Central Perk

duminică, 19 august 2012

Join us for the Kids' "State Dinner"

Hello --

Tomorrow is going to be a special day at the White House, and I wanted to make sure you got a chance to be a part of it.

At lunchtime, 54 kids from all over the United States will join me in the East Room for the first-ever Kids' State Dinner.

Each of these young people worked with their parents to create an original lunch recipe. We asked them to design a dish that was healthy, affordable, and tasty -- and which met the nutritional guidelines set up by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A panel of judges from the groups who partnered with us on this project -- the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Education, and Epicurious -- chose these 54 recipes as their favorites.

So now, the kid chefs and their parents are on their way to the White House, and tomorrow we'll all enjoy a meal together and take in a musical performance from Nickelodeon's Big Time Rush. You can watch the whole thing as it happens on our website -- will you join us tomorrow?

WHAT: The Kids' State Dinner at the White House
WHEN: August 20 at 10 a.m. EDT
WHERE: http://www.letsmove.gov/kids-state-dinner

As a mom, I know that parents are always looking for new ideas to make sure our kids are eating right and staying healthy. That's part of why we launched the Let's Move! initiative.

And it's why we're working with the Department of Education and Epicurious to share a free printable and downloadable cookbook with the winning recipes that these young people created with their parents.

You can learn more about our work to solve the problem of childhood obesity so that all our kids can grow up healthy at LetsMove.gov.

And tomorrow, I hope you will join in the fun of the Kids' State Dinner.

Thanks!

First Lady Michelle Obama

P.S. -- To get a preview of some of the great recipes, go here.

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Seth's Blog : What if your slogan is true?

What if your slogan is true?

Slogans never change anything. They don't grow market share or find you a job or win you an election.

Underneath the slogan, perhaps, is a story. And the slogan well told is a symptom of that story, a shadow of what you're truly up to. A slogan might be evidence that you have a story, but it isn't a story. A story is something you live and connect with and come back again and again and again.

If the story of your work is consistent, if it resonates with your audience and if you can defend it, then you're likely to succeed. And if your slogan reflects your story, good for you.

Apple has had various slogans through the years, but in every successful iteration of the company, the story has been remarkably consistent: Apple's story is that they are idiosyncratic artisans producing beautiful products for smart people. That's not a slogan, but it's a useful tool for deciding if you're making something or doing something that you ought to be focusing on.

So sure, start with a slogan. But don't bother wasting any time on it if you're merely going for catchy. Aim for true instead.

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sâmbătă, 18 august 2012

Damn Cool Pics

The 10 Most Beautifully Challenging Highways in America [Infographic]

Posted: 17 Aug 2012 11:18 PM PDT

When you drive the same 4-lane highways and byways every day, you can get bored all too easily.

Where's the adventure? The excitement?

Suzuki has your excitement right here – daydream about hitting these roads for a change!

Click on Image to Enlarge.

Via: Suzuki

Weekly Address: Congress Should Back Plan to Hire Teachers

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Weekly Address: Congress Should Back Plan to Hire Teachers

With students starting to head back to school, President Obama discusses the critical role that education plays in America’s future.

Watch President Obama's weekly address.

President Barack Obama tapes the Weekly Address in the State Dining Room of the White House, Aug. 17, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

Weekly Wrap Up

NASA Success: On Monday, President Obama congratulated NASA’s Curiosity Team on the success of their rover touching down on the surface of Mars, praising them on their ingenuity and urging them to continue the good work. "Through your dedicated efforts, ‘Curiosity’ stuck her landing and captured the attention and imagination of millions of people not just across our country, but people all around the world, including Times Square," he said. "And being able to get that whole landing sequence to work the way you did is a testimony to your team."

Drought Relief: President Obama also toured McIntosh Family Farms in Missouri Valley, Iowa to see drought damage first-hand and offer relief to those being effected. The President announced that the Department of Agriculture will begin to buy up to $170 million worth of pork, chicken, lamb, and catfish. And the President is directing the Department of Defense -- which purchased more than 150,000 million pounds of beef and pork in the last year alone -- to encourage its vendors to accelerate meat purchases for the military and freeze it for future use.

To learn more, the Department of Agriculture is collecting resources for farmers, ranchers, and small businesses wrestling with this crisis at USDA.gov/drought. More information still is available at WhiteHouse.gov/drought.

Banner Year for the U.S. Wind Industry: Also this week, the Energy Department and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory released a new report highlighting strong growth in America’s wind energy market in 2011 and underscoring the importance of continued policy support and clean energy tax credits to ensure that the U.S. remains a leading producer and manufacturer in this booming global industry. As President Obama has made clear, we need an all-of-the-above approach to American energy and the U.S. wind industry is a critical part of this strategy. In fact, wind energy contributed 32 percent of all new U.S. electric capacity additions last year, representing $14 billion in new investment.

Dream Day: Wednesday marked “DREAM day,” when the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services began accepting requests for consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals. Deferred action is a discretionary determination to defer removal action of an individual as an act of prosecutorial discretion. Under this process, USCIS will consider requests on a case-by-case basis. While this process does not provide lawful status or a pathway to permanent residence or citizenship, individuals whose cases are deferred will not be removed from the United States for a two year period, subject to renewal, and may also receive employment authorization. For more information, visit the UCIS website for the guidelines, latest news and updates on this process at www.uscis.gov/childhoodarrivals.

11 Facts About the Tax Debate: This week, the Obama Administration reminded the American people that unless the House of Representatives takes action before January 1, 2013, taxes will go up on 114 million middle-class families. To prevent this from happening, President Obama is calling for-- and the Senate has already passed-- legislation that will keep the middle class from paying thousands of extra dollars next year. Republicans in the House of Representatives, however, are refusing to extend middle-class tax cuts without also giving massive tax cuts to the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. For more information, see this infographic outlining 11 important facts about the two plans and what's at stake for middle-class families.

AmeriCorps at the White House: On Friday, the White House welcomed more than 150 AmeriCorps Alumni leaders from across the country. AmeriCorps is a national service opportunity that has helped more than 775,000 Americans serve more than 1 billion hours since 1994 (with more than 88,000 Americans serving this year alone). In FY 2011, AmeriCorps reached more than 3.5 million disadvantaged youth through tutoring, mentoring, and other services. The AmeriCorps guests participated in a day-long briefing and 12 of them were also honored as Champions of Change, a program created to honor ordinary Americans doing great work in their communities. To learn more about their stories, visit the Champions of Change blog.

The White House also hosted a live Google+ Hangout moderated by Macon Phillips, director of Digital Strategy, and Corporation for National and Community Service CEO Wendy Spencer to engage fellow AmeriCorps members across the country in conversation.

Coming Up: Next week, First Lady Michelle Obama will host the first-ever Kids’ State Dinner as part of her Let’s Move! initiative, in partnership with Epicurious, the Department of Education and USDA, to encourage healthy eating habits.

Stay Connected

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Seth's Blog : How to run a problem-solving meeting

How to run a problem-solving meeting

This is a special sort of get together, similar to the meeting where you organize people to figure out the best way to take advantage of an opportunity. In both cases, amateurs usually run the meetings, and the group often fails to do their best work.

Ignore these rules at your peril:

Only the minimum number of people should participate. Don't invite anyone for political reasons. Don't invite anyone to socialize them on the solution because they were part of inventing it--people don't need to be in the kitchen to enjoy the meal at the restaurant.
No one participating by conference call... it changes the tone of the proceedings.
A very structured agenda to prevent conversation creep. You are only here to do one thing.
All the needed data provided to all attendees, in advance, in writing.
At least one person, perhaps the host, should have a point of view about what the best course is, but anyone who comes should only be invited if they are willing to change their position.
Agree on the structure of a deliverable solution before you start.
Deliver on that structure when you finish.

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vineri, 17 august 2012

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

"Break-Up Could Make EU Function Better" Says Finnish Foreign Minister; Finland Totally Committed to Euro, Yet Prepared Breakup

Posted: 17 Aug 2012 06:49 PM PDT

Yesterday, Finland's foreign minister said "Finland must face openly the possibility of a euro-break up"

"We have to face openly the possibility of a euro-break up," said Erkki Tuomioja, the country's veteran foreign minister and a member of the Social Democratic Party, one of six that make up the country's coalition government.

"It is not something that anybody — even the True Finns [eurosceptic party] — are advocating in Finland, let alone the government. But we have to be prepared," he told The Daily Telegraph.

"Our officials, like everybody else and like every general staff, have some sort of operational plan for any eventuality.

Mr Tuomioja's intervention is the bluntest warning to date by a senior eurozone minister. As he discussed the crisis, the minister had a copy of the Economist on his desk. It had a picture of Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, reading a fictitious report entitled "How to break up the euro", with a caption: "Tempted, Angela?"

"This is what people are thinking about everywhere," said Mr Tuomioja. "But there is a consensus that a eurozone break-up would cost more in the short-run or medium-run than managing the crisis.

"But let me add that the break-up of the euro does not mean the end of the European Union. It could make the EU function better," he said.

What Consensus?

I have to wonder "what consensus" the Finnish foreign minister is referring to when he says "eurozone break-up would cost more in the short-run or medium-run than managing the crisis".

Consensus of nannycrats? Of politicians who bet their career on saving the euro? Of the Southern eurozone countries?

His second thought is far more believable: "Break-up could make EU function better".

Indeed nearly anything would be better than the eurocrats headed by Eurogroup president Jean-Claude Juncker and European Commission president Jose Barroso.

Finland Distances Itself From Tuomioja's Comments

No doubt Tuomioja's comments raised quite a stir because today Finland's European affairs minister stated Finland is totally committed to the euro.

Finland is totally committed to the euro, its European affairs minister said following comments from its foreign minister that the country was preparing for a break up of the single currency.

"Foreign minister Tuomioja's statement in no way reflects the Finnish government position," said Alexander Stubb, highlighting deep divisions within the coalition government. "Finland stands 100pc behind the euro," the European affairs minister added.

He was speaking after foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja told The Daily Telegraph "we have to face openly the possibility of a euro-break up."

Mr Tuomioja, a member of the coalition's Social Democratic Party, said that Finnish officials had an "operational plan for any eventuality."

Mr Stubb, a member of the centre-right Kokoomus Party, said his colleague had probably spoken in a personal capacity. "The government's position is very clear: we stand pro-European and we stand to work, to improve the situation in the eurozone," he said.

The positions of preparing for a break-up and being committed to the Euro are not mutually exclusive. However, the more talk there is of a break-up, the more that path becomes acceptable.

The point is moot however. The Problem in Europe is Arithmetic, Not Confidence. The Eurozone Cannot Possibly Survive Intact.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Unemployment Up in 44 States; New York Unemployment Highest Since 1983; No Improvement Nationally in 2012; Looking Ahead: What's Next?

Posted: 17 Aug 2012 09:46 AM PDT

Unemployment was up in 44 States, down in two states, down in D.C, and unchanged in four others. There has been no improvement nationally this year.

Bloomberg reports U.S. Joblessness Rise Broad-Based as 44 States Show Gain

The jobless rate climbed in 44 U.S. states in July, showing last month's increase in unemployment was broad based.

Alabama and Alaska registered the worst performance, with joblessness advancing by 0.5 percentage point in each, figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington. Payrolls grew in 31 states last month, led by California and Michigan.

Unemployment jumped to 8.3 percent in Alabama from 7.8 percent in June, and climbed to 7.7 percent in Alaska from 7.2 percent, today's report showed. Nevada, where the rate rose to 12 percent from 11.6 percent, remained the state with the highest level of joblessness in the country.

Rhode Island, at 10.8 percent, was second, followed by California at 10.7 percent.

North Dakota had the lowest unemployment rate in the nation, even as it rose to 3 percent from 2.9 percent the prior month.

Two states, Idaho and Rhode Island, showed a drop in their unemployment rates. Joblessness was unchanged in four states.

Unemployment in New York rose to 9.1 percent, the highest since 1983, and payrolls dropped by 3,700 workers.

The jobless rate has exceeded 8 percent for 42 consecutive months, the longest stretch in the post-World War II era.

New Jersey Unemployment at 35-Year High

The New York statistics above tie in nicely with what I said early this morning in New Jersey Unemployment Hits 35-Year High of 9.8%.

National Unemployment Rate

Note that three years into an alleged recovery, the unemployment is still higher than the peaks in 8 of the last 10 recessions.

National Unemployment Rate Detail

There has been no improvement in the unemployment rate in 2012.

Headline Jobs Number vs. Household Survey

Please remember the reported headline jobs number has no bearing on the unemployment rate. Rather the unemployment rate is determined by a phone survey. That's why its important to dig into the reported monthly jobs numbers.

This is what I had to say on August 3, in Headline Jobs +163,000, But Household Survey Shows -195,000 Jobs; Unemployment +.1 to 8.3%

Quick Notes About the Unemployment Rate

US Unemployment Rate +.1 to 8.3%

In the last year, the civilian population rose by 3,683,000. Yet the labor force only rose by 1,655,000.

This month the Civilian Labor Force fell by 150,000.

This month, those "not" in the labor force increased by 348,000 to 88,340,000, another record high. If you are not in the labor force, you are not counted as unemployed.

In the last year, those "not" in the labor force rose by 2,027,000.

Over the course of the last year, the number of people employed rose by 2,770,000.

Participation Rate was steady at 63.8%.

There are 8,246,000 workers who are working part-time but want full-time work, an increase of 36,000

Long-Term unemployment (27 weeks and over) was 5.185 million a decline of 185,000.

Were it not for people dropping out of the labor force, the unemployment rate would be well over 11%.

Over the past several years people have dropped out of the labor force at an astounding, almost unbelievable rate, holding the unemployment rate artificially low. Some of this was due to major revisions last month on account of the 2010 census finally factored in. However, most of it is simply economic weakness.

The key point above is those "not" in the labor force rose by over 2 million.

Reasons for Artificially Low Unemployment Rate

In the past several years, millions of citizens want a job and need a job but have not looked for a job by strict BLS accounting. Searching for jobs in the want-ads or on Monster does not count. One needs to actually apply, have an interview, or send out resumes.
People are going back to school in staggering numbers and young adults are staying in school longer because there are no jobs. Please recall my post 53% of New Graduates are Jobless or Underemployed; Rude Awakening for Class of 2012; Useless Degrees; Who Benefits From Student Aid?
In my article Question on Jobs: How Many Does It Take to Keep Up With Demographics? I noted that "Middle-Aged Borrowers Pile on Student Debt". Well, if you are in school, you are not in the labor force.
Disability Fraud is on the rise. I have written about it many times as that link shows. As related to unemployment, the key report is 2.2 Million Go On Disability Since Mid-2010; Fraud Explains Falling Unemployment Rate.
Also consider How Much Debt Does it Take to Generate $1 in GDP? Disability Fraud vs. Expiring Unemployment Benefits Revisited

Not only is the unemployment rate artificially low, but it is no longer falling. And since it has stalled, we had three anemic retail sales reports followed by a reported rise last month.

I think that latest retail sales report will be revised away, and I also believe the US is back in recession. If so, expect the unemployment rate to head back up and retail sales to weaken further.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

duminică, 19 august 2012

Join us for the Kids' "State Dinner"

Seth's Blog : What if your slogan is true?

What if your slogan is true?

More Recent Articles

sâmbătă, 18 august 2012

Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics

Weekly Address: Congress Should Back Plan to Hire Teachers

Seth's Blog : How to run a problem-solving meeting

How to run a problem-solving meeting

More Recent Articles

vineri, 17 august 2012

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

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duminică, 19 august 2012

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sâmbătă, 18 august 2012

More Recent Articles

vineri, 17 august 2012

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