Data Spotlight: Independent Contractors On the Rise « EMSI | Economic Modeling Specialists Inc.

Data Spotlight: Independent Contractors On the Rise « EMSI | Economic Modeling Specialists Inc.

>>For a complete discussion on covered vs. noncovered workers, see this article.

We produced the following chart to illustrate the steady increase of workers not covered by unemployment insurance among 10 of the broadest-level industry sectors using national county-level data. The ratio of noncovered workers to the rest of the workforce is derived by comparing EMSI’s covered dataset (which closely resembles state LMI data, but with suppressions removed) with our complete dataset. The time frame is from 2005 to 2010.

Hamish McRae: Working longer ought to be an opportunity, not a curse - Hamish McRae, Commentators - The Independent

Hamish McRae: Working longer ought to be an opportunity, not a curse - Hamish McRae, Commentators - The Independent: "But to focus on pensions and retirement is to think about the mechanical consequences of ageing, the accounting side of things. But there are other consequences of ageing that are more interesting and even more important. For example, what happens to the nature of work? What will be the social attitudes of the 'new old'? How will people adapt to four-generation families?

There is no road map to help us navigate through this new world, because..."

Stephen Roach: America is a Zombie Nation just like Japan « naked capitalism

Stephen Roach: America is a Zombie Nation just like Japan « naked capitalism: "Stephen Roach: America is a Zombie Nation just like Japan
Cross-posted from Credit Writedowns

Stephen Roach has written an Op-Ed in today’s Financial Times that is worth reading. He outlines his version of Richard Koo’s Balance Sheet Recession theorem, opining that “the global economy is being hobbled by a new generation of zombies – the economic walking dead.”

His main points are:
American consumers are retrenching"

How To Create A Passive Income

How To Create A Passive Income: "Gone are the days of thirty year careers and an anti-climatic send-off with a gold watch.  Increased labor competition, an economy shifting away from manufacturing and towards service, and a basic impatience from Generations X and Y have just about done away with the idea of retiring on a pension from a working lifetime with one employer.  Add the Enron fiasco to the mix and most people have given up on the idea of “job security.”  With all the uncertainty, creating multiple streams of passive income is a great way to hedge against the risk of unemployment."

Norton's comment: I have been researching during the past 2 years of severe underemployment how to create a passive / residual income in the face of economic collapse and cultural unraveling in the USA. Here are some results for those who want extra income and a path to retirement on the 3 to five year plan instead of the corporate 45 year plan that makes your boss rich but not you.
http://www.lifeinbalance-consulting.com

"The People Vs. Goldman Sachs" - Taibbi's Magnum Opus | zero hedge

"The People Vs. Goldman Sachs" - Taibbi's Magnum Opus | zero hedge: "They weren't murderers or anything; they had merely stolen more money than most people can rationally conceive of, from their own customers, in a few blinks of an eye. But then they went one step further. They came to Washington, took an oath before Congress, and lied about it."

NOrton's comment: This makes me sick. The worst devious human behavior on steroids! And after the 1960s effort for peace. Many of these crooks are from the 1960s and more crooked than I can imagine...all with the face of peace and free market lingo. Puck!

Listen to this video: http://youtu.be/jt9j3_tLXaI

A new economic model | the new economics foundation

A new economic model | the new economics foundation: "'Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist' - Kenneth Boulding

There is nothing ‘natural’ about our current economic arrangements. They have been consciously designed to achieve a simple objective: growth. But growth is not making us happier, it is creating dysfunctional and unequal societies, and if it continues will make large parts of the planet unfit for human habitation.  

We need to do things differently, and soon..."

Norton's Comment: This is the MOST EXCITING discovery! I heard the Speaking in Maine program sponsored by the Hour Exchange Program for Portland, Maine June 03, 2011. Speaker was Stewart Wallace, "recovering economist" and a founder of the New Economics Foundation (UK). This is its 20th year in existence.
Some of the New Terminology:
Collaboration
Power enabled by the people
New Economic Metrics beyond the GDP: Wellness, Happiness
Local Food
Local Energy
Local Sustainability

THIS IS VERY POSITIVE NEWS. IT IS TIME FOR US TO BUILD A NEW FUTURE, A NEW ALTERNATIVE CURRENCY, A NEW WAY OF EDUCATING OUR KIDS FOR A BETTER FUTURE. FOR A BETTER BUSINESS MODEL.

USDA: Goodbye Food Pyramid, Hello MyPlate |

USDA: Goodbye Food Pyramid, Hello MyPlate |: "Today, First Lady Michelle Obama and officials from the USDA unveiled what they hope to be their newest weapon in the battle against childhood obesity: a plate of food.


The USDA launched MyPlate on Thursday, replacing the two decade old Food Pyramid
The USDA’s Food Pyramid, which was established in 1992 to get Americans to better focus on the “right” types of foods they should be eating, has been replaced with MyPlate, “a new generation icon with the intent to prompt consumers to think about building a healthy plate at meal times,” USDA officials said in a press release.

The new MyPlate icon emphasizes the fruit, vegetable, grains, protein and dairy food groups."

Homework by Allen Ginsberg | The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor

Homework by Allen Ginsberg | The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor: "Homework
by Allen Ginsberg
Homage to Kenneth Koch

If I were doing my Laundry I'd wash my dirty Iran
I'd throw in my United States, and pour on the Ivory Soap,
         scrub up Africa, put all the birds and elephants back in
         the jungle, I'd wash the Amazon river and clean the oily Carib & Gulf of Mexico,
Rub that smog off the North Pole, wipe up all the pipelines in Alaska,
Rub a dub dub for Rocky Flats and Los Alamos, Flush that sparkly
Cesium out of Love Canal
Rinse down the Acid Rain over the Parthenon & Sphinx, Drain the Sludge
out of the Mediterranean basin & make it azure again,
Put some blueing back into the sky over the Rhine, bleach the little
Clouds so snow return white as snow,
Cleanse the Hudson Thames & Neckar, Drain the Suds out of Lake Erie
Then I'd throw big Asia in one giant Load & wash out the blood &
Agent Orange,
Dump the whole mess of Russia and China in the wringer, squeeze out
the tattletail Gray of U.S. Central American police state,
& put the planet in the drier & let it sit 20 minutes or an
Aeon till it came out clean......"

Norton's Comment: Imagine...this was written in 1955 on June 3. So poignant today!