Monthly Archives: April 2012


When I took economics 101 in college one of the things we were taught was that over… 1

When I took economics 101 in college one of the things we were taught was that over time, incomes could rise without triggering inflation as long as the increase was tied to improved productivity. Since the industrial revolution productivity has improved at the highest rate in all of human history and even more so in the last four decades.

A not so funny thing has happened since the 1970s (which just happens to coincide with the rise of the political right in America). While productivity in America has climbed by over 80 percent since 1973, average hourly compensation has only gone up about 39%.

The difference between the increase in productivity (and the lower costs it brings) and compensation has gone largely to corporate profits. However, if you look even closer at the data, you see something even scarier. The disparity between productivity and compensation wouldn't be so bad if it was distributed evenly across the working population. However, as anyone in the 99% knows, this has not been the case.

In the graph presented by Paul Krugman, note the difference between average hourly compensation and median compensation. The average comes from dividing the sum total compensation by the population. The median is the point at which half the population is above that point, and the other half below. With a comparatively even bell-curve distribution, the average and median would be fairly close together.

However, the median compensation over the last 40 years has only gone up by 10.7%, barely one-quarter of the average increase. What that means is that a relatively small proportion of the population has seen its compensation rise by much, much, much more than 40% (something on the order of several hundred percent) while the vast majority of Americans have seen virtually no movement in their income over the last 4 decades. That is why we now have the largest disparity in incomes in America in our history and the middle class is quickly moving toward extinction.

That is what the policies of Republicans have wrought on America.
#politics #incomeinequality

Reshared post from +Jeff Jarvis

Krugman: Where productivity value went (to inequality).

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Where The Productivity Went
It's two-thirds the inequality, stupid.

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I'm not a fan of Oracle, but it's good to see them step up where Apple has…

I'm not a fan of Oracle, but it's good to see them step up where Apple has clearly failed. Over the past several years, Apple has repeatedly been a laggard when it comes to correcting security issues that have been identified by outsiders.

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Oracle announces direct Java support for OS X, Mac to get security updates the same time as Windows
Earlier this month, Apple released an update to Java version 1.6.0_31 for OS X — but not before an estimated 600,000 Macs had been infected by malware taking advantage of exploits in a prior…

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Stephen Colbert delivered at keynote a few days ago at the Time 100 event that was…

Stephen Colbert delivered at keynote a few days ago at the Time 100 event that was right up their with his legendary Washington correspondents dinner speech. As usual, Colbert aimed his rapier wit at many of the influential people in the room that night including that enemy of democracy and the American people, David Koch.

Sure, he's all for buying the elections, but when the bill for democracy comes up, Dave's always in the men's room. I'm sorry, I must have left Wisconsin in my other coat.

I was particularly excited to meet David Koch earlier tonight because I have a Super PAC, Colbert Super PAC, and I am — thank you, thank you — and I am happy to announce Mr. Koch has pledged $5 million to my Super PAC. And the great thing is, thanks to federal election law, there's no way for you to ever know whether that's a joke.

By the way, if David Koch likes his waiter tonight, he will be your next congressman.

The entire transcript is at the link, if anyone knows of video of the event post it in the comments.

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The Page by Mark Halperin | Clinton and Colbert at the TIME 100
SecState and Comedy Central funny man among the distinguished guests. Clinton: "TIME has honored so many national and global leaders; you couldn’t possibly acknowledge every one. There’s many I haven’…

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The Verge also has a great collection of photos of the arrival of Enterprise

The Verge also has a great collection of photos of the arrival of Enterprise

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NASA Space Shuttle Enterprise: the NYC fly-by in pictures
The Verge is a technology-focused news publication founded in 2011 by Joshua Topolsky and Marty Moe in partnership with Vox Media and its CEO Jim Bankoff. The Verge's mission is to offer breaking news…

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The transfer of the prototype space shuttle Enterprise from Washington DC to New…

The transfer of the prototype space shuttle Enterprise from Washington DC to New York on Friday provided a once in a lifetime photographic opportunity.

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The Most Awesome Pictures of the Space Shuttle Enterprise Riding a Jet to NYC
Check out the visuals from this morning's low-altitude flyover.

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How much extra would you be willing to pay for a car that could drive itself? One-fifth…

How much extra would you be willing to pay for a car that could drive itself? One-fifth of people in a JD Power survey said they would spend $3,000 more for the capability.

Frankly that price is well within reach in the next 5-7 years. Consider that a number of cars on the road today already have most of the hardware bits necessary to enable at least semi-autonomous driving.

We've been migrating in this direction since at least the early-1980s with the advent of anti-lock braking. ABS intervenes between the driver and the road, using wheel speed sensors to decide when the brake pressure the driver is applying should be reduced at individual wheels in order to help maintain control of the car.

Over time that capability expanded traction and stability control and more recently adaptive cruise control and lane departure prevention.

Autonomous vehicles are about more than just convenience though. The ability for vehicles to talk to each other and the infrastructure and get real-time data about what is happening beyond the sight-lines of the driver opens up enormous possibilities for reducing accidents, congestion and energy consumption.

I still love to drive, but on my daily 25 mile commute to the office, I would take autonomous capability if it was available.

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One in five drivers would spend $3,000 to add self-driving to their next car
Judging from what Google has been saying to automakers, self-driving cars are still millions of test miles away from actually making it to showrooms, but survey results indicate some American drivers….

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Republicans in Michigan don't believe in democracy and they aren't above…

Republicans in Michigan don't believe in democracy and they aren't above going to any lengths to prevent it. Last year the newly Republican-controlled legislature and the governor passed an emergency manager law. Under the law, the governor can dismiss locally elected governments and replace them with an appointed manager.

Needless to say, many of the voters of Michigan were not impressed and were more than willing to sign a petition that would put the law on the November ballot. After crates of petitions were delivered to the state board of canvassers, the signatures were checked and even after some were disallowed, there were 203,238 signatures, 40,000 more than required for a recall vote.

However, four member board deadlocked 2-2 along party lines about approving the ballot measure. It turns out that a group called Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility protested the petition on the grounds that the font was too small. Not the language of the ballot, or the validity of the signatures but the font size!

It turns out Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility happens to operate out of the law offices of Jeffrey Timmer, one of the two republicans on the board of canvassers. Despite the obvious conflict of interest Timmer did not recuse himself from the vote. What a farce!

#emergencymanager #michigan #recall

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EM referendum off November ballot, opponents vow appeal

The Board of State Canvassers deadlocked 2-2 along party lines today on whether Michiganians will get to vote in November on a repeal of the controversial emergency manager law – sparking angry shou…

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This is a very interesting take on what the next generation Mustang might look like….

This is a very interesting take on what the next generation Mustang might look like. Rumor has it that the current retro-look will give way to something more like last year's Evos concept. This blend of old and new seems like it might still be a bit too close to the old.

What do you think?

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Should the Next-Gen 2015 Ford Mustang Look Like This? – WOT on Motor Trend
This rendering from our illustrator shows one possible look of the 2015 Ford Mustang. Should Ford's next-gen pony car look like this?

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662 hp and 5 mpg better than the camaro zl1 7

#ford #gt500 #torque

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This Just In: The 2013 Shelby Mustang GT500 has 662 horsepower & hits 60 mph in first gear.

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2013 Shelby Mustang GT500 Certified At 662 Horsepower
Get ready for ludicrous speed–the 2013 Shelby Ford Mustang GT500 has been certified at 662 horsepower–12 more than the promised 650–and 630 pound-feet of torque. Why? Because muscle car. We guess. …

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