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POPSEconomists Search for New Definition of Well-Being
"GDP has increasingly become used as a measure of societal well-being and changes in the structure of the economy and our society have made it an increasingly poor one," Stiglitz told the news agency Bloomberg in a recent interview. "So many things that are important to individuals are not included in GDP." In the model they unveiled last week in Paris, the academics recommend including other factors, such as sustainability and education. Significant Shortcomings Even the inventor of the gross domestic product measure, the late Russian-American economist Simon Kuznets, was aware that the classic method of computing GDP had significant shortcomings. "The welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred from a measure of national income," he said in 1934. This is because the growth rate says nothing about the distribution of wealth in a country, the state of health of its citizens or their life expectancy. The number provides no information about the cleanliness of rivers or the amo
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POPSAustralian & Canadian Employers Adding Jobs! ......after a 31,900 increase in August. The jobless rate was probably unchanged at a 33-year low of 4.3 percent. The Bureau of Statistics releases the report tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. in Sydney. Sustained jobs growth justifies the Reserve Bank's decision to raise its benchmark interest rate in August to damp inflation pressures in an economy that is growing at the fastest annual pace in three years. Miners are hiring workers as they expand to meet surging Chinese demand and retailers are opening new stores as consumer spending picks up. ``The odds favor another decent jobs number, consistent with the underlying strength of the economy,'' said Su-Lin Ong, senior economist at RBC Capital Markets in Sydney. ``We expect the unemployment rate to hold down at a three-decade low confirming the stretched nature of the labor market.''
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POPSStay The Heck Out Of Tenn.-This Means You Bloomberg Gun show investigations showing how criminals can aquire guns without background checks upsets gun loving state officials in Virginia and Tennessee. Bloomberg is also under fire by Virginians in a new ad released by the National Rifle Association, too. But members of the Italian-American community say they feel targeted, as well. One part of the ad goes like this: "Our New York Mayor Bloomberg came down here to take away some of your Virginia gun rights. You see, the mayor thinks you guys are responsible for our New York crime problem." The ad also depicts an apparent Big Apple "wise guy" who strongly "suggests" voters not elect gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell, a gun rights activist. "I want you to do it for New York. If you know what's good for you," the ad says.
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POPSWe're Screwed Whatever methodology the regulators are using in their bank reviews, it is disastrously flawed. Credit: The Casey Report
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POPSWorld Bank Forecasts $100 Billion Annual Climate Cost And who do they suppose will pay for that? the politicians... certainly not!! Al Fraud (Gore)? Don't be foolish he will collect the cheques. Nope it will be the tax payers all of you. And don't forget this an added tax, as in on top of the tax you already pay.
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POPS Cuting the Ties Between Poverty and Obesity I had to move to a completely different neighborhood in order to have regular access to fat-free milk. ... When we talk about obesity and the way it correlates is poverty, we spend most of our time talking about pushing low-income consumers into making healthier choices and probably not enough time discussing how we can get food retailers to sell healthy food them in the first place. more @ clip source
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POPS Podesta Says Value-Added Tax ‘More Plausible’ as Deficits Grow 
a Washington-based public policy group, is convening a meeting of economic policy experts Sept. 30 to discuss the long- term fiscal deficit. The Congressional Budget Office estimated in August that the budget deficit will be 11.2 percent of gross domestic product, the highest since World War II. Clinton, facing a deficit of 4.2 percent of GDP, pushed Congress to raise taxes on the wealthy to help trim the shortfall. “He passed it without a single Republican vote,” Podesta said. “It led to the longest period of growth in the United States history.” Ending Tax Cuts Podesta said Obama will begin by ending the upper-income tax cuts enacted under his predecessor, President George W. Bush. “Then you have to look at whether that gets you far enough of the way,” he said. On health care, Podesta expressed optimism that Congress will pass a health-care bill in the next couple of months even though so far none of the measures has won Republican support and Democrats . .
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POPSNow Venezuela Wants to Go Nuclear Others are a little more skeptical, and rightly so. The Hudson Institute’s David Satter wrote yesterday (emphasis ours): The intention of Russia to help Venezuela develop a nuclear power plant is no more innocent than the help that Russia gave to Iran. Both Russia and Venezuela will emphasize that Venezuela has no intention of creating a nuclear weapon. But by facilitating contact between Russian and Venezuelan officials in the area of nuclear energy, the stage is set for black-market operations involving technology that can be used in nuclear weapons. Russian help for Venezuela can provide a cover for the development of nuclear weapons. Perhaps more important, it opens up a new channel for the transfer of Russian nuclear know-how"this time by way of Venezuela"to the enemies of the U.S. As the Trumpet has explained , Hugo Chávez has put Venezuela at the vanguard of the growing anti-American movement in Latin America.
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POPS Obama Push For 'World' Regulation Obama said lobbyists for financial institutions are already fighting against new regulations. “We cannot let the narrow interests of a few come before the interests of all of us,” Obama said. “We cannot forget how close we came to the brink, and perpetuate the broken system and breakdown of responsibility that made it possible.” In the Republican address, North Carolina Representative Sue Myrick focused on Obama’s health-care proposals, which are being debated in Congress. She said the plan being offered by Obama and congressional Democrats would lead to government-run insurance and that would mean delays in care. Access to Care “Every family that confronts a serious illness should have access to the highest-quality care at the lowest possible cost, with no delays,” Myrick said. Obama has said he favors a government-run insurance program to compete with private insurers. While he has suggested he wouldn’t make it a requirement as part of final legislation,
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POPSRA's Daily Russian News Blast US to modify or jettison missile defense plans? NATO chief to meet with Russian envoy; Lukaschenko sends out mixed messages. South Ossetia denies book burning; think tank leader says Putin could be heading for Brehznev-style decades in power; Medvedev finds inspiration on blogosphere. Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko has suggested the traditional ally of Russia must 'move away from dependence on just one country, even one that is near and dear to us'. The Moscow Times reports that the authoritarian leader has emphasized ties with Russia, whilst on a rare visit to EU-member state Lithuania. The Russian Foreign Minstry has said that the criminal investigation into charges of forgery against RIA Novosti's Tbilisi bureau chief is politically motivated. South Ossetia has denied bonfire-style burning of Georgian books and other classic works at the state university. An op-ed contributor in the Moscow Times is disturbed by what makes it onto Russian bookshelves.
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POPSObama Delays Afghanistan Troop Decision The generals want more troops. Or, at least, these are the "leaks," from the Pentagon and the head general, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, is testifying in Congress now and is saying we "probably," need more troops. If listening to Fox News or CNN it almost sounds like the President approved more troops. But he has not. The President is not going to make a decision on troop increases anytime soon. I, personally, think he should ask a few more generals to resign, tell the Republicans: "You Lie!," and continue to stand strong against the racist, warmongers, neocons and zionist extremist that continue to try to rule with Hate & Fear.
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POPSNYC Smoking Rate Cut Go ahead, Mayor Mike! You deserved to be memorized for everything what you and your people already have done to our city. What a parking mess was in Manhattan before you! How you calmed down illegals! How many lives was saved with tobacco ban! You took care for everything, even for your own memorial.;) I will vote for you whenever and wherever you will decide to run. On any ticket. I hope you will agree to run next time.;) You are great man, real leader and big politician. Besides your business accomplishments.
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