Did I say that? — Vowing to consume quantities of veggies - Acorn Online

Did I say that? — Vowing to consume quantities of veggies - Acorn Online

Written by Joe Pisani
Thursday, 11 February 2010 09:45

This far into the year, I’m hesitant to write about my New Year’s resolutions just in case I fall flat on my face and end up returning to my old habits. You see, the odds are against me since 30 percent of all resolutions are ancient history by March and 75 percent are eventually abandoned. I didn’t vow to save for retirement, I didn’t vow to recycle more plastic bottles and I didn’t vow to swear less. I vowed to eat five to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, which is a lot of fruits and vegetables for one stomach to accommodate. The U.S. government recommends we should consume vast quantities of fruits and vegetables because it’s a sure strategy for good health — so good it should be included in the health-care reform plan.

This crusade, however, is costing me a small fortune. I buy fruit salad in the morning and vegetable salad with salmon in the afternoon for the price of a sirloin steak at The Four Seasons.

Until now, my fruit-and-vegetable diet largely consisted of banana splits and barbecue potato chips, but I decided to change my ways after reading about the world’s oldest people.

Whenever someone turns 100 and is asked how she did it — eight in 10 centenarians are women — she usually says her secret was drinking moonshine or smoking a corn-cob pipe or getting rid of her husband.

It’s not that I expect to reach 100 because the odds are one in 4,000. I’ll be happy just to see 65 and collect a Social Security check or two before the system totally collapses.

But these old-timers shared dietary habits that we could learn from. The people of Symi, wherever that is, and the people of Campodimelani, which is probably in South Jersey, eat more fruits and vegetables in a day than many of us eat in a week, and they eat real stuff like figs and dates and not Del Monte cocktail in a can.

Fruits and vegetables have anti-aging properties with high levels of antioxidants which prevent heart disease and cancer and keep those notorious free radicals under control. I’m not entirely sure what a free radical does, but it sounds a little left-wing.

Anti-aging guru Dr. Richard Cutler has said, “The amount of antioxidants that you maintain in your body is directly proportional to how long you will live.”

It makes you wonder, though. If this diet is as effective as Symiots claim, why do Americans crave bacon double-cheeseburgers more than Brussels sprouts? Fewer than 25 percent of Americans eat five daily servings of fruits and vegetables, and more than two-thirds of adults and a third of children are overweight or obese — defined as 30 pounds or more over a healthy weight.

Obesity costs an estimated $147 billion a year, which is twice the amount it was a decade ago and nine percent of all health care spending. Even worse, experts predict that in 10 years, 43 percent of American adults will be obese.

See you at the salad bar.

The Green Police - Huffington Post

The Green Police - Huffington Post

Audi's satirical Super Bowl commercial featured an electric car-driving Green Police force busting citizens for eco-violations. What green crimes led to arrest? Using plastic shopping bags and drinking from Styrofoam cups, among others. In-the-know business people and environmental activists realize that it's not just a joke. In fact, the plastic industry's American Chemical Council immediately launched a Web site to defend the impugned eco-rectitude of plastics.

In all seriousness, the ad captures a very real and ongoing struggle to define what exactly sustainability means for industry. It's widely recognized that "sustainability" is a term that can mean different things to everyone and every business. That's on purpose. Sustainability was an idea developed in the 1980s by diplomats that needed to get environmental and economic ministers to agree. So, sustainable development was defined as "development that meets needs of today's generations without jeopardizing ability of the future generations to meet there needs." Like mom and apple pie, we can all agree to it. But the definition doesn't say anything about what a "sustainable" television, sofa bed or car looks like. For that, we need to define what sustainability means for each specific industry and product class.

It's called "operationalizing sustainability" by the experts and it's a heroic task. Governments first tried in the 1990s by creating eco-labels like the Nordic Swan or Germany's Blue Angel. But they recoiled when they confronted the nearly endless criteria that had to be compared. Was a product that used less energy better then one that used less water? How would you compare CO2 emissions with human rights violations? Clearly, it was - and still is - a daunting task and one that governments basically put aside.

But the need has not gone away. Environmental NGOs, industry associations, governments and even Walmart with its Sustainability Index are involved in this largely below-the-radar contest to set the green standards that tell business and consumers what constitutes an eco-violation.

Which brings us back to Audi's commercial. It was a clever effort to define a "sustainable car." For decades, diesel cars in the U.S. have had reputations as polluters, conjuring images of black smoke billowing from the stacks of freight trucks on the highway. But Audi and other European manufactures are working to change the U.S. attitude and mindset toward diesels. In fact, modern diesel engines are much cleaner today and, in some cases, more fuel efficient than their gas powered brethren. Audi's ad ends with the green police inspecting a line of cars waiting at an eco-check point. An officer approaches the Audi. It is a TDI, meaning it has a clean and efficient turbo diesel engine. With an admiring smile, the green police wave it through.

While we won't see the Green Police on the streets anytime soon, we can expect more public sparing around what constitutes green-products and businesses. The battle to operationalize sustainability has just begun. As Audi's expensive Super Bowl message shows, the stakes are rising.

Restaurant workers are starved of benefits, report says - Washington Post

Restaurant workers are starved of benefits, report says - Washington Post

Despite the recession, the restaurant industry is thriving. Many of its workers, however, are not.

A new report from the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC), a nonprofit organization that advocates better wages and work conditions for restaurant workers, revealed that 90 percent of industry staff members are not offered health insurance or sick days, 67 percent go to work sick, and 38 percent are forced to work off the clock.

Earnings also lag. Restaurant workers around the country on average made $12,868 in 2008 compared with $45,371 in the general private sector, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The authors surveyed more than 2,500 workers and 150 employers in five cities: Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, New York and Portland, Maine.

The reports tell two big stories, said Jose Oliva, ROC's national policy coordinator: "One, the restaurant industry is resilient, even in the face of this Great Recession. The other is that the kind of jobs that are being created are not the kind of jobs we want to have in America when we come out of the recession."

Restaurants took a hit during the economic downturn. But by July 2009, growth had returned. This year, the National Restaurant Association projects that the industry will employ nearly 13 million people. Revenues will rise 2.5 percent to $580 billion, or 4 percent of the gross domestic product.

"This report paints a distorted image of the restaurant industry and its employees while pushing the ROC's agenda," said Mike Donohue, a spokesman for the National Restaurant Association. He cited data that showed 32 percent of adults get their first job experience in a restaurant, and many jobs lead to management and ownership. "The restaurant industry is proud of its diversity and unparalleled record of opportunity."

The industry does provide some "good jobs," which ROC defines as ones that pay a living wage, provide benefits and offer opportunities for advancement. But researchers found that white workers disproportionately claimed them. Workers of color, meanwhile, were concentrated in "bad jobs," where the median hourly wage was $11.50 per hour -- or $3.20 less per hour than their white counterparts earned.

When it comes to waiters and busers, the federal minimum wage is $2.13; there has not been an increase since 1991. In May, Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) introduced the WAGES Act, which would increase it to $3.75 per hour three months after enactment. That rate would rise to $5.50 per hour by 2012.

The industry's bad jobs hurt more than just workers; they harm society, Oliva said. Low wages and lack of job security lead to increased reliance on social-assistance programs, an indirect subsidy to employers engaging in poor practices. For example, ROC reported that 26.5 percent of workers said they or a family member had visited an emergency room without being able to pay for treatment.

Michelle Obama takes on childhood obesity- Washington Post/Postpartisan blog

Michelle Obama takes on childhood obesity- Washington Post/Postpartisan blog


I don’t like being outdoors, Smithers. For one thing, there are too many fat children.
-- Mr. Burns, “The Simpsons,” 1996

Famously, Henry Ford wanted his cars priced inexpensively enough so that his assembly line laborers could afford to buy one. Sadly, the only racket in which this philosophy seems to have been retained is the American fast food industry. At the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, it takes just under thirty minutes of work for an average burger-flipper to earn enough to buy a Big Mac (average American price, $3.58) on his lunch break.

Startlingly, it would still take that burger-flipper 29 minutes to earn enough to buy a head of organic romaine lettuce ($3.49/head). Add tomato ($4.99/pound), sweet onion ($1.49/pound), and carrots ($2.49/bunch); skim milk ($2.99/half gallon), hardboiled egg ($3.69/dozen), and whole wheat bread ($3.49/loaf), and to purchase his shopping basket, he’d need to clock over three hours of work, not to mention the unpaid labor he’d have to devote to preparing those groceries into a food-pyramid-friendly meal.

This is the situation in American eating that has led to our epidemic of childhood obesity. Over the last three decades, childhood obesity rates in the United States have tripled, as First Lady Michelle Obama rightly noted yesterday in her launch speech for Let’s Move, the White House’s new campaign to combat the epidemic. Today, one-third of all American children are overweight or obese. The rate is even higher among African Americans, and one-half of all minority children born in 2000 or later can expect to develop early-onset diabetes.

As the prices above indicate, this epidemic is not to be blamed on eating habits themselves -- or even on their families. It is simply far less expensive to feed a family from the Dollar Menu at McDonald’s than it is to prepare fresh, healthy choices. And in some locations -- “food deserts,” as the White House calls them -- it is impossible because the fresh food simply isn’t available for purchase. As Mrs. Obama explained in an interview with Jim Lehrer on NewsHour, “We have to start with [the] assumption that parents aren’t deliberately making bad choices; they’re making the choices that they can under the circumstances.”

In addition to the basic proposals of Let’s Move (better labeling, more nutritious school lunches, more exercise, to name three), then, it is also these “circumstances” under which families make their food decisions that need to change. The current system of farm subsidies needs to be rethought, a strike that would level the playing field in the pricing of unhealthy vs. healthy foods. Tax-breaks for purveyors of fast food and junk food also need to be eliminated, as Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has proposed. In response to the launch of Let’s Move, Kucinich issued a statement saying, “Most Americans don’t know that the government now subsidizes the marketing of junk food and fast food to kids in order to cement their brand and taste allegiances early in life.” In 2006, McDonald’s spent $1 million every day on advertising aimed at American children, legally a tax-deductible business expenditure and, in effect, a subsidy given to the golden arches by the American people.

Complementing the first lady, President Obama today announced the formation of a task force charged with solving the problem of childhood obesity “within a generation.” It is a challenging goal, indeed, but the percentage of American smokers dropped from 42 percent in 1964, when Surgeon General Luther Terry revealed the dangers of cigarette smoking to the American public, to less than 20 percent in 2007. Given appropriate executive action, smart legislation, savvy organization and education and effective private effort (and not necessarily, as Mrs. Obama put it to Lehrer, “major lifestyle overhauls”), Americans have shown a willingness to become healthier; on the issue of childhood obesity, we can do it again.

Cuba sharply reduces US food imports amid hardship - Washington Post

Cuba sharply reduces US food imports amid hardship - Washington Post


By PAUL HAVEN
The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 10, 2010; 4:31 PM

HAVANA -- Cuba has slashed food and agriculture imports from the United States - its largest food supplier despite decades of sour relations - as the communist government tightens its belt in the face of a crippling economic malaise.

Imports fell 26 percent in 2009 to $528 million, after peaking at $710 million the year before, according to a report Wednesday by the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Economic Trade Council, which provides nonpartisan commercial and economic information about the island and claims to have no position on policy.

"The decrease has nothing to do with U.S. regulations, U.S. law or U.S. policy," said John Kavulich, a senior policy analyst at the council. "It is a function of Cuba not having the resources."

Kavulich said Cuba has increasingly turned to other countries like Vietnam that will sell it lower-quality food and not ask for payment for as long as two years.

Despite the half-century feud across the Straits of Florida, the United States is the largest seller of food to Cuba: Food and agriculture products have been exempted from the 48-year embargo since 2000.

Cuba waited more than a year after that to start importing U.S. food - angered by a provision requiring it to pay cash upfront before delivery.

But a hurricane in late 2001 hurt food production and gave it little choice. Today, Cubans getting food from monthly ration books eat chicken from Arkansas and wheat from Nebraska. Upscale markets stock everything from Kellogg's cereal to Heinz ketchup to Oreo cookies - though the prices are exorbitant.

Imports from other major trading partners such as Venezuela, China and Spain are also down. Rodrigo Malmierca, the minister of foreign trade, said in November that trade during the first three quarters of 2009 was off 36 percent.

Cuba's economy has recently been hit by a triple-whammy of bad news: Three major hurricanes did more than $10 billion in damage in 2008, the global economic crisis dampened tourism profits and a drop in commodities prices hurt nickel sales for much of 2009.

President Raul Castro has tried to offset falling imports by increasing domestic agriculture production, turning over tens of thousands of hectares (acres) of fallow land to small farmers.

He has warned repeatedly that the government can no longer afford to spend so much subsidizing life on the island, and that Cubans must work harder and take more responsibility for their economic well-being.

The government controls well over 90 percent of the economy and heavily subsidizes all aspects of life while paying an average salary of about $20 a month. Cubans get free health care and education, and usually pay next-to-nothing for housing and utilities.

Havana has taken baby-steps toward changing that system, eliminating some staples from the ration book, dropping free lunches for workers at some state enterprises and trimming health and education spending.

Higher gov't costs drain $96M from Wash. budget - Seattle Times

Higher gov't costs drain $96M from Wash. budget - Seattle Times

Washington's budget deficit has grown by about $96 million, driven mostly by higher-than-expected costs for public school teachers, state bookkeepers said Wednesday.

The Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. —

Washington's budget deficit has grown by about $96 million, driven mostly by higher-than-expected costs for public school teachers, state bookkeepers said Wednesday.

The change pushes the state's budget deficit to about $2.7 billion. That's the gap between expected tax revenue and expenses through June, when the state fiscal year ends.

Top legislators have been expecting a jump in state costs. But the $96 million spike still makes the budget-balancing task a tougher, especially in light of the $9 billion budget hole they patched last winter.

"We're now taking all of the cuts out of a very small portion of our budget, which means that more services that people have come to rely on are in jeopardy," said House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam.

About $65 million of the cost increase was attributed to compensation for K-12 teachers. That was driven by cuts in the number of less-experienced teachers and fewer retirements among more senior staff, said Victor Moore, director of the state Office of Financial Management.

Costs also were higher in long-term medical care, corrections and other types of education spending. But lower-than-expected payouts for certain welfare and social service programs helped keep overall costs down, officials said.

Lawmakers are about halfway through their scheduled 60-day legislative session, which has been almost entirely consumed with searching for ways to balance the budget.

Majority Democrats haven't yet unveiled their proposals for plugging the budget hole, but have said they plan a mix of tax increases and spending cuts to find the solution.

"Every $100 million means we either cut another $100 million, or we raise another $100 million - or we do half and half," Kessler said. "It makes it very difficult for us."

House Republican budget chief Gary Alexander, R-Olympia, said he was disappointed that the Legislature hasn't moved quicker to contain costs in the face of staggering financial problems.

"The question is, how are we planning for this? Are we moving our 2.6 billion up closer to maybe $3 billion?" he asked.

Bad diet shortens life spans, raises health costs, says Jamie Oliver - CNN

Bad diet shortens life spans, raises health costs, says Jamie Oliver - CNN


Long Beach, California (CNN) -- Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver on Wednesday called for an overhaul of America's food system, saying the country's poor decisions about what to eat are shortening life spans and increasing health care costs.

"My wish is for you to have a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, to inspire families to cook again and to empower people everywhere to fight obesity," he said in a speech at the TED Conference in Long Beach, California.

Oliver, who is best known for the TV series, "The Naked Chef," will star in an upcoming ABC series where he promotes local, healthy food as a way to fight obesity in Huntington, West Virginia, which he called the most unhealthy community in the United States.

"This is a global problem. It is a catastrophe. It is sweeping the world. England is right behind you [America], as usual," he said. "We need a revolution."

Oliver was awarded the TED Prize, which is given to speakers each year at the nonprofit group's conference. Prize winners are invited to make one "wish" that will change the world. The organization gives the winner $100,000 and helps honorees raise money to make their wishes come true.

Members of the audience stood up to pledge Oliver their support after his short talk.

Oliver, who grew up working in his father's pub and restaurant in Essex, England, outlined a number of specific steps to help America get back to local and fresh foods and to combat obesity. Among them, he said:

• Every child in the U.S. should learn to cook 10 meals before leaving high school.

• Supermarkets should appoint "food ambassadors" to explain to customers how they can prepare local, fresh and seasonal foods.

• Food companies should make education a central part of their business.

• Food labeling should be improved to accurately warn people about unhealthy food. He called America's current food-labeling system a "farce."
Video: $100,000 and one wish

Oliver's new reality show is called "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution." He is the author of a number of cookbooks.

The chef branched out into advocacy with a "Feed Me Better" campaign for improved school lunches in the United Kingdom. He presented a petition with more than 270,000 signatures to the prime minister's residence at 10 Downing Street in 2005, and officials promised to spend an added 280 million pounds ($437 million) to improve school food quality.

TED, a nonprofit organization, offers video lectures on its Web site for free -- the idea being to disseminate "ideas worth spreading," as its slogan says.

The group's conference continues through Saturday and includes talks from celebrities like Bill Gates, Sheryl Crow, Sarah Silverman, James Cameron, David Byrne and Eve Ensler, as well as less-known thinkers, biologists, technologists, artists and musicians.

Oliver's speech on Wednesday night was followed by a performance from Sheryl Crow.

He said the global food system can be revolutionized through the simple steps of individuals. He called on America to be a leader in these efforts.

"If America does it I believe other people will follow," he said. "It's incredibly important."

US foreclosures drop in Jan but more loom-RealtyTrac

US foreclosures drop in Jan but more loom-RealtyTrac
Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:01am EST


By Julie Haviv

Bonds | Financials

NEW YORK, Feb 11 (Reuters) - U.S. mortgage foreclosure filings dropped in January but the decline may prove only temporary as housing-rescue efforts fall short of addressing current drivers, a report released on Thursday showed.

Foreclosures are by far one of the biggest threats to the U.S. housing market, which remains highly vulnerable to setbacks and heavily reliant on government intervention. If foreclosures continue dropping it would be one of the strongest signals yet the market is on the path to recovery.

Foreclosure filings -- including mortgage default notices, house auctions and home repossessions by banks -- were reported on 315,716 properties in January, a decrease of nearly 10 percent from December, but up 15 percent from the year-earlier month, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said.

One in every 409 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in January, Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac said in its January 2010 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.

Furthermore, more than 300,000 properties received foreclosure filings for an 11th straight month, Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac said.

While January's decrease may indicate foreclosure prevention efforts are gaining traction, the data has been volatile in recent months and foreclosures appear poised to rise again.

"January foreclosure numbers are exhibiting a pattern very similar to a year ago: a double-digit percentage jump in December foreclosure activity followed by a 10 percent drop in January," James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a statement.

"If history repeats itself we will see a surge in the numbers over the next few months as lenders foreclose on delinquent loans where neither the existing loan modification programs or the new short sale and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure alternatives works," he said.

REOs, or real estate-owned properties, activity nationwide was down 5 percent from the previous month but still up 31 percent from January 2009; default notices were down 12 percent from the previous month but up 4 percent from January 2009; and scheduled foreclosure auctions were down 11 percent from the previous month and up 15 percent from January 2009, RealtyTrac said.

High unemployment and wage cuts have hurt the ability of many home owners to pay monthly mortgage payments. Unemployment was 9.7 percent in January, according to the Labor Department.

Many lawmakers, advocacy groups and housing experts say the government's Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, has fallen short because of its failure to adequately address negative equity, or "underwater" mortgages.

Negative equity has been one of the biggest banes of many homeowners, making many unqualified for home loan refinancing and preventing some from selling their homes. Borrowers in negative equity are more prone to defaults and foreclosures.

SUN BELT STILL HURTING

Despite a year-over-year fall in foreclosure activity of nearly 18 percent, the foreclosure rate in Nevada, once one of the hottest U.S. real estate markets, remained highest among U.S. states for the 37th straight month.

One in every 95 Nevada housing units received a foreclosure filing during the month -- more than four times the national average.

A 4 percent month-over-month increase in foreclosure activity boosted Arizona's foreclosure rate to second highest among the states in January. One in every 129 Arizona housing units received a foreclosure filing during the month.

Foreclosure activity decreased by double-digit percentages from the previous month in both California and Florida, and the two states registered nearly identical foreclosure rates -- one in every 187 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

California, the most populous U.S. state, had a foreclosure rate statistically higher by a slim margin and ranked third highest among the states, while Florida's foreclosure rate ranked fourth highest.

Other states with foreclosure rates among the nation's top 10 were Utah, Idaho, Michigan, Illinois, Oregon and Georgia, the report showed

Watchdog: Economy faces $300B loss on commercial real estate investments - The Hill

Watchdog: Economy faces $300B loss on commercial real estate investments - The Hill
By Silla Brush - 02/11/10 12:00 AM ET

The economy faces up to $300 billion over the next four years in potential losses on commercial real estate investments, a government watchdog said.

Elizabeth Warren, head of the Congressional Oversight Panel over the $700 billion financial bailout package, said the losses could "dump sand in the gears of our economic recovery." The commercial real estate problems lag the residential housing market collapse that helped push the economy into a deep recession and spurred on the financial crisis.

The oversight panel released a report examining $1.4 trillion in loans that will likely face refinancing during the next four years.

Nearly half of those loans are now "underwater," meaning the borrower owes more on the loan than the property is worth. "Over the next four years a wave of commercial real estate financing could overwhelm an already weakened financial system," Warren told reporters on Wednesday night.

The commercial real estate market represents roughly $3.5 trillion in debt. The panel said the industry could face losses as high as $200 billion to $300 billion.

The panel said loan losses would fall disproportionately on smaller and regional banks rather than on Wall Street. Banks with less than $10 billion in assets hold large volumes of commercial real estate loans but may lack the necessary capital to withstand potential losses.

"The panel is concerned that because of their role in the real economy more failures among these banks would prolong an already painful recession," Warren said.

The panel said the government does not need to subsidize the commercial real estate loans and that some banks should be allowed to fail but that regulators should closely scrutinize individual banks. "At some point bank failures represent a move toward a functioning market, but if they gather too much steam they risk creating a collateral problem. It's just more nuanced than let them all die or save them," Warren said.