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February 08, 2012
From The Atlantic - 150th Anniversary Edition - The Duty to Think
"On the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, we present this commemorative issue featuring Atlantic stories by Mark Twain, Henry James, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, and many more."
James Bennet editor of The Atlantic: "It is possible, in these pages, to enter into both the humanity of figures consecrated or condemned by history and the uncertainty the writers must have felt during the rush of events...It seemed to us that these Atlantic pieces have a way of conversing across the decades. And so in this issue, one finds Garry Wills’s account from 1992 of how Lincoln used the Gettysburg Address to reinterpret the Constitution and thereby “revolutionized the Revolution, giving people a new past to live with that would change their future indefinitely.” And then, equipped with that explication of how Lincoln purified the nation’s meaning, and with President Obama’s summation of what that meaning is, the reader can then encounter, with fresh appreciation, Lowell’s epitaph for Lincoln: “New birth of our new soil, the first American.”
February 07, 2012
Down, but Not Out: U.S. Remains Competitive in Global Trade
"The U.S. share of world goods trade might be down, but a new study suggests that American competitiveness is not. In the study entitled Why Is the U.S. Share of World Merchandise Exports Shrinking? Federal Reserve Bank of New York economist Benjamin R. Mandel examines the factors driving the sharp drop in the U.S. share of world goods trade. Mandel concludes that the reduction does not signal a broad-based decline in the relative competitiveness of U.S. exporters. Rather, much of the 3.5 percentage point fall in U.S. export share between 2000 and 2010 is attributed to a change in the composition of goods traded internationally and the relatively slow growth of the U.S. economy. Mandel uses a two-pronged approach in examining the role that compositional changes in world exports played in the U.S. relative export performance. First, he identifies the products that contributed most to the decline of the U.S. export share, noting that it was a relatively small group. Next, Mandel calculates the extent to which U.S. manufacturers of each product lost market share to their foreign competitors and the extent to which the product itself simply claimed a smaller fraction of overall world exports. His results show that while the nation did lose ground to competitors in the export of some goods, the shifting make-up of the goods traded globally accounts for a significant part of the U.S. export share losses."
Related postings on financial system
CDC - Nine in 10 U.S. adults get too much sodium every day
February 2012 Vital Signs Issue: Where's the Sodium?: "About 90% of Americans eat more sodium than is recommended for a healthy diet. Too much sodium increases a person's risk for high blood pressure. High blood pressure often leads to heart disease and stroke. More than 800,000 people die each year from heart disease, stroke and other vascular diseases, costing the nation $273 billion health care dollars in 2010. Most of the sodium we eat comes from processed foods and foods prepared in restaurants."
DHS IG - Allegations of Misconduct and Illegal Discrimination and Retaliation in the Federal Air Marshal Service
Via POGO: Department of Homeland Security OIG - Allegations of Misconduct and Illegal Discrimination and Retaliation in the Federal Air Marshal Service, OIG-12-28, January 2012
"Although individual employees may have experienced discrimination or retaliation, our review does not support a finding of widespread discrimination and retaliation within the Federal Air Marshal Service. However, employees’ perceptions of discrimination and retaliation are extensive, and we heard too many negative and conflicting accounts of events to dismiss them. Many Federal Air Marshals and some supervisors think they have been discriminated against, fear retaliation, and believe there is much favoritism. There is a great deal of tension, mistrust, and dislike between non-supervisory and supervisory personnel in field offices around the country. We identified factors that contributed to strained relations and became the basis for the allegations. Limited transparency in management decisions is also at the center of fears of retaliation and perceptions that management is mistreating its workforce."
TRAC: Share of Immigration Cases Ending in Deportation Orders Hits Record Low
"TRAC's web-based tools monitoring ICE's exercise of prosecutorial discretion in the Immigration Courts have been updated with court data tracking outcomes through December 2011. Very current data show that deportation orders fell, while individuals allowed to stay in the U.S. rose during October - December 2011. The share of ICE-initiated Immigration Court deportation proceedings resulting in deportation orders -- 64.8 percent -- reached the lowest level in the past 20 years. Results are believed to reflect in part ICE's ongoing review of the court's backlog. TRAC's findings are based on case-by-case data obtained from the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) by TRAC under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). For the accompanying data tools which allow tracking by outcome, Immigration Court, hearing location, charge and nationality, go here."
BLS - Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey
News release: "There were 3.4 million job openings on the last business day of December, up from 3.1 million in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The hires rate (3.1 percent) and separations rate (3.0 percent) were unchanged over the month. The job openings rate has trended upward since the end of the recession in June 2009. (Recession dates are determined by the National Bureau of Economic Research.) This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the nonfarm sector by industry and by geographic region."
Related postings on financial system
NOAA - January 2012 the fourth warmest for the contiguous U.S.
News release: "During January, warmer-than-average conditions enveloped most of the contiguous United States, with widespread below-average precipitation. The overall weather pattern for the month was reflected in the lack of snow for much of the Northern Plains, Midwest, and Northeast. This scenario was in stark contrast to Alaska where several towns had their coldest January on record. This monthly analysis from NOAA is part of the suite of climate services we provide government, business and community leaders so they can make informed decisions. The average contiguous U.S. temperature in January was 36.3 degrees F, 5.5 degrees F above the 1901-2000 long-term average -- the fourth warmest January on record, and the warmest since 2006. Precipitation, averaged across the nation, was 1.85 inches. This was 0.37 inch below the long-term average, with variability between regions."
See also related postings on climate change
CBO - Monthly Budget Review, January 2012
Monthly Budget Review - Based on the Monthly Treasury Statement for December and the Daily Treasury Statements for January 2012
"The federal government accumulated a budget deficit of $349 billion in the first four months of fiscal year 2012, CBO estimates, $70 billion less than the shortfall recorded for the same period last year. Without shifts in the timing of certain payments, however, the deficit would have been only $39 billion smaller than the shortfall for the same period last year. If lawmakers enact no further legislation affecting spending or revenues, the federal government will end fiscal year 2012 with a deficit of nearly $1.1 trillion, CBO estimates, compared with $1.3 trillion in 2011. However, enactment of proposals such as pending legislation to extend the payroll tax cut could have a significant impact on the deficit for 2012. (For more details about CBO’s most recent budget projections, see The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2012 to 2022.)"
The U.S. Postal Service’s Financial Condition: Overview and Issues for Congress
The U.S. Postal Service’s Financial Condition: Overview and Issues for Congress. Kevin R. Kosar, Analyst in American National Government, January 27, 2012
"This report provides an overview of the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS’s) financial condition, legislation enacted to alleviate the USPS’s financial challenges, and possible issues for the 112th Congress. It also includes a side-by-side comparison of two of the postal reform bills, H.R. 2309 and S. 1789. Since 1971, the USPS has been a self-supporting government agency that covers its operating costs with revenues generated through the sales of postage and related products and services. In recent years, the USPS has experienced significant financial challenges. After running modest profits from FY2004 through FY2006, the USPS lost $25.4 billion between FY2007 and FY2011. Were it not for congressional action, the USPS would have lost an additional $9.5 billion. A number of ideas have been advanced that would attempt to improve the USPS’s financial condition in the short term so that it might continue as a self-funding government agency. All of these reforms would require Congress to amend current postal law. The ideas include (1) increasing the USPS’s revenues by altering postage rates and increasing its offering of nonpostal rates and services; and (2) reducing the USPS’s expenses by a number of means, such as recalculating the USPS’s retiree health care and pension obligations and payments, closing postal facilities, and reducing mail delivery to less than six days per week."
Fostering innovation-led clusters A review of leading global practices
Fostering innovation-led clusters - A review of leading global practices. A report from the Economist Intelligence Unit, December 2011.
"There are few economic development policies as popular as clusters. It is hard today to find a country, region, or even city that is not trying to develop a network of complementary and competitive firms. The political appeal is obvious, particularly now that the world’s economic crisis has put a spotlight on innovation to diversify economies and create jobs. However, the difficulty lies in turning a newly announced “science park” or “hi-tech corridor” into a genuinely competitive centre for innovation. In this report, we review some of the practices and ideas being used by clusters around the world. The aim is to offer a detailed assessment of which of these practices and ideas might be applicable to the Middle East region as it seeks to develop its own innovation-led clusters."
Living Well with Chronic Illness: A Call for Public Health Action
Living Well with Chronic Illness: A Call for Public Health Action, January 2012
In the United States, chronic diseases currently account for 70 percent of all deaths, and close to 48 million Americans report a disability related to a chronic condition. Today, about one in four Americans have multiple diseases and the prevalence and burden of chronic disease in the elderly and racial/ethnic minorities are notably disproportionate. Chronic disease has now emerged as a major public health problem and it threatens not only population health, but our social and economic welfare. Living Well with Chronic Disease identifies the population-based public health actions that can help reduce disability and improve functioning and quality of life among individuals who are at risk of developing a chronic disease and those with one or more diseases. The book recommends that all major federally funded programmatic and research initiatives in health include an evaluation on health-related quality of life and functional status. Also, the book recommends increasing support for implementation research on how to disseminate effective long term lifestyle interventions in community-based settings that improve living well with chronic disease. Living Well with Chronic Disease uses three frameworks and considers diseases such as heart disease and stroke, diabetes, depression, and respiratory problems. The book's recommendations will inform policy makers concerned with health reform in public- and private-sectors and also managers of community based and public-health intervention programs, private and public research funders, and patients living with one or more chronic conditions."
February 06, 2012
Solving the Financial and Sovereign Debt Crisis in Europe
Solving the Financial and Sovereign Debt Crisis in Europe by Adrian Blundell-Wignall, OECD Journal, Financial Market Trends, volume 2011, Issue 2.
"This paper examines the policies that have been proposed to solve the financial and sovereign debt crisis in Europe, against the backdrop of what the real underlying problems are: extreme differences in competitiveness; the absence of a growth strategy; sovereign, household and corporate debt at high levels in the very countries that are least competitive; and banks that have become too large, driven by dangerous trends in ‘capital markets banking’. The paper explains how counterparty risk spreads between banks and how the sovereign and banking crises are serving to exacerbate each other. Of all the policies proposed, the paper highlights those that are coherent and the magnitudes involved if the euro is not to fracture."
Related postings on financial system
CRS - Detention of U.S. Persons as Enemy Belligerents
Detention of U.S. Persons as Enemy Belligerents, Jennifer K. Elsea, Legislative Attorney, February 1, 2012.
"P.L. 112-81, affirm that the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF), P.L. 107-40, in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, authorizes the detention of persons captured in connection with hostilities. The Act provides for the first time a statutory definition of covered persons whose detention is authorized pursuant to the AUMF. During debate of the provision, significant attention focused on the applicability of this detention authority to U.S. citizens and other persons within the United States. The Senate adopted an amendment to clarify that the provision was not intended to affect any existing law or authorities relating to the detention of U.S. citizens or lawful resident aliens, or any other persons captured or arrested in the United States. This report analyzes the existing law and authority to detain U.S. persons, including American citizens and resident aliens, as well as other persons within the United States
who are suspected of being members, agents, or associates of Al Qaeda or possibly other terrorist organizations as “enemy combatants.”
Obama Administration Releases January 2012 Housing Scorecard
News release: "The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury today released the January edition of the Obama Administration's Housing Scorecard – a comprehensive report on the nation’s housing market. Data in the January Housing Scorecard underscore fragility as the overall outlook remains mixed. Inventories of existing homes for sale and the overhang of homes held off market improved over the last two quarters and foreclosure starts continued to fall in December. However, data on new home sales and home prices offered mixed signals, while foreclosure completions ticked upward. The full report is available online here."
Related postings on financial system
FTC Warns Marketers That Mobile Apps May Violate Fair Credit Reporting Act
News release: "The Federal Trade Commission warned marketers of six mobile applications that provide background screening apps that they may be violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The FTC warned the apps marketers that, if they have reason to believe the background reports they provide are being used for employment screening, housing, credit, or other similar purposes, they must comply with the Act. According to the FTC, some of the apps include criminal record histories, which bear on an individual's character and general reputation and are precisely the type of information that is typically used in employment and tenant screening."
