to draw and describing details the particularities of any sub culture inside of American culture if we don’t take into consideration religious side and emotional particularities of the representatives of this culture. The main difference probably would be the issue of existing collectivism in a number of sub cultures, while American traditional culture is more an individual one. Individualism is characteristic for the most of European cultures (British, French, German, Scandinavian, etc.) Collectivism is more common for Eastern cultures, eastern religion and also nearly all Southern Europe (including Spain and Italy). In these cultures the role of the individual is seen only inside of a group of relatives or other close people which are mutually dependent.

It’s not similar for traditional American culture, where individualism is probably one of the key factors in personal success within American society. Individualism results in the growth of responsibilities of an individual, his responsibility over the decisions he makes, etc. But at the same time individualism sometimes results in alienation of members of society not only from other members of society, but from their close people, relatives, children, parents, etc. Perhaps it’s one of the main social problems in the USA today, it’s the thing I would like to change in myself, and from this point traditional American culture has a lot to borrow from other cultures, where the value of the family is central. It will help to save family in traditional understanding and will also help to preserve Christian tradition of family.

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Warning!!! All free online research papers, research paper samples and example research papers on American Culture topics are plagiarized and cannot be fully used in your high school, college or university education.


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Research Paper on Workplace Violence

From early years we are taught to watch out for the dangers out there in the world. We are also taught that the world we are living in is violent and we should be constantly aware that this violence can interfere with our lives. It is not complicated to give examples of violent things in the world we have to watch out for. We all know that at night some neighborhoods are dangerous and violent, thus we restrain from going there in the late hours. We all know that one should be careful with people he/she does not know, because these people may come out to be treacherous and brutal. We actually came to be familiar with possible sources of violence and in some way managed to live in today’s world.

 However, in the last couple of years much attention is given to a new kind of violence. Surely, this type of violence is not new, and it has been present for centuries, though it has received publicity only in the last couple of years. The type of violence I am talking about is the workplace violence.

As the name suggests, workplace violence is violence or the threat of violence against workers at the place of their work.  Workplace violence ranges from verbal threats and abuse to physical attacks, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening, disruptive behavior and homicide. In fact, physical assaults and murders are actually the leading causes of job-related deaths.

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Without a shadow of doubt, workplace violence can occur everywhere: in a little grocery store on the outskirts of the city as well as in a big corporation situated in the downtown. The environment does not always have to be the stressor that leads to the occurrence of violence incident. An employee may be experiencing psychological problems, be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or suffering from familial stress. Workplace violence may occur with and be committed by individuals of different genders, all races, religions and financial statuses. However, some workers tend to be more at risk to face workplace violence. One of the groups of workers that has an increased risk of workplace violence are the workers who exchange money, deliver passengers, goods, or services. 

Another group, are those people who work alone or in small groups during late nights or early morning hours in high-crime areas. One more group of possible victims are employees that work in the community or home settings, such as visiting nurses, social care workers, gas, electricity and water utility employees, phone and cable TV installers, and other professionals of this kind. Additionally, the group that suffers one of the biggest rates of workplace violence includes the taxi drivers.

The description of vulnerable groups above makes it clear to define what actually makes a workplace or a job dangerous. However, lower I would like to one more time draw out the characteristics of violent workplaces that the above professions have in common. First of all, violence often occurs when one works alone or with a very small group of people (1). In such cases the offender chooses to attack the plaintiff because he understands that the latter would not be able to do anything to protect him/herself. Secondly, violence often occurs in the home setting (2), where the worker is alone with the offender at his house. In such cases the offender feels his/her power over the victim because the violence occurs in the setting familiar to him/her. Thirdly, workplace violence is often to occur in competitive environments (3) because of a strong desire for domination. Lastly, violence occurs in the workplaces with strictly hierarchical settings (4), where one individual feels privileged over another (A Comprehensive Guide for Employers and Employees).

Workplace violence can be divided into four main types that are: violence by strangers, violence by customers or clients, violence by coworkers, violence by personal relations. The violence by strangers (1) involves threats and harassment by people who do not have legitimate business relations to the workplace. Such type of workplace violence occurs when a stranger enters the premises of the workplace with an intention of robbery, murder, harassment or rape. This type of workplace violence annually takes away millions of lives worldwide. Violence by customers (2) or clients involves verbal or physical attacks by assailants who either receive services from the individual, or are under the custodial supervision of the affected workplace or the victim. In certain industries this type of violence occurs on every day basis. This kind of violence is usually conducted by individuals with criminal record or mental disabilities, in this case the ways of prevention are well-recognized. 

Additionally, this kind of violence can be situational and can occur because the client or customer is unsatisfied with goods or services. Violence by coworkers (3) is the physical or verbal assaults by people who have employment related involvement with the workplace.  As it has been mentioned, this type of violence may occur in every setting and it accounts for a much smaller proportion of the fatalities than violence by strangers.  Lastly, the violence by personal relations (4) is violent actions conducted by assailants who confront an individual with whom he/she has or had a personal relationship outside of work. This violence is usually targeted at ex spouses, girl/boyfriends that are working together with the assailant (A Comprehensive Guide for Employers and Employees).  

It is possible to draw up a list of setting that can signal workplace violence. These indicators/signals are as follows. Firstly, these are threatening, harassing, bullying, aggressive, or other inappropriate behavior towards individual or individuals. Secondly, these are constant and aggressively-carried-out conflicts with customers, co-workers, or supervisors.

It is obvious that the employers should be eager to prevent workplace violence. They should be interested in such prevention because it will help them maintain content and healthy employees that will work satisfactorily and this will also help them maintain the right corporate imagine. The first means that can be taken to prevent workplace violence is creating a sound prevention plan that is only a small part of agency’s workplace violence program (Bowie, Fisher, pp. 229-232). In the framework of the plan the agency should develop the following programs: Pre-Employment Screening that includes working out special pre-employment screening techniques that would provide full information about the possible employees. It is vital to develop a security program that will ensure employee safety. Techniques for security program may include employee photo identification badges, guard services, and individual coded key cards for access to the premises. It is useful for an agency to create a Threat Assessment Team that will work with management to assess the possibilities of workplace violence and develop and execute a plan to address it (Dealing with Workplace Violence, a Guide for Agency Planners). Nevertheless, the most essential part of workplace violence prevention is training. Training is necessary for employees, managers, and supervisors. Training will raise awareness of the concept and will prepare the employees to respond to such unfortunate occurrences (The USDA Handbook on Workplace Violence Prevention and Response).

To conclude the paper I would like to say that our society has become increasingly technological, industrialized and mobile. We managed to set foot on the Moon, to create computers with extraordinary abilities, we  came up with a way to fit a phone, a computer, a camera, a music player and many other functions into one device. It seems that we have managed to accomplish everything we had to and we are continuing to create new things. When thinking about it, a question may arise, if we are so creative and successful when it comes to technological devices, why can not we also come up with solutions that will stop workplace violence and violence in general. The question is sound, though when it comes to people things cannot be as black and white as they are when it comes to machinery and technology.

As sad as it is, being violent is in the nature of people. Coworkers get jealous of each others’ success and some of them, who are not mentally stable, take this anger out on the successful counterparts. 

This is unfortunate, however this is unavoidable. People setting higher positions often abuse people who work under them and who are less influential than they are. This is also unfortunate, but this is unavoidable. In my opinion, it is indeed vital to create and implement employee protection programs and do everything in order to stop violent cases. At the same time, even with the best awareness and prevention programs it is often impossible to change the human nature. Consequently, sadly, cases of workplace violence will continue to occur. __________________________________________________________

Warning!!! All free online research papers, research paper samples and example research papers on Workplace Violence topics are plagiarized and cannot be fully used in your high school, college or university education.


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George Will Has A Rare Moment of Lucidity On High Gas Prices

Continuing on with the high gas prices theme from this morning's post, here's one for the You Really Can't Make This Shit Up file. This past Sunday conservative scold George Will, the very same guy who once labelled the idea of building more passenger rail service "collectivism," ripped Tea Party dipshit Representative Allen West and Newt Gingrich for blaming Obama for high gas prices. Here is The Raw Story with the set up:

Conservative columnist George Will says it’s “economic nonsense” for tea party favorite Rep. Allen West (R-FL) to blame President Barack Obama for the high cost of putting gas in his Hummer.

Writing on his Facebook page last week, West charged that Obama’s energy policy was “insidious political gimmickry.”

“Here is the bottom line, last night it took 70 dollars to fill the tank of my 2008 H3 Hummer, what is it costing you?” he asked.

And here is Will's exact quote:

“Allen West from south Florida, a Republican, said he was outraged this week because it cost him $70 to fill his car,” Will pointed out. “He drives a Hummer. Newt Gingrich said the American people have a right to demand $2.50 gas. They have a right to demand to lobsters grow on trees. I mean, this is economic nonsense.”

I never thought I would say this, George, but I agree with you completely. I only wish, in light of your own previous "economic nonsense" about collectivist mass transit, that one of the other panelists on your show had asked you exactly what bright ideas you have for addressing high gasoline prices. That would have been entertaining to watch.

Much as the know-nothing West in particular may deserve it, you can take this attack as a pretty obvious sign that the arrogant Will was speaking for establishment conservatives who have officially had it with the Tea Party.


Bonus: Allen West's car probably isn't what Billy Corgan had in mind when he wrote this song--but whatever

So What Happens If Gasoline Hits $5.00 A Gallon This Summer?

You gotta love the mainstream media. For months now the drumbeat has been about how the economic recovery in the U.S. is picking up steam, even though the only two indicators which are in agreement with that assertion are stocks and jobs, both of with are being relentless manipulated by the Federal Reserve and the Bureau of Labor Lying Statistics respectively. Nevertheless, despite the persistant propaganda designed to get the consumers suckers back into the malls and spending freely again, the media just can't resist the temptation to goose its ratings/readership/page views by doing a little scaremongering over rising gasoline prices. Numerous stories have appeared in the last week breathlessly proclaiming that gasoline prices will hit $5.00 a gallon by this summer.

You would think that someone would quickly spot the inherent contradiction here. After all, every recession since the 1970s has been preceded by a spike in oil and gas prices. But, surprisingly, you would be wrong about that, as shown by an article which appeared over the weekend on MSNBC.com. The title, "8 Reasons Why Gas Will Hit $5 a Gallon This Year," seems straightforward enough, but let's take a closer look at their supposed "expert" analysis. Here are the reasons from the article listed in order, followed by my commentary:

1. Strait of Hormuz
About 20 percent of the crude oil produced in the world is shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran has threatened to shut down shipping traffic through the Strait. At its narrowest, the passage is 30 miles wide, so there is a realistic case that a conflict could close it. Iran has already been isolated as a trade partner by U.S. and EU sanctions. The regime in the country has made a number of threats about what it might do if its “national interests” were threatened. If Iran follows through with its threats, the period the passage is closed could be very brief if the U.S. Navy, which has a carrier group in the region, moves to reopen the lane. But it is not clear that the American government would make that decision without the open support of allies or the United Nations. A closure of the passage, or any escalation that would make a closure more likely, will drive oil prices higher -- and by extension, gasoline prices.

No argument there. Tensions involving this key oil transportation checkpoint are certainly putting speculative upward pressure on prices. Let's move on.

2. Iran
Iran contributes to a second problem in terms of global oil supply well beyond that of its ability to interrupt supply. Because of the embargo against the nation due to nuclear weapons violations, the U.S. has pressured large oil importers such as Japan to act to isolate Iran by cutting their imports. This puts Japan in a position in which it has to tap even tighter global supply. Japan apparently has agreed to cut its Iranian crude imports by 20 percent. But as the world’s third largest oil importer, Japan indeed will have to get its oil somewhere other than Iran -- which will put more pressure on current production.

Not sure I agree with this one. The sanctions against Iran are laughably self-defeating given that China and India have shown no inclination to join the embargo against Iranian oil, and as long as Persian oil is being bought somewhere, there should not be any corresponding increase in world oil prices as that just means those two countries will buy less elsewhere.

3. Refiners raising prices
Most of the oil refined on the east coast of the U.S. is Brent crude, a type of oil produced from the North Sea. The price of Brent -- more than $124 a barrel -- is almost $16 higher than the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, the amount most people read about in the media. But because Brent has replaced WTI as the global price benchmark, U.S. refiners set prices for gasoline and other products as if Brent were the only grade of crude used. That allows refiners with access to cheaper WTI to make larger profits.

However, when the prices converge, as happened in the final two months of 2011, WTI refiners lose their edge -- and their hefty profits. “Refiners were losing money in November and December. You can only lose money for so long,” John Felmy, chief economist for the American Petroleum Institute, recently said. Many large refineries are owned by public companies that do not have much appetite for posting ongoing losses. To avoid losses, refiners will have to increase gasoline prices.

Can't quibble with this one in light of the recent refinery shut downs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which certainly wouldn't have happened if they were turning big profits.

4. Other geopolitical risks
Iran does not present the only geopolitical challenge to oil production. In Nigeria, which is the 14th largest producer of oil in the world, Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram has continued to attack Christian areas of the country. The Nigerian Army has reacted by attacking Islamists. Militants have continued to attack pipelines, apparently in a move to disrupt the government.

This segment went on to mention Venezuela and other unstable Middle Eastern countries, but I've left that part out for brevity's sake. Again, no argument here.

5. The EU may save itself
For now, Greece has been bailed out again -- a move that should buoy confidence in the region and encourage demand for oil. Even with the Greek bailout, however, the eurozone is not out of the woods as nations continue to implement austerity measures to protect against the risk of default on sovereign debt.

Also edited down for brevity's sake. Can the EU muddle through for another year? Well, it pretty much muddled all the way through last year, so it certainly is possible.

But here is where things suddenly begin to go completely off track and way out into la-la land:

6. U.S. economic recovery
An improved U.S. economy means higher oil prices. U.S. GDP, employment and even housing have all staged unexpected improvements in recent months. Many economists now peg a 2012 GDP increase at more than 2 percent. The new White House budget assumes growth of 3 percent by 2013. An average of more than 100,000 jobs has been created in each of the past six months. And an extension of payroll tax cuts through the end of this year may further aid the employment recovery. An extension of unemployment benefits means that hundreds of thousands of American who would have no income, will have at least enough to consume basic goods and services. The argument that Americans now drive less is not a powerful one for gas and oil demand when a healthy economy also means more consumption of oil for business, petrochemicals and jet fuel. Demand for oil-based products across the entire economy will pick up with any recovery.

Even if you buy the recovery propaganda, how can any rational observer of the economy not realize what will happen to the American consumer well before gas prices hit $5.00 a gallon? Is 2008 really that far in the past that it has been completely forgotten? That year, gas prices topped out in July at a national average of $4.11, and the shock to the system was so traumatic that it helped trigger a deflationary crash across the financial sector. By January of 2009, gas prices bottomed out at $1.61 (figures courtesy of the chart above from Gas Buddy.com). Yet we're supposed to believe that prices shooting towards $5.00 wouldn't cause an even worse economic shock this time around?

But wait, it gets even more absurd:

7. Summer
In the U.S., summer vacation driving has historically boosted demand for gasoline. Over the past three or so years, however, that boost has been small, if present at all. In 2011, U.S. traffic volume decreased year-over-year in every month except January and February. But that was last year. So long as the U.S. economy continues to improve, more drivers will be on the road this summer.

Right here we see the blind spot of every economic commentator who uses the raw jobs figures to back up the claim of economic recovery. Are there more jobs now than there were a year ago? Undoubtedly. Are most of those newly created jobs the kind of stable, good paying positions which would allow their holders to take a couple of weeks off this summer and take the family out for a long driving vacation? Unlikely. It seems like many of those who get paid to write articles like this one in the mainstream media think that everyone who has a job is as comfortable and well off as they are.

8. Supply risk
In December 2011, OPEC members produced nearly 31 million barrels a day, cutting the cartel’s spare capacity capability from 3.18 million barrels per day to 2.85 million. Saudi Arabia accounts for 2.15 million of those daily barrels of spare capacity.

Again, edited down for brevity. Maybe Saudi Arabia has that spare capacity. Maybe it doesn't. No one outside the desert kingdom really knows for sure. But at least the article ends on a more sensible note.

To sum up, there are a lot of very good reasons to believe that oil and gas prices are going to rise higher in the coming months, but reasons six and seven listed above are absolutely laughable in their absurdity. The fact that they were included in an otherwise relatively astute analysis shows just how powerful the propaganda spewed forth by the Hologram really is.

What will happen if gas prices hit a nationwide average of $5.00 a gallon this summer? Personally, I think that absent a war with Iran we're not going to find out. Because while the economic free fall we experienced in late 2008 and early 2009 was halted by the enormous increase in federal deficit spending and the loose monetary policies of the Federal Reserve, the economy is far too fragile withstand prices surging to that level. Almost certainly, another financial market crash will short circuit the rise in gas prices well before they reach those lofty heights, at least for this year.


Bonus: "Putting out the fire with gasoline"

India's non-inflationary growth rate

The RBI Governor D Subba Rao candidly admitted that India's non-inflationary economic growth rate was 7%. In other words, in order to grow beyond 7% without stoking high inflation, India should take steps to ease supply-side constraints like infrastructure bottlenecks, food production deficiency, labour supply shortages and so on.

In this context, a linear extrapolation of India's GDP growth rates since 1951 reveal that the current trend growth rate may be at about 7%. It is obvious that the economy has been growing above the trend growth rate for a some time now, thereby stoking the inevitable inflationary pressures.



If this trend growth rate has to move upwards, it is important to increase the productive capacity of the economy. This can be achieved only with increased investment activity, especially in fixed capital formation. However, on both counts, investment rate and gross fixed capital formation, the Indian economy has been doing badly since the onset of the recession.

Casa Gallardo To 200 Missouri Employees: GTFO, We're Shutting Down

I think it was around last year at this time, before I started blogging here at TDS, that the Perkins restaurant chain shut down a bunch of its locations so abruptly that the wait staff actually had to kick some of the customers out in the middle of their meals. Well, here comes a story from KSDK.com of another chain shutting down locations almost as abruptly:

More than 200 Casa Gallardo employees are in shock after going to work Thursday only to learn it was their last day. All four restaurants in our area closed abruptly.

More than 200 people left work stunned. Employees of Casa Gallardo restaurants were told by corporate officials the restaurants would be closing for good, just minutes before the shutdown.

"They told us to call last call for alcohol and to tell our customers we were shutting down forever," said former employee Jessica Nickel.

That's how Nickel found out she was losing her job as a bartender with Casa Gallardo.

Thursday evening corporate officials from parent company "Real Mex Restaurants" flew in from California to shutdown the locations. Two hundred employees and 16 managers are now out of work.

Nickel has been at the Bridgeton location for about a month, and is three months pregnant.

"It was hard. A lot of us were crying, so, it was definitely difficult," she said.

Corporate officials say the decision to close the restaurants came about one week ago. Workers weren't informed until around 5 p.m. Thursday, just minutes before closing early.

Stay classy, assholes. And maybe someday it will be you escorted out of your comfy corporate offices with no fucking warning. At least, I hope so.


Bonus: "That's the way that it goes...when you're down here with the rest of us"

Newt Gingrich Calls For The U.S. To Leave Afghanistan

Okay, I realize that pointing out the many hypocrisies and inconsistencies of Newt Gingrich is a bit like casting a fishing line in a goldfish bowl. The man has proven time and again that he is capable of saying pretty much anything in his never-ending quest to pander to whatever audience he is standing in front of at that particular moment. Nevertheless, his recent criticism of Obama for apologizing after some of our servicemen burned a bunch of Korans over in Afghanistan was really pretty stunning in its implications.

First, lets set the stage. As reported by Reuters, the Afghans are just a little bit honked off by the Koran burnings:

Seven U.S. military trainers were wounded on Sunday when a grenade was thrown at their base in northern Afghanistan, police said, as anti-Western fury deepened over the burning of the Koran at a NATO base.

Despite an apology from U.S. President Barack Obama, riots raged across the country for a sixth day on Sunday against the desecration of the Muslim holy book at a NATO air base at Bagram. Some protesters hoisted the white Taliban flag.

The Afghan Interior Ministry identified one of its employees as a suspect in the fatal shooting of two U.S. officers in its headquarters a day earlier, an attack that prompted NATO to recall its staff from ministries.

One civilian was killed, 15 more were wounded and three policemen injured in riots near the NATO base in northern Kunduz province, where the blast that wounded the Americans took place, regional police chief Samihullah Qatra told reporters.

NATO confirmed there had been an explosion outside one of its bases in northern Afghanistan, but declined to comment on casualties.

The protests have killed 30 people and wounded 200, including two other U.S. troops who were shot dead by an Afghan soldier who joined rallies in the country's east.

Sure is funny how you can occupy a country for over a decade and wantonly drop drone missiles and otherwise indiscriminately bomb its citizens for years, but it isn't until you burn a bunch of holy books that the population begins to rise up en masse against you. However insincere Obama's apology obviously was, he really had no other choice than to at least try to calm things down.

But that isn't how the Angry Little Attack Muffin sees it. Here's the story from Russia Today:

Gingrich responded to the president’s attempt to qualm anti-American sentiment by insisting that Obama is in the wrong for trying to make peace with people whose religion has been ridiculed by US troops. Americans official are calling the Koran incident inadvertent, and, nonetheless, Gingrich says there is no point in the president saying he’s sorry.

“There seems to be nothing that radical Islamists can do to get Barack Obama’s attention in a negative way and he is consistently apologizing to people who do not deserve the apology of the president of the United States period,” Gingrich told supporters during a campaign stop Thursday in Washington State.

Blah...blah...blah. So typical of Gingrich, a man who was great for his party when he was a sniping backbencher in Congress, but an absolute disaster when he was elected Speaker of the House and had to, you know, actually run things. But the real stunner came in this next series of quotes:

"It is Hamid Karzai who owes the American people an apology, not the other way around,” said the speaker.

“And, candidly, if Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, doesn’t feel like apologizing then we should say good bye and good luck, we don’t need to be here risking our lives and wasting our money on somebody who doesn’t care,” he added.

I never could have imagined that anything would ever pop out of Gingrich's stinking pie hole that I could agree with, but damn if didn't finally happen. Not the part about Karzai apologizing. That I couldn't give a shit about. It's the "we don’t need to be here risking our lives and wasting our money" part that is true now and has been true for more than a decade ever since President George Bush the Lesser became impatient with the Osama Bin Laden manhunt and misdirected the military's attention towards Iraq instead.

Obama should jump at the political cover he was just given by the Newster and announce that since Karzai hasn't apologized to the United States, all NATO forces will be immediately withdrawn from Afghanistan. And when the Republicans shriek in horror and try to call Obama an appeaser, he can then say that he is merely following the wise and sage advice of one Newt Gingrich.

Mr. Paperback Bookstore Chain (Maine) To Close

I've covered the travails of the publishing and retail book industries here enough times that I really don't feel like rehashing it again. Here is the latest such sad news, from the Bangor Daily News:

Mr. Paperback, a bookstore chain that has been a fixture in Maine for 50 years, will be closing and its sister company, Magazines Inc., will be bought out, an owner of the companies said Friday.

Mr. Paperback’s 80 employees and Magazines Inc.’s 40 employees will be laid off, co-owner Penny Robichaud said. The companies notified their staffs on Wednesday.

“Business is not great. It seemed like it might be a good time to get out,” said Mr. Paperback General Manager Jim McCree. Both companies will cease operation by the end of April.

Mr. Paperback has 10 stores in Maine, with locations in Augusta, Bangor, Belfast, Caribou, Dover-Foxcroft, Ellsworth, Farmington, Presque Isle, Skowhegan and Waterville.

Magazines Inc., which distributes magazines and newspapers in the state, is based in Bangor.

Mr. Paperback and Magazines Inc. are separate companies, but are owned by the Foss family — Robichaud and her siblings Ralph Foss and Pamela Williams.

Robichaud said they are still in negotiations to sell Magazines Inc. to Hudson LLC., based in Worcester, Mass. The company would take over Magazines Inc.’s clients, and move distribution to a Gorham facility. Hudson LLC has no interest in taking over Mr. Paperback, she said, so the bookstores will be liquidated.

“We’re all just wrapping our heads around this this week,” said Robichaud.

“It’s painful,” said McCree. “Over the years we’ve had an extremely dedicated staff — smart people, faithful people. I can tell you it’s been extremely hard on the Foss family.”

A sad tale, indeed. But check out one of the reasons cited for the closures:

Robichaud said changes in the book industry and finances were the reasons for closing.

“It’s due to gas prices and a changing industry — Amazon, the Internet, Kindle — people don’t need the printed materials as much as we used to,” said Robichaud.

“Most of us know that the book business and anything in print is not a particularly healthy place to be,” McCree added.

There it is--gas prices. Sure there are strong headwinds in the industry from those other factors, but somehow I'll be that bookstores would not be shutting down with quite such rapidity if gas were still $1.30 a gallon. Call it a hunch.


Bonus: Terry Tate sez, "reading is fundamental." And you better listen to him, sucka

Democracy Now: Supreme Court to Decide Whether U.S. Corporations Can Be Sued for Abuses Overseas

Supreme Court to Decide Whether U.S. Corporations Can Be Sued for Abuses Overseas
Democracy Now

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday on whether U.S.-based corporations can be sued in U.S. courts for human rights abuses committed overseas. The case involves nine Nigerian activists, including Ken Saro-Wiwa, executed for protesting Royal Dutch Shell. We’re joined by Marco Simons, legal director of EarthRights International, which filed a "friend of the court" legal brief in this case and has been a pioneer in using the Alien Tort Statute to sue corporations for human rights abuses in Burma, Nigeria, Colombia and other nations. Some legal analysts are comparing the case to the landmark campaign finance ruling in Citizens United, which found that corporations have broad rights under the First Amendment and can directly fund political campaigns. "This case is really about whether a corporation that participates in serious human rights abuses, such as crimes against humanity or genocide or state-sponsored torture, can profit from those abuses and shield those profits from the victims when the victims come to take them to court," Marco says.

Guest:

Marco Simons, legal director of EarthRights International.

To Watch/Listen/Read

"Socialist" Chamber of Commerce Pressures Republicans Over Stalled Transportation Bill

Question: if you run a business that would be out of business if it didn't get government contracts, are you really a business person or just another "parasitic leech" on the body politic? I ask the question because the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, that organization of alleged defenders of American capitalism, is pulling out all the stops in order to force reluctant Republican Congresscitters to pass a quarter-trillion dollar "socialist" infrastructure boondoggle. Here is Bloomberg with the details:

Business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are spending more than $500,000 on advertising to press Republican lawmakers, on recess this week, to back a stalled transportation spending bill.

The Chamber, the largest business lobby, and other organizations are running ads this week in the districts of some Republican holdouts while members of Congress are home. House Speaker John Boehner last week delayed a vote on a five-year $260 billion bill, which many members of his party opposed.

“This is an end run around conservative organizations who are opposed to the bill, by going to the constituents of these lawmakers directly and making an appeal that it will help the infrastructure in their district,” Ron Bonjean, a Republican political strategist who isn’t involved in the effort, said in a phone interview. Bonjean is a partner in Singer Bonjean Strategies, a Washington-based public affairs firm.

Yep--same old story, one man's "socialism" is another man's pork barrel project. What's even more astonishing about this initiative is that it is specifically targeting the Tea Party:

While the ads are running, coalition representatives are holding media events with local chambers of commerce and business groups “to heighten the voice of the business community and express our desire to see a surface transportation bill,” Maldonado said by phone.

Those events are scheduled for Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Louisville and Fort Mitchell, Kentucky; Houma, Louisiana; Mobile, Alabama; Atlanta; Topeka, Kansas; Omaha, Nebraska; Boise, Idaho; High Point, North Carolina; and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Maldonado said. They are scheduled through Feb. 24.

“They’re going after bastions of the Tea Party,” John Feehery, a Republican strategist, said by phone, referring to the movement that favors less regulation and government spending.

“They’re trying to win the intellectual argument that you need to have investment in infrastructure,” said Feehery, president of Quinn Gillespie Communications in Washington.

And here is where the rhetorical question I wrote at the top of this article comes in:

“Our message on these events is ‘here’s how much construction unemployment has declined in this metro area and one of the ways you can help do something about that is passing a surface transportation bill’,” Turmail said.

The American Road and Transportation Builders Association, which is also part of the Chamber-led coalition, is pushing its members to meet with their elected representatives or senior staff to press the case to move forward, group president Pete Ruane said by phone. ARTBA is the Washington-based group for transportation design and construction firms such as Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) and Martin Marietta Materials Inc. (MLM)

In six months, member companies may have to fire “thousands and thousands of people” if Congress fails to act, Ruane said. “That’s something I don’t think any of these people want in their districts.”

The official TDS position is that the only transportation projects which should be funded in the twilight of the cheap oil era are those for mass transit. But since most of this hideous abomination of a bill is to continuing building and repairing highways, it deserves to go down in flames.

There seems to be little doubt, however, that the Chamber of Commerce's commercial campaign will succeed. So, the next time you hear anyone from the Chamber of Commerce, or any Republican "leader" who votes for this colossal waste of borrowed taxpayer funds get up and attack Obama for being a "socialist," you will know that it is yet another example of the pot calling the kettle (ahem) black.

Just par for the course in this Spoiled Rotten Nation.


Bonus: One of the best highway songs ever recorded

Why redistribution matters?

John Sides in The Monkey Cage has an excellent post that points to the distinction between the progressivity of taxation and the level of inequality.

This paper by Moinca Prasad and Yingying Deng has an excellent graphic of the progressivity of direct taxes, as measured by the Kakwani index of taxation (a measure of the progressivity in the distribution of taxes among different categories that controls for the impact of income concentration on the concentration of the tax burden), in many advanced countries.



However, given its relatively higher Gini coefficient, America's progressivity of taxation does not translate into lower income inequality. So what gives? The aforementioned paper shows that the high progressivity in America's taxation system is matched by the low level of income redistribution through welfare policies. In simple terms, it is America's welfare policy that needs immediate attention than its taxation policy. The graphic below highlights the role played by income redistribution in lowering inequality.



The Scandinavian countries achieve twice as much inequality reduction (as measured by the lowering of their respective Gini coefficients) by redistributive policies than the Anglo-American nations. It is not a coincidence that these countries have much higher levels of taxation as measured by their higher tax-to-GDP ratios. It appears that higher redistribution goes hand-in-hand with higher levels of taxation.



Interestingly, the association between tax progressivity and overall re-distribution through taxation across countries is negative.



Though the study speculates on several political economy reasons, none of them are satisfactory enough to provide a good explanation for this surprising inverse correlation.

These graphics are an excellent empirical illustration of the importance of enlightened public policy in lowering inequality and poverty. It is also a strong reminder to free-market evangelists that unfettered markets fail to achieve the desired conditions necessary to promote growth and reduce poverty and inequality.

Appelton Papers To Lay Off 330 Ohio Workers

Once again, your job is only of value to the company as long as they can't figure out a way to do things cheaper by replacing you. Here is the Dayton Daily News with the details:

The 400 employees at Appleton Papers Inc.’s plant in West Carrollton were not prepared Thursday for the news that three-fourths of them stand to lose their jobs following a $3 billion deal with a Canadian supplier.

The workers were “flabbergasted, heartbroken, taken by surprise,” said Jim Allen, president of Local 266 of the United Steelworkers, which represents plant workers. “We were knocked down.”

I'll bet. So what was the reason behind the decision?

Appleton plans to let go of 330 workers and cease making paper at the West Alex Bell Road plant following a 15-year deal with Domtar Corp., based in Montreal.

Domtar will supply Wisconsin-based Appleton with most of the uncoated base paper it needs to make thermal, carbonless and other specialty paper products, negating the need to make the base paper at the West Carrollton plant.

About 100 employees would remain at the plant to run its thermal paper coating operations, Appleton said.

Mark Richards, Appleton’s chairman, president and chief executive, called the move a “competitive necessity.”

“Our employees have never wavered in their dedication to excellence and to serving our customers,” Richards said. “What has changed is the economics of the industry in which we compete.”

“Nonintegrated” paper mills — mills that don’t produce pulp from logs or wood chips gathered on site — are “distinctly disadvantaged and no longer competitive,” the Appleton release added. The local mill must purchase pulp and recycle waste paper.

The idea that nonintegrated mills are less efficient is not new. But Van Dan Brandt said the cost of pulp, driven by worldwide demand, is higher than ever.

Since 2005, 25 nonintegrated mills in the U.S. have closed, including four in Ohio, Van Den Brandt said.

NAFTA - the gift that just keeps on giving.

Quest Diagnostics Trims 25% Of New Mexico Staff

It was a bad week for layoff notices in The Land of Enchantment (really, New Mexico? THAT is your nickname? Lame). Here is the New Mexico Business Weekly with the details:

The New Jersey company that bought Albuquerque’s S.E.D. Medical Laboratories in January said Tuesday that it is laying off a quarter of its 450-person workforce in New Mexico in the next six months.

Quest Diagnostics Inc., which bought S.E.D. from Lovelace Health System, said most of the 125 layoffs will occur at S.E.D’s main laboratory office at 5601 Office Blvd. NE, where its drug and breath alcohol testing are done.

Pretty standard stuff, so far, but check out this asshole statement:

“When we acquired S.E.D. Medical laboratories in early January, we knew there were opportunities to drive efficiencies in the business, and as a result, we told employees that some initial job losses were to be expected,” Quest said in a prepared statement. “It has taken six weeks to do a thorough analysis of the business, identify plans for the future and develop the package of benefits that would enable us to treat impacted colleagues with fairness, dignity and respect.”

WTF? "Opportunities to drive efficiencies in the business?" I realize the operation is located in New Mexico, which used to be cowboy country, but these are PEOPLE you are talking about, not fucking cattle. And you are soooooo concerned about treating your impacted colleagues with fairness, dignity and respect, that it took you all of six weeks to fire their asses? What a fine bunch of folks you fuckers are. Sheesh.


Bonus: Since the dogs apparently found the sheep if not the cattle, it seems like an aopportune time for this song

Bank Of America Will Freeze Employee Pension Plans

Bad news for Bank of America employees. Here is CNN Money with the details:

Bank of America announced plans Thursday to freeze pension plans, effective in July, and increase its 401(k) contributions instead.

Eligible employees will keep the pension benefits that they've earned to date but will not receive additional benefits, Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) spokesman Scott Silvestri said.

The company will instead begin making an additional 2-3% annual contribution to employees' 401(k) accounts, on top of the existing program that matches employee contributions up to 5%.

"Making these changes simplifies our offerings, gives employees control in managing their retirement savings and ensures our retirement benefits remain competitive," Silvestri said in an email.

U.S. companies are increasingly moving away from traditional pensions and toward 401(k) plans in an effort to save costs and minimize funding uncertainty. Last week, General Motors announced that it had shifted its senior salaried workers away from a traditional pension plan to a 401(k) plan.

Of course, this is yet another reason why the Federal Reserve has been so desperate to pump up the stock market. It would be far less palatable for companies to be able to dump their pension plans and go to a 401(k) only system if the DOW were still bouncing around near its March 2009 lows. It also creates a condition where unless the stock market continues to rise robustly forever and ever, the employees will be facing poverty and destitution after they retire, assuming the economy does not crash long before then.


Bonus: Better hope you die before you get old

2012 Oscar Selections

I do not have TV hooked up at my house, so I won't see them (but I will probably pop online from time to time to see the general progression). I believe that the Oscar nominees are once again very limited. Still, I guess I am obligated to make my choices as a film studies professor -- so here goes:

Best Picture: The Tree of Life
Actor in a Leading Role: Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
Actress in a Leading Role: Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
Actor in a Supporting Role: Nick Nolte (Warrior)
Actress in a Supporting Role: Berenice Bejo (The Artist)
Animated Feature Film: Rango
Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki (Tree of Life)
Art Direction: Dante Ferretti and Francesco Lo Schiavo (Hugo)
Costume Design: Sandy Powell (Hugo)
Directing: Terence Malick (Tree of Life)
Documentary Feature: If a Tree Falls: The Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Film Editing: Thelma Schoonmaker (Hugo)
Sound Editing: Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis (Drive)
Foreign Language Film: A Separation (Asghar Faradi: Iran)
Sound Mixing: Various (Moneyball)
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Various (Moneyball)
Writing (Original Screenplay): Asghar Faradi (A Separation)

Robert Joe Stout: Do the United States and Mexico Really Want the Drug War To Succeed?

Do the United States and Mexico Really Want the Drug War To Succeed?
by Robert Joe Stout
Monthly Review

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Both the governments of Mexico and the United States have demonstrated a need to justify military actions and to portray the “War on Drugs” as a battle between good and evil with no gray areas in between. To make the rhetoric effective it has been necessary to villainize the perpetrators of the “evil” and to ignore the dominant reasons that the evil exists: unabated drug consumption in the United States. Also overlooked has been drug-associated violence in the United States, particularly in city ghettos where gang warfare involving drug distribution has existed since the 1960s.

Until late in the twentieth century heroin and cocaine addiction in Mexico was not considered a major problem. Narcotics filtered to Mexican buyers as a spin off from smuggling, but most production and distribution was focused on getting the narcotics to consumers north of the border who would pay ten or more times what the drugs sold for in Mexico. Governmental sources in both countries consistently denied that U.S. military intervention into Mexican territory was being planned; nevertheless several governors of states on the U.S. side of the border have requested permanent military “protection,” including armed patrols and battle-ready commandos.

Many of the groups that distribute narcotics in the United States are linked to specific Mexican corporations just as U.S. auto, livestock, cosmetics, and computer exporters are linked with importers in Mexico. Gangs in the United States clash primarily over obtaining drugs for street sales, but the majority of imported narcotics passes into the hands of white-collar distributors with regular clients who can afford the prices established for purchasing cocaine and other drugs.

Although many journalists and editors would like to deny it, newspapers and television which rely financially on readers, viewers, and advertisers profit more from graphic reports about beheadings, drug raids, and high-speed chases than they do from features about controlled or casual use of narcotics. Attitudes towards drug use in both countries run a gamut between “drugs are a sin” to “I enjoy them, why not?” That they can be detrimental to one’s health, just as the consumption of alcoholic beverages, cigarette smoking, overeating, driving a car at excessive speeds, or long-term exposure to direct sunlight can be detrimental, is grounded in fact.

Unfortunately facts and politics do not go hand in glove. Nor do facts and marketing. Newspaper wire services and television reports designed to stimulate interest and sell sponsors’ products (and/or comply with ownership political biases) influence public opinion and public opinion influences the decisions of legislators and Congressmen. As Laura Carlson insists: “These claims and others like them, although unsubstantiated, accumulate into a critical mass to push a public consensus on implementing dangerous and delusional policies…. Like the model it mimics—the Bush war on terror—the drug war in Mexico is being mounted on the back of hype, half-truths, omissions and outright falsehoods.”

Unfortunately, major questions that need to be answered are shunted aside by policymakers on both sides of the border and preference is given to partisan stances that have less to do with the drug trade or the war against it than they have to do with maintaining economic and political power. Neither government seems capable of asking: Can Mexico really afford to end the production and exportation of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, amphetamines, and designer drugs without its U.S.-dependent economy collapsing?

In many respects, the drug organizations operating in Mexico exemplify what “free enterprise” is about: developing and marketing a product that satisfies willing consumers. Their armed components make their competition deadlier than competitors in other industries, but their methods of operation duplicate those of legitimate corporations: they seek (or buy) government support, network a well-organized retail trade, and invest their profits in condominiums, the stock market, and high-visibility consumer items. Their corporate structures, divided into distinct operations and with well-defined chains of command, enable them to replace any executive who is arrested or killed without that materially affecting production or sales.

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