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Designs By Sundown was recently featured in the March/April 2005 issue of myhouse Magazine.
The article, "Trust and Teamwork," highlights Designs By Sundown's efforts to assist a family relocating from New England to suburban Denver.
The family wanted to have their interior decorating and landscaping completed prior to the new school year, just eight weeks from the project's start date, and Designs By Sundown delivered.
Click to read a PDF of the article.


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Transfers Lviv - Warsaw - Lviv
Parks and Green Areas in Lviv
Each year more and more tourists come to Lviv individually. It has become trendy to explore walking paths of Ukraine independently, without assistance from a tourist company, guide, etc. This backpacking trend has come to Ukraine from Western Europe, where travelers have always been able to move whenever they wish, not only within, but beyond their countries. Therefor the descriptions of Lviv green areas and walking paths may be very useful for trackers and walkers. Marked routes would make tracking and walking easier and safer and information boards along the routes enables to learn more about the area of traveling, but not all of the walking paths are so well developed.
Lviv with its hilly landscape has always been attractive because of park and green areas. In the park areas of Lviv there are a lot of historical, archeological, cultural, natural attractions, which capture both Ukrainian tourists and guests from abroad.
This page describes green areas of Lviv, suitable for walking; as well as provides brief descriptions of some Lviv walking routes.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
|Home | Articles | News | Blog | About | Mailing List | Resources | Prominent Islamists | Middle East Forum | Keep Us Informed | Donate
Capitol Hill Alarmed Over Intimidation By Islamist Groups Preceding King Hearings
Pipeline News
The Hill is abuzz, swamped in a flurry of emails alleging that self-proclaimed moderate American Muslim groups are engaged in a furious campaign to intimidate those who speak out about the threat posed by Islamism and the spread of Shari'a, Islamic law.
The newest apparent victim, WMAL talker [and former Congressman, R, Iowa] Fred Grandy, who according, to the station simply resigned his position, "Fred Grandy has informed WMAL of his intention to resign from the station and its morning program..." [source, http://www.wmal.com/Article.asp?id=2124417]
WMAL is part of Citadel Broadcasting Company and MediaSpan/MediaSpan Network.
Read the complete original version of this item...
Related Topics: Censorship, Entertainment / Media, Free Speech, Government, Islamic Law (Shari'a), Lobby Groups, Police / FBI receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free islamist watch mailing list
Note: The content of external articles does not necessarily reflect the views of Islamist Watch.
Creeping Dhimmitude


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As you might guess, Nufangle Fine Antiques & Whimsy, owner Trish Headley's Kansas City emporium, isn't your typical antiques store—and that's just the point. The shop stands out amid a bevy of beloved, well-established antiques dealerships in Kansas City, not only for its quirky name but, more important, for its Fellini-esque vibe, unique collection of curios, and colorful owner.
Headley has the air of a stylish and intelligent Woody Allen character, with the warmth and good humor of Lily Tomlin thrown in. She's a seeker of the exquisite and eccentric, happy to regale visitors with stories of her antique-hunting adventures, which makes a visit to Nufangle more like a little journey than a shopping trip.
"I always describe myself as an equal-opportunity offender," says Headley. "I'll buy anywhere. To quote the movie The Fugitive, I will look in every doghouse, farmhouse, warehouse, hen house, or outhouse. It isn't especially important to me where the item comes from, but what does matter is how special the item is."
The surreal and strange are humorous themes in her shop. A zebra trophy dons a child's handmade antique Amish straw hat. A looming "Wheat Witch" sculpture looms above Headley's desk in the shop. Eerie glass eyes from WWII France peer at guests. The effect is charming.
And lest this description sound more like a carnival than "proper" antique shop, note that there's no shortage of beautiful 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century furniture, art, and accessories here: a quartet of 18th-century French engravings in their original frames; an early 19th-century American classical pier table with swoon-worthy marble top; a 19th-century Swedish commode with a patina only time can create. The whole shop is a collection of vignettes that marry the serendipitous with the sublime.
Headley might have been genetically destined to create this one-of-a-kind shop: Throughout her childhood, her mother collected and sold antiques, planning family vacations around antique fairs and flea markets. During childhood trips to Mexico, Headley fell in love with objects of devotion—Santos statues, retables, and Spanish Colonial imagery—though she's equally enamored with Continental pieces, such as Italian crystal chandeliers, 19th-century Swedish commodes, and 18th-century French doors.
She also confesses to be a fan of Francis Bacon, the 20th-century British painter famous for his abstract figurative work. "If you're familiar with Bacon's work you're probably scratching your head right now," she laughs. But the connection is not at all surprising: One of Headley's current favorite pieces is a wooden African sculpture with an abstract face, a fascinating twin to one of Bacon's self-portraits. Like Bacon, Headley chronicles the human condition—not with paint, but with a collection of items that revels in the span of human experience: quotidian, extraordinary, beautiful, and at its best, irresistible.
Get a little whimsy of your own at Nufangle's collection at TheHighBoy.
Photography by Carol Spinski.


text: Hi all, This is my maiden post here and i sincerely request help from experienced owners on my queries. I currently drive a 11 year old Indica V2 (dad's car). Concorde (Mumbai) is offering a hard-to-ignore discount on the 2011 linea tjet+ (mostly mar/apr 2011 manufactured). This includes 1 lakh cash discount, 1 lakh exchange bonus PLUS the actual exchange they offer on my indica which is roughly 30-40k, 10k corporate discount, free insurance. This is without ANY bargaining. So the OTR is roughly 8.2 but i'll try to get it down further/get some accessories like parking sensor fitted. My doubts: 1) Dealer claims (and says will give in writing) that the car hasn't been used as test drive vehicle. He says balance inventory of 2011 tjets is 40 odd and that since his dealership does not have any remaining inventory, the 2011 car will be shipped from the pune (ranjangaon) factory. They say that Fiat registers its test drive vehicles and hence they cannot sell a customer a vehicle that was used as a test drive vehicle earlier. says they sold 15 2011 model tjets last month. Does all this sound legit? I'll insist on the 'H' on the odo. Is there any issue buying a 2011 manufactured model now? 2) Any feedback on the after sales service/spares? Sales chap says spares are made at ranjangaon so they arent costly. Says service will be (for now) at the Tata workshops and that there wont be step-motherly treatment. My servicing will be in Mumbai (Andheri) so if anyone's aware of the experience in servicing their cars in Mumbai, it would help 3) Sales chap says servicing is for 4 years/80k kms which seems amazing. Any caveats i should specifically explicitly ask/clarify ? 4) What all do I need to demand before taking delivery (if i decide to buy) - i'm thinking new battery, tyres (if they agree). Anything else? Sales chap says Fiat and the dealer's technicians will both inspect the car at ranjangaon/stockyard before its delivered. Still, anything in particular i need to ensure they replace/fit anew? 5) The alternative car (which i booked but then cancelled) is Nissan sunny petrol XL. But it doesnt have the full package (all leather seats, electronics, disc brakes and alloys, 16 inch tyres etc etc) that the tjet+ offers. My driving will be 80%+ city and the occasional highway drive. Im moving from a diesel car (current indica) to a petrol one (i dont think diesel will remain subsidized over the next 5 years - its a call/risk i'm taking). My daily driving is roughly 35 km. Thoughts on 2011 linea tjet+ V/s 2012 nissan sunny petrol XL? Any help would be hugely appreciated. I'm scheduled to test drive the car at 5 pm today. The dealer's offered to send a test drive vehicle to my home. Why is the dealer going over the top to sell me a car? should i smell something fishy? thanks.


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Denver Parks and Rec is urging residents to 'purge the spurge' and aggressively remove the weed known as 'Myrtle Spurge'.
The plant is considered a "noxious weed" that spreads quickly and has been known to choke out plants native to Colorado.
Additionally the plant produces a white milky substance that can cause irritation to the skin.
Saturday May 20, Denver Parks and Rec will exchange your Myrtle Spurge for another free native plant at Harvard Gulch Park from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Copyright 2017 KUSA


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I thought that the sound was coming from under my bed. I had never heard anything like it before.
I prayed. Out loud.
"God, I hope I'm not going crazy. Please help me not to be the only one in the house hearing this."
After I said Amen, my roommate screamed at me from his room on the other side of the wall.
"Jay! Do you hear that?"
Answered prayer is a beautiful thing. At least now, if I was going crazy, my roommate was going with me. But my comfort didn't last very long. The noise was still there and it was sounding creepier by the minute.
The house had a history.
It was one of those old houses that you will find in every small, southern town. It was old and pretty much everyone has lived in it at one time or another. Oh, and they all said that it was haunted.
A friend came over one time and stopped in the hallway leading to our kitchen to point out the fact that there used to be a transmission from some old car sitting over in the corner. His uncle lived there and apparently liked to keep transmissions in the kitchen. Sadly, the transmission wasn't there anymore so that couldn't be what was making the noise.
Another lady that lived there at one time told me about her friend Virginia that used to come and visit. By the way, Virginia was dead when she was coming over for those visits. As the story was told to me, Virginia would come in to the bedroom with a set of keys and pull on people's toes. What is it with stories about dead people carrying keys?
I don't believe in ghosts so I laughed off the story about Virginia when it was told to me. But I have to admit, while I was laying there in my bed, listening to the sounds of death, I thought about Virginia.
My roommate and I met out in the hallway where we had a conference to try and figure out what that noise was. When we couldn't reach a consensus we decided to follow the example of every idiot in every horror movie that has ever been made. We were going outside to check it out.
You do realize, right, that there would be no such thing as horror movies if it wasn't for the idiot that decides to go outside and check things out? People don't like to watch movies about responsible adults that just roll over and go back to sleep when they hear a weird noise.
I led the way out. When I put my hand on the doorknob, I thought that this might be the last time I ever see this house again. I had lived a good, full life. There were worse ways to die than at the hands of a crazy lady with keys.
I opened the door and stepped out onto the porch, into the cool night air. My roommate told me to stop and then disappeared back into his room. He came back out carrying a .38 Special. The gun, not the band. Suddenly I felt more confident as I led us back out to our hopefully now less certain death. Can you shoot dead people? Or the undead? Whatever they are.
And then a thought hit me that I had to share with my roommate.
"Hey. You're the one with the gun. Maybe you should lead the way."
And so he did.
Eventually, we made it back inside. It turns out that Virginia wasn't coming back to look for her keys or pull our toes.
There was, however, a cat having babies under our house. Cats having babies, they tell me, make strange noises. Noises that sound sort of like old ladies carrying keys. And that leads us to the moral of the story.
It is perfectly normal for a strong, mentally stable, and macho young man to be afraid of a pregnant cat. But if you happen to hear one and decide to go check it out, just follow the guy with the gun.


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Hollis is committed to designing, developing and manufacturing the specialised technical scuba diving equipment that divers expect and demand. The diving equipment that we produce is not only designed around experienced technical divers though, in fact Hollis dive gear is built with all divers in mind from the new recreational diver to the exploratory and expedition divers.
Hollis was born from a lifelong passion of diving and the need for specialised equipment for unusual circumstances and all those years of diving experience, design knowledge and testing history allows us to build the best products possible. Regardless of whether you are enjoying a shallow dive over a coral reef or leading an expedition into an uncharted cave system we know our diving equipment is able to take you there with confidence.
To reinforce that confidence all life support equipment sold and registered in the UK such as regulators, dive computers and wings are covered by a lifetime warranty that will cover you and your equipment against material and manufacturing defects for the entire time you own the product. For more information please visit the warranty page


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|Related Sections:
|Mount Pleasant
|Isabella County
Pohlcat, The5665 Pickard Rd
Mount Pleasant, MI 48858
Phone: (517)773-4221Fax: (517)775-3651
This course features the Chippewa River flowing through many holes. The signature hole is #17, a 149-yard, par 3, requiring a tee shot over water to a well-bunkered green. The most difficult hole is #9, a 573-yard, par 5, requiring straightaway shots from tee to green. You may only walk the course on weekdays.
|Holes: 18
|Greens: Bent Grass
|Fairways: Bluegrass
|Greens Fees:
|Course Type:
|Dress Code:
|No tank tops or cutoffs
|Apr 1 to Nov 1
|Guest Policy:
* Update this Course: Update/modify the details for this golf course's listing.
*All Greens Fees provided are subject to change. Please call the golf course to confirm the current fees.


text: In a message dated 4/18/02 7:59:38 AM Central Daylight Time, audidudi at mindspring.com writes: As for the locked center and rear diffs, I was being diplomatic in my previous response: I've tried it and didn't like it at all. Of course, I trailbrake into corners and the style you describe above sounds like the complete opposite so perhaps it's just a driving style thing? Sure sounds like it. I got the idea from a couple of the rally books interviews, Stig especially was famous for this technique in the dry (other drivers bitched, especially at San Remo events, cuz with more 'traditional' techniques, 3 point turns were observed in the tight switchbacks). Watching him pilot the Escort on the tarmac at Maine Forest in 99, he didn't seem to change that technique any either. Though it also could be what you are used to in early performance driving techniques. Being a prorally guy first, I'm most comfortable with those techniques, and I find the urq/locked q's to be very easy to drive on tarmac with both diffs locked, even with tight courses. Thanks for the info Jeff, I promise to give the rear tires a pump up. Grattan ACCNA event is next week, I'll report what I find. WRT springs, I certainly know that there are stiffer springs that I doubt the best audi officianado could successfully protest. I used a completely different set of stock springs in the back of my urq, that have a coil cut out of them, so I know that wouldn't be me doing the above (you can breathe easy Kevin;) TTYL SJ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.audifans.com/pipermail/torsen/attachments/20020418/7cae156a/attachment.htm


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Emraan's cricket fever
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Bollywood actor Emraan Hashmi promotes his film Ek thi daayan at Media Cup Cricket Tournament in Mumbai. The actor not only attends the match but also seen playing cricket.
Tag: emraans cricket fever, bollywood actor, emraan hashmi, emraan promote film ek thi daayan, media cup cricket tournament, med
By Team Biscoot | Apr 20,2013,10:36 AM IST
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Dorothy Height Stamp Unveiled
The United States Postal Service kicked off this year's Black History Month observances by dedicating the Dorothy Height Forever stamp during a ceremony at Howard University. The 40th stamp in the Black Heritage series honors Height, a tireless activist, who dedicated her life to fighting for racial and gender equality. She became one of the most influential civil and women's rights leaders of the 20th century. Richard Allen, the first elected and consecrated bishop in African Methodism, was commemorated on the 2016 Black Heritage Stamp.
"The Postal Service is proud to honor civil rights icon Dorothy Height, an American treasure, whose illustrious career spanned almost a century," said Ronald Stroman, deputy postmaster general and chief government relations officer, who dedicated the stamp. "The Dorothy Height Forever stamp will serve as a lasting tribute to her life and legacy of seeking equality and justice for all Americans, regardless of ethnicity, gender or race," he continued.
Stroman was joined at the stamp dedication ceremony by U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA); Alexis Herman, president, Dorothy I. Height Education Foundation; Ingrid Saunders Jones, chair, National Council of Negro Women; Naima Randolph, Dorothy Height's great niece; Wayne A.I. Frederick, president, Howard University; and Bishop Vashti McKenzie of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The Dorothy Height stamp features artist Thomas Blackshear, II's portrait of Height. The painting is based on a photograph shot by Lateef Mangum in 2009. Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamp.
In 1963, the Height-led National Council of Negro Women joined the Council for United Civil Rights Leadership. Height was an architect of the August 1963 March on Washington, where she shared the stage with Martin Luther King, Jr. It was Height who pushed to include a voice of youth like John Lewis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and insisted on no time limits for King's speech.
Gender equality was also important to Height, who fought for the rights of women, particularly women of color. President John F. Kennedy named her to his Commission on the Status of Women, which was chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt. Height attended the 1963 White House ceremony where Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act. In 1971, she helped form the National Women's Political Caucus.
In 1977, Height officially retired from the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), for which she worked for 40 years. In addition to numerous honorary degrees, Height received the nation's two highest civilian honors. In 1994, President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A decade later, President George W. Bush presented her with the Congressional Gold Medal. In 2009, she was a guest of Barack Obama when he was sworn in as the nation's 44th president.
Ms. Height was a lifelong United Methodist as well as a celebrated member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. She was honored by the AME Church Council of Bishops at the 1984 session of the General Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, and spoke at the funeral of Deaconess Rosa Parks in 2005 at Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, DC.
Contributions from United States Postal Service and the United Methodist News Service.


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by Jeff James
Evance Chieng dreams of going to college. The honor of being the first in his family to do so is a bragging right few in his community can boast. His grandmother, Rujina Abusa, reminds him often how proud his parents would be (had they survived the HIV epidemic) of his success. Thinking of them, and his grandmother who has suffered the loss of 6 children to the same disease, encourages him to work harder. Her smile and determination inspire him to persevere.
This year is a critical year for Evance. He is in 8th grade, and will graduate from Lalmba's children's program at the end of this year. Unless he qualifies for one of our coveted scholarships for secondary or trade school, his scholastic career ends soon. Fishing is his backup plan. It's the practical path that most young men choose from this lakeside community.
Knowing the odds are slim and the competition steep, Evance seems unconcerned. He believes with all his heart that this time next year he will begin high school.
Sadly, less than 10% of the children in our program are able to continue with formal education beyond 8th grade. Why is that? Well, mainly it's the prohibitive cost for families living on less than a dollar a day. School fees are not even a consideration. Primary education costs about $40 per year, and secondary school is about $300 per year, way out of reach! Scholarships are few. Evance and 100 other 8th graders will compete for Lalmba's 30 coveted scholarships. 30 is not a magical number; it's simply what we can afford, as we focus on primary education for almost 1000 younger students. We'd love to provide a scholarship to high school for each child who qualifies.
In fact, when I was there in January, our Children's Director in Kenya introduced me to 8 students who qualified for a Lalmba scholarship, but because their test scores were marginally lower than their peers, Lalmba did not have scholarship budget for them. I felt for those 8 students. They are smart children, ambitious in their hopes, tireless in their work. It would be unjust to extinguish their dream so soon, I thought, tossing them to labor on the lake before they've had a real chance to break away and heal their families, families trapped in a cycle of perpetual poverty.
We have to make some very difficult decisions sometimes in this work; decisions that could have generational ramifications for a family. We're a small organization with limited resources, and we take pride in our philosophy of doing the most good with little. But for these 8 kids, we made the decision to increase our fundraising by $2400 for the next 4 years and give them the opportunity to change the course of their lives. That's a commitment I feel good about making.
High school in America is an opportunity we take for granted. It's a birthright in our minds. But for these kids, a high school education is a rare opportunity. And if given the chance, not a lesson will be squandered, nor a class missed. These students know what's at stake.
When we told them that they would, after all, receive a scholarship, a breathless silence filled the room, and then it lit up with unbridled joy! If the energy of happiness could be harnessed and sold to the highest bidder, that moment would have been worth a billion dollars, and our perpetual budget woes would be over. But happiness's value is not monetary; it's more meaningful than that. And although the moment was fleeting, a sense of hope now shines prominently in their minds. The family story can be altered; a happy ending is once again possible.
As we begin a new year setting new goals, we want to keep you, our generous supporters, informed.
In 2015 our operating budget was $552,000, and we raised about $565,000. It was the most financially healthy year for Lalmba since 2008. Because of that and because of your generosity last year, we were able to increase funding to our microloan program by $10,000, helping more needy families start small businesses to get on the path to independence. And, of course, with our addition of scholarships for these 8 deserving kids, our budget this year is $565,000, to the dollar of what we raised last year. How's that for running a lean, sustainable program?
Please keep us in your prayers and help us when you're able to fulfill our mission of providing hope through opportunity.


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Best of the Looks, Best of the Books 1/6/12
It's the first BotL, BotB post of 2012! Hooray! I have lots of great links saved up, as it's been a few weeks since I've posted one of these, so let's get down to business.
Best of the Looks:
This week, I am inspired by Jill's of Good Life for Less technique of layering a collared shirt under a turtleneck. Sure, she cribbed from J. Crew, but who doesn't? I'm antsy to try it but afraid it will look clumpy on me.
A handy (and cute) list of wardrobe staples at Casual Glamorous.
I need this scarf in my life.
Veronika's classic vintage black dress is stunning.
Adorable t-strap flats from J. Crew.
Want this, now please.
Best of the Books:
Encouraging news at Annie Cardi's blog: Reading is cool!
The 25 greatest epigraphs in literature.
A list of less ambitious book titles.
Digital text and what it means for the future of writing.
Full Stop has an inspiring list of uplifting wintry literature–just in time for the truly blustery weather.
A visit to the Shel Silverstein archive. Love!
And...just because I can.
I'm gearing up for a fun and only semi-busy weekend. I can't wait! Happy weekend, everyone!


text:
CDOT will try to make driving on Colfax Blvd. in Jefferson County a little easier.
Starting this week, crews will be making repairs and improvements on Colfax between I-70 and Cole Blvd. and from Simms St. to Kipling St.
The project costs $2.9 million and will shut down one or two lanes, depending on the time of day.
CDOT says normal work hours at the project will be 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. They will also work overnight, between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m.
Copyright 2017 KUSA


text:
Texas Heroes Series
Genre: Western / Historical / Romance
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Date of Publication: August 1, 2017
Number of Pages: 352
Scroll down for Giveaway!
Duel McClain buries his wife and infant son, climbs in the saddle, and rides off. Locked in grief, he drifts from one Texas town to another as the months pass. He rides into a border town and gets in a card game in the saloon. On the last hand, the opponent across from him runs out of money. The man reaches down for a baby and plunks her in the center of the table. Whoever wins the pot, gets her too. After Duel wins with the Deadman's Hand, he tries to give the baby back. But when the man tells him he'll sell her, Duel keeps his prize.
On the way back to his home, he runs across a woman covered in blood. She only says her name is Jessie and the blood isn't hers. The deep fear in her eyes touches Duel and he has to do something. He strikes a bargain—he'll take her anywhere she wants to go in return for helping with the child.
Jessie sees honor, respect, and kindness in his eyes. And the moment she holds the baby in her arms, her heart melts. Once they reach Duel's home, she confesses she killed her husband and tells him the law will come. Desperate to save her, he offers marriage and she accepts.
They settle in and love develops. But each day grows more tense. Lawmen are coming and they can't stop them. Soon, she'll face the hangman's rope.
Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo iBOOKS
Praise for Knight on the Texas Plains
"Broday (the Men of Legend series) has a knack for capturing the hesitations of both Duel and Jessie and unfurling a twisting plot without resorting to melodrama. Through carefully deployed flashbacks, she slowly exposes the horrors of Jessie's marriage, culminating in a truly grisly image of depravity without overwhelming the tender love story. Fans of historical romances will be pleased." ~~ Publisher's Weekly
"The instant a sweet baby girl, an abused woman, a stray dog, and a reluctant hero meet, readers are drawn into a tender and tough love story that touches many emotions and will have them believing in the healing power of love." ~~ Romantic Times 4 ½ Stars Top Pick!
"Broday's latest is a tender romance to touch the heart." ~~ Bookpage
"This story is simply endearing, packed with powerful message of humanity and the true healing power of family and love!!" ~~ Addicted to Romance
"Throughout the well-paced story, there was suspense, tears, fear, revulsion, and no shortage of laughter and joy. I didn't want the story to end." ~~ Teresa on Goodreads
Linda Broday, Historical Western Romance Author I'm a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of 8 full length historical western romance novels, with another set to release 2017, and 10 short stories. Watching TV westerns during my youth fed my love of cowboys and the old West and they still do. I reside in the Texas Panhandle on land the American Indian and Comancheros once roamed. At times, I can feel their ghosts lurking around every corner. Texas' rich history is one reason I set all my stories here. I love research and looking for little known tidbits to add realism to my stories. When I'm not writing, I collect old coins and I confess to being a rock hound. I've been accused (and quite unfairly I might add) of making a nuisance of myself at museums, libraries, and historical places. I'm also a movie buff and love sitting in a dark theater, watching the magic on the screen. As long as I'm confessing…chocolate is my best friend. It just soothes my soul.
Website * Facebook * Pinterest
Twitter * Goodreads
August 15-24, 2017
check out the other great blogs on this tour
|Guest Post
|Forgotten Winds
|The Librarian Talks
|Character Interview
|Books and Broomsticks
|Margie's Must Reads
|Notable Quotable
|StoreyBook Reviews
|Author Interview
|Reading by Moonlight
|CGB Blog Tours
|Scrapbook Page
|Missus Gonzo
|Chapter Break Book Blog
|My Book Fix Blog
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text:
Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet Occupational Health and Safety Program Bloodborne Pathogen Exposure. OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogens Standard-29 CFR 1910.1030.
Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author.While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server.
PURPOSE-Limits occupational exposure to blood and other potentially infectious materials since any exposure could result in transmission of bloodborne pathogens which could lead to disease or death.
SCOPE-Covers all employees with occupational exposure to blood or other potentially infectious materials as a function of their jobs.
Bloodborne pathogens are micro-organisms in the bloodstream that cause diseases.
Reasonably anticipated skin, mucous membrane or parenteral contact with blood or other potentially infectious materials that may result from the performance of an employee's duties.
29 CFR 1910.1030(b)
Employers are to evaluate each job task and procedure to determine which employees may be expected to be occupationally exposed to blood or other potentially infectious materials.
Exposure determination is made without regard to the use of personal protective equipment.
OSHA expects an employer to take into account all potential circumstances of exposure (biting, contact with skin lesions, and/or potentially infectious secretions) when determining which, if any, employees have occupational exposure.
Based on potential contact with blood and other potentially infectious materials, the employer is to select the appropriate personal protective equipment in accordance with the standard.
First aid trained employees assigned to provide emergency first aid as part of their specific job duties are covered by the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard.
GOOD SAMARITAN ACTS-Not covered by the standard.
Collateral Jobs
Those positions that do not have occupational exposure to blood or other potential infectious body fluids.
Employees in Collateral Jobs
The three most significant bloodborne pathogens found in the workplace:
Each employee with occupational exposure will within 10 days of employment shall:
Provided at no cost to the employee.
Provided at a reasonable time and place and performed by or under the supervision of a licensed physician or other health care professional.
Provided at no cost to the employee annually.
Training Records
Defined as human blood, human blood components, and products made from human blood.
An employee must make contact with contaminated fluids and permit a way to enter the body.
If employees are trained and designated as
responsible for rendering first aid or medical
assistance as part of their job duties, they are
covered by the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogen
Employees, who administer first aid as a collateral duty
to their routine work assignments, need not be offered
the pre-exposure hepatitis B vaccination, provided that a
number of conditions are met.
All first aid providers who provide assistance in any situation involving the presence of blood or other potentially infectious materials, regardless of whether or not a specific exposure incident occurs, must have the vaccine made available to them as soon as possible, but in no event later than 24 hours after exposure.
In an exposure incident as defined in the standard has taken place, other post exposure follow-up procedures must be initiated immediately, per the OSHA Standard.
While OSHA does not generally consider maintenance and janitorial staff employed in non-health care facilities to have occupational exposure, it is the employer's responsibility to determine which job classification or specific tasks and procedures involve occupational exposure.
UNIVERSAL PRECAUTIONSis the term used when handling all blood or other potentially infectious material as if it were, in fact, infectious.
Since there is no way of know if an injured person or body fluid is infected, employees in ALL CASES must use universal precautions when exposed to another's body fluids.
When antiseptic hand cleansers or towelettes are used, hands will be washed with soap and running water when the employee returns to a location where hand washing facilities are available.
Wash hands immediately or as soon as feasible after removal of gloves or other protective equipment.
Employer must ensure that employees wash hands and any other skin with soap and water, or flush mucous membranes with water immediately, or as soon as feasible, following contact with blood or body fluid.
PPE will be considered appropriate only if it does not permit blood or other potentially infectious materials to pass through to reach the employee's work clothes, street clothes, undergarments, skin, eyes, mouth, and/or other mucous membranes.
Eye protection is to be worn whenever splashes, spray, spatter or droplets of blood or other potentially infectious materials may be generated and eye, nose, and/or mouth contamination can be reasonably anticipated.
Gloves will be worn when it can be reasonably anticipated that the employee may have hand contact with blood, other potentially infectious materials, mucous membranes, and/or non-intact skin.
Wear gloves when:
Using gloves:
There is a Hepatitis-B vaccine that can be used post
exposure. It is about 90% effective and must be received as soon as possible.
Employee and First Line Supervisor
First Line Supervisor
First Line Supervisor
Time Line
If an exposure incident occurs, all other post exposure follow-up procedures according to the BBP Standard must be initiated immediately.
Employer must ensure that the medical provider is familiar with and follows the recommendations for post exposure follow-up.
These procedures are based on OSHA standard 29 CFR 1910.1030 for all employees who have come in contact with infected blood, blood products and/or body fluids at work.
Occurs most often when performing first aid or coming into contact with someone who has been injured on the job.
Never Remove Sharps, Broken Glass, Etc. By Hand.
Contain the area by covering with paper towels and carefully pouring appropriate disinfectant solution around and on the area.
EXAMPLE-1:10 mixture of household bleach and water.
Blood contaminated items used for first aid and care of lacerations, nose bleeds, etc. shall be contained in a plastic lined container, closed, and disposed of with the daily trash in a large, heavy duty plastic bag of sufficient strength to preclude bursting and tearing during handling, storage or transport.
Items such as gauze, bandages, band-aids, and/or cotton balls are not required to have special hazard labels, only double bagging.
If the first aid supplies are saturated to the point where liquid can be squeezed in considerable amount, the supplies must be soaked in a disinfectant solution to decontaminate them.
They may be double bagged and included with the normal waste disposal.
Remove all personal protective equipment, dispose, and immediately wash hands and other contaminated body parts.
Place any soiled linen in a laundry bag. Soiled linen should be handled carefully as if it were contaminated. Pre-soak linen with disinfectant cleaning solution and launder with soap and water.
Linen and clothing contaminated with blood or body fluids must be handled with gloves.
For additional assistance contact:
Richard T. Owen
Education Cabinet Safety Coordinator
601 East Main Street
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601


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Ahem. So there's a whole bunch of news articles on Mayday's latest activities that mention rumors going around that Mr. Jay Chou – Pres. Chou, Cowboy Jay himself – has faked his album's sales figures. In them, Ashin comes out very forcefully voicing confidence in Jay that JVR Music failed to show in Mayday, saying that he's sure Jay's sales figures are the truth, because hey, he's Jay. He doesn't have trouble selling albums.
I'm sure that Ashin is right about this, and I'm sure there will soon be another forceful statement from Whiny Jay about how he's the only honest man left in the music industry, but the very fact that these rumors exist at least gives me a good laugh. How's it feel to be falsely accused on no evidence, Mr. Chou?
In totally unrelated news, after two weeks in the number 2 slot, Mayday is back on top of the G-Music charts. Jay is number 6, which is also irrelevant. It appears, by the way, that no one took those JVR accusations very seriously, because almost every article on Mayday makes a comment about how Mayday beat Jay's sales record when their album came out. The band for its part keeps repeating its statement that it doesn't want to compare sales, because all that matters is that they are selling in a bad economy. It's enough for them, and it should be enough for anyone.
Anyway, this all came up while Mayday was out promoting the new BenQ Joybook Lite U101, which is the company's answer to the Asus Eee (I got a tiny little Eee for my birthday this year, and I looooove it… finally, a computer that fits comfortably on the tray table of a plane even when the seat in front of you is reclined!! It's also handy for writing Mandopop concert reviews on the train home from Shanghai 😀 ). Ashin was given a pen and told to draw on the model – who was already painted blue:
Why blue? Dunno. Being Ashin, he was all embarrassed by the idea, but he finally wrote on her shoulder, though he joked that it would have been easier to draw on her stomach, since it would have been a flatter surface. Monster was celebrating his 32nd birthday at the event, and so he got cake and bear hugs from the fans.


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Behold. Need I actually point out all of the reasons why the White House explanation for Jack Lew's comments makes no sense whatsoever? Or that there still is no acceptable excuse that has been presented for the Senate's inability to pass a budget in over 1,000 days?
On that last point, if Democrats can't govern the Senate, maybe someone else ought to be given the chance to.


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This particular project was a completely new slate, with a newly built home. I really enjoyed helping the couple start from scratch and tailoring the design of their home to fit both of their personalities. Helping them through the entire process and making sure they were happy at each stage was my pleasure and a huge part of what I do as I work through every project with each of my clients."
– Lisa Renee


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You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'main posts' category.
As I 've highlighted many times in the past, the level of future long-run primary surpluses for Greece plays a major role in the debt sustainability scenarios. The major difference between the IMF and Euro institutions projections is identified in the primary surplus assumptions. The IMF projection for a 1.5% surplus makes debt restructuring necessary while the European institutions assume much higher primary balances which make debt sustainability more favourable.
A recent ESM paper on Greek debt reveals the importance of these projections. If Greece achieves 3.5% primary surplus until 2032 and 3% until 2038 no debt restructuring is required as long as economic growth is 1.3%. On the other hand, the IMF scenario of 1% economic growth and a primary surplus of 1.5% after 2022 makes Greek debt explosive.
European institutions try to make the case that episodes of large and sustained primary surpluses are not uncommon in European modern history. The ECB especially highlights the cases of Finland and Denmark as well as other countries:
The European Central Bank says such long periods of high surplus are not unprecedented: Finland, for example, had a primary surplus of 5.7 percent over 11 years in 1998-2008 and Denmark 5.3 percent over 26 years in 1983-2008.
My comments are twofold. First, the average primary surplus figure is not always equal to the year-by-year primary balance. Denmark achieved a primary surplus equal or higher than 5.3% in only 5 years during the 1983 – 2008 period. Actually, the primary surplus was at least 3.5% during 9 of the total of 26 years.
Yet the most important element that is not highlighted in the above cases is the fact that large primary surpluses were achieved in the context of equal or (mostly) higher current account surpluses. This is highly important since it allows the domestic private sector to achieve a positive net asset position even when the public sector is in surplus. As a result, economic growth is not threatened by the public sector and the private sector maintains a healthy balance sheet.
To illustrate the above I 've «corrected» the primary surplus by subtracting the current account surplus. I 've also deliberately set the vertical axis maximum to 3.5% which is the surplus requested from Greece to illustrate the fact that it is almost never achieved.
On the contrary, of the total of 60 years in the above episodes, 26 had a negative corrected primary surplus while it was lower than 1.5% in 40 years illustrating the fact that the IMF assumption of a 1.5% surplus is not unreasonable.
Since the Greek cyclically adjusted current account is highly negative it is clear that the assumption of high primary surpluses which will be maintained for decades is almost without precedence in the context of the private sector balance. Assuming a 3% nominal growth rate (based on the IMF assumption of 1% growth), a 10 year 3.5% primary surplus is equal to a 30% GDP transfer from the domestic private sector while a 20 year 3.5% surplus is equal to 52% GDP transfer which will not be counterweighted by a current account surplus.
In my view, the European institutions continue to make assumptions consistent with avoiding explicit costs for Greece's creditors but inconsistent with economic reality and sectoral balances.
A recent paper tried to perform a very important exercise of evaluating the balance sheet effects of a Euro exit for various Euro countries. Its results were that the relevant sectoral net positions will be the main drivers of balance sheet effects. Periphery risks are concentrated on the net positions of the government and the central bank while the financial and non-financial sectors mostly hold a positive net position.
More specific risks do arise from the fact that certain sectors (within countries) have significant levels of short-term debts, although this fact does not change the overall picture substantially.
I would like to use this opportunity in order to take a detailed view at the sectoral balance sheet risks from a Grexit scenario relying on BoG Greek NIIP data (data are for 2016Q3). I am focusing on specific categories and not taking categories such as direct investment or derivatives into account.
On the asset side:
- BoG now holds a large stock of foreign bonds as a result of its participation in the ECB QE program.
- MFIs have a total of €19bn in deposits and €59bn in bonds a loans. Nevertheless, a large part of the latter are EFSF notes offered as part of the various rounds of Greek banks recapitalization exercises.
- NFC and households have substantial claims in the form of deposits and banknotes, more than €52bn in total.
- The general government holds no assets while its foreign exchange reserves are very low and mostly in the form of monetary gold. Although Greece does have a claim on the ECB reserves this would not change the picture in a serious way.
On the liability side:
- The general government is the largest debtor with €28bn in bonds and €236bn in loan liabilities. Yet most of the bonds and almost all of the loans are long-term in nature.
- BoG is the second largest debtor with almost €93bn in liabilities which consist of Target2 and extra banknotes.
- MFIs have a large stock of liabilities in the form of deposits (which are usually a proxy for repo trades).
- NFC and households have a very small stock of liabilities in the form of bonds and loans (a bit over €10bn).
Overall one observes that:
- The largest part of the Greek NIIP is attributed to the Greek government with over €260bn in debt.
- Taking into account the bonds held as part of QE, BoG net foreign liabilities drop to €47bn.Using the most recent available data (January BoG monthly statement) this figure further decreases to a bit over €38bn or close to 20% of GDP.
- NFC and households hold a strong positive net claim from the RoW equal to almost €44bn. This most certainly masks firm-specific risks and mismatches but overall, the Greek non-bank private sector will improve its net position in the case of a currency depreciation (following a Grexit).
- Using only deposits figures, Greek MFIs have a net liability close to €28bn. Since a large part of their liabilities will be under foreign (instead of domestic) law this creates a serious risk of missing debt payments or being unable to roll-over short-term repos and other obligations. Given that the Greek banking system will be the one intermediating in all of the private sector's foreign transactions this net liability position can create rather difficult scenarios.
I will also use BoG MFI balance sheet data to take a closer look at Greek bank foreign risks:
It is clear that things are a bit complicated, especially since Greek banks have a large stock of intra-group transactions with group members in other (Balkan?) countries. Nevertheless, after correcting for such transactions one observes that they owe €13.6bn in net liabilities to other MFIs (€18.5bn gross) and another €8.6bn in foreign deposits. The main source of risk will mostly be the first item which is usually secured by a standard contract (master agreements) and is under foreign law.Missing a payment on these liabilities will create serious problems for the corresponding bank and its ability to continue transacting in international markets. Obviously a risk assessment would be made easier if the maturity profile of these liabilities (and assets) was known.
Regarding the BoG liability position I believe that in the event of a Grexit, securities held for monetary purposes will be used to settle the largest part of Eurosystem claims while the remaining net position will be settled with some form of Greek government long-term securities (probably floating rate notes paying Euribor).
In summary, I generally agree with Kostas Lapavitsas who believes that a Grexit scenario will necessitate increasing Greek government foreign reserves to at least €12-15bn. The main immediate sources of risks are the short-term debt of the Greek government and Greek banks. The first consist mainly of liabilities towards the IMF (since SMP Greek bonds are under Greek law and would be converted to the new currency) while the second require a thorough risk analysis. A Grexit would be extremely difficult if Greece only held €7bn in foreign exchange reserves (with 2/3 being monetary gold) since a bank debt payment failure would create serious disruptions in the country's international transactions.
The recent narrative regarding Greek debt sustainability has moved from the debt-to-GDP ratio towards the annual debt financing costs (interest payments + maturing debt). According to this analysis, Greece already enjoys very generous terms until 2020 and beyond and will only require small debt reprofiling measures in terms of interest rate payments and debt maturities after 2022. What is needed according to its creditors is for Greece to continue on the reform path, achieve economic growth and commit to credible fiscal measures that will allow it to maintain high primary surpluses close to 3.5% of GDP. Unfortunately that can only be achieved through tough measures on the pension front. «As long as Greece continues on this path, creditors will do their part» as the story goes.
In my view the above story is problematic, mainly because it relies on Greece achieving and maintaining a 3.5% GDP surplus target, a target which I believe is not credible in the long-run. In order to examine the subject from a theoretical point of view, I will use some well known concepts in economics, debt overhang and dynamic inconsistency.
Debt overhang is a concept usually used in corporate finance. It is based on the idea that, as long as the corporate balance sheet carries too much debt (which always takes precedence in payment over stock), stockholders do not have an incentive to contribute new funds in order to fund new investment projects if the proceeds are mainly used to improve the recovery rate of creditors. Balance can only be achieved if creditors 'share the costs' through a restructuring of the liability structure of the company balance sheet.
The same applies in the case of Greece. Its own 'stakeholders' do not have an incentive to contribute funds (in the form of high taxes or lower pensions/wages) if the increased surpluses will mainly be used to improve and 'guarantee' the recovery rate of foreign creditors. Given that Greece has a negative external balance (especially the cyclically-adjusted figure) it is an accounting fact that a primary surplus will involve a deterioration of the Greek private sector net financial assets position. Maintaining a 3.5% surplus target in the indefinite future involves a very large transfer of financial wealth from the Greek private sector to foreign official creditors with only a small part of the (possible) growth dividend staying in Greece. Most corporations would not accept such a bargain unless under threat, something which is more than evident in the Greek case where the Grexit threat has been thrown around for more than 5 years now.
Dynamic inconsistency on the other hand involves the idea that sometimes the solution to a dynamic optimization problem depends on the specific time when the problem is evaluated, which has the effect that a specific action time path is not credible.
A classical example is capital taxes. A fiscal authority might want to commit to low capital taxes in order to achieve large investment and growth. Yet at time t=1 investment has already been made and the temptation is high to increase capital taxes in order to enlarge fiscal revenue.
In a way, the same applies in Greece. In order to achieve debt sustainability, the fiscal authority must commit to a path of large primary surpluses. Yet, given the fact that such surpluses deteriorate the private sector position and the possibility of a negative shock hitting the economy, it is highly likely that Greece will have to lower its surplus (or even run a deficit) at some point in time. When the time of a negative shock comes, the optimal solution for the sovereign is to try and smooth the effects of the shock on the economy, not maintain a target that will only make matters worse.
As a result, especially given the need to maintain the surpluses for a very long time (in order to achieve debt sustainability), such a path is not credible. The fiscal authority will deviate 'at the first sign of trouble'.
Combining the debt overhang with the dynamic inconsistency argument leads to a clearly unstable equilibrium. Both the sovereign and the Greek private sector (Greek stakeholders) do not have the incentive to commit on a high surplus strategy. Under completely rational behavior they have every reason to not damage their financial position and maintain the best possible growth rate. Any commitment on the high surplus strategy will not be credible but only a 'temporary deviation' in order to avoid short-term negative outcomes since the Grexit threat is still considered credible.
In my view, only a path of low future surpluses (accompanied by a large upfront debt restructuring) is a long-term credible strategy. Otherwise, we 'll keep on observing the current 'stop and go' path, with the Greek government implementing the least possible measures and its creditors using Grexit as stick and the (insufficient) future debt reprofiling as carrot in a repeated game with a non-optimal outcome.
Recently we had to write a large essay on the bank loan pricing procedure of the banking system under imperfect competition (for the banking course we 're currently attending). The end result was quite interesting and we have posted it as a Working Paper on ssrn. The paper is heavily based on the relevant work of Ruthenberg and Landskroner (2008) which has been extended with more realistic assumptions such as a non-zero Recovery Rate on loans and a securities portfolio to match capital and reserves.
The paper first describes a few stylized facts of modern banking with sections on modern monetary policy implementation and the actual interbank market (where monetary policy acts as an interest rate cap on 'competitive spreads'). This is followed by a general (stochastic) model for the term and credit risk premium added on loan rates.
The model assumes that a bank finances a new loan by borrowing in the interbank market under Cournot oligopoly and Basel capital requirements. We only examine the case of a properly functioning interbank market with very low excess reserves and liquidity hoarding. The end result is the following equation:
where RL is the loan rate, Ps the borrower's probability of survival, Rf the risk-free rate, θ the spread in the interbank market over the risk-free rate, k cost of equity (RoE), H the Herfindhal-Hirschman index of concentration in the loan market, ε the elasticity of demand in terms of RL for new loans by bank customers and φ is the risk premium per borrower which is equal to:
φ = PD x LGD
(PD: Probability of default or 1-Ps and LGD: Loss-Given-Default).
Based on the above equation, it is clear that the main drivers of the loan rate are the Probability of Default and the risk-free rate (these two factors account for over 90% of the loan rate). PD enters the equation both as a 'compounding factor' and in the risk premium φ. The end result is that for PD higher than 5% the compounding factor increases substantially and a loan becomes very expensive. The obvious conclusion is that the PD is used as a 'first line of defence' by banks in order to determine if a loan will be offered in the first place and the amount made available (especially as a percentage of available collateral, proxied by the Loan-to-Value ratio).
This explains why credit crises and large recessions lead to a 'credit crunch' since a large enough PD will result in loan rejections and not in a (very large) increase of the offered loan rate. Updates to a borrower's PD /LGD (after a loan has been extended) are usually large enough that a bank cannot include them in the loan rate risk premium (without pushing a borrower to an early default) and are incorporated in Loan-Loss provisions.
Under perfect competition (H close to zero) banks are not able to earn a premium over the risk-free rate (apart from the borrower risk premium) and only get their required RoE. If market power exists banks are capable of gaining an above normal profit which is rather marginal for H lower than 0.1 (usually lower than 10% of the risk-free rate). For large enough HHI the premium becomes quite significant.
Both the RoE and Basel capital requirements play a role in the loan rate offered although that depends mainly on the loan's risk weight.
The model specification was followed by a simple application in the Greek banking system during the Euro era (and before the 2007-2008 credit crisis). Although we did not use any econometric techniques in this essay, the model performed quite well with an R² of 0.93. Given the current HHI of 0.214 it seems that banks have gained (through M & As) significant market power and are able to impose a premium of close to 30% over the risk-free rate in their quoted loan rates (based on the model's projections).
Our next step is to use the model in order to look into the Greek banking system with more detail and estimate an econometric specification. Still, the basic stylized facts that can be drawn are quite significant and can explain why credit crises lead to a credit crunch and how higher probabilities of default eat into bank profits through loan-loss provisions. Obviously we would appreciate any comments on the paper and the outlined model.
I find studies of income inequality and economic growth especially interesting since, apart from anything else, they highlight the differences between the neo-classical consensus and the post-keynesian view of the world. In this context I found two papers by Simon Mohun published on the Cambridge Journal of Economics and focusing on income inequality due to supervisory wages growth and on capital productivity long-term movements very enlightening. The fact that the author uses simple accounting exercises instead of relying on heavy econometric work is also quite positive since it keeps the analysis simple and not easily questionable.
The author starts by looking at the evolution of the US profit share (defined as profits to the capital stock) since the early '60s. The rate is decomposed in the profit share (profits to value added) and capital productivity (value added to the capital stock) using a simple chain rule:
What the author then does is to decompose the economy into 'productive' and un-productive sectors and the workers into supervisory and non-supervisory employees. It turns out that supervisory workers saw a large increase in their wage share especially after 1980 while non-supervisory workers experienced a large fall in their own share after a mild increase in the 1964-1979 period:
If one expands the 'capitalist class' to also include supervisory workers which means that their wages should be included in the profit share, the actual path of the profit share turns out to be quite different than the original series:
As a result, the 'expanded' profit rate actually shows a significant increase after 1980 with a large part attributed to the expansion of supervisory wages and not only to the increase of capital productivity:
What should be stressed at this point though is that this expanded profit rate does not provide the financing means for an expansion in investment (which would be naively assumed to be the driver of the increase in capital productivity) but rather is appropriated by the supervisor 'worker' class.
In the second paper, Mohun takes a deeper look at capital productivity as well. Keeping with the productive/un-productive distinction, the capital productivity growth is decomposed into:
- the expansion of the productive and un-productive fixed assets (which tend to explain a small part of the growth)
- relative prices (between capital goods and general output) and
- the ratio of labor productivity to capital deepening (the ratio of the capital stock to labor hours).
The findings on relative prices are in agreement with other studies on the subject which find that capital goods 'got cheaper' since 1980 and were a significant driver of the divergence between labor productivity and real wages. The author finds that during 1982-1998 relative prices contributed around 35% to the change in capital productivity:
The major driver though was the large change in capital intensity. While capital deepening (it is named technical composition of capital in the paper) grew close to 3% in the 1966-1982 period, it stagnated (-0.1%) in the 1982-99 period. Labor productivity growth remained roughly the same at 1.5% and 1.4% respectively.
So it seems that firms not only took advantage of lower capital goods inflation in order to increase their capital productivity but were actually able to maintain growth in labor productivity without investing into productive capacity (at least in relative terms). The paper speculates that this growth was achieved through the introduction of more efficient 'management and organization techniques'.
In any case, the papers make it quite clear that the deepening income inequality since 1980 was driven primarily by the rise of the manager class whose renumeration grew at the expense of productive workers and normal profits. This growth was made possible by the lower relative fixed assets inflation and continued increases in labor productivity despite a complete reversal in capital intensity by corporations.
The above is also reflected in a more detailed study of income growth in the top income earners based on US tax return data:
Table 7 shows that the share of national income (excluding capital gains) received by the top 0.1 percent of income recipients increased from 2.8 percent in 1979 to 7.3 percent in 2005. Again, the shares received by executives, managers, supervisors, and financial professionals increased markedly, with the increase in the share of income among these occupations accounting for 70 percent of the increase in the share of national income going to the top 0.1 percent of the income distribution between 1979 and 2005. The pattern is similar in Table 7a when we include capital gains.
One recurring statement (usually related with the Euro-Drachma debate) is that the type of currency does not play a role, only the ability to efficiently produce competitive products and the presence of a modern institutional and organizational setting.
This type of reasoning is actually very similar to the 'New Consensus' (NC) macroeconomic view. The economy follows a supply-side driven natural growth path, subject to stochastic exogenous shocks which move the economy's output gap far from zero and create inflationary (or disinflationary pressures). In a New Keynesian model, price and wage rigidities allow the central bank to change the short-term real rate (by changing the short-term nominal rate) which results in a deviation from the natural equilibrium (Wicksellian) rate of interest. This deviation eventually clears the output gap and returns the economy to its predetermined expansion path. The model as a whole contains the neutrality of money property, with inflation determined by monetary policy (that is the rate of interest), and equilibrium values of real variables independent of the money supply. The final characteristic is that the stock of money has no role in the model; it is merely a "residual."
In essence, the NC world view can be summarized in the words of King (1997):
if one believes that, in the long-run, there is no trade-off between inflation and output then there is no point in using monetary policy to target output. …. [You only have to adhere to] the view that printing money cannot raise long-run productivity growth, in order to believe that inflation rather than output is the only sensible objective of monetary policy in the long-run" (p. 6)
The Keynesian view is quite different and stresses the fact that in reality the economy expansion path is not predetermined by supply-side factors, nor is money neutral. On the contrary:
- Liquidity preference (see Arestis 2003) is an important issue. Financial assets are not close substitutes nor is credit risk negligible. As a result, relative prices and credit spreads play a decisive role since they determine the net worth of economic players (especially banks) and credit availability. Even the mere 'creation of money' by the central bank can have expansionary effects if it is targeted on specific, temporarily illiquid assets (with QE1 targeted on MBS being a strong example) since it expands the supply of 'safe assets'.
- Growth is to a large part endogenous while hysterisis effects are significant. The natural rate of growth is driven by demand growth (Thirlwall 1998) which generates hysterisis effects and path-dependence for the economy (Lavoie 2003). The NAIRU (if it exists at all) is closely related to the capital stock (since the elasticity of factor substitution is less than unitary) which suggests that effective demand and its effect on net investment strongly influences long-term employment (Arestis 2007).
- Economic decisions are governed by genuine uncertainty and not by a known probability distribution, something evident especially in the case of long-term investment projects. Savings equal Investment only ex post and do not 'drive' expansion. That would require that while savers increase their preference for liquid assets, investors are more willing to part with liquidity, increase their leverage and hold actual illiquid assets (in the form of fixed investment and higher inventories), which is actually only possible if future profitability is increased and spare capacity is no longer available.
Even in the neoclassical tradition, post-2008 thinking acknowledges that monetary policy can have significant short and long-term effects on growth:
- Long-term rates (which are relevant for investment) are not always closely linked to short-term money market rates, especially in stressed market environments. The central bank therefore needs to use balance sheet policies apart from setting the short-term rate in order to move long-term rate expectations.
- The natural rate of interest is not known with any significant confidence level and is contingent on economic conditions, preferences and expectations (Federal Reserve 2001).
- Disinflation (and even worse deflation) starting from already low inflation levels has strong effects on economic growth, since the output-inflation rate tradeoff is non linear (IMF 1998, Fed 1998), something which is highly relevant in the Greek case.
Furthermore, since the ECB target is of close to 2% annual inflation, strong deflationary expectations (which are now present in Greece) can only be considered a failure of its monetary policy. As long as the ECB does not act to correct this problem, it would be hard to suggest that monetary policy does not play a decisive role in the current Greek predicament.
Lastly, in cases of large real exchange rate devaluations (which is the stated target of the Greek adjustment program) the method of devaluation certainly plays a major role. Internal devaluations are usually followed by debt deflation effects with large output and employment losses and significant increases in non-performing loans and the (private and sovereign) debt burden (which is not deflated as are prices and income). External devaluations on the other mostly hurt the external sector claims while resulting in significant changes of the real exchange rate.
The Greek Labor Union (GSEE) will announce shortly an econometric study stating that employment in Greece will not return to its pre-crisis levels for at least a decade, even if Greece achieves an annual real GDP growth rate of 3.5%. In this post I 'd like to perform some basic back-of-the-envelope calculations to confirm the above statement.
Let's assume a Cobb-Douglas production function:
In Greece, the labor share (wage share) has been rather constant at around 54% while the long-run average for Total Factor Productivity (TFP) has been 1.5% (for a technical yet very detailed examination of the production function components in the context of potential output calculation one can look at this paper from the EC). Assuming a 3.5% real GDP growth rate, a constant TFP growth of 1.5% annually and also that capital and labor maintain their shares (which roughly means that they will have equal growth rates), then the growth in employment will be:
dL = (dY – dTFP) / 2 or close to 1%.
The labor input in the production function is measured in hours worked. The long-run average was more than 2100 hours/year while in 2012 the corresponding figure was 2034. The necessary increase to reach the long-run mean is 3.2%, which means that, at least during the first 3 years, employment growth will be minimal. Based on Ameco data, current employment (in persons) is close to 4000 thousands (compared to more than 4600 in 2008) which means that a 1% will translate to roughly 40,000 persons finding a job (after hours worked have returned close to 2100 per year).
It is clear that some basic accounting confirms the labor union findings. The first 5 years of GDP growth will witness only minimal gains in employment (roughly close to 100,000 persons) while at the end of the 10-year period employment will still be less than 2008 figures. Actual unemployment statistics might change more favorably due to a lower 16-64 population, participation rate changes and net migration.
Since the usual narrative about the Greek economy after the Euro introduction involves a large movement of resources and employment towards the non-tradable sector, it is interesting to check this claim against available data. I will be using the Ameco database and looking into the sectoral contributions on total Gross Value Added and Employment between 1995 and 2008 (in order to account for pre-Euro effects and not pollute the statistics with the post-2008 crisis).
Services GVA contribution did increase steadily from 71% during the mid-1990s to 78% in 2008. Nevertheless, excluding 2008 (which included a large fall in the industry contribution), almost all of the fall is attributed to lower agriculture GVA contribution (from 7.4% in 1995 to 3.5% in 2007, a fall of 4%). Industry only fell from 14% in 1995 to 12% in 2007. Although industry certainly lost ground (and was much lower than the Euro average of 20%), it seems that most of the change in GVA contributions is due to the Greek economy transitioning to a more 'mature' form with agriculture moving closer to the Euro area average of 2%. On the other hand, services contribution increased from 71% to 76% (in 2007), moving higher than the long-run Euro average of 71% (which was quite steady during the same period). Building and construction certainly do not show any signs of a bubble, except for a short period of time during 2006-2007.
The above observations are even more evident in the employment front. Industry shows a small drop in employment contribution (from 13.5% to 11.6%) which could be attributed to higher productivity while agriculture is the main sector losing employment, with its share falling from 19.3% to 11%. The primary source of employment growth is the services sector which increases from 60.5% to 69% during the same period.
Overall, although the long-run industry contributions are far lower than the Euro average, the Greek economy rebalancing during the Euro era is a result of its GVA composition 'maturing', with agriculture moving closer to European averages and the relevant resources and employment being absorbed by the services sector. Compared to the Euro averages (20% industry, 71% services), it is true that the movement went on the 'opposite direction', with the services sector growing to the disadvantage of industry (12% industry, 76% services), probably as a result of easy credit conditions.
Looking at more detailed data from the Greek statistical agency, land and water transport services contributions increased from 4% in 2000 to almost 7% in 2008 while 'Accommodation and food and beverage service activities' fell from 7.4% to 5.6%. As a result, the data are rather mixed about if the increase in the services sector contribution came from tradable or non-tradable parts. It seems that a large part of the 5% change (but certainly not all) can be attributed to non tradables.
Taking the above at face value, around 3-4% of GVA (and a corresponding part of employment which is equal to around 200,000 persons) should have moved to the tradable sector since 2008. The rough size of this 'overshooting' certainly cannot account for the enormous loss of output and employment since 2008 which can only be attributed to the negative credit conditions and fiscal austerity. The price paid for a relatively small adjustment is quite high.
Since i 've recently had a couple of university professors analyze the expectations augmented Phillips curve, I 'd like to do a short analysis of the relationship, especially in the context of inflation targeting by central banks. First, it is important to point out that the original Phillips equation reflected a relationship between wage growth and unemployment. The modern Phillips curve assumes constant real wages in order to substitute wage inflation for the inflation rate and come up with:
π = π* – ε(u – u*) where π* is the expected inflation rate and u* is the natural rate of unemployment.
This assumption shows its weakness if one uses another route to come up with a breakdown of inflationary sources. Using the equation of exchange:
PQ = PY (Q: real output, Y: real income)
and noting that income is distributed between wages and profits we can come up with:
Multiplying and dividing by W:
W + U/W is actually the aggregate mark-up of profits to wages, which can be set to m:
PQ = mW
Dividing both parts by L (employment):
P*(Q/L) = m*(W/L)
and renaming Q/L to average labor productivity (APL) and W/L to the money wage and taking natural logs we end up with:
π = m + w – APL
In other words, inflation is created by the excess increase of wages and markups to the growth of productivity. Given that the original Phillips curve focused on wage inflation, we can substitute w with the expectations augmented equation to reach:
π = m + (π* – ε(u – u*)) – APL
and moving inflation expectations to the left:
π – π* = m – APL – ε(u – u*)
Modern central banks follow inflation targeting with a view of minimizing the output gap. Taking that policy as given and assuming it is successful at anchoring actual inflation to the expected it is clear that:
m – APL = ε(u – u*)
As a result, only if the markup growth rate is equal to the increase of labor productivity will the outcome be unemployment close to the natural rate while workers will enjoy constant real wages. If firms manage to increase their markups more than productivity they will be able to earn a larger share of income while leading the economy to an unemployment gap. The increased unemployment will lower labor bargaining power and its ability to achieve wage increases. Consequently, pure inflation targeting will not necessarily lead to an optimal outcome but can allow 'capitalists' (used with the classical definition of owners of the means of production) to secure higher shares of income while lowering the labor force negotiating power and increasing the unemployment gap. Coupled with a financial sector willing to provide easy credit, this policy can have long-term redistributional effects.
* The original discussion appeared on heteconomist.
Continuing on the path of the series on the Greek macro crisis I will focus on gross capital formation during the Euro era in more detail, especially in connection with imports of goods. First, let's start with a breakdown of investment in main sectors since 1990 (as %GDP and not including inventory changes):
It is quite evident that dwellings are the principal component of investment, especially during the early times of the 1990's. This component displayed a large drop in the early 1990's from 16% to 10% GDP where it settled for the greatest part of the following years with small changes. Only during a very short period in 2006 – 2007 did it climb momentarily to 12.5% GDP. So it seems that no housing investment boom actually happened in Greece after the Euro, although house prices did appreciate significantly. The rest of the investment components show quite steady figures. Transport equipment (which includes shipping) displays significant fluctuations while equipment was stable around 4% of GDP with the exception of 2007 – 2008 when it increased to 4.5 and 5%.
Looking into the figures since 2008 makes the depth of the depression very clear. Dwellings construction dropped from 12.5% in 2008 to 4.7% in 2011 and is projected to reach 4.3% in 2012. Equipment investment went from 5% in 2008 to 3.2% in 2011 and other buildings and structures (which include public works) from 4.6% in 2009 to 3.2% in 2011.
Overall, the deepest drop has been in dwellings, a loss reflected in construction employment as well which has lost more than 170,000 workers (from around 400,000 in 2007). This figure alone accounts for a loss of 8.2% in GDP, more than half the cumulative 2009 – 2011 drop. Most of the components have now settled to such low figures that just basic capital stock maintenance will allow for these levels to be preserved. As a result, investment (and output in the aggregate) will stabilize mainly due to the 'zero level bound'.
Relation with imports
What I 'm interested in this post is how investment components relate to imports of goods. For this reason I will use Bank of Greece balance of payments data to construct imports of goods excluding fuels and ships (as %GDP). Since data availability is thin, only the 2003 – 2011 period will be examined.
Since these are time series data, the first action is to determine which are stationary through Dickey-Fuller unit root tests:
* I(0) stand for stationary and I(1) for stationary by taking first differences.
As it turns out, the components are not stationary. Transport equipment was not included since imports do not include ships. Trying to determine a suitable regression relationship leads to the observation that most of the components do not appear to be highly significant. One simple yet robust relationship is the following:
* denote 90% confidence interval, ** 95% and *** 99%.
Changes in Equipment and dwellings investment during the previous year are able to explain a large part of the current year change in imports. Both coefficients are large, while the equipment one is also negative, meaning that an increase in equipment investment during one year will lead to a drop in imports during the following one.
Based on the above coefficients we can examine the exact magnitude of the effect changes in investment (in these two sectors) had on imports during 2008 – 2011 (including 2008):
The total effect was very close to the actual change and explains almost 90% of the total change with dwellings playing a key role. Assuming the Greek economy returns to growth and the above relationship is linear on the upturn as well, going back to long-term figures of 10% for dwellings and 4% for equipment will lead to an increase of imports equal to 2.8% GDP or close to 3/5 the total drop during 2008 – 2011. A recovery will need to be much more focused on equipment investment (and manufacturing in general) rather than constuction (with the corresponding structural effects on employment) for imports not to increase as much.


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These reviews are the subjective opinions of ChickAdvisor members and not of ChickAdvisor Inc.


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KSAM 101.7 / Amy Klawinsky
by Larry Crippen on Sep 22, 2014
Walker County Commissioners will meet this morning at nine at the courthouse. County Clerk Kari French will discuss the possible approval of Sheriff's and Constables' fees for 2015. From the County Treasurer Department, Amy Klawinsky…
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About This Activity
We are sorry online registration is not permitted for this activity. To register or for additional information please contact the recreation center which is offering this program.
Help your child get more activity! Youth can come to the gym to enjoy staff organized games such as: basketball, floor hockey, dodgeball, big base kickball, whiffle ball and more! Elementary open gym is for youth 12 and under. Everyone must have a MPRB ActivePass to enter the gym.
Activity Category
Van Cleve Rec. Center 118- Gym at Van Cleve Park
Organizer Info
Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board


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I just returned from a meeting in Washington DC where I had the honor and joy of listening to one of my top three heroes in the Child and Parenting world, T. Berry Brazelton.*
For those who don't know him (sure, like there's a parent out there who doesn't), Dr. Brazelton was one of the first pediatricians and child development experts to learn and teach about the wisdom of newborns. Back when most of the world thought a just-born baby was a lump of undeveloped clay who couldn't really see, hear, or respond, Berry Brazelton was starting to notice something different. He saw that babies were much more involved with their environment than many believed.
He found that as early as four months into development a fetus's nervous system reacts to a loud noise with a startle response, and that a newborn, only days old, can distinguish between a blank oval and a drawing of a human face. He discovered that, at three weeks, a baby can distinguish between the voices of its mother and its father. Brazelton's acute powers of observation led to the development of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale which is now used at hospitals all over the world.
That's just a small piece of his lengthy bio, and more important than any of this is what lies at the core of all these accomplishments: This guy loves babies. Adores them. Truly gets them. And it comes across loud and clear when you listen to him speak about his work. He is the iconic baby whisperer.
Dr. Brazelton is 92 (92!), and he still accepts as many speaking engagements as he can. He tells about what drew him to pediatrics ("I hated my little brother, who took my mother's attention away, but my grandmother would let me look after my younger cousins, and I just loved it"), and how the babies and mothers in his practice taught him the principles that led to his research ("I saw that when new mothers were depressed, their babies didn't engage and try to get their attention"). He sometimes loses his train of thought when discussing studies and findings, and needs a quick prompt to re-focus (he is 92, after all).
But when he tells the stories about the babies it's magical, as if he's right there in the room experiencing each moment in real time.
He describes the anxiety and tension in the body of a brand new mother who's having a hard time breastfeeding and fears that her baby isn't gaining weight. He explains how he ignores baby at first, working to engage Mom until he sees all her muscles relax. Only then does he reach for her child and begin to explore the feeding struggles, their connection formed. As he speaks you can almost see the frightened mother and touch the tiny newborn.
He paints a picture of the 8 month old who enters his office (his Cambridge, Massachusetts home, really) clinging to Mom's chest, little legs wrapped around her waist like the picture in the chapter describing stranger anxiety. He wouldn't dream of speaking directly to that little guy, or making eye contact, much less trying to peel him from his mother. He looks past him, just a few inches above or next to his head, playing hard to get until kiddo's curiosity wins out over fear and he reaches to grab at the tantalizing stethoscope. And still, Brazelton waits until he's ready to flirt and connect. Now they're friends.
As I listen, I'm entranced. I'm in love. His body moves and his voice changes to match those long-ago babies. This is why we're here, doing our best to keep children safe and help them thrive. I needed Berry Brazelton to remind me. So now I'll go back to my old copies of Touchpoints and Infants and Mothers and get a refresher, and maybe you'll want to take a look at those classics he wrote, too.
What makes T. Berry Brazelton a child development icon isn't his long list of awards and professorships. It's not the institute named after him at Harvard Medical School, or the page after page of scholarly articles, or the generations of young doctors who have been inspired by his work. What makes him Berry Brazelton is simple. In his own words at 92 … "I sure do love babies".
Can't you feel the magic?
* In case you're wondering, my other top two heroes are Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood) and an inspiring professor who taught me during residency, Deborah Stewart, MD. I thank them both for enriching my knowledge of children beyond measure.