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Ikea withdraws meatballs in more than 20 countries
Time to stick to furniture? Ikea withdraws meatballs in Europe due to horse meat fears
STOCKHOLM (AP) -- Swedish furniture giant Ikea became entangled in Europe's widening meat scandal Monday, forced to withdraw meatballs from stores across Europe amid suspicions that they contained horse meat.
Stores in the U.S. and Canada were not affected, Ikea said.
The company reacted after authorities in the Czech Republic said they had detected horse DNA in tests of 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) packs of frozen meatballs that were labeled as beef and pork. The Czech State Veterinary Administration said it tested two batches of Ikea meatballs and only one of them contained horse meat. It did not say how much.
Meatballs from the same batch had been sent from a Swedish supplier to 12 other European countries — Slovakia, Hungary, France, Britain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Ireland — and would be pulled off the shelves in all of them, Ikea said.
Later Monday, the company expanded the withdrawals to stores in 21 European countries and in Hong Kong, Thailand and the Dominican Republic, all of which were getting meatballs from the same Swedish supplier.
Ikea spokeswoman Ylva Magnusson said that included most European countries, but not Russia and Norway, which use local suppliers. Stores in Poland and Switzerland use both local suppliers and the Swedish one, but would now only use locally produced meatballs, she said.
"This is an extraordinary effort to ensure that no one is worried," Magnusson told The Associated Press.
She added that two weeks ago Ikea tested a range of frozen food products, including meatballs, and found no traces of horse meat. The company plans to conduct its own tests to "validate" the Czech results, she said.
Ikea's North America branch said the U.S. stores get their meatballs from a U.S. supplier.
"Based on the results of our mapping, we can confirm that the contents of the meatballs follow the Ikea recipe and contain only beef and pork from animals raised in the U.S. and Canada," Ikea North America spokeswoman Mona Astra Liss said in a statement.
Ikea is known for its assemble-it-yourself furniture but its trademark blue-and-yellow megastores also have cafeteria-style restaurants offering Swedish dishes such as meatballs served with boiled or mashed potatoes, gravy and lingonberry jam.
European Union officials met Monday to discuss tougher food labeling rules after the discovery of horse meat in a wide range of frozen supermarket meals that were supposed to contain beef or pork. So far those foods include meatballs, burgers, kebabs, lasagna, pizza, tortelloni, ravioli, empanadas and meat pies, among other items.
Authorities say the scandal is a case of fraudulent labeling but does not pose a health risk.
Gunnar Dafgard AB, a family-owned frozen foods company in southwestern Sweden that supplies Ikea's meatballs in Europe, posted a brief statement on its website saying "the batch in question has been blocked and we are investigating the situation."
Spokesman Ola Larsson said the company was conducting its own DNA tests and wouldn't comment further until it has those results.
Sweden's food safety authority said it wasn't taking any action but was waiting for Czech authorities to specify the quantity of horsemeat detected.
"If it's less than 1 percent it could mean that they handled horsemeat at the same facility. If it's more, we assess that it's been mixed into the product," said Karin Cerenius of Sweden's National Food Agency.
The Czech authority said a total of 760 kilograms (1,675 pounds) of the meatballs were stopped from reaching the shelves. It also said it found horse meat in beef burgers imported from Poland during random tests of food products.
"Unfortunately, the testing method we use detects just the quality ... the presence or non-presence of horse DNA," said Jan Vana, a senior official at the State Veterinary Administration. "At the moment, we can't say the quantity of it."
Spanish authorities, meanwhile, announced that traces of horse meat were found in a beef cannelloni product by one of the brands of Nestle, a Switzerland-based food giant.
In a statement on its website, Nestle Spain said it was withdrawing six "La Cocinera" products and one "Buitoni" product from store shelves. It said it was taking the action after traces of horse meat were found in beef bought from a supplier in Spain and that it was taking legal action against the company.
Processed food products — a business segment with traditionally low margins that often leads producers to hunt for the cheapest suppliers — often contain ingredients from multiple suppliers in different countries, who themselves at times subcontract production to others, making it hard to monitor every link in the production chain.
Standardized DNA checks with meat suppliers or more stringent labeling rules on disclosing the origin of processed food's ingredients will add costs that producers will most likely hand over to consumers, making food more expensive.
The scandal has created a split in the European Union between nations like Britain, which see further rules as a protectionist hindrance of free trade under the 27-nation bloc's single market, and those calling for tougher regulation, including Austria and Germany.
"Consumers have every right to the greatest-possible transparency," German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner said.
At the meeting in Brussels, several EU agriculture ministers called upon the Commission, the bloc's executive arm, to speed up presenting a proposal on tougher regulation by this summer.
The scandal began in Ireland in mid-January when the country announced the results of its first-ever DNA tests on beef products. It tested frozen beef burgers taken from store shelves and found that more than a third of brands at five supermarkets contained at least a trace of horse. The sample of one brand sold by the British supermarket kingpin Tesco had more than 25 percent horse meat.
Associated Press writers Juergen Baetz in Brussels, Karel Janicek in Prague and Ciaran Giles in Madrid contributed to this report.


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Sing it with me now!
It's Friday! It's Friiiiiiddddaaayyyyy!Ahem.
Friday! Friday! Friday!
(soft-shoe dance break)
Friday Friday Friday Friday!
Tomorrow I don't have to go into the frigging office!
(kickline–bring it on home now, everybody)
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
(Picture pose. Slow curtain.)
How I Spent My Tuesday Evening
As planned, I toddled over to the knitting meet-up that dare not speak its name at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Such a crush, my dears, as you never saw.
It was perfectly delightful, apart from the moment when a member of the museum staff addressed us collectively over the microphone as "Ladies."
It should be obvious to anyone who sees me that I am no lady, in any sense of the word.
But no matter. It was a wonderful night. I even helped four newbies learn to cast on.
(And when I say newbies, I mean so new they were still covered in placenta. They all had those kits from Target, with the size 26 needles and the ultra-bulky yarn, and one of them held up her needles and said, "Now, is this knitting or crochet?" Anyhow, I felt proud to be their first enabler. Aidan valiantly stepped in when one of them simply could not get the long-tail method into her fingers. Thank you, angel.)
Aidan gave me something, which is so special it gets its own post a little later on.
In addition to Aidan, Andy from the men's group showed up, bringing the andro contingent up to three.
I was also delighted to see Nancy Kwik and Dierdre again, from the Windy City Knitting Group. (Nancy brought along her non-knitting husband, who was extremely charming and very cute...you go, Nancy.) And the one-and-only Bonne Marie was there. Bonne Marie was working with this delish Lorna's Laces Shepherd's Worsted in a colorway (it's here, on the dress form) that she got right from the Lorna's Laces studio, and which was never issued. She's lucky I like her, or I might have tailed her out of the museum and mugged her in the dark to get it.
And, joy of joys, Jen was there, with little Alec in tow. (Well, actually she was carrying him. I don't wish to give you the impression that she was dragging him across the marble floors by a leg or something.)
Jen is the person who gave the world the bunny hat in Stitch 'n Bitch Nation, and she just keeps getting better. We lucky few got a chance to scope out a showstopping item she's submitted for publication. I won't say more, I will only say it made me want to adopt a toddler so I could knit this thing.
I don't know of any designer who can beat Jen for creating children's designs that go right up the edge of too precious without going over. The pieces are colorful, and whimsical, and yet never make even a dyed-in-the-wool cynic like me want to blow chunks.
She has hat kits on her site. She ought to have more. She ought to have a book, that's what she ought.


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Atlanta to Goa is one of the busiest United States-India routes. Both Atlanta and Goa are world-class cities having mutual interests in various niches. A fair percentage of visitors to Goa come from Atlanta, US. The annual number of travelers from Atlanta is expected to rise for cheap flights to Goa. You can get the best Atlanta to Goa itinerary with cheapest flight tickets at Indian Eagle.
Etihad Airways, Jet Airways, Air India, Cathay Pacific, Delta Air Lines, British Airways, Qatar Airways, United Airlines, Emirates and other airlines operate cheap flights from Atlanta to Goa Dabolim Airport India. Goa is a prime destination for tourists as they get easy access to nearby popular tourist places. We book air travel to these tourist places from Atlanta via Goa at the lowest prices.
ndian Eagle issues the cheapest tickets for flights to Goa from Atlanta (ATL) in business class and economy class. We have the best deals for business class flights and the cheapest airline tickets for economy class travel to Goa from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and nearby airports. Book your air travel at Indian Eagle and board cheap Goa flights from Atlanta.
Tips on booking Cheap Flights to Goa (GOI):


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Photo (quite lovely, I think).
On reverse:
Compliments of Gillette Film Station Dealer
Stations all over greater N.Y.
Insist upon Gillette quality
Found in "Days With the Great Composers - Third Series: Mozart, Schumann, Tschaikovsky." Published by Hodder and Stoughton, circa 1915.
I'm giving away this book and photo I found inside. The book is illustrated with tipped-in color plates, as you can see here:
I'll be announcing the winner tomorrow (April 16th) at 3:00 PM EST.
Comment to enter.
Good luck.
-Click to enlarge photos-


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All our practices are accredited by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Practice Standards scheme, so you can be sure that we work to high standards of care and protection for our clients, both human and animal. There are many categories of RCVS accreditation, depending on the type of practice and services offered.
Here at Birch heath Veterinary Clinic, we hold RCVS Small Animal General Practice, which is the scheme most appropriate for us.
We have also achieved 'OUTSTANDING' for Client Service – this award is given only to practices which demonstrate high levels of care for their clients.
What are RCVS Core Standards?
For this accreditation, we have shown total compliance with all the legal and health & safety requirements necessary for our work. This means that, among other things, we have:
- Access to 24-hour emergency cover for patients
- Appropriately trained staff (veterinary qualifications and insurance are checked)
- Maintained standards of cleanliness and hygiene
- Ensured clients are given estimates of costs of treatments and consent to procedures undertaken
What is RCVS General Practice accreditation?
These standards are specifically for practices like us because we treat small animal and exotic patients.
As well as complying with RCVS Core Standards around legal and health & safety requirements, emergency cover (and more), we strive for continuous improvement and:
- Have a system for monitoring the outcome of treatments
- Show ongoing commitment to education and training
- Keep premises clean and well maintained
- Have a policy for communicating with clients and looking at feedback
- Have access to laboratory facilities for diagnostic testing


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Chevy Vehicle Radio Kits
Vehicle Radio Kits allow you to mount aftermarket radios in your Chevy. Custom designed and vehicle specific. Make your new aftermarket radio look factory. Here at HifiSoundConnection.com, we sell a wide selection of Vehicle Radio Kits. So what are you waiting for? Shop now at HiFiSoundConnection.com for your very own Vehicle Radio Kits at its lowest price ever!


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Passengers in plane crashes today, such as the one in San Francisco involving Asiana Airlines Flight 214, are more likely to survive than in past disasters.
Saturday's crash was the latest where a big commercial airliner was destroyed but most passengers escaped with their lives. There were plenty of cuts, bruises and broken bones — and some more severe injuries — but only 2 of the 307 passengers and crew onboard died.
Planes now are structurally sounder. In the cabin, stronger seats are less likely to move and crush passengers. Seat cushions and carpeting are fire retardant and doors are easier to open. Those improvements allow people to exit the plane more quickly.
The nature of crashes has also changed. Improvements in cockpit technology mean that planes rarely crash into mountains or each other — accidents that are much more deadly.
"Crashes are definitely more survivable today than they were a few decades ago," said Kevin Hiatt, president and CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation, an industry-backed nonprofit group aimed at improving air safety. "We've learned from the past incidents about what can be improved."
Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the Asiana crash. But whatever the reason, it reflects the trend of fewer people dying in plane accidents.
The odds weren't always in passengers' favor. From 1962 to 1981, 54 percent of people in U.S. plane crashes were killed. From 1982 to 2009, that figure improved to 39 percent, according to an Associated Press analysis of National Transportation Safety Board data. Those figures only include crashes with at least one fatality. There have been other serious crashes where everybody survived.
The most famous was a US Airways flight in January 2009 that lost engine power after striking a flock of geese after taking off from New York's LaGuardia Airport. Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger ditched the Airbus A320 in the Hudson River and all 155 people onboard survived. The crash was dubbed the "Miracle on the Hudson."
A British Airways flight in January 2008 crashed short of the runway at London's Heathrow Airport. All 152 passengers and crew onboard the Boeing 777 — the same jet type as Saturday's Asiana flight — survived.
This April, a Boeing 737 flown by Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed into water short of a runway in Bali. The plane's fuselage split into two sections but all 108 people on board survived.
"What's really important is for people to understand that airplane crashes, the majority of them are survivable," Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said Sunday on the CBS News television show, "Face the Nation."
Several advances in aviation technology have made these feats of survival possible. They include:
— Stronger seats. Today's airplane seats — and the bolts holding them into the floor — are designed to withstand forces up to 16 times that of gravity. That prevents rows of seats from pancaking together during a crash, crushing passengers.
— Fire retardant materials. Carpeting and seat cushions are now made of materials that burn slower, spread flames slower and don't give off noxious and dangerous gases.
— Improved exits. Doors on planes are much simpler to open and easily swing out of the way, allowing passengers to quickly exit. And planes now come with rows of lights on the floor that change from white to red when an exit is reached.
— Better training. Flight attendants at many airlines now train in full-size models of planes that fill with smoke during crash simulations.
— Stronger planes. Aircraft engineers have looked at structural weaknesses from past crashes and reinforced those sections of the plane.
Regulators started mandating such cabin improvements after two deadly aircraft fires in the 1980s.
First, an Air Canada flight made an emergency landing at Cincinnati's airport in 1983 after a fire broke out in the bathroom. The plane landed safely but half of the 46 passengers and crew died because they couldn't quickly escape the smoke and fire.
Two years later, a British Airtours plane aborted a takeoff in Manchester, England after an engine fire. Passengers evacuated but not fast enough. Of the 137 people onboard, 54 died after inhaling toxic smoke.
Those two accidents together led the U.S. and British governments to impose new fire-safety standards, said Bill Waldock, a professor of safety science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Prescott, Arizona campus.
Saturday's Asiana crash may have benefited from those changes. The Boeing 777 involved was manufactured in 2005 and contained all of the advances in safety.
"It may have been worse if that fuselage had been designed with practices that were common 20 or 30 years prior," said Todd Curtis, a former safety engineer with Boeing and now a director of the Airsafe.com Foundation.
The emergency response also played a part in limiting the number of fatalities. Airport fire departments frequently hold drills where crews simulate a crash and practice coordinating with area hospitals on how to care for the injured.
"Had this happened in a developing world country with no (advanced) trauma center, there might have been more fatalities," Curtis said.
New technology helps today's pilots avoid the deadliest types of crashes. Accidents with planes hitting mountains or each other in midair, typically at speeds up to 500 mph (800 kph), are rare in North America and Europe. Crashes during landing happen while planes are flying at lower speeds of 130 mph (210 kph) to 150 mph (240 kph).
"You've changed the nature of accidents," said Capt. Alan W. Price, the former chief pilot for the Atlanta base of Delta Air Lines and founder of consulting firm Falcon Leadership.
Today's planes come with ground proximity warning systems, which alert pilots if they are too low. An alarm sounds and a computer shouts "terrain, pull up."
That technology didn't exist in 1974, when a Trans World Airlines plane heading for Washington Dulles International Airport crashed into 1,754-foot (535-meter) tall Mount Weather in Virginia. All 92 people on board died.
Modern cockpit radar systems alert pilots to other planes nearby. Such a system would have probably prevented the 1960 midair collision of a TWA jet with a United plane over New York, killing all 128 people on the two planes and 6 people on the ground.
Better radar systems on the ground have also helped. They've prevented planes from going down the wrong taxiway or onto active runways. The deadliest aviation disaster in history remains the collision of Pan Am and KLM jets on the runway of Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands in 1977. In foggy conditions, amid confusion over air traffic controller instructions, the KLM plane took off while the Pan Am jet was taxing down the same runway. The crash killed 583 people on both planes; 61 survived. Had such radar existed at the time, the KLM pilots would have probably seen the Pan Am jet in its way.
Today, thanks to these advances there are about two deaths worldwide for every 100 million passengers on commercial flights, according to an Associated Press analysis of government accident data.
Just a decade ago, passengers were 10 times as likely to die when flying on an American plane. The risk of death was even greater during the start of the jet age, with 1,696 people dying — 133 out of every 100 million passengers — from 1962 to 1971. The figures exclude acts of terrorism.
Those in the airline industry often say that a person is more likely to die driving to the airport than on a flight. There are more than 30,000 motor-vehicle deaths each year, a mortality rate eight times greater than that in planes.
More from MBTMag.com
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Explore more news here.


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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) -- Ryan Fitzpatrick threw into the end zone to the open man. Unfortunately for the Bills, that man was Patriots safety Devin McCourty.
That easy interception with 23 seconds left decided the game the way every other Buffalo game at Gillette Stadium has ended - with a New England victory.
On a day of dreadful defense by both teams, the Patriots held on for a 37-31 win over the surprisingly tough Bills on Sunday despite allowing 35 first downs, Buffalo's most ever and the most ever allowed by New England.
"No matter what happens in the game, there's nothing bigger than turnovers," McCourty said. "When the game gets toward the end, those big plays change the game."
The Patriots (6-3) let a 17-3 lead slip to 34-31 with 7:47 left on Fitzpatrick's 2-yard pass to Donald Jones. Then the Bills (3-6) held the Patriots to a 27-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski.
Avoiding the penalties, 14 of them, that had stymied them all game, the Bills moved to the Patriots 15-yard line before Fitzpatrick threw the ball right into the hands of McCourty while trying to hit T.J. Graham. Tom Brady then knelt down for the final play.
"The only thing you can ask for as a quarterback is a chance at the end to win the game and we had that," Fitzpatrick said, "but we weren't able to get it done."
New England is 11-0 against the Bills at Gillette since it opened in 2002 and 23-2 overall in its last 25 games against Buffalo.
The Patriots were coming off a bye that followed their best game of the season, a 45-7 win over the St. Louis Rams in London. The Bills have lost five of six and need a sharp turnaround to avoid their 13th straight nonplayoff season.
"Still a chance," coach Chan Gailey said. "I think we'll get there. I know I'm in the minority, but thank goodness I've got a group of guys in that room in there that, I think, think the same thing."
Fitzpatrick completed 27 of 40 passes for 337 yards, the second time this season he's thrown for more than 239. The other came when he had 350 in a 52-28 loss to the Patriots. He also threw for two touchdowns Sunday, but his only interception ruined the Bills' upset chances.
Brady was 23 for 38 for 237.
His last incompletion, a ball thrown into the ground about 5 yards in front of the intended receiver, set the stage for Buffalo's final drive. Brady watched McCourty's interception from the sideline.
"I had an opportunity to do something about it 50 seconds before that," he said. "The defense really saved the day."
The game was closer than expected considering the Patriots led the NFL in points and yards gained and the Bills were next to last in points and yards allowed.
The Patriots extended their streak to 11 straight scoring possessions against the Bills with a field goal and three touchdowns on their first four series Sunday. In the previous meeting, New England scored on its last seven series: six touchdowns followed by a field goal.
But not even that could give the Patriots a secure lead and they entered the fourth quarter ahead 31-24.
"They didn't really hit us with a lot of big plays," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. "They've got an explosive group of skilled players and they got them all involved."
The Patriots led 24-17 at halftime, scoring on a 43-yard field goal by Gostkowski, touchdown runs of 1 yard by Stevan Ridley and 15 yards by Danny Woodhead, and a 2-yard pass from Brady to Rob Gronkowski, his fifth touchdown catch in three games.
The Bills scored on a 42-yard field goal by Rian Lindell, a 14-yard run by Fred Jackson and a 3-yard pass from Fitzpatrick to Scott Chandler with 31 seconds left in the half.
Woodhead scored again, his first multi-touchdown game of his career, on an 18-yard pass from Brady. But the Bills cut the lead to 31-24 on the next possession on a 1-yard run by Jackson and Lindell's extra point.
Gostkowski's 48-yard field goal gave the Patriots a 34-24 lead 50 seconds into the fourth quarter.
On their final drive, the Bills were forced to take an injury timeout when Jackson was hit in the head area by linebacker Brandon Spikes. Earlier, Spikes was called for roughing the passer when Fitzpatrick's helmet fell off, and Fitzpatrick yelled at him.
"We're not going to back down from anybody," Fitzpatrick said. "I think he's a punk at times and took a cheap shot at Scott (Chandler) in the first game and he was doing a lot of jabbering and talking and hitting out there. Not one of my favorite players. Not high on my list."
Playing in Foxborough can't be very high either, although the Bills were one errant pass away from a chance to win.
"The first thing that I learned when I got to the NFL is it's hard to win each week," McCourty said. "We never take that for granted."
Not even a win over a struggling team that had lost every game it played at Gillette.
"We go into every game expecting to win, but that one, I just felt like it would have been right," Buffalo wide receiver Stevie Johnson said, "but this ain't no Disney movie. This is real life and we've got to make these plays at the end of the game and win."
NOTES: Running back Kevin Faulk, who recently announced his retirement after not playing this season, was honored by the Patriots at a halftime ceremony. ... Wes Welker had six receptions, extending his streak to 103 games with at least one. ... Fitzpatrick became the fifth quarterback in Bills history with at least 10,000 yards passing.


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Court upholds first ban on gay-to-straight therapy
By PAUL ELIAS
A federal appeals court sided with California on Thursday and upheld the first law in the nation banning a psychological treatment that seeks to turn gay youth straight.
In a resounding, unanimous opinion, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the state law barring the so-called gay aversion therapy legal in every respect.
The judges said trying to change a minor's sexual orientation through intense therapy appeared dangerous, and that California lawmakers properly showed that the sexual orientation change efforts were outside the scientific mainstream and have been rejected for good reason.
"One could argue that children under the age of 18 are especially vulnerable with respect to sexual identity and that their parents' judgment may be clouded by this emotionally charged issue as well," Judge Susan Graber wrote for the court panel.
The California Legislature cited reports, experts and anecdotes involving suicides, substance abuse and other behavior by young recipients of the therapy before members voted last year to ban it for minors.
"Efforts to change a young person's sexual orientation pose critical health risks, including depression, shame, decreased self-esteem, social withdrawal, substance abuse, self-harm and suicide," Lambda Legal, which defends gay rights, said in an email statement about Thursday's ruling.
The activities of pastors and lay counselors who are unlicensed but provide such therapy through church programs are not covered by the law.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has signed a similar law that would also outlaw the therapy in his state.
Liberty Counsel, a Christian legal aid group that represents support of the practice, said it will either ask a larger panel of the court to reconsider the decision or petition the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case. Liberty Counsel is also fighting the New Jersey law.
"The minors that Liberty Counsel represents do not want to act on same-sex attractions, nor do they want to engage in such behavior," the group said in an email statement. "They are greatly benefiting from this counseling."
Liberty and other backers of the therapy argue that lawmakers have no conclusive, scientific proof that the therapy does harm.
When California Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown signed the law, he said the therapy was "quackery," and sessions trying to change a minor's sexual orientation have "no basis in science or medicine."
The court ruling on Thursday resolved two conflicting lower decisions while reinstating the ban. Those decisions came after judges wrestled with the legality of the state law that backers said punishes licensed therapists for trying to change the sexual orientation of minors.
The 9th Circuit said lawmakers relied on sufficient credible data to pass the law, including scientific reports, expert testimony and anecdotal evidence. No mainstream psychological organization supports the treatment.
The Legislature also considered evidence that the practice is safe and effective, but the overwhelming consensus was that it was harmful and ineffective, Graber wrote for the panel.
"On this record, we have no trouble concluding that the Legislature acted rationally by relying on that consensus," she said.
Graber said the court only had to decide whether the therapy was potentially harmful to children and didn't need to decide if it was dangerous for adults because their emotions about their sexual identity may be vastly different.
Supporters of the therapy argued in court that the state law violated the free speech rights of counselors; the law was so poorly written that it left practitioners confused over determining the legality of their treatment; and trampled on parental rights to make mental health decisions for their children. In short, the proponents of the therapy argued that the state law cut off a legitimate mental health treatment.
The law says therapists and counselors who practice the therapy would be engaging in unprofessional conduct and subject to discipline by state licensing boards. It was supposed to take effect at the beginning of the year but was put on hold pending the 9th Circuit's ruling. Thursday's ruling reverses that injunction.


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Update at 12:30 p.m. ET. Despite Government's Concessions, Many Sherpas May Leave:
The likelihood of the upcoming climbing season on Mount Everest being canceled altogether seemed to veer from very possible to very unlikely to somewhere in between within the space of less than an hour on Tuesday as news reports came in from the world's tallest mountain.
As you'll see in our original post below and two earlier updates, the day began with news that the government of Nepal had agreed to many of the demands from Sherpas who want better insurance and other protections in the wake of last week's disaster on the mountain. Thirteen Sherpas died and another three are missing and presumed dead after an avalanche on Friday. It was the single deadliest day ever on the mountain.
The government's concessions led one spokesman for the Sherpas to say that the guides would not follow through on a threat to boycott this year's climbing season, which is about to get underway.
As those reports came to light, however, another Sherpa told news outlets that the boycott was on.
Then The Associated Press moved this report, which falls somewhere in between:
"Most Sherpa mountain guides have decided to leave Mount Everest in a walkout certain to disrupt a climbing season that was already marked by grief over the lives lost last week in Everest's deadliest disaster....
"After a memorial service at base camp on Tuesday, the Sherpas in the camp discussed their options, said Dorje Sherpa, who attended. He said most of them were planning to pack and leave as early as Wednesday. ...
"[But] Sherpa Pasang, general secretary of the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association in Katmandu, said it would try to negotiate with the Sherpas and the government because a total boycott would harm Nepal's mountaineering in the long term."
Late Tuesday morning (in the U.S.), All Things Considered reached one of the expedition leaders on Everest. Todd Burleson said "there is still uncertainty" about the prospects for any climbs this season, but "it appears the Sherpas have decided not to continue."
One of the guides, Lakpa Rita Sherpa, told All Things Considered that "all the Sherpa community" has decided to come off the mountain — not just because they want more insurance and other things, but out of respect for those who died last week. Neither he nor Burleson, though, seemed to be aware of the concessions the Nepalese government says it has made.
Much more from those conversations is due on Tuesday's All Things Considered. Click here to find an NPR station that broadcasts or streams the show.
Our original post and earlier updates pick up the story and have more background:
A possible boycott of the upcoming climbing season by Sherpa guides on Mount Everest may have been averted after the Nepalese government agreed to create a relief fund for Sherpas who are injured or killed while working on the world's tallest mountain. The government is also increasing the Sherpas' insurance.
But even as that news was emerging Tuesday, there were other reports from the mountain of rising tensions between the Sherpa guides — who saw their colleagues swept to their deaths last week — and the foreigners they're paid to lead up the mountain. "A 'puja' ceremony on Tuesday for the 16 Sherpa climbing guides killed by last Friday's avalanche descended into a surge of furious chanting and calls for all climbing to be suspended, according to several mountaineers present," the BBC writes. (Update from the BBC added at 10:12 a.m. ET.)
We wrote Monday about how expeditions slated to depart soon for the summit might not be able to set off because Sherpas were asking for more insurance, higher payments to families of guides who are killed and other things following Friday's deadliest day ever on the mountain.
At least 13 Sherpas were swept to their deaths by an avalanche that day as they worked to rig ropes and make other preparations near a base camp around 20,000 feet above sea level. Another three Sherpas are missing and presumed dead.
On Tuesday, according to The Himalayan Times, Nepal's government announced it will increase the Sherpas' insurance coverage and promised to create a relief fund for them that will be financed from the fees paid by climbing expeditions.
The newspaper writes that "now, each Sherpa will have a life insurance of Rs 15 lakh, [up from] Rs 5 lakh, and health insurance of Rs 4 lakh." That converts to life insurance of 1.5 million Nepalese rupees, or about $15,500, and health insurance of 400,000 rupees, or about $4,100.
The New York Times adds that officials also said the government agreed "to provide pensions for older Sherpa climbers and educational assistance for Sherpa children."
After meeting with government officials, the Times writes, "Ang Tshering Sherpa, the president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, said ... 'climbing will be resumed.' "
There was still some uncertainty about the climbing season, though. Agence France-Presse was reporting Tuesday that one guide, Tulsi Gurung, said from a base camp on the mountain that Sherpas still might refuse to climb. (Note at 9:45 a.m. ET: AFP's reporting began to surface just as we published this post. We added some of it and tweaked our headline to say climbing "may begin," rather than "to begin.")
We also wrote Monday about the risks Sherpas face for what in Nepal are much higher than average wages, but would be quite low wages in more developed nations:
The mean annual per capita household income in Nepal was about $430 in 2010-2011, according to the Nepalese government's latest data.
Sherpas who lead or assist expeditions on Everest, according to the BBC, earn on average about $5,000 per year — more than 10 times the mean per capita. "Sherpas often make 20-25 round trips to carry kit and supplies to advanced camps, exposing them to greater risk," the BBC adds.
The risks are indeed considerable. All Things Considered spoke Friday with Grayson Schaffer, a senior editor and writer for Outside magazine who last year wrote a piece headlined "The Disposable Man: A Western History of Sherpas on Everest."
He reported then that:
"According to the Himalayan Database, which keeps track of such things, 174 climbing Sherpas have died while working in the mountains in Nepal — 15 in the past decade on Everest alone. ... During that time, at least as many Sherpas were disabled by rockfall, frostbite, and altitude-related illnesses like stroke and edema. A Sherpa working above Base Camp on Everest is nearly 10 times more likely to die than a commercial fisherman — the profession the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rates as the most dangerous nonmilitary job in the U.S. — and more than three and a half times as likely to perish than an infantryman during the first four years of the Iraq war. As a dice roll for someone paying to reach the summit, the dangers of climbing can perhaps be rationalized. But as a workplace safety statistic, 1.2 percent mortality is outrageous. There's no other service industry in the world that so frequently kills and maims its workers for the benefit of paying clients."
The Atlantic has looked at "who dies on Everest — and where, and why," and reports that:
"The Himalayan Database counts 608 'member' deaths and 224 'hired' deaths on mountains in Nepal, including Everest, between 1950 and 2009. Almost 50 percent of hired deaths were due to avalanches, while nearly 40 percent of member deaths were attributed to falls.
"These patterns have a lot to do with who does what, and where, on mountains like Everest. Sherpas spend much of their time establishing and supplying camps in avalanche-prone zones. Paying expedition members move through those zones as quickly and efficiently as possible to save their energy for summit bids, where the risk of avalanches is lower but the air is thin and falls are more likely to occur."
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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The mouse is an old and outdated mode of computing that still, somehow, clings to even our most modern computers. But this year's crop of cool peripherals might be what changes all that.
Is the mouse finally on its last legs? It seems like every year for the last several years, people have been shouting from the rooftops that the computer mouse is dead. Multitouch. Kinect. These were the things that were supposed to kill this pest we've grown so accustomed to before the turn of the decade. And yet, they still linger.
This year might be it, though. Apple, especially with OS X 10.7 Mountain Lion, with a little help from the Magic Trackpad, has further embraced gesture-based computing. And, despite the cool reception, Windows 8 embraces touch in a way that's both striking and mystifying. While the general populace might not be completely ready for the change, we have a feeling that people will soon be unplugging their mice for good.
Don't get us wrong; we live in the future, but not quite the near-distant future of Iron Man and Minority Report. So what right now will replace the mouse? What will be that last changing of the guard? Here are some of the best devices of today that may finally deal the death blow.
The Leap
How it works: Leap Motion's flagship motion sensor device has long been one of our favorite products debuted last year. Simply place the tiny peripheral in front of your PC or Mac monitor and you'll be able to interact with your computer with precision up to 1/100 of a millimeter.
What it's best for: Think of it as a Kinect for the small screen. The device allows you to interact with your computing environment solely with gesture with high accuracy and zero latency, making it possible to pinch-to-zoom and write signatures with ease.
How long until we can use it: Leap Motion recently struck a deal with Best Buy for the brick-and-mortar shop to serve as the company's exclusive retail partner starting this February. The company is also currently taking preorders on its site. Asus also announced that it'll soon be bundling the device with its hardware.
How it works: You use your iPhone for everything else, so why not use it to control your computer? While not an entirely new concept, Mauz gets credit for its implementation. The Mauz is a dongle that connects to your iPhone's 30-pin or Lightning dock connector, giving it the ability to interact with your computer like a traditional mouse, a touchpad, and also as a gesture sensor.
What it's best for: The Mauz tries to be an all-in-one solution for your mousing needs. It's just unclear how it would handle phone calls.
How long until we can use it: The team behind this device currently has a Kickstarter campaign to reach its goal of $150,000 to cover its development and production costs. Hopefully, we'll see a working iteration by June of this year, retailing for between $60 and $70.
How it works: Hungarian startup Leonar3do is changing the metaphor from a mouse to a bird, and is attempting to change how we create in 3D environments. Used in conjunction with the company's own modeling software and a pair of 3D glasses, the Bird, or really the bird-like pen tool, is essentially a handheld virtual reality kit, handling modeling as though your creation is floating in space in front of you.
What's it best for: The Leonard3do is best used by designers and educators for specialized modeling projects. Digital artists and architects might find it essential to their toolkit in the coming year.
How long until we can use it: The Bird is available now, but for a pretty penny. With the software costing $2,000, it might be a bit pricey for the average neophyte. We have been told that the price will drop to $50 in the near future. iOS and Android apps are also on the way and will hit their respective stores by March.
Tobii Rex
How it works: If you're tired of lifting your arms altogether, this one's for you. The Tobii Rex allows you to control your Windows 8 machine with your eyes. The device uses an array of infrared sensors to detect eye motion and orientation, making it surprisingly precise.
What it's best for: As the user still needs a dedicated mouse and keyboard, the Tobii is best used for navigating layouts. But, in our tests at CES, the device handled games of Asteroid with aplomb. That's impressive for something that's still very much in development.
How long until we can use it: Those interested in a Tobii Rex development kit, which includes the hardware and the SDK, will have to shell out $995. The average consumer will have to wait for preorders to open this spring. The devices will then start shipping in the fall.
Top image courtesy of Shutterstock/Matthew Benoit


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General view of the Bet365 betting website. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo….
General view of the Bet365 betting website. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday May 14, 2013. Photo credit should read: Joe Giddens/PA Wire
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Emirates, one of the world's fastest growing airlines, today announced it is to launch services to Sialkot, its fifth route to Pakistan.
The service will commence from 5th November 2013 with four weekly flights operated by an Airbus A330-200 aircraft in a two-class configuration – 54 seats in Business Class and 183 in Economy Class. The aircraft can carry up to 17 tonnes of cargo, giving a boost to trade opportunities. Sialkot is the capital of Sialkot District located in the north-east of the Punjab province in Pakistan. Situated around 125 kilometres north of Lahore, it provides customers with a convenient alternative gateway to the Export Triangle of Pakistan – the area encompassing Gujrat, Sialkot and Gujranwala.
The area is famous for producing and exporting sports goods and clothing, gloves, surgical instruments, cutlery, ceramics and leather garments, whilst imports to the region focus on the supply of raw materials for manufacturing those products.
"Pakistan was the first country on our route network when we launched services to Karachi in 1985", said Barry Brown, Emirates' Divisional Senior Vice President Commercial Operations East. "With the addition of this fifth destination the airline will operate 63 flights a week between Dubai and Pakistan. Twenty eight years since our first flight, this new service to Sialkot continues to demonstrate the strong ties between the two countries and reinforces Dubai as a conveniently located hub for onward travel on Emirates' network of 134 destinations. Besides boosting global trade and economic opportunities, this new route will provide additional travel options to Pakistanis wanting to connect with friends, families and colleagues worldwide."
Sialkot International Airport, which opened in 2007, boasts the longest runway in Pakistan at 3,600 metres and was wholly funded by the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce. "As the first privately funded airport in Pakistan, we welcome Emirates' decision to commence operations to the city", said Sheikh Abdul Majid, President of the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce. "Sialkot will be able to offer Emirates' passengers another point of entry into Pakistan in a modern, conveniently located and accessible airport."
Emirates flight EK620 will depart Dubai at 04:15 and arrive in Sialkot at 08:20 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. The return flight EK621 will leave Sialkot at 09:45, arriving in Dubai at 12:35.


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Some area rugs are family heirlooms; some are worth tens of thousands of dollars. Give Naranja Area Rug Repairs the privilege of restoring your rug to its former glory.


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Bri M., Stephanie R., & Liz W., ewe shore dew chews grate Wrecks.
- Related Wreckage: I'm This Many
When professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong.
That first one has an earthquake hazard as well!
My students struggle with these words as well.
At least anyone for whom a "fearless leader" cake would be purchased is probably someone with a sense of humour who might get a laugh out of the wreck.
Oh how I love these; but has someone tried to tear the No Candles Aloud cake in half?
wv: wedio
Your fearless leader is wedio than ours.
Ok, I'm horrified at the spellings, but on the first one--big crack through the middle plus someone swiped a dallop!
Gotta say, I love the four hour fearless leader one. Maybe I'm just skeptical of anyone who can always hold it together.
Tee hee! It's like Mad Gabs with cake!! Keep up the great work, I love this site!
Perhaps he works as a fearless leader part time...
Those are terribly sad.
Amy B-H
What was the occasion for that first cake? Why are there pitiful red airbrush "flames" engulfing the words? Why is there a question mark on the cake? Why should a cake decorator care about whether or not anyone puts candles on the cake after they pick it up? WTF?? Whose rule is it about the candles anyway and why did it mess up the cake order?
I think a large part of the blame here lies with the idiot who ordered the cake.
But then the wreckerator should clarify what type of cake the idiot is trying to order. Is it still a birthday cake or what, though candle-less?
Another example of how two wrongs will never make a right--just a wrecked cake.
It's a shame. They could have gotten the new long-lasting, over-the-counter, 12-hour fearless leader.
Our public education at work...now even desserts need a spellcheck.
Grate Rex?
Have I got a cake wreck for you! Last night, while watching the Food Network Challege, one of the cakes caught fire and had to be put out with a fire extinguisher. Let's just say that it's not a good idea to set a flaming container of 151 on top of a cake decorated with sugar paper. If only I had a picture to go along with it.
Their shore are sum grate spellers out they're.
Four hours is about how long I can hold it together too.
I needed that laugh today.
I think the last cake should come with the disclaimer..."If you have a fearless leader lasting longer than four hours, call your doctor immediately."
GunDiva- Jen posted a video of that earlier. That truly was a train wreck! I think it looked better after being extinguished!
Love the fearless leader cake!
are those OREOS on the last one? YUM!
Ah, phone orders, how we CW fans love thee!
GunDiva, we've already had some good laughs, OMGs, and WT?s over that Challenge cake and its self-proclaimed artist. Not sure if the post is still up, but do a search here for it.
honestly, these wrecks are my favorite kind.
there's just something innately funny about misspells and miscues and misunderstandings when it comes to writing on a cake.
are we to assume that the "suite paws" cake is for a one year old puppy? just axing.
These are hysterical. I wonder if "no candles allowed - fire hazard" were the instructions and the wreckerator just got creative with the flames, or if that was always the (misspelled) intention.
This is when spell check is not your friend.
I love how the wreckerator didn't leave room for Birthday on the suite paws cake, and had to cram it in there. Such great wrecks, I just hope the cakes still taste good.
Where's your brother? He's ineatin his Wrecked birthday cake!
If your fearless leader lasts longer than 4 hours please see your physician immediately! Come on...THAT is common knowledge!
Their are just two many words that sownd the same too keep them strate. Your beeing to hard on the pour decorators. Who maid up all thee's spelling and grammar rools? Its hard enuff riding in iciing and working long ours two meak every won suites. You want us too bee dictionairies, to? Four peats sake! Knot like we have spell cheque in the bakery! Know won ever wants easy stough on they're cakes. Its knot fare too use tricky words! Sew their!
I wonder if the "4 hour" leader is actually a "4H Leader". In either case being fearless is a good thing.
At least they didn't say "Suite Pause."
Are the oreos on the last cake supposed to be tires?
Just asking.
wv:maxici There is a maxici of 6 tires on a car.
Does the next Fearless Leader also get a cake at the shift change? I mean, it's really hard to be fearless on an empty stomach.
Good thing these wreckorators aren't in the tattoo business instead!
"Meh, gud enuf. U no watt eye meen."
I'm still a little bit disturbed by the placement of those paws. Um... CatDog?
There needs to be a spelling test to be a cake decorator. But then this site wouldn't be anywhere near as humorous.
lol@ Courteous Chihuahua!
The only thing "missing" on these cakes is "quotation" marks!!
I wonder if these decorators were ESL - English as Second Language. They get homonyms wrong pretty easily.
or maybe i just give them too much credit.
what dew ewe think?
These are funny - I love the 4hour feerless leader! hahaha
I like the second one, I think I could eat it. :P
ahaha, cakewrecks for English class today. The "no candles aloud" would be funny enough but with the homophone issue it takes the cake...stupid pun intended.
Sometimes I can hardly stand the stupidness. (it says that stupidness is not a word but it so is) haha
Is "quivering mass of jelly" an Airplane! reference?
wv: phonev
These wrecks are so phonev I can't stop laughing.
Heh, heh. :-)
'At hour 5 he turns back into a quivering mass of jelly.'
"It's a shame. They could have gotten the new long-lasting, over-the-counter, 12-hour fearless leader."
That made me laugh! And so did these wrecks! "Perfect!"
wv: bories - boring stories
At Thanksgiving, we always hear Uncle Bob's bories about his pet snail.
Hmm...could "Suite Paws" possibly be a pet hotel? No? What can I say, I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. ;)
My word verification is "oveyelly," which is the phrase wrecks invoke.
"4 Hour"
Bwahahahahahaha!! I might just go around saying that all day. That is awesome.
At least the last one had all the letters there. It could've said "are" instead.
Courteous Chihuahua--OH MY GAWD I about gave myself a stroke trying not to laugh out loud in the office! How many men are thinking now "gee I'd LOVE to have a fearless leader that lasts 4 hours!"
NO words. (heh, that might be good for these cakes--to just have NO WORDS on them!)
Polydactyl Cake! Those cakes are lucky you know.
wv = bednicat.
Shadrachat, Mesachat and Abednicat.
"Suite Paws" pawprints definitely came from a polydactyl (Hemingway) cat. I should know since I have five of the furry beasts currently taking over my home. Probably the cutest thing about them are their little "thumbs".
...most of them have their paws on the right way around, though...
I think the first cake maybe issues a warning, but here we're all laughing-- is that some kind of ash tray all down the side of the picture? Yuck!
WV: andefaw-- He cawwy decake andefaw andow is awbwoken!
"Four Hour Fearless Leader" would make a great band name. "Suite Paws" sounds like elevator music, though.
FABULOUS!! The wrecks and the comments...you guys are so clever!
Jen and John, I'm in countdown mode...Sea ewe too in a couple ours hear in the ATL!
~Bonnie B :)
WV:blobarli...Someone saying "Bob Marley" with a mouth full of taffy
I love it! I am so excited to see you tonight in Atlanta!!!
I found this blog a couple of weeks ago and am still working through the earlier posts, but I want to say how much I love this! Such a simple yet awesome idea! And it's so great to just laugh at something silly, no politics or controversy involved.
Anywho, I just don't get that first cake. I'm trying, but I can't see any possible reason for it, except that maybe it isn't really a cake, just a display, and the bakery owner wanted to remind the workers not to put candles on it. Or maybe it was made for someone who has a severe phobia of talking candles after watching Disney's Beauty and the Beast too many times.
4 HOUR FEARLESS LEADER!! Hahaha!
Cake 1: "My eyes! My eyes!"
Cake 2: That's got to be a 'fake-wreck'. Who can spell a French word, but not an easy English word?
Cake 3: Maybe he's only a part time fearless leader. The kind that doesn't get vacation and health care.
LOL @ WriteCards!
I was an RA in college. If I knew cake was the way to stop my residents from doing boneheaded things, I would have spent my programming budget on buttercream.
Three laugh out loud beauties! Thank You!
The Suite Paws cake was actually the human cake we had for our 1 year anniversary of our Pet Resort. The dog version of the cake came out much, much better.
Ahhh CW You never let me down- I knew I could turn to you for a bit of levity in my day!!
What is up with the first one? It's all kind of wrecked. Unreal. Maybe they dropped it for um, effect? Haha. Wonderful!
I want a leader that will last at least half a day! 4 hours is nowhere NEAR long enough for all the work in the IN box...unless its part time, then ok.
This makes me think of the amazing book 'Anguish Languish.' It tells such fairy tales as Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, Center Alley, and Guilty Looks Enter Tree Beers.
It's out of print and you can read it on the internet... For maximum enjoyment, Hit Mush Bee Red Allowed.
Here's the link... enjoy!
EW: somenest - That's somenest you've got there!
I love how I always find new and entertaining things on this site!
And if I keep reading the "Furry Tells" Jeska provided the link to out loud to myself, I am going to wet my pants! rotf...
People who buy birthday cakes for their pets should be forced to spend eternity wherever pets go when they die. I bet it smells like dog butts.
Sure its not ewe shore chews grate Rex?
So I was right about "Suite Paws"? Wow!
I envision the first one as being ordered for someone who had a fire-related accident the previous year.
Remember: candles that make noise are a fire hazard; quiet candles are safe.
Maybe there's a four hour leader on a film called Fearless? That cake looks like a film spindle after all...
From the Not Always Right website; seems appropriate to share this with Wreckers:
The Cake Is A Lie
Me: "Okay, would you like the cake to say anything?"
Customer: "Like what?"
Me: "Happy Birthday? Happy Tenth Birthday?"
Customer: "Oh! Well, if you could teach it to sing 'Happy Birthday,' that would be great!"
(I think the customer is joking, so I write "Happy Birthday" on the cake as usual. Later on, the customer calls in complaining that his cake didn't sing when the candles were lit!)
ohhh TWO BEE RED ALLOWED!
Good LORD that took me >24 hours. Clearly I need a vacation.
And thanks for the 4-hour fearless leader (with comment). I kept going back to the page and laughing out loud every time!
"4 Hour Fearless Leader?" It's like a Viagra cake!
Glad you all got a laugh out of the cake - our whole team did, expecially our Fearless Leader. She had survised a lousy week and this Boss' Day wreck had her practically falling off her chair!
Holey buckets, I about died laughing!!! I work with these spellers!!!
Barnes & Noble
Borders |
A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places.
Now, don't you have a photo you want to send me? ;)
We don't have any copies of Cake Wrecks for sale here, autographed or otherwise. We decided the shipping and handling costs would be too high to make it worth your while. So instead, buy your copies locally or online and then order personalized bookplates: it's cheaper, easier, and I think even looks a bit nicer.
Payments must be made through Paypal, which accepts all major credit cards. Sorry, but that means no checks or MOs or barter-based chickens.
We ship everything first class USPS, and will do our best to have your package in the mail within 2 days of your order.
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American politicians fall over themselves praising the middle class, but if you look at one rather telling piece of data, they don't seem to have done much to help those in America's vast middle: Over the past three decades, the wages of median workers have remained essentially the same, adjusted for inflation, while the wages and the wealth of the top one percent have skyrocketed.
But some argue that this oft-cited factoid doesn't tell the whole story. In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, economists Donald Boudreaux and Mark Perry take on what they call "the myth of a stagnant middle class." In fact, they claim, the middle class is actually doing much better than reported.
For one thing, they argue, the Consumer Price Index, the standard gauge of inflation, "underestimat[es] the value of improvements in product quality and variety." In other words, we pay about the same for sleek, tiny MP3 players with many gigs of storage as we once did for balky, cumbersome 8-Track tape players.
For another, they add, looking at wages by themselves ignores the considerable rise in "fringe benefits" like health insurance, which now make up about a third of the total compensation for civilian workers.
(MORE: How a Century of Income Taxes Can Clarify Today's Debate)
Meanwhile, they point out, the average wage has been held down by an influx of less-skilled women and immigrants into the workforce. Naturally, those with fewer skills get smaller paychecks.
And there are even clearer indications, they say, that life for middle-class Americans is better than ever: Not only do they live longer, but they're "also much better able to enjoy their longer lives," spending an ever-smaller percentage of their income on "basics" like food, shelter, clothing,and cars. Today, Boudreaux and Perry suggest, middle-class Americans consume a lot more like the rich than they used to. Once upon a time, only the rich could afford to fly. Now we all can, and do.
Moreover, they add,
[w]hat's true for long-distance travel is also true for food, cars, entertainment, electronics, communications and many other aspects of "consumability." Today, the quantities and qualities of what ordinary Americans consume are closer to that of rich Americans than they were in decades past. Consider the electronic products that every middle-class teenager can now afford—iPhones, iPads, iPods and laptop computers. They aren't much inferior to the electronic gadgets now used by the top 1% of American income earners, and often they are exactly the same.
Even though the inflation-adjusted hourly wage hasn't changed much in 50 years, it is unlikely that an average American would trade his wages and benefits in 2013—along with access to the most affordable food, appliances, clothing and cars in history, plus today's cornucopia of modern electronic goods—for the same real wages but with much lower fringe benefits in the 1950s or 1970s, along with those era's higher prices, more limited selection, and inferior products.
Unsurprisingly, Boudreaux and Perry's op-ed has ignited a small firestorm of controversy amongst economists and policy wonks. On the Washington Post's Wonkblog, Jim Tankersley noted that B&P's definition of consumer "basics" curiously omits things like "gasoline (to run those cars), health care (to help us live longer) and education (which is increasingly required for getting and keeping a middle-class job)" – all of which have gotten notably more expensive in recent years. If you work these things back into the equation, you find that Americans are spending as much on basics now as they ever were.
(MORE: Goodyear's French Nightmare)
At the New York Times, economist Paul Krugman has a more fundamental criticism of B&P, pointing out that the real reason that so many middle-class families can afford all those proverbial iPads and iPhones is that they now have a second wage-earner helping to pay the bills. Since 1970, while the average work hours per week for men have remained essentially the same (around 40), the number of hours worked by women has shot up from 14 or so to 25 as more women, and more mothers, have entered the workforce. In other words, Krugman writes, "what we have is a situation in which American families have more stuff, but they have managed to afford that stuff only by being two-income families, with ever less family time."
B&P are correct in noting that better technologies have improved the lives of middle-class Americans in many ways. Heck, the development of more effective migraine meds alone has brought about a revolution in my life. And as an avid consumer of media, I'm thrilled by the choices available today. Back when I was a kid, we owned a handful of 8mm silent movies that we would watch from time to time. And while I enjoyed repeatedly watching the Keystone Kops get hit in the face with pies, I'm happy that I now have instant access to more movies than I'll ever be able to watch. Indeed, if I were to watch a movie a night every night, it would take me a year and a half just to get through my Netflix instant queue.
But the notion that "middle-class Americans consume a lot more like the rich than they used to" is pure poppycock. Some amongst the 1% spend more on frivolous luxuries per year than most of us make in a lifetime. But the real advantages of wealth go far beyond diamond-encrusted iPhones and $1,000 omelets.
The children of the wealthy have opportunities, freedoms, and connections, that middle-class Americans don't. Success in America depends not only on hard work, but also, to a degree that most people don't want to admit, on being in the right place at the right time — as author Michael Lewis infamously reminded graduating students at Princeton in a commencement address this June. (Lewis noted that his brief career on Wall Street, which kick-started his much longer career as a bestselling author, came about because he happened to be seated next to the wife of a prominent investment banker at a dinner party.) Economist Tom Hertz has quantified some of the benefits of being born rich, showing that children born into families in the wealthiest ten percent are more than twenty times more likely to remain rich than children born into the poorest ten percent are to become rich.
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Wealth also offers a certain degree of shelter from the vicissitudes of economic life — something that's become increasingly valuable in recent years. A recent paper published by researchers from the Brookings Institute, the Congressional Budget Office, and Wellesley College makes a convincing case that "household income volatility" has increased noticeably in recent years. To put it more bluntly: "The share of households experiencing a 50 percent plunge in income over a two-year period climbed from about 7 percent in the early 1970s to more than 12 percent in the early 2000s before retreating to 10 percent in the run-up to the Great Recession." No doubt the percentage increased in the economic turmoil of the late 2000s, which wasn't included in their research.
B&P are no doubt aware of all this, but choose to ignore it in favor of simpler soundbites. To middle-class Americans, their message seems to be "let them eat iPads."