Our craptastic job market?What's wrong with our job market?
We are in a recession."The Economy is Fine (Really)" - The Wall Street Journal.
Now, if your definition of a recession is the traditional standard—two consecutive quarters of negative growth— rest assured, this isn’t going to happen. There’s no possibility now that the U.S. will suffer two consecutive quarters of negative growth in 2008, as there’s too much liquidity sloshing around. Also expect America’s small businesses to go on a second-half buying spree to take advantage of accelerated tax depreciation.
Income inequality decreased between 2006 and 2007, as measured by shares of aggregate household income by quintiles and the Gini index. The share of aggregate income received by households in the top fifth of the income distribution declined, while the shares for the third and fourth quintiles increased. Meanwhile, the Gini index declined from 0.470 to 0.463, moving closer to 0, which represents perfect income equality (1 represents perfect inequality).This "Gini coefficient" is the standard measurement for income inequality (how rich the rich are versus how poor the poor are). Under Clinton, it went from .433 to .462, an increase of .029.
"Look at the example the Republicans have set: American workers have given us consistently rising productivity. They've worked harder and produced more. What did they get in return? Declining wages, less than one-quarter as many new jobs as in the previous eight years, smaller health care and pension benefits, rising poverty and the biggest increase in income inequality since the 1920s."Oh the irony.
So you can picket all you like. Although I suppose if you were picketing ON THE HORSE TRACK DURING A RACE then it may apply as economic damage, not to mention trespassing.`(e) Rules of Construction- Nothing in this section shall be construed--`(1) to prohibit any expressive conduct (including peaceful picketing or other peaceful demonstration) protected from legal prohibition by the First Amendment to the Constitution;
http://www.smh.com.au/...Well thank goodness he checked his facts with Wikipedia first. Now let's check Wikipedia's facts. What are the casualties like in Iraq? How many people died during the overthrow and capture of Saddam and the subsequent battles against insurgents, foreign fighters and terrorists intent on turning Iraq into the new headquarters for strict Sharia law? Let's see what Wikipedia had:
More than 600,000 civilians dead in Iraq alone as a result of the war.
That's about the entire population of Fiji.
And that figure it from 2 years ago. According to Wikipedia, the latest tally is close to 1.2 million civilians.
Wow, 1 million deaths. That's roughly 1 out of every 30 people living in Iraq.
Survey Iraqi deaths March 2003 to... Iraqi Health Ministry survey 151,000 violent deaths out of 400,000 excess deaths due to the war. June 2006 Lancet survey 601,027 violent deaths out of 654,965 excess deaths. June 2006 Opinion Research Business survey 1,033,000 violent deaths as a result of the conflict. August 2007
•Results are based on face-to-face interviews amongst a nationally representative sample of 1,720 adults aged 18+ throughout Iraq (1,499 agreed to answer the question on household deaths)I tried to find out more information, but the link on the ORB website for more information didn't work. I'd like to know more about this "nationally representative sample". But basically they polled 1499 people and extrapolated 1,000,000 deaths.
These three misattributed clusters were thereforeSo they polled 1849 households.
excluded, leaving a final sample of 1849 households in
47 randomly selected clusters.
TOTAL NUMBER OF COMPLETEDInteresting.
HOUSEHOLDS 9345
...
Why were female doctors and statisticians chosen as interviewers?Female doctors were not the only interviewers. Other groups such as female dentists, pharmacists, nurses and technical college graduates were also involved as interviewers. As, in many surveys in Iraq, female interviewers are most suitable and best able to communicate effectively with women. Moreover, in Iraqi culture, women respondents have more trust in female interviewers, as sensitive issues were discussed in the women’s questionnaires. The census enumerator were selected for this work for their accuracy and reliability in recording the household information and in identifying the cluster samples and the household locations.
How do you explain the high response rate for IFHS 2006/7 in spite of the very bad security situations in Iraq?
The household response rate of 98.2% and the women response rate of 98.3% match with the MICS-III 2006 response rate of 98.6%. Also, IFHS teams were required to try three times with each household if they were not successful in finishing the interview the first and the second time. This high response rate was accomplished with the help of community leaders who facilitated the process of interviewing the families.
Saddam and his cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, a Baath Party leader who allegedly organized Anfal, are charged with genocide widely considered the toughest charge to prove since it requires showing their intention was to exterminate part of an ethnic group.Exact figures on death tolls under Saddam will be hard to figure out.
Saddam and al-Majid also face charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, as do their co-defendants, most of whom are former military figures.
The Anfal trial is likely to take months as well. The campaign was on a far greater scale than the Dujail crackdown, with death toll estimates ranging from 50,000 to 180,000. Prosecutors plan to call up to 75 witnesses and to present extensive documents from the former regime, as well as evidence from mass graves.
