MICROTRENDS

U.S. NEWS &WORLD REPORT (2007)  9/10

(32-33)

Mark Penn a pollster for the Democratic Party has a new book entitled MICROTRENDS.

He is the one who discovered SOCCER MOMS. His latest is

the discovery that small tiny tiny trends can ignite new social and economic changes.

Here are some of his latest findings:

1) Families are holding their youngster back an extra year so that they can get a head start on the competition of the other kids in school. 2) Straight women singles appear to have a harder

struggle to get men. When mortality, sexual orientation an other related phenomena occur,

women out number men 53 to 47. However, you may see more women in move up the

ladder as they are single and need not be on the mommy track. 5) Female clergy are likely to be found in moderate religious churches that continue to get smaller compared to the fundamentalist tradition. Thus clergy that are women may find themselves in more social movements to benefit women. 6) Jews have become more popular than ever and non-Jews are even having

faux bar mitzvahs. Jews are looked upon as having a strong identity, good values, looks, and money. It is called Pro-semite movement among gentiles. 7) What would you like to do when you grow up, a small number said MILITARY SNIPERS. Thus, there may be an extra surge

toward the military in the future. 8.) There is a new movement among Blacks and being

successful by lawful means seems to be emerging. Grades are improving and all other

positive findings.

BUSINESS WEEK (2007) 9/10

FINE (22) It appears that all of country music one of the most steady genres in the business has hit a bum year. Or is it a trend. CD sales are down as well as Ipod. Thus, it appears that even though country has not had major schism something is going wrong in the field. This is a wild car to watch.

BUSINESS WEEK (2007) 9/1

Can America's sub prime mess and large debt affect the world markets? The answer appears to be yes. Banks may tighten their belt and there could be a psychological contagion that first brings

a run on the dollar and then a major recession.

THE NEW REPUBLIC(2007) 9/10

CHAIT (2007)  27-33

The SUPPLY SIDERS are now a significant part of history. The moderate

wing of the Republican party rejected it. In some ways, most of the political class were Keynesian as was true of  economists. It was demand side economic and political

policy and a president and congress would pump the market by either raising taxes slightly and spending money on infrastructure and related. The money acted as a stimuli for job growth and

and improve economy. Along comes Arthur Laffer who was a faculty member of the

conservate University of Chicago. economics department.

The or gin of SUPPLY SIDE economics traces back to 1974. The group to

gather was Laffer, now vice president Dick Cheney, and Jude Wanniski of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Laffer joined the Nixon Office of Budget Management in the early 70's and was given a boost by Wanninski. The Laffer Curve is based on the assumption that if citizens

paid no taxes a country would fall apart. If all the income was taxed, the society would shut down or become communist. There is a point on the curve when money supply is optimal if taxes are cut

for the rich and corporations. Bush 41 called this VOODOO ECONOMICS because it assumes only a few variables and makes the magical promises that you can spend and spend until

you are out of debt. When the rich get a huge tax cut they invest in the economy and the benefits

TRICKLE DOWN to the masses. Reagan introduced it and  by the time he left office in 88'

there was a 3 trillion dollar debt. In today's dollars, that would be at least 6  trillion on the conservative side. Supply siders also noted that huge debts did not matter because we owed the money to other Americans. However, the debt is now owned by mainly other countries. This handicaps our relations with these countries. If we should anger China, they can just dump our dollars. Supply siders also point to President Kennedy who gave a small tax cut to the middle class in his 1000 days in office.

A second generation of Supply siders included Rep. Jack Baker, vice presidential candidate

with Sen. Bob Dole in 1996, George Gilder author of the million seller WEALTH AND POVERTY, and  Wanninski's THE  WAY THE WORLD WORKS. Today, supply side/

trickle down economics is a strong component of the Republican party. The outcome has been

huge deficits and big government.

Classic conservatism was tax cuts of a much smaller size and small government. Reagan also introduced DEREGULATION which means that corporations will follow the law on a honor system. Bush 43' is a strong supporter of tax cuts and increased government size as deficits don't mean anything.From the advent of Supply side in 80, social mobility has slowed, wages are flat and there is a grow inequality, the greatest among industrial nations.

THE WEEK (2007) 9/7

(23) Certain out of body experiences can be created in the lab. However, it is a relative small part

of all the OBE's./ Drug use can now be assessed by using a small bottle of water taken from the sewer system. It can be an indicator of what drugs are being used in the population./ Americans

are using more pain killers and related than ever before. There has been an 88%

jump since 1997. How this compares with other countries was not discussed. / The red, blue, and purple veggies are best for your heart. / There are new risk factors that point to psychopaths and they include 29 variables. Some of the risks include being male, shy, loner,  and being mocked by peers. However, no bio chemicals were discussed. / Certain common viruses are correlated with

increasing weight.

TIME (2007) 9/10

Kramer (71-74) As a vast generalization, factor after factor favor both males and females to

color their hair.

NEWSWEEK (2007) 9/10

After 30 years of women playing victim, Jody Foster has chosen a script where women are given permission to kill predators in self defense. THE BRAVE ONE is a combination of  DEATH WISH and TAXI DRIVER. In the TAXI movie, Jody is a child prostitute. In another movie,

she was raped by many men. This turns things around. At this moment, women don't like guns.

However, in tough areas and as a back up, legally carrying a gun TO PROTECT oneself, is

extremely important. To women, there are about 4% out there that will kill you and not feel

an ounce of guilt. You will be quickly forgotten. If you decide to use a gun, FIRST GO TO AN EXPERT. I do not claim legal responsibility. However, if you carry pepper gas

in strange places and have it in your hand when you walk, the immediate response can be awesome and it is reversible. You spray and run.

UNO ALUM (2007) FALL

(8) More and more universities and colleges are digitizing the school newspaper. That means that you can go back very easily to the time that you were in school to see pictures and stories of

friends from years past. To see an example, go to a search engine and

key in   library.unomaha.edu/collections/gateway. If your school does not have it, call

402-554- 3502 for more information.