By Mark Trumbull, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Mon Feb 27, 3:00 AM ET
In the race to get ahead economically, America's young workers are falling behind.
A new survey shows that median incomes fell for householders under 45, even as they rose for older ones, between 2001 and 2004.
Income fell 8 percent, adjusted for inflation, for those under 35 and 9 percent for those aged 35 to 44. The numbers add new weight to longstanding concerns about whether younger generations of Americans will achieve living standards that are better - or at least equal to - those of their parents.
"It's a scary question," says Carrie Brown, who runs the Blue Frog Bakery in Boston. She says that for now, at least, she's not keeping pace. And if she and her husband have children, she says she's not sure if her children will enjoy the same lifestyle she did while growing up.
Her concern is shared by many Americans who follow the baby-boom generation. One often-voiced worry is about generational fairness in tax burdens, given the prospect of a soaring federal tab in coming decades for Medicare and Social Security as the number of elderly Americans rises.
But today, even long before any such fiscal shock arrives, younger workers are already feeling squeezed by other trends. An increasingly competitive global economy, the rising cost of higher education and healthcare, and changing patterns of family life are among the factors that have combined to make the career environment tougher, economists say.
"There's no guarantee" that US living standards will continue to rise, says Laurence Kotlikoff, a Boston University specialist in generational economics.
For now, the prospect of a generation underperforming their parents may be more of a fear than a reality. By many measures, America continues to grow more prosperous with each passing decade.
A long-term trend of falling interest rates since the 1980s, for example, means that even after the recent runup in home prices, houses are generally more affordable today than they were 20 years ago. And homes today contain gadgets - from a child's video-game system to an adult's pocket e-mail device - that didn't exist a generation ago.
At the same time, however, evidence of economic challenges also abounds.
The signs include:
• Rising debt levels. Over the past decade, the volume of federal student loans tripled, reaching $85 billion in new loans last year, according to a new book by Anya Kamenetz, "Generation Debt." Nearly a quarter of college students are using credit cards to pay some of their tuition costs, she writes.
• The median income for men under age 44 was significantly lower in 1997 than in 1970, after adjusting for inflation, according to a long-term analysis by the Census Bureau in the late 1990s. For those over 45, incomes barely held their own during that period.
• The entry of women into the workforce in those decades has helped push median family incomes up over time. But even when men and women are included together, younger workers (age 25-34) are earning well below what they did in 1970. And at all ages, evidence suggests that families are putting in more hours of work to make their household incomes rise.
• Even with extra time at work, median family income has barely budged since 1995 for householders below 45, up about 5 percent after inflation through 2004.
Those aged 45 to 54 did better, with family incomes rising 23 percent during that period, according to the numbers released last week from the Federal Reserve Board.
And since the end of 2001, at the outset of the current economic expansion, younger workers again have underperformed, with incomes generally falling while their older counterparts have seen incomes rise.
That all helps explain the subtitle of Ms. Kamenetz's book: "Why now is a terrible time to be young." The book is partly a manifesto on generational politics, as she eyes the cost of baby boomers' retirement for her generation.
It's unfair, some economists say, to blame the baby boom generation, since the larger issue is that healthcare costs keep rising and people keep living longer in general. Rising healthcare costs are hitting younger workers in another way, too. As benefit costs rise, employers often have less left to boost wages.
Another factor behind the weak incomes for younger generations may be shifts in household composition.
The past few decades have seen a rise of single-parent and nonfamily households, which typically have lower incomes than married-couple households.
Perhaps most significant, though, is a labor market that has become tougher on workers, especially those with lower skills. Global competition has compressed wage gains.
Thus, despite a boom in worker productivity, "what the typical family or typical worker has to show for it has been remarkably little," says Dean Baker, an economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington.
In his view, the biggest issue is the rising inequality of incomes during the past quarter century.
At the Blue Frog Bakery, Ms. Brown sees that trend among her own peers. "People are either doing phenomenally well or living paycheck to paycheck," she says, as the smell of fresh croissants wafts through the air.
Still, many economists say progress is possible.
"In the long run I'm optimistic," says Michael Shields, an economist who specializes in demographics at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant.
What worries him most, he says, is the long work hours for his children who are just out of college. "When are they going to be able to take a break?" he asks. "I don't see it."
Copyright © 2006 The Christian Science Monitor
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
When sleep is just a dream
By Marco R. della Cava, USA TODAY
Mon Feb 27, 8:05 AM ET
Admit it. You're reading this, but given the opportunity, you'd gladly snooze or slumber. For this is a nation in dire need of a nap.
Never before have work and play stolen more hours from the sandman. Between a global economy that demands increased productivity and a technology-fueled entertainment machine that provides non-stop diversions, it's a wonder people get any rest at all.
An NBC Today show/Zogby International poll indicates nearly half of Americans say they don't get enough sleep and roughly one-quarter get fewer than six hours a night. Data from the National Center for Health Statistics show a 20-year trend of Americans reporting less sleep.
Whatever the roots of a sleep problem, from a harried life to a medical condition, people are desperately seeking ways to get some quality shut-eye.
Some have found solace in sleeping-pill prescriptions, 42 million of which were filled last year, up 60% since 2000, according to research company IMS Health. Others have followed offbeat routes to a rested feeling - from frazzled New Yorkers who zonk out midday in rented napping "pods" to an Internet blogger in Las Vegas who says his energy stems from his ability to sleep in 20-minute bursts every few hours, around the clock.
Having some sort of strategy to get the sleep we need is crucial in a culture that is making increasing demands on our time, says David White, professor of sleep medicine at Harvard University and editor of the journal Sleep.
"This is an interesting juncture. Stress and anxiety levels are at a fever pitch, which limits the ability to sleep well. And there's also more science than ever showing what a detriment that (unrested) state is to performance and health," White says. "We all have different sleep needs. Just be sensitive to that and give yourself what you need."
But the truth is, most of us don't really know how sleep-deprived we are. Life pins up its daily to-do lists, and we tick off the boxes.
Freelance photographer Elizabeth Coll, 29, often found herself dragging between assignments in Manhattan but was too far from her Brooklyn home to get some z's. Now she pops into MetroNaps in the Empire State Building.
For her $65-a-month membership, Coll is entitled to one 20-minute nap daily in one of MetroNaps' eight sleep pods, futuristic beds each with a bubble dome that pumps in soothing New Age music.
"It's great to be able to do this in a city that barely lets you sit down, let alone nap," she says. "I always feel full of energy afterward."
For Coll, the sleep thief is her frantic schedule; for others it's the body itself.
How real is the problem?
Throughout most of her life, San Francisco office administrator Ruth Lym, 59, says she didn't realize how tired she was: "I just thought everyone fell asleep at their keyboard after lunch, or at a friend's house if the temperature got too warm."
Five years ago, she visited The Sleep Disorders Center at the University of California-San Francisco and learned that she had sleep apnea, an inability to breathe well during sleep that in extreme cases can be fatal.
Ever since she learned to sleep with an air-pumping mask "that makes you look like Darth Vader," Lym's life has brightened. "But I still have to watch out to make sure I'm rested. I'd love to go to bed at midnight, but I shoot for 10 p.m. And then there's always that temptation in our society to just pop a pill."
Ads for prescription sleeping pills such as Ambien and Lunesta have indeed become a familiar presence, particularly in media aimed at women, who studies indicate suffer from insomnia more than men.
What seems like an insomniac's dream is making some health analysts restless. Sleep editor White says he does not "make any value judgment about taking sleeping pills," but says he is concerned that "20 years from now we might evolve into a society that takes a pill to wake up and one to go to bed."
Public Citizen's Sidney Wolfe is more forceful.
"There's a whole scam going on here," the watchdog group's health research director says. "The drug companies launched these incredibly successful marketing campaigns that convince normal people they have serious sleep issues. That's not to say there aren't some people with problems, but I don't think the numbers are as high as what groups like the National Sleep Foundation report."
That foundation, which receives funding from companies such as Ambien maker Sanofi-Aventis, conducts an annual poll on sleep habits. Last year, it reported that "about one-half of America's adults say they frequently experience at least one symptom of insomnia."
The foundation's CEO, Richard Gelula, says his group does not promote pill use: "We always urge people to evaluate their sleep habits and see what they can change in their lives first."
He adds that the group's polls indicate 11% of adults use alcohol as a sleeping aid and 9% opt for over-the-counter drugs. "What this says to me is that there is a lot of desire to treat the problem, but many folks aren't going to their doctors."
A coffee culture
As the debate over what constitutes a sleeping problem goes on, harried Americans struggle to keep pace with daily life at a time when cellphones, computers and the Internet have virtually eliminated the notion of downtime.
Various industries are cashing in. Starbucks is ever ready to lend the groggy a jittery hand, with 10,000 coffee stores worldwide (7,699 of them in the USA) and plans for 10,000 more by 2010.
When that caffeine buzz wears off, many people opt to pass out on pricey bedding. In 2004, 24% of shoppers paid $1,000 or more for a mattress, compared with 15% in 2000, according to the International Sleep Products Association.
For Vivian Ashbourne, the keys to a great sleep are the heavy bedroom curtains that beat back the daylight in his New Brunswick, N.J., home. Ashbourne, a divorced dad, is a night-shift nurse. Though his body has been trained to rest during the day, he still feels the effects.
"You feel like you're not thinking as sharply," he says. "But ... I just make do. This is a sacrifice, something I do in order to be able to spend some time with my child."
About 20% of Americans don't work traditional day-shift jobs, a statistic that probably will increase as the service economy grows to keep pace with baby boomers and their discretionary income, says Harriet Presser, University of Maryland sociologist and author of Working in a 24/7 Economy: Challenges for American Families.
"What's concerning is that late-night shifts often result in chronic sleep deprivation, which in turn has ripple effects" that can include drowsy driving and marital strife, Presser says. She cites the example of a night-shift policeman returning home in the morning just as his wife heads off to work, leaving him with child-care duties.
"Kids suffer because parents don't have the energy to cook for them, so they eat fast food. And marriages suffer because people stop communicating."
International law firms, data processing companies and increasing numbers of manufacturing outfits also are asking more from employees as cheap foreign labor and other factors put the squeeze on profits. Enter Circadian Technologies, a consulting firm in Burlington, Mass., that helps Fortune 500 companies analyze employee work schedules to craft shifts that keep a body's circadian rhythm (which dictates sleep times) in mind.
When a trucking company sought the firm's help to cut its accident rate, steps were taken to alter drivers' timetables. "Accidents dropped 75%," says Martin Moore-Ede, Circadian's chairman. "Globalization is driving efficiency into the American economy, but on the backs of employees. Increasingly, though, companies are taking proactive steps to fight fatigue."
Sleeping on the job is one of society's enduring taboos, but it's one that may well have to fall if our economy is to remain healthy. That's the crusade of Bill and Camille Anthony, co-authors of books on the virtues of napping and the duo behind National Workplace Napping Day. (The drowsy take note: It's April 3.)
"There's such a prejudice against napping in our culture. You 'sneak a nap,' 'get caught napping.' But it's a no-cost way to keep people happy," says Bill Anthony, a professor at Boston University's Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation. He naps on a mat in his office, as does his wife at her job as CFO of a mortgage company.
Sleep analysts concur that a 20-minute nap - no more, no less - works wonders for those who need a daytime pick-me-up.
Arshad Chowdhury, co-founder of MetroNaps, says the idea for his business came to him after "seeing my investment-banking colleagues fall asleep in meetings." MetroNaps will expand to New York's financial district this year; it also has pods in Vancouver's airport.
"It's a bit like selling bottled water in the '80s," he says. "Napping will be hot, but it might take some time to catch on in the culture."
The 'polyphasic' system
Not, however, in Steve Pavlina's house, where napping has become an art form. The Las Vegas self-help website operator recently decided to adopt a "polyphasic" sleep routine - sleeping for 20-minute stretches once every four to six hours, around the clock.
"For the first three weeks, I was pretty cranky, but now I'm just fantastic," says Pavlina, 34. "I have so much time to myself at night to do things I like. And yet I'm rested."
Pavlina's wife, Erin, 36, confirms that her husband appears quite normal, despite sleeping a total of about three hours a day. And the benefits of this odd routine include Steve baking in the middle of the night, serving as the family watchdog and ceding the bed to his wife as he naps on the couch.
Analysts aren't sure about polyphasic sleeping. "I suppose some can do this and be OK, but there could be health implications down the line," says Sleep editor White, adding that best approach remains "getting in a good six to eight hours between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m."
Indeed, with simpler sleep-improvement options available - earlier bedtimes, lowered caffeine intake and kid-tested napping - it's doubtful many will opt for Pavlina's approach to feeling both rested and productive in a go-go culture.
Just ask his wife. "I don't think I'll be trying this," she says with a laugh. "I really like my sleep."
Copyright © 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
Mon Feb 27, 8:05 AM ET
Admit it. You're reading this, but given the opportunity, you'd gladly snooze or slumber. For this is a nation in dire need of a nap.
Never before have work and play stolen more hours from the sandman. Between a global economy that demands increased productivity and a technology-fueled entertainment machine that provides non-stop diversions, it's a wonder people get any rest at all.
An NBC Today show/Zogby International poll indicates nearly half of Americans say they don't get enough sleep and roughly one-quarter get fewer than six hours a night. Data from the National Center for Health Statistics show a 20-year trend of Americans reporting less sleep.
Whatever the roots of a sleep problem, from a harried life to a medical condition, people are desperately seeking ways to get some quality shut-eye.
Some have found solace in sleeping-pill prescriptions, 42 million of which were filled last year, up 60% since 2000, according to research company IMS Health. Others have followed offbeat routes to a rested feeling - from frazzled New Yorkers who zonk out midday in rented napping "pods" to an Internet blogger in Las Vegas who says his energy stems from his ability to sleep in 20-minute bursts every few hours, around the clock.
Having some sort of strategy to get the sleep we need is crucial in a culture that is making increasing demands on our time, says David White, professor of sleep medicine at Harvard University and editor of the journal Sleep.
"This is an interesting juncture. Stress and anxiety levels are at a fever pitch, which limits the ability to sleep well. And there's also more science than ever showing what a detriment that (unrested) state is to performance and health," White says. "We all have different sleep needs. Just be sensitive to that and give yourself what you need."
But the truth is, most of us don't really know how sleep-deprived we are. Life pins up its daily to-do lists, and we tick off the boxes.
Freelance photographer Elizabeth Coll, 29, often found herself dragging between assignments in Manhattan but was too far from her Brooklyn home to get some z's. Now she pops into MetroNaps in the Empire State Building.
For her $65-a-month membership, Coll is entitled to one 20-minute nap daily in one of MetroNaps' eight sleep pods, futuristic beds each with a bubble dome that pumps in soothing New Age music.
"It's great to be able to do this in a city that barely lets you sit down, let alone nap," she says. "I always feel full of energy afterward."
For Coll, the sleep thief is her frantic schedule; for others it's the body itself.
How real is the problem?
Throughout most of her life, San Francisco office administrator Ruth Lym, 59, says she didn't realize how tired she was: "I just thought everyone fell asleep at their keyboard after lunch, or at a friend's house if the temperature got too warm."
Five years ago, she visited The Sleep Disorders Center at the University of California-San Francisco and learned that she had sleep apnea, an inability to breathe well during sleep that in extreme cases can be fatal.
Ever since she learned to sleep with an air-pumping mask "that makes you look like Darth Vader," Lym's life has brightened. "But I still have to watch out to make sure I'm rested. I'd love to go to bed at midnight, but I shoot for 10 p.m. And then there's always that temptation in our society to just pop a pill."
Ads for prescription sleeping pills such as Ambien and Lunesta have indeed become a familiar presence, particularly in media aimed at women, who studies indicate suffer from insomnia more than men.
What seems like an insomniac's dream is making some health analysts restless. Sleep editor White says he does not "make any value judgment about taking sleeping pills," but says he is concerned that "20 years from now we might evolve into a society that takes a pill to wake up and one to go to bed."
Public Citizen's Sidney Wolfe is more forceful.
"There's a whole scam going on here," the watchdog group's health research director says. "The drug companies launched these incredibly successful marketing campaigns that convince normal people they have serious sleep issues. That's not to say there aren't some people with problems, but I don't think the numbers are as high as what groups like the National Sleep Foundation report."
That foundation, which receives funding from companies such as Ambien maker Sanofi-Aventis, conducts an annual poll on sleep habits. Last year, it reported that "about one-half of America's adults say they frequently experience at least one symptom of insomnia."
The foundation's CEO, Richard Gelula, says his group does not promote pill use: "We always urge people to evaluate their sleep habits and see what they can change in their lives first."
He adds that the group's polls indicate 11% of adults use alcohol as a sleeping aid and 9% opt for over-the-counter drugs. "What this says to me is that there is a lot of desire to treat the problem, but many folks aren't going to their doctors."
A coffee culture
As the debate over what constitutes a sleeping problem goes on, harried Americans struggle to keep pace with daily life at a time when cellphones, computers and the Internet have virtually eliminated the notion of downtime.
Various industries are cashing in. Starbucks is ever ready to lend the groggy a jittery hand, with 10,000 coffee stores worldwide (7,699 of them in the USA) and plans for 10,000 more by 2010.
When that caffeine buzz wears off, many people opt to pass out on pricey bedding. In 2004, 24% of shoppers paid $1,000 or more for a mattress, compared with 15% in 2000, according to the International Sleep Products Association.
For Vivian Ashbourne, the keys to a great sleep are the heavy bedroom curtains that beat back the daylight in his New Brunswick, N.J., home. Ashbourne, a divorced dad, is a night-shift nurse. Though his body has been trained to rest during the day, he still feels the effects.
"You feel like you're not thinking as sharply," he says. "But ... I just make do. This is a sacrifice, something I do in order to be able to spend some time with my child."
About 20% of Americans don't work traditional day-shift jobs, a statistic that probably will increase as the service economy grows to keep pace with baby boomers and their discretionary income, says Harriet Presser, University of Maryland sociologist and author of Working in a 24/7 Economy: Challenges for American Families.
"What's concerning is that late-night shifts often result in chronic sleep deprivation, which in turn has ripple effects" that can include drowsy driving and marital strife, Presser says. She cites the example of a night-shift policeman returning home in the morning just as his wife heads off to work, leaving him with child-care duties.
"Kids suffer because parents don't have the energy to cook for them, so they eat fast food. And marriages suffer because people stop communicating."
International law firms, data processing companies and increasing numbers of manufacturing outfits also are asking more from employees as cheap foreign labor and other factors put the squeeze on profits. Enter Circadian Technologies, a consulting firm in Burlington, Mass., that helps Fortune 500 companies analyze employee work schedules to craft shifts that keep a body's circadian rhythm (which dictates sleep times) in mind.
When a trucking company sought the firm's help to cut its accident rate, steps were taken to alter drivers' timetables. "Accidents dropped 75%," says Martin Moore-Ede, Circadian's chairman. "Globalization is driving efficiency into the American economy, but on the backs of employees. Increasingly, though, companies are taking proactive steps to fight fatigue."
Sleeping on the job is one of society's enduring taboos, but it's one that may well have to fall if our economy is to remain healthy. That's the crusade of Bill and Camille Anthony, co-authors of books on the virtues of napping and the duo behind National Workplace Napping Day. (The drowsy take note: It's April 3.)
"There's such a prejudice against napping in our culture. You 'sneak a nap,' 'get caught napping.' But it's a no-cost way to keep people happy," says Bill Anthony, a professor at Boston University's Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation. He naps on a mat in his office, as does his wife at her job as CFO of a mortgage company.
Sleep analysts concur that a 20-minute nap - no more, no less - works wonders for those who need a daytime pick-me-up.
Arshad Chowdhury, co-founder of MetroNaps, says the idea for his business came to him after "seeing my investment-banking colleagues fall asleep in meetings." MetroNaps will expand to New York's financial district this year; it also has pods in Vancouver's airport.
"It's a bit like selling bottled water in the '80s," he says. "Napping will be hot, but it might take some time to catch on in the culture."
The 'polyphasic' system
Not, however, in Steve Pavlina's house, where napping has become an art form. The Las Vegas self-help website operator recently decided to adopt a "polyphasic" sleep routine - sleeping for 20-minute stretches once every four to six hours, around the clock.
"For the first three weeks, I was pretty cranky, but now I'm just fantastic," says Pavlina, 34. "I have so much time to myself at night to do things I like. And yet I'm rested."
Pavlina's wife, Erin, 36, confirms that her husband appears quite normal, despite sleeping a total of about three hours a day. And the benefits of this odd routine include Steve baking in the middle of the night, serving as the family watchdog and ceding the bed to his wife as he naps on the couch.
Analysts aren't sure about polyphasic sleeping. "I suppose some can do this and be OK, but there could be health implications down the line," says Sleep editor White, adding that best approach remains "getting in a good six to eight hours between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m."
Indeed, with simpler sleep-improvement options available - earlier bedtimes, lowered caffeine intake and kid-tested napping - it's doubtful many will opt for Pavlina's approach to feeling both rested and productive in a go-go culture.
Just ask his wife. "I don't think I'll be trying this," she says with a laugh. "I really like my sleep."
Copyright © 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
A tiny revelation sparked by grapes
Some fruit taste sweeter when they've been knocked about a bit; they don't look as good as their plumper, unmarked, "prettier" peers, but they taste so much better.
Just a little uglier, just bordering on going bad, but still edible. A little over-ripe, but delicious.
Does this not apply to humans too?
Beauty lies within, yes?
Just a little uglier, just bordering on going bad, but still edible. A little over-ripe, but delicious.
Does this not apply to humans too?
Beauty lies within, yes?
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