text:
be mid-October by the time we get this entry up; it's
been a busy month. Since the last entry:
I mention this mostly as
background; we'll explore it in more detail as we go
So, mid-October: that puts
Theron at two and one-third years old: two years and
four months. He's grown again; he's now the same size as
the rest of the children in the Moms' Group** (most of
whom are about six months older than he is). The top of
his head is about level with my belly button. Which,
given that he's only been on the planet for a bit over
two years, is frankly unbelievable. ("They grow up so
fast! ")
This is actually something of a
relief. It means that all those times when I looked over
at him and thought, "Ye gods, he's grown visibly since
{he went to bed last night/I left for work this
morning}" ...I wasn't actually
talking even more. In the last entry, I offered a list
of examples - specific ways that he was using his words.
Since then, he's also taken to... "burbling", I guess
would be the word for it. He's starting to talk
constantly, regardless of whether he needs or wants
anything in particular. It's just... practice. Some of
these are very long monologues; we think -- but we're
not sure -- that he's reciting episodes of Elmo or other
TV shows.
Bringing a Two-Year-Old to a
My brother and his wife, very sensibly, decided to
do their wedding in two parts. The first would be the
actual wedding, which would take place on the
anniversary of the day they started dating; this
happened to be a Wednesday. The second was the
reception, a much larger event which would take place on
the following Saturday.
We attended both events, of
course. The wedding took place in the Japanese Gardens,
a section of the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. It was
beautiful, scenic, and -- on a Wednesday afternoon --
relatively quiet. They had chosen a sort of gazebo
overlooking one of the koi ponds for their location.
The schedule had been worked
out carefully. My wife and I dropped our son off at his
Mother's Day Out program -- daycare, basically -- and
then the Beautiful Woman went off to drive the
Bride-To-Be to the event. I played video games until my
brother (the soon-to-be-Groom) picked me up; then we
swung over to the daycare, and very nearly failed to
retrieve my son.
This was because when I'd
dropped the child off that morning, I was in shorts and
a T-shirt, with a scraggly full beard. When I returned
to pick him up, I was in a suit and tie and had shaved
off most of the beard, leaving a neatly-trimmed goatee
in its wake. So, naturally, nobody recognized me except
Theron -- and even he looked a little uncertain until I
He burbled happily for the
entire trip to the gardens, while my brother and
I talked.*** Once we were there, the Groom-To-Be headed
off to make sure everyone knew where to go. I occupied
the gazebo, got Theron into his wedding suit, and bought
some food to feed the fish. Theron thought this was
great, and I don't blame him; some of those fish were as
big as he is. He also had a good time running around on
the paths, and generally dodging my attempts to change
his clothes. Finally, though, I had him ready -- by
which point just about everyone was there.
The ceremony, as I've already
said, was lovely. The priest was an older man, fairly
distinguished, and seemed mainly worried that one of the
wedding rings might get dropped into the water. The
bride and groom looked spectacular, and spectacularly
happy, and everything went off without a hitch. Theron's
contribution was to run up and down one side of the
gazebo, burbling happily to himself and occasionally
peering over the edge to look at the fish. He wasn't
quiet, but his noises were happy noises, and
nobody seemed to mind.
Afterwards, we took a quick
round of pictures; and I, of course, couldn't resist the
chance to press my luck a bit:
Food good
Dinner followed immediately, at a restaurant
called Piranha Killer Sushi, and it was amazing.
I'm not much of a sushi fan, generally, but this was
really good.
thought so, too. He ate everything.
Seriously, I think he ate about half the table. He had
two bowls of the little appetizer-noodles, a bowl of
miso soup (much of which ended up on his shirt), about
half of his mother's teriyaki chicken, a significant
fraction of my father's breaded chicken, bits of my
Korean-style beef, and I think some ice cream as well.
There might have been some Sushi in there, too. We just
kept setting things in front of him, and he kept eating
After that, I went back to work
and life went back to normal... for about two days.
...And then there was the
On Friday, a significant fraction of the extended family
descended on my parents' house. This was fun, but busy;
and, after a full day at work, a bit tiring. Theron had
a good time running around, and occupied himself with
the sandbox, various puzzles, and his cousin Duncan. We
begged off a bit early -- Bed Time waits for no man --
and went home.
On Saturday we dressed
everybody up again, and went down to one of our favorite
little Italian restaurants for the reception. There
were, at a guess, about one hundred people present, kith
and kin both. Like the wedding, the reception went off
Several little things made
parenting easier. Someone had cleverly engaged a nanny,
to keep the children occupied while their parents
socialized; she was extremely good with children, and
had brought along a great walloping bundle of supplies
with which to distract them. The restaurant, in an
amazing display of good sense and professionalism,
brought the kids' plates out first.**** In addition, all
of the Podling's favorite people were there, and several
were making an active effort to keep him entertained.
Unfortunately, none of that was sufficient; he went into
a full-on meltdown, and spent most of his time in the
back room.
This was probably brought on by
a combination of things. He's still teething; he has a
couple of molars coming in. Between that and the general
busy-ness of the week, his sleep schedule was a bit off.
And, frankly, it was a very large crowd; he may just
have been overwhelmed. Finally, of course, there's the
simple fact that he's a two-year-old, and if there's one
thing two-year-olds are famous for, it's temper
Acting His Age
Theron is a pretty sweet kid, in his own little distant
and preoccupied way. His take on the Terrible Twos has
been pretty mild, so far. It's not that he hasn't thrown
tantrums -- he has, and some of them have been pretty
impressive -- but they've generally been fairly mild,
and fairly infrequent.
Recently, though -- and
possibly owing to the factors I outlined above --
they've become more frequent, louder, and more
determined. That is, if he gets started on one, it's
much harder to distract him or jolly him out of it than
it used to be. Needless to say, I am not
encouraged by this.
Also... and I'm a bit loathe to
admit this... they're kind of cute. As he gets more
determined about being angry, he also gets more
theatrical about expressing his displeasure. So, for
example, a couple of weeks ago he was annoyed about
something; to show how he felt, he took a pair of clean
socks out of my hand, so he'd have something to throw
angrily to the floor. Another time he led me into his
room, so I could watch while he threw himself onto the
air filter and howled in angry misery. Like I said,
theatrical; dramatic.
I don't know where he gets it,
A warning to the
Last week, as part of our Thursday Night Dinner With The
Parents, my wife came by work to pick me up. She's very
good about this -- she comes in just a few minutes
before five. It's early enough that my co-workers (You
Know Who You Are) get a chance to see the Podling, but
not so early that she's interrupting any real work.
Anyway, as we were standing
around in the hallway, one of them engaged Theron in a
game. This game involved turning off the light switch,
whereupon she would pretend to go to sleep; then, when
he turned it back on, she'd pretend to startle into
wakefulness. Theron loved it... which was precisely the
He didn't want to stop. He
would have kept us -- all of us -- there for hours,
playing this game. We moved him further down the hall,
and he ran back to the light switch, then turned and
demanded to be picked up. He grumped about it when we
left; it wasn't until we reached the parking lot that he
decided there might be other objects of interest in the
So, a quick word of warning
about dealing with small children: never start any game
that you wouldn't be willing to play with them for,
approximately, all eternity.
Slouching Towards Bethlehem
Hallowe'en is almost upon us. Theron and I already
have our costumes picked out; he's going as Elmo, while
I'm going as Connor McLeod. I don't know what the
Beautiful Woman plans to wear, but she usually manages
to surprise me. After that we'll have Thanksgiving,
which will involve a trip to a dude ranch with my wife's
side of the family; and eventually Christmas, when we'll
find out whether Theron still views Santa as an object
of blood-chilling horror. I have my costumes picked out
for those holidays, as well.
And now, more pictures
They should bring my word count up considerably.
Ice Cream at the Plano Balloon Festival
After a messy and tiring
in the back yard
Everything below is a
link to a video. Most of them make noise, so
if you're at work, be warned!
Playing with a toy train
* ...Because a big chunk of one of my teeth just
randomly broke off while I was in Chicago for a
conference. Plus, it was a big enough piece that the
whole tooth -- and the one beside it -- needed to be
capped. So, not only did I have to wait until I could
get back to Dallas to have it fixed, it had to be fixed
in two stages: one where the dentist sets up the
foundation and orders the caps; then, a few weeks later,
another visit where we take the temporaries off, make
sure the caps fit, and glue them in place. The dentist
was very good, but yeesh. Getting old
suc... is no fun at all.
** I haven't written much about the Moms' Group. This is
mainly because I'm not, y'know, a Mom. The Beautiful
Woman has a lot more contact with them than I do. That
It's basically began as a group of moms who all had
their first children around the same time, in the same
hospital. They managed to keep in touch afterwards, and
now they have weekly outings (with the kids) and monthly
dinners (where the kids stay home with the dads).
We were not originally part of the group, and only found
them by accident. I met a couple of the moms at a
storytime program at our local library, and they later
invited my wife and son to attend some events and
eventually join the group. (Actually, that makes it
sound like there's some sort of formal membership
process, which really isn't the case. They're very
friendly, and what organization they have is built
around making sure that someone is planning the weekly
This has been an incredible boon to Theron, since it
gives him a peer group of bright, active children. It's
also been a huge help to my wife, by way of offering her
a chance to get out of the house and speak to other
adults. There were times in our child-raising when that
was absolutely critical to her continued sanity.
*** About video games, mostly. C'mon, we're guys.
Why would we be discussing the wedding?
**** This is the sort of simple, obvious, and extremely
helpful strategy that is easy to dismiss as common sense
-- until you realize just how many places don't operate
this way.


text:
This is a night that rewards infrequent viewers and punishes the loyal ones. That's because, if you missed tonight's episodes of "The Simpsons," "Seinfeld" and "Frasier" the first time around, you have something wonderful to watch tonight. However, if you watch those shows religiously, tonight you don't have much of a prayer of finding new stuff that's worth watching. Cable, however, provides a lot of good old stuff -- movies.
* "She Woke Up" (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13) -- And I went to sleep, because this 1992 made-for-TV movie, in which Lindsay Wagner plays a woman who awakens from a 14-month coma, is boring and ridiculous. Most ludicrous of all: the scene of her awakening, where, after more than a year of immobility, she gets out of bed and has enough muscle strength to walk. ABC repeat.
* "The Simpsons" (8 p.m.-8:30 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45) -- This is the episode in which Homer gets tutored -- but spends more time teaching the tutors than the other way around, which says something frightening about his instructors. Fox repeat.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Tackle Box Is The Squid Lid Halloween Treat
Squid Lid's latest album, Tackle Box, will be hitting the world on October 31st!
- Negative Gain And Basic Unit Partner For Global Distribution
- Distorted Religion by Kevorkian Death Cycle
- HexRx BIOCARBON13 AND [A]Brilliant Massacr[E]
- Bury It by Alter Der Ruine
- Negative Gain Presents: Alter Der Ruine's There's Always One More Son of a Bitch
- Negative Gain Presents: Brilliant Massacre
- Hex Rx's Official Serial Hex Addict Video
- Negative Gain's Upcoming New Site
- Negative Gain Annouces Alter Der Ruine's New Album!
- HexRx Tonight!!
Artist: Ari Mason Album: Dim The Lights (Single) Genre(s): Synthpop, Darkwave
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text:
We have all the information you need about public and private physiotherapy clinics that provide sports therapy in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Compare all the physiotherapists and contact the sports therapy clinic in Leeds, West Yorkshire that's right for you.
Prices from RM201 - Enquire for a fast quote. Choose from 13 Sports Therapy Clinics in Leeds, West Yorkshire with 9 verified patient reviews - find the best one for you.
Upper back/shoulder deep tissue therapy Initial consultation and first treatment extremely good. Treatment explained thoroughly and professionally, with an accurate description of how this will affect me. I've already booked my second appointment with Paul, who was very understanding and helpful.
Extremely happy with my treatment today. Very thorough and professional, yet friendly and approachable too. I was given information and explanations and advice which gave me a lot of confidence in my on-going treatment. I felt included and listened to during my assessment today and the treatment I had certainly hit the spot! I would definitely recommend Walnut Tree Physiotherapy Centre.
I chose this clinic after reading good reviews on-line. It is not my nearest clinic, but the journey is worthwhile. First impressions were good...pleasant surroundings, a friendly and efficient receptionist and good facilities.
I fell on ice in the work car park before Christmas and landed on my back. The pain was severe, to put it mildly! When I realized that it had not broken anything I "just got on with it". After 2 weeks of intense pain and being grumpy my wife persuaded me to go and see Maureen. After a few minutes she had checked me out she diagnosed 2 or 3 ribs out of place and then manipulated them back! 10 seconds of agony and then, blimey I haven't felt this good for ages!!! 11/10 thanks, Maureen. Very convenient but had to park down a side street - not a problem. Friendly, welcome from someone who clearly is highly experienced and knowledgeable. Maureen is also a very kind lady and I would recommend her to anyone with similar problems.
After suffering from back problems most of my adult life, I visited TLC when I developed knee pain at the age of forty-seven. I initially saw the physio who watched me walk a few steps before advising me it was the podiatrist I needed to see. I met with Jonathan, and he showed me how my lower legs were not straight, which put undue pressure on all the joints, causing instability and pain. I had orthotic insoles made, which I have worn ever since. Jonathan photographed me face-down on the bench to show the misalignment of my lower leg, and it was incredible. It then struck me how many chiropractors I had visited who had seen that very distortion, taken my money, and never once recommended that I see a podiatrist. The Lawrence Clinic seems to have a genuine ethics in helping people improve their quality of life rather than keeping them in pain to increase the money they receive. In our society today, this is a breath of fresh air, and I would recommend Jonathan and his team to anybody suffering from joint or muscle pain. Most people who look for a clinic are in pain and very frightened. TLC is a very welcoming and friendly place, and the team there want you to get better.
Excellent treatment. Very professional with a direct, but friendly, approach. Did not know that physio could be so much fun.


text:
If you want to follow me, my twitter (name?) is of course scrapfaire (I'm liking this almost as much as my previous online alias LOL). I don't know how much I'll be tweeting, but you are welcome to follow there.
I'd like to say THANK YOU to Sudie Alexander for being my first follower, I'm honored!!!


text:
gstuart wrote: and are brilliant
DSL wrote:gstuart wrote: and are brilliant
No pun intended!!
gstuart wrote:Hi DSL
that's a good idea ref the reverse lights , have u found they are a lot brighter plse. i.e. being able to see more when reversing at night
have fitted some new osram nightbreakers in the hi beam headlights, still got to do the dipped beams , suprising how much better leds are
DSL wrote:Hmmmm, haven't had that problem with the D4, never had them on the D3 though.
DSL wrote:And remember spiders need homes too!!


text:
During their lifetime, most people choose to confine themselves to traveling amazing places around the world where the majority of tourists crowd like bees. But what about the other magical, less-traveled places that haven't yet been discovered by most people?
The earth has so many great mysteries that it is impossible for any single human being to know all of them. As such, some of the world's beautiful places remain less-known than others and relatively untouched by man.
See Also: Top 10 Destinations to Travel Solo
Even if you are a frequent traveler, you probably haven't heard of many of these places as their existence is unknown to the vast majority of people. So let's go over the list of the top 10 places that are still secret to many:
1. The Alcázar of Segovia, Spain
The Alcazar castle really does look like it came out of the Cinderella – so much so it even looks like her home. In fact, this building was the inspiration for Walt Disney's fairytale castle. Through the years, this has become Spain's most famous castle, and while it was originally built as a fortress, it later served as a royal palace, a prison, an artillery college and a military academy. Currently, it's a museum that's relatively easy to find, and it's about an hour away from the capital Madrid.
2. Faroe Islands, Denmark
Once you travel through the archipelago of Faroe Islands, it becomes apparent that the place hasn't yet been that exposed to humankind. Located to the north of Great Britain, between Norway and Iceland, these islands represent the beauty of the Scandinavian culture and have some of the most ground-breaking sceneries in the world. One of its most impressive wonders is Lake Sorvagsvatn on Vagar Island that's just thirty meters away from the ocean on a huge cliff.
3. Chefchaouen, Northwest Morocco
Another fortress is the city of Chefchaouen which translates to 'two horns' in Arabic describing the mountain that's split in half surrounding it. Founded in 1471, the city protected Morocco from several Portuguese invasions over the years. Today it is mostly famous for its houses and buildings that create a beautiful rainbow of the different shades of blue.
4. Mount Ai-Petry, Crimea, Ukraine
Ai-Petry is the peak of the Crimean Mountains and it's the windiest place in Ukraine. In fact, the wind here blows for 125 days out of the 365 every year at speeds of up to 110 mph. Even though it's regarded to be a secret location for many, local travelers climb over Ai-Petry throughout the year just to get a few moments of happiness looking down on the magnificent view of the Crimea coast.
5. Green Lake, Austria
This lake took its name, 'Green Lake', from its emerald-green water that's reflected by the grassy bottom layer. What's really interesting about this lake is that throughout the year it transforms into a park. Although this sounds crazy, there's a pretty logical explanation for it. In winter the lake is only two metres deep and the area around it is used as a park. Whereas in the spring, the snow melts from the surrounding mountains and fills up the area with water that's twelve meters deep.
6. Cappadocia, Turkey
Located in central Anatolia, Cappadocia is a historical area that's particularly famous for its cone-like formations that were created by the erosion of soft volcanic ash over the years. What's really special about this region is that its formations have been carefully crafted as to create cities such as Kaymakli and Derinkuyu and various buildings like castles and gateways. The place is also a popular destination for Hot Air Balloon excursions. Flying over Cappadocia's popular fairy chimneys in a balloon would definitely be an once-in-a-lifetime experience.
7. Meteora, Greece
Meteora, which translates to 'suspended in the air' in Greek, is a unique place in Thessaly, Greece that resembles the second-largest Greek Orthodox monastery in the country. An impressive characteristic of the place is the pinnacles in the area that were created about 60 million years ago and took their current shape from weathering and earthquakes. The buildings above these great mountains and hills kept away many who tried to climb them.
8. Treehouse Point, USA
If you used to play in a treehouse as a kid, then the Treehouse Point hotel will make you feel right at home. Although not exactly a secret destination, it's not usually people's first choice when planning their holidays. However, it looks like staying there could be a great experience – especially if you love the outdoors. Located in Washington State, this place is the ultimate paradise for those who want to spend their holidays enjoying some peace and quiet.
9. Huacachina, Peruvian desert
This perfectly-hidden village in the Peruvian desert is so small (it has a population of only 115) and isolated you could easily miss it. Huacachina, otherwise known as 'the oasis of America,' is built around a small lake in the middle of the desert in Peru. Although it attracts many visitors from the surrounding areas as the area is famous for dune buggy riding and sand boarding, many people are still oblivious to its existence.
10. Lord Howe Island, Australia
Located in the Tasman Sea, Lord Howe Island is another relatively unknown destination to the majority of the world. Located between Australia and New Zealand, this island has some of the most beautiful lagoons in the world. With a population of only 360 people, the UNESCO Heritage island is a rather quiet place to spend some time during your summer holidays. Each year only 400 people are allowed to visit so that the island doesn't get too overcrowded.
See Also: Top 10 Most Beautiful Abandoned Places in the World
If you haven't yet visited these astonishingly beautiful places, now is the right time to do it. Plan your next adventure and experience earth's most amazing mysteries for yourself, you won't be disappointed.
Have you ever been to any of these places? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments below...


text:
Darjeeling: In a climb-down from its
earlier stand, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has decided to hold
municipal and panchayat elections before setting up of the
Gorkha Regional Authority.
"We are ready to go for the local body elections if it
is held within the next one and a half months," GJM media
secretary Harka bahadur Chetri told reporters at Bagdogra
airport today.
The West Bengal government had expressed the need for
local body elections in the Darjeeling hills first before
taking up the matter of setting up an interim authority.
Chetri said that panchayat and municipality poll results
would decide the ratio of political representation in the
proposed authority.
However, Chetri was doubtful if the state government
would be able to conduct the poll in time, as the civic body
election was a state subject.
GJM president Bimal Gurung in a press conference in
Darjeeling said his party was hopeful about the formation of
an interior council soon.
"We have discussed the matter in detail with political
leaders in New Delhi," he said.
The state`s urban development minister Ashok Bhattacharya
said in Siliguri that the matter would be discussed in the
next tripartite meeting.


text:
AP PHOTO/BEBETO MATTHEWS. The Impact of Inequality on Growth. By Jared Bernstein December
- Nicholas Richards
- 3 years ago
- Views:
1 AP PHOTO/BEBETO MATTHEWS The Impact of Inequality on Growth By Jared Bernstein December
2 The Impact of Inequality on Growth By Jared Bernstein December 2013
3 Contents 1 Introduction and summary 5 Theories of growth as a function of inequality 14 Inequality and credit busts 16 Does empirical evidence support these models? 22 Political economy, credit bubbles, busts, and inequality: What s the evidence? 27 Conclusion and policy implications 31 About the author / acknowledgements 32 Endnotes
4 Introduction and summary Among the most important economic challenges facing the United States and some other advanced economies today is the increase in the inequality of economic outcomes. In the case of the United States, the distributions of income, wages, and wealth are more dispersed than ever. 1 Though measurement issues abound, it is widely agreed that U.S. economic inequality is at historically high levels. This fact, however, has different implications for different observers. Many critics of higher inequality suggest that it violates basic fairness, particularly when considering, for example, the divergence of median compensation and productivity growth. Such trends, these critics hold, are evidence of working people no longer getting their fair share of the growth that they are helping to generate. Others note that inequality serves as a wedge between growth and living standards, funneling income largely to those at the top of the scale and thus making it harder at any given level of economic growth for living standards to grow as they have in more equitable times or for poverty to fall during business cycle expansions. Economic growth, as this report argues, has become a spectator sport for too many poor and middle-class households that watch as the gross domestic product, or GDP, productivity, the stock market, and corporate profits rise while their incomes either stagnate or grow much more slowly. To add a few concrete numbers to this observation, note that so far in this expansion, which officially began in the second half of 2009, the stock market is up 60 percent, GDP is up 8 percent, corporate profits as a share of national income are at historic highs, yet median household income is down 5 percent, with all figures adjusted for inflation. 2 Another more recent line of argument holds that persistently high levels of inequality are eroding opportunity and mobility for those whose living standards and economic well-being are negatively affected by the wedge dynamic just 1 Center for American Progress The Impact of Inequality on Growth
5 described. This is a fundamental critique because it is widely held that in America, while we do not aspire to equal economic outcomes, we believe strongly in equal opportunity. If inequality were to thwart the opportunities of the have-nots, this would represent a significant violation of a basic American tenet. While this paper will reference these arguments, the goal here is to examine something different, though not unrelated, to the problems noted above specifically, the impact of inequality on growth. Virtually all of the research on the impact of inequality takes growth as a given and examines the distribution of that growth, or in the case of the opportunity research noted above, the extent to which higher inequality is associated with less opportunity and mobility. This other line of research asks whether there is causal linkage between higher inequality and slower macroeconomic growth. This paper begins by examining the channels through which such a causal relationship might flow, recounting arguments made previously in other reports. 3 Next, it explores several theoretical models in a hunt for empirical evidence of a causal relationship between higher inequality and slower growth. Such evidence is generally quite elusive, as might be expected. Both inequality and growth are complex phenomena with many moving parts. While some of the theories are clear and persuasive, finding evidence in the data to support their predictions is tricky. It is widely believed, for example, that the wealthy have a lower propensity to consume at the margin. That is to say, since their income is such that they can handily meet their needs and wants, an extra dollar that goes their way is more likely to be saved than spent. Thus, we would expect that income concentration, by distributing national income away from those with higher consumption propensities generally seen as poor and middle-class individuals to those with lower consumption propensities such as the rich and the financially well off would lead to slower growth in consumer spending. But this was not at all the case in the previous economic expansion of the 2000s, in part because easy access to credit and a housing bubble were intervening variables. That is, while historically high levels of inequality meant that most of the economy s growth was channeled to the top of the income scale, many middleclass homeowners experienced sharply increased housing wealth. This higher wealth effect the extra spending that occurs when assets you hold appreciate drove consumer spending higher in recent years, even while real incomes, excluding wealth effects, were flat. 2 Center for American Progress The Impact of Inequality on Growth
6 Of course, when the bubble burst, this wealth effect reversed, leading to the deep and long recession from which the U.S. economy is still recovering. These dynamics make it difficult to find evidence to support the most commonly cited negative growth impact of higher inequality: that in a highly consumptiondriven economy such as ours, the upward distribution of growth to those with lower propensities to consume should lead to slower growth. The logic is sound; and, in fact, that dynamic better describes the current recovery than the last one. But the credit bubble intervened in ways that cannot be ignored. But and this is perhaps the most interesting finding of this report what if the credit bubble itself is associated with inequality? If that connection is convincingly made, given its impact on the deepest recession since the Great Depression a recession that we are still climbing out of it would be a strong indictment of the role of inequality in slower growth. There is circumstantial evidence to support this connection between inequality, financial instability, and credit bubbles. There is no smoking gun, but recent work, both theoretical and empirical, reveals potential linkages between high levels of inequality that appear to have interacted with underregulated financial markets, contributing to overleveraging, the housing bubble, the Great Recession, and its aftermath. Financial bubbles and busts have clearly occurred in periods when inequality was not as high as it is now, so it will take a greater and more careful examination to determine if this connection really exists. If evidence from future study in this rich area of research supports this linkage of inequality and the appearance of financial bubbles, it will have uncovered an important and economically destructive way by which high levels of inequality are hurting growth. Other causal channels deserve close watching as well. More and better data, for example, continue to surface, suggesting causal linkages between inequality and opportunity, most notably in the educational sphere. 4 While such connections do not necessarily have a near-term impact on growth, they do imply a situation where some children will not achieve their productive potential. This in and of itself is a tragedy in a rich country such as ours, but it also has obvious longer-term growth implications, as the quality of human capital is an important input into any credible growth model. 3 Center for American Progress The Impact of Inequality on Growth
7 Moreover, other connections suggested by the research reviewed below have growth implications as well. The interaction between high levels of wealth concentration and a political system heavily influenced by money threatens to give rise to politics that are more responsive to special interests than, for example, the need for investments in public goods that would boost productivity and growth. As alluded to above, other recent research is building connections between rising inequality and deeply damaging financial instability as too many families with stagnant incomes find that borrowing is the only way they can get ahead. At the same time, it is argued that high levels of wealth concentration is leading to higher savings among the wealthy and thus cheaper capital for leveraging households. Again, all of this research is relatively new, and while it makes suggestive connections, there is not enough concrete proof to lead objective observers to unequivocally conclude that inequality has held back growth. Yet even if it is determined by future research that no such linkage exists, there are still good reasons to address the excessive levels of inequality in the U.S. economy. Inequality puts at risk fundamental American precepts: the belief that hard work and fair play pays off, the conviction that the opportunities for upward mobility are available to all, and the trust in the basic fairness of American society. This remains true no matter what effects inequality has on growth. In that regard, the high level of inequality that we have today requires a policy response leading to a more equitable and inclusive economy. Full employment is especially important, and given the persistence of weak labor markets since 2000 very much predating the last recession achieving full employment may require public-sector job creation, either directly through public infrastructure projects or indirectly through public subsidies for private jobs. Incentives such as greater union representation, increased minimum wages, a solid safety net, progressive taxation, and sectorial policies that lift productive sectors such as manufacturing can help raise the relative incomes of middle- and low-wage workers. 4 Center for American Progress The Impact of Inequality on Growth
8 Theories of growth as a function of inequality One of the most classic theories relating growth to inequality is something that economists refer to as the Kuznets curve. Renowned economist Simon Kuznets posited that as emerging economies grew, inequality grew as well, as the few with high-asset endowments landowners, for instance profit from their ownership of productive resources. Then as industrialization evolves, a much larger portion of the population has the chance to participate in higher value-added work, which reduces inequality. The result is an inverted U-shaped curve with inequality on the y-axis and per-capita income on the x-axis. As income grows, its distribution initially becomes more unequal, but as the benefits of productivity become more widely shared, inequality diminishes. While that roughly describes the pattern of income and inequality s growth in emerging democratic economies, it demonstrably does not reflect the pattern of American inequality over the past century or more. As the work of inequality experts Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, professors at the Paris School of Economics and University of California, Berkeley, respectively, has shown, that trend is more of an actual U rather than an inverted one, as inequality grew to historical highs in the late 1920s, fell during the Great Depression through the 1970s, and has since grown to heights matched only by those last seen in the late 1920s. Moreover, the underlying assumption of the Kuznets curve is that the benefits of productivity growth would flow more broadly as society advances. As noted earlier, and as shown by Lawrence Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute, since the 1970s productivity and median compensation have sharply diverged. 5 Neither does the Kuznet s hypothesis associate higher inequality with slower growth. In contrast, the theories linking inequality to growth fit generally into supplyside, demand-side, and political-economy theories. Another model discussed in this paper invokes inequality s role in the credit booms and busts that have dominated and deeply damaged our economy in recent years. Let s look at each model more closely. 5 Center for American Progress The Impact of Inequality on Growth
9 Supply-side theories: Inputs and growth Most theories of long-term economic growth emphasize the supply side of the economy; that is to say, the amount and quality of inputs along with the level of technology and human capital that transforms those inputs into the goods and services we need and want. Economists Heather Boushey and Adam Hersh of the Center for American Progress, for example, cite the level of human capital, the cost and access to financial capital, and the depth of investment in public goods as key to growth and argue that inequality significantly influences these inputs. This argument is also associated with Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University. This paper examines this argument in greater detail below, but a simple example may prove helpful here. It is not hard to imagine that higher inequality could lead to worse educational opportunities for children in many households compared to an economy where growth is more equitably distributed. In this model, higher income inequality leads to higher educational inequality, where low-income children end up in lower-quality schools, benefit less relative to higher-income children from parental investments in child-enhancement goods such as music and art lessons or vacations to interesting places, and have less access to higher education. Much like a slower computer or a machine that makes fewer and poorer-quality widgets, the relatively low human capital of these future workers leads them to become less-effective inputs into the production of economic output. That, in turn, slows the rate of growth compared to an alternative scenario a counterfactual where all children get high-quality schooling. More complex versions of this model work through a political channel where high levels of wealth concentration, for example, yield political influence that supports low taxes, supply-side tax cuts, and diminished government investments in public goods and research and development expenditures, among others. There is, in turn, compelling evidence that underinvestment in public goods can hurt productivity and slow the economy s growth, or to put it another way, lower its speed limit. 6 6 Center for American Progress The Impact of Inequality on Growth
10 Demand-side theory Another way in which inequality is likely to negatively affect growth is through the differences in the marginal propensity to consume across the income scale. Because of the assumed diminishing marginal utility of money the idea that the utility, or personal benefit, of the next dollar you receive is a bit less than the dollar you received before economists believe that individuals with higher incomes have lower marginal propensities to consume and thus have higher tendencies to save. That is to say, high-income people have the income they need to handily afford the things they need, such as groceries and housing, and want, such as jewelry and vacations. So they are less likely to spend as opposed to save an extra dollar. Research cited in this paper by Boushey and Hersh supports these assumptions. 7 The U.S. economy is 70 percent consumer spending much higher than the 55 percent average in Europe, for example. 8 This means that high levels of income and wealth concentration at that portion of the distribution where the propensity to consume is low could plausibly depress demand relative to a very different set of economic dynamics where middle- and lower-income families benefitted more from growth. Furthermore, Keynesian accelerator models presume that investment itself is a function of output growth and thus consumption. A robust consumer demand signals to investors that greater capital stock will be needed in forthcoming periods to meet the growing demand for output and vice versa in a recession, of course. Thus if lower inequality generates more consumer spending and growth though a higher propensity to consume at the margin in some macroeconomic models, this faster growth leads to more investment. Again, a stylized example might help cement the concepts in play here. Imagine an economy with two consumers and one investor. With high economic inequality, one consumer let s call him Richie gets most of the growth and buys a fleet of cars and a few fancy watches. The second consumer a low-income consumer, who we will call Poe benefits little from growth and buys only necessities, if that. But with low inequality, consumer Poe now has enough money to buy an inexpensive car and perhaps a Timex. While Richie is not as flush in the low-inequality scenario, he still has enough to buy a couple of cars and a pricey timepiece or two. 7 Center for American Progress The Impact of Inequality on Growth
11 In the first scenario, the investor does not see enough demand to justify expanding production, say, to build a new line of mid-range products. In scenario two, however, our investor sees more demand, which motivates her to expand her production line that in turn leads to more growth than would otherwise prevail; and she does so as a function of more the broadly based demand generated by a more equitable income distribution. Note the role of Poe s higher marginal propensity to consume. In the high-inequality regime, Richie easily has the income to offset Poe s reduced consumption, but he derives little utility from another purchase at the margin. Poe, on the other hand, is starting out on a much lower point on his marginal utility curve, so if some additional income flows his way, he is a lot more likely to spend more of his money. This is also the theory behind some of the commentary of Nick Hanauer, an entrepreneur and venture capitalist who argues that high inequality leads to lower growth through this consumption channel. 9 This all may sound fanciful and theoretical, but it has practical merit. In planning and executing stimulus measures, policymakers often recognize that growth multipliers are higher for tax cuts targeted at middle-income earners rather than at highincome households. This point was relevant, for example, in the recent debates over the fiscal cliff deal where many economists, as well as the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, argued that increasing taxes on the wealthy would be expected to have very little impact on growth. 10 Political economy More complex models of inequality s impact on economies involve political channels through which concentrated wealth influences policy outcomes in ways that serve to both further heighten inequality and block measures that would support more equitable outcomes. Not all of these models, however, predict growth impacts. That is, one class of models simply predicts distributional outcomes: Concentrated wealth buys concentrated political power, which channels more growth upwards. But unless we are willing to invoke the supply and demand impacts just discussed, such models do not necessarily predict slower growth. 8 Center for American Progress The Impact of Inequality on Growth
12 Another class of economic models, however, goes further, predicting not only slower growth but the potential of a failed state. In their book, Why Nations Fail, Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Daron Acemoglu and Harvard University political scientist James Robinson present sweeping historical evidence of linkages between what they call extractive political and economic institutions and high inequality, intense poverty, deep human exploitation, failed political systems, and ultimately failed states. 11 The U.S. political and economic systems interestingly fare well in Acemoglu and Robinson s historical review. Whether it is the robber barons of the Gilded Age power grabs, or the repressive or extractive regimes in the Jim Crow South on the right side of the political spectrum, or former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt s attempts to pack the Supreme Court on the left, the authors find that often after long, painful struggles, the fundamental inclusive institutions in this country prevailed. To illustrate that point they devote a passage to the struggle for civil rights in the American South that began in the 1950s and note that while blacks in the South led the way in challenging extractive institutions, they were not alone in this fight: because the U.S. South was not a separate country and the southern elites did not have free reign as did Guatemalan elites, for example. As part of the United States of America, the South would finally receive support from the U.S. executive, legislature, and Supreme Court partly because the civil rights movement was able to have its voice heard outside the South, thereby mobilizing the federal government. 12 Acemoglu and Robinson tell a related story of how, what they call virtuous circles that were formed by inclusive institutions, busted the monopolies of the robber barons: the reaction to the monopoly trusts illustrates that when political institutions are inclusive, they create a countervailing force against movements away from inclusive markets. This is the virtuous circle in action. Trust busting in the United States, in contrast to what we have seen in Mexico illustrates this facet of the virtuous circle Center for American Progress The Impact of Inequality on Growth
13 The question this line of argument raises, of course, is to what extent has income and wealth concentration undermined these positive dynamics in the current U.S. political economy? Why Nations Fail is largely a historical treatise and thus does directly address this question. But Acemoglu views the case of Venice in the late Middle Ages as a warning for the United States. 14 The authors tell a compelling story of how Venice in the 13th and 14th centuries greatly prospered through inclusive institutions such as political, entrepreneurial, and trading regimes that provided paths for upward mobility and thus more broadly shared prosperity and stronger growth. But the Venetian elites, whose wealth and power were diminished by these developments, managed to pass laws that shut down this process, severely restricting the economic opportunities of the nonelites. The negative impact on growth in this switch from inclusive institutions to extraction institutions persists through the present. It is worth noting that this section of their book is titled, How Venice Became a Museum. In what can be read as a warning to the cotemporary United States, Acemoglu and Robinson conclude: moves toward inclusive institutions can be reversed. Venice became prosperous. But its political and economic institutions were overthrown, and the prosperity went into reverse. The fact that inclusive institutions can go into reverse shows that there is no simple cumulative process of institutional improvement. 15 The model described next embodies precisely this Venetian type of development where economic elites, enriched by highly concentrated wealth, influence the political process to disassemble inclusive and opportunity-providing institutions, thus enforcing even greater inequality and ultimately undermining growth. In this model, concentrated wealth interacts with politics in ways that favor the haves over the have-nots, or the beneficiaries of the inequality versus those on the short end. Previous reports have elaborated on this model in some detail; this report provides a summary with an emphasis on implications for growth. A key part of this model posits that with levels of inequality that prevail in the United States today, the opportunities for less-advantaged families and especially their children to achieve their potential are significantly diminished. Let s begin by considering an economy with a stable income distribution. In such an economy, growth, which starts out as exogenous to the model, leads to income growth and 10 Center for American Progress The Impact of Inequality on Growth
14 poverty reduction for middle- and low-income families. This provides the children in such families with, for example, educational opportunities, which in turn enhances their economic-mobility prospects. Through schooling and other learning experiences such as interesting vacations, quality neighborhood libraries, and parental investments in child-enhancement goods and services these children achieve their intellectual and productive capacity, which is important for growth. But once we introduce high and growing levels of inequality into the model, the results change. GDP and productivity growth are diverted from lower-income families, and under this scenario middle incomes and poverty rates stagnate or worsen. This in turn blocks opportunities, including educational opportunities, and reduces upward mobility. Children from lower- and middle-income families fail to reach their productive potential, which feeds negatively back on growth. Thus far, these dynamics are covered in the models cited earlier, but the interesting part of this model is the prediction that income concentration enters into the political realm by promoting policies that protect the beneficiaries of inequality s growth and blocking policies that would push back against it. This is particularly likely to be the case in a country such as ours where private contributions play a much larger role in campaigns than in other advanced democracies. The model therefore generates the following set of hypotheses wherein politics and policy reinforce rising inequality and block policies that would promote more broadly shared growth: Less-advantaged children will, over time, experience less-favorable education opportunities, both in terms of quality primary school education and college access and completion. Rates of economic mobility will flatten or fall. The political process will become increasingly solicitous of the preferences of the wealthy. Policies that exacerbate inequality, such as regressive tax policies or advantageous treatment of nonlabor income, will get a more favorable hearing than those policies that push back against inequality, such as minimum-wage increases, progressive tax changes, and policies related to increasing collective bargaining, just to name a few. 11 Center for American Progress The Impact of Inequality on Growth
15 In turn, here are some corollary indicators that we would expect to see if the dynamics predicted by this model were in play: Regressive tax changes Shift from labor to capital incomes Deregulation and expansion of financial markets Regular bubbles in financial sectors, accompanied by excessive leverage, underpriced risk, and financial innovation Privatization of social insurance Eroding labor standards, including lower minimum wages and fewer labor protections Diminished unionization and opposition to collective bargaining Increased outsourcing of jobs Monetary policy favoring low inflation over full employment Diminished government commitment to education Erosion of safety-net programs Few rules restricting campaign finance Smaller government outlays and receipts as share of GDP Diminished investment in public goods And finally, as per growth, anti-keynesianism and pro-austerity fiscal policies resulting in slack labor markets and output gaps 12 Center for American Progress The Impact of Inequality on Growth
16 The outcomes of some of these predictions are evident in the U.S. data, while others are not. Over the past few decades, for example, the effective tax rates of the wealthiest taxpayers have, in fact, declined significantly. Data from the Internal Revenue Service shows a decline in the effective tax rate for the top 400 wealthiest taxpayers from about 26 percent in the early 1990s to about 20 percent in 2009, the most recent year that data are available. 16 On the other hand, while regressive tax changes have certainly been proposed and championed in much the way the model would predict through politicians supported by very wealthy donors the most recent changes to U.S. tax policy the American Taxpayer Relief Act of January 2013, less formerly known as the fiscal cliff deal, were fairly progressive. 17 Attempts to privatize social insurance have similarly failed. Recent monetary policy has tilted aggressively toward fighting unemployment. Despite the model s prediction, this was not the norm of the past few decades, though it bears noting that the Federal Reserve is to no small degree politically insulated. Yet other developments support the model s predictions. National income shares have shifted quite sharply toward profits and away from compensation; safety-net programs have faced budget cuts largely through spending cuts to various programs benefiting the poor; campaign finance is largely unrestricted; austere fiscal measures are in ascendency; and, as discussed below, investment in public goods has slowed. Importantly, not only have financial bubbles inflated as a function of underpriced risk and so-called financial innovation the proliferation of complex financial instruments that derive their value from movements of other financial instruments but policy efforts to regulate the industry are being opposed and even blocked in ways the model would predict. Moreover, a valid economic model does not just describe the present; it predicts the future. Even a cursory review of recent politics reveals that many of the aforementioned bullets are high up on the list of conservative aspirations. Keynesian policies, while clearly needed, are nowhere to be seen on the political landscape, and recent budget proposals by conservatives have explicitly emphasized the goal of locking in historically low ratios of government spending to GDP. 18 But what does any of this have to do with growth? Some connections such as anti-keynesian austerity are obviously linked, but other predictions such as lower minimum wages, less unionization, and even regressive tax changes are more related to distributional outcomes than to growth outcomes. 19 The linkage between debt, credit, and financial volatility, however, is potentially implicated in recession and slower growth. 13 Center for American Progress The Impact of Inequality on Growth
17 Inequality and credit busts A final model linking inequality to growth invokes inequality s role in promoting debt bubbles. An article by Michael Kumhof and Romain Rancière, economists at the International Monetary Fund, 20 and another article by economists Barry Z. Cynamon of the Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis and Steven M. Fazzari of the Washington University in St. Louis, 21 both construct models of this phenomenon: The wedge of inequality diverts income growth from middle- and low-wage workers; at the same time, high-income households acquire more capital assets. This increases the savings of wealthy households relative to lower-income households. In order to keep their living standards from declining, the middle class borrows more. Financial innovations, including new types of securitization, increase the liquidity and lower the cost of loanable funds available to the borrowers. As Kumhof and Rancière put it, The bottom group s greater reliance on debt and the top group s increase in wealth generated a higher demand for financial intermediation. 22 The financial sector thus grows rapidly, as do the debt-to-income ratios of the middle class relative to the wealthy. (Cynamon and Fazzari; see Figure 6) The combination of rising middle-class debt and stagnant middle-class incomes increases instability in financial markets, and the system eventually crashes, leading to a large demand shock as the relatively large borrowing class deleverages. (Cynamon and Fazzari; see Figure 8) Regarding this last step, unique developments in the United States and later in Europe amplified that part of the model. Financial innovations such as securitization that increased the distance between the loan originator and the loan holder, which contributed to looser underwriting standards interacted in a particularly volatile way with deregulatory zeal and the belief, often associated with former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, that financial actors would self-regulate. 14 Center for American Progress The Impact of Inequality on Growth
18 To summarize this section on different models, a number of them clearly posit negative causal relationships between growth and inequality. In the supply-side model, inequality leads to less-productive labor inputs. In the demand-side model, inequality leads to less-robust consumption and investment. In the credit-bust model, inequality leads to an overleveraged middle class, financial market instability, and a credit bubble-and-bust cycle. While inequality is central to the political-economy model, its growth implications are not obvious. Growth could be exogenous to the model, and all the dynamics just described would affect a given growth level s distribution. For our purposes, however, it is important to explore ways in which growth might be endogenous to this model and the other models, which we will turn to next. 15 Center for American Progress The Impact of Inequality on Growth
19 Does empirical evidence support these models? This section goes model by model to see if there is any empirical evidence to support or disprove the predictions of these models. In sum, there is not strong empirical support for all of these linkages. Some of this similar to the predictions made by Keynesian models that variation in the marginal propensity to consume may stem from data limitations or, more interestingly, ways in which families whose incomes were constrained by inequality found other ways to increase their consumption and, of course, the possibility that the theory does not hold. Some recent work provides circumstantial evidence for the model linking inequality to overleveraging of the middle class, to the credit bubble, and to the very large demand contraction known as the Great Recession. Here too, however, alternative explanations that do not invoke inequality cannot be ruled out. FIGURE 1 Enrichment expenditures on children from Supply: Does inequality lower the quality of inputs? in 2008 dollars $10,000 While there is compelling evidence that inequality has a negative impact on educational opportunity and strong economic logic relating diminished educational opportunity to growth, there is not much evidence linking inequality to reduced labor quality. The measurement challenges invoked by this quest, however, are daunting. The figures below from the volume titled, Whither Opportunity? 23 suggest connections between greater income disparity and diminished educational opportunities for children. Figure 1 shows enrichment expenditures on children by income class at the top and bottom $8,000 $6,000 $4,000 $2,000 $ Top income quintile Bottom income quintile Note: Enrichment expenditures refers to the amount of money families spend on books, computers, high-quality child care, summer camps, private schooling, and other things that promote the capabilities of their children. Source: Greg J. Duncan and Richard J. Murnane, Introduction: The American Dream, Then and Now. In Greg J. Duncan and Richard J. Murnane, eds. Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children s Life Chances (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2011). 16 Center for American Progress The Impact of Inequality on Growth
20 quintiles over time. Such expenditures on music or art lessons, books, extracurricular sports, and tutoring grew much more quickly for higher-income children relative to lowincome children. The ratio of expenditures grows from about four to about seven over the years shown in the figure, a period when income and wealth inequality grew sharply. The next figure examines relative college completion rates for different birth cohorts by income quartile across time. While college completion rates rise with income for both cohorts and rates for all income classes have gone up over time, the slope of the latter curve for the most recent cohort is steeper, implying greater disparity in completion rates over time. For the early 1960s cohort, the college completion gap between the top and bottom quartiles was 31 percentage points, and for the early 1980s cohort it was 45 percentage points. Social scientists have long-identified limited family resources as a central explanation for why poor children lag behind their peers. 24 But the question here is in regard to evidence that links this outcome to future labor quality or macroeconomic outcomes. The literature that accounts for growth quite clearly predicts that a less-educated workforce one with less-productive labor inputs will lower the economy s growth rate. But do labor-quality measures correlate negatively with inequality trends? FIGURE 2 Fraction of students completing college by income quartile and birth year Diff = 0.45 Lowest quartile Second quartile Third quartile Diff = 0.31 Top quartile Source: Martha J. Bailey and Susan M. Dynarski, Inequality in Postsecondary Education. In Greg J. Duncan and Richard J. Murnane, eds. Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children s Life Chances (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2011) birth cohorts birth cohorts FIGURE 3 Labor quality Index (1969=1) Source: John Fernald, Productivity and Potential Output before, during and after the Great Recession. Working Paper (Federal Reserve Bank of San Fransisco, 2012), available at publications/economics/papers/2012/wp12-18bk.pdf Center for American Progress The Impact of Inequality on Growth
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Green Bay Packers more upbeat than same time last year
Nov 2, 2010 ~ by Rob Demovsky
~A year ago, the Green Bay Packers were sitting at the .500 mark halfway through their regular-season schedule and were coming off one of the worst losses of coach Mike McCarthy's tenure, falling at previously winless Tampa Bay.
The next day, Packers President Mark Murphy publicly expressed disappointment in the way the first half of the season went and put the onus on McCarthy and General Manager Ted Thompson to turn things around.
They're only one game better at the midway point of this season, but after Sunday's 9-0 road victory at the New York Jets and given the circumstances surrounding this season, there's a different feeling around Lambeau Field.
McCarthy was unusually jovial in his Monday news conference and while Murphy declined to discuss the season, saying through a team spokesman that he preferred to leave that to the general manager, Thompson praised McCarthy and his staff for weathering a wave of injuries yet still keeping the team's championship hopes alive.
"I think he's (held the team together) the way he's always done it," Thompson said. "I think the coaching staff does a great job of being focused on what's next, and they have a good eye for the big picture. But in the NFL, you've got to get ready for the next play. That's what we do. That's what they do a great job of, and I think that's what the players do."
At 5-3, the Packers have a half-game lead over Chicago (4-3) in the NFC North and are tied with New Orleans for the fourth-best record in the NFC behind Atlanta, Tampa Bay and the New York Giants (all tied at 5-2). Halfway through last season, the Packers were tied for the eighth-best record in the NFC.
Last season, McCarthy said he rallied the team to an 11-5 finish and a wild-card playoff berth by sticking to his principles and staying consistent with his approach. That had to be especially challenging this season after losing 10 players, including five starters, to season-ending injuries.
Thompson has had to shuffle the roster, while McCarthy and his assistants have had to spend more time teaching schemes to new players, something normally reserved for training camp. Last week alone, Thompson acquired four new players — two off waivers and two off the street. All but one played against the Jets. Defensive lineman Howard Green played nearly half the snaps, and linebacker Erik Walden played on some key third down snaps.
Between the final roster cuts on Sept. 4 and the eighth game, Thompson and his personnel staff have been busy. They have signed five street free agents, promoted two players from the practice squad, claimed two off waivers and made one trade. Through eight games last season, they had signed three free agents and promoted one from the practice squad.
"You're always doing the work and preparing, and (scouts) Reggie (McKenzie) and Eliot (Wolf) and Tim (Terry) and those guys do a great job," Thompson said, "They're always comparing lists and scenarios and things like that. It's rare that we have to go through so many different scenarios, but it's part of the process."
If the make-or-break point of last season came following the loss to the Buccaneers, perhaps this year it came after the consecutive overtime losses at Washington on Oct. 10 and home against Miami seven days later. Since then, the Packers have come up with masterful defensive performances to beat Minnesota with a stop on the Vikings' final drive and shut out the Jets, who came into the game tied for the best record in the NFL. Almost no one in the state press or national media picked the Packers to win in New York.
Full story HERE


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Some of the most fun movies of the '80s came from Cannon Films, a company that was recently the subject of a documentary called ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: THE WILD, UNTOLD STORY OF CANNON FILMS. Action, exploitation, horror, teen comedies, kids' movies, they did it all, their output including the DEATH WISH sequels, multiple Chuck Norris vehicles, the BREAKIN' flicks, THE LAST AMERICAN VIRGIN, COBRA, INVADERS FROM MARS, LIFEFORCE, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2, and many more. Cannon closed its doors in 1994 and Menahem Golan, who ran the company with his cousin Yoram Globus during its more popular era, has since passed away, but Golan protégé Richard Albiston is now working on bringing the company back.
Albiston founded the new Cannon Films Ltd. in 2014 with the intention of enforcing the ideals of Golan, "putting the artist first and enabling them to have the freedom to create their vision, their way", and has now announced his company's first slate of films.
Among the eight projects being developed at the new Cannon are a few mystery titles; WRITERS BLOCK, THE LEOPARD HUNTS AT MIDNIGHT, U.S. SNIPER (a great mockbuster title there); revivals of classic Cannon franchises with AMERICAN NINJA: APPRENTICE and RETURN OF THE DELTA FORCE; ALLAN QUATERMAIN AND THE JEWEL OF THE EAST, which would appear to be a long-awaited follow-up to Cannon's 1986 release ALLAN QUATERMAIN AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD; and a couple horror projects - CURSE, based on the novel by Daniel Farson, and ZOMBI: THEY LIVE!
CURSE would tell the following story:
Richard Truscott becomes the landlord of the Prince Edward on the isolated island of Horracombe. His arrival coincides with the beginning of a series of unnatural accidents. Can anybody escape the grip of Horracombe's curse?
ZOMBI: THEY LIVE! is quite interesting, because it is meant to be a sequel Lucio Fulci's ZOMBIE (a.k.a. ZOMBI 2, made as an unofficial sequel to DAWN OF THE DEAD), ZOMBIE 3, ZOMBIE 4: AFTER DEATH, and ZOMBIE 5: KILLING BIRDS, a series where the installments had nothing to do with each other.
The synopsis for this sixth ZOMBI film:
When a terrorist infected with a deadly viral concoction boards the Trans-Europa Express bound for Istanbul, the military must take action to prevent the spread of the disease. But when the brakes fail on the train, the zombie infested train becomes a deadly juggernaut that is completely unstoppable. Worse, a handful of strangers inside the train are immune to the virus and now must battle zombies and the military if they have any chance at survival...
I hope this Cannon revival will stay on track, because I would love to see that company come back to provide a new era of awesome movies.


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Washington: A health worker at a Texas hospital, who may have had contact with specimens from the first patient diagnosed with Ebola on the US soil, has been isolated on a cruise ship in the Caribbean sea, the Department of State said Friday.
The employee of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, who was out of the country via a commercial cruise ship Oct 12, did not have direct contact with Duncan, a Liberian who was diagnosed with Ebola in the US and died Oct 8, but may have had contact with clinical specimens collected from him, Xinhua reported citing the statement.
When the worker left the country on the ship from Galveston, Texas, only self-monitoring was required, the department said.
It has been 19 days since the health worker, a female, may have processed the fluid samples of deceased Duncan, only two days shy of the 21-day incubation period for Ebola, it noted.
"The cruise ship's doctor has monitored and confirmed the worker was in good health," the statement said. "Following this examination, the hospital employee and travelling partner have voluntarily remained isolated in a cabin."
The department said it is working with the cruise line to safely bring them back to the US out of an abundance of caution.