New posts at Many Years Young 11/30/11

Mediterranean-ish diet tied to better heart health

Eating fish just once a week could stave off Alzheimer’s

Mid-Afternoon Slump? Why a Sugar Rush May Not Be the Answer

Healthy Holiday Appetizers

Plus lots more.

New posts at Many Years Young 11/29/11

Key to Aging?

Scientists Turn on Fountain of Youth in Yeast

Take Short Walks to Live Longer

Exercise: No Excuses!

Plus lots more.

New posts at Many Years Young 11/28/11

Surviving Holiday Parties When You Have Social Anxiety

Migraines may raise depression risk: study

Future-Directed Therapy Helps Depression Patients Cultivate Optimistic Outlook

Eat This Every Day and Feel Fuller, Healthier and Happier

Plus lots more.

New posts at Many Years Young 11/27/11

Holiday gifts provide only transient joy

Sharing family stories benefits young, old

Tips to kick holiday stress

Some Holiday Traditions Have Health Consequences: Expert

Plus lots more.

New posts at Many Years Young 11/26/11

Staying Trim When Fat Runs in the Family

Fun Ways to Stop Middle-Age Spread

Fitness key to fighting dangers of stress

More exercise results in healthier eating

Plus lots more.

New posts at Many Years Young 11/25/11

Could Slow Eating Be Key to Staying Slim?

Less Chewing Equals More Eating (And Other Food Industry Secrets)

Breaking the Overeating Habit

Think Yourself Thin: Craving Control Is All in Your Head

Plus lots more.

From the South Loop of Chicago:

New posts at Many Years Young 11/23/11

Health Check While Driving the Car

Winter Skin Savers

Fish Oil for Arthritis

Turkey skin: More good fat than bad, and other Thanksgiving truths

Plus lots more.

New posts at Many Years Young 11/22/11

Give thanks, then talk to your family about health‎

Survey: Many less thankful, but doing OK

Man using turkey fryer fries himself

Enjoy A Healthy Thanksgiving Without Skipping Traditional Favorites

Plus lots more.

New posts at Many Years Young 11/21/11

Anti-Thanksgiving? Complaining may be good

Sexual Seniors Are Happiest, Survey Finds

Aging in place: Most in U.S. want to stay put

Study links Greek diet to longer life

Plus lots more.

Pat Bagley:

Roll Call:

Coburn: Government Is Subsidizing the Rich

As Congress wrestles with how to bring down the historically high budget deficit, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) … released a report that showed that under the current tax code, millionaires are receiving billions in federal aid.

“From tax write-offs for gambling losses, vacation homes, and luxury yachts to subsidies for their ranches and estates, the government is subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich and famous,” Corburn said in a release accompanying the report. “Multi-millionaires are even receiving government checks for not working.”

These billions of dollars for millionaires include $74 million of unemployment checks, $316 million in farm subsidies, $89 million for preservation of ranches and estates, $9 billion of retirement checks, $75.6 million in residential energy tax credits and $7.5 million to compensate for damages caused by emergencies to property that should have been insured, according to Coburn’s report.

In total, more than $9.5 billion in government benefits have been paid to millionaires since 2003, the report said. Additionally, millionaires borrowed $16 million in government-backed education loans to attend college. On average, each year, the report found that millionaires enjoy benefits from tax giveaways and federal grant programs totaling $30 billion. As a result, almost 1,500 millionaires paid no federal income tax in 2009.

But they’re ENTITLED, Tom!

Business Week:

How Inequality Hurts the Economy

Societies that manage a narrower gap between rich and poor enjoy longer economic expansions, according to research published this year by the International Monetary Fund. Income trends in the U.S. mean that future U.S. expansions could last just one-third as long as in the late 1960s, before the income divide began widening, says economist Jonathan D. Ostry of the IMF…

Expansions fizzle sooner in less equal societies because they are more vulnerable to both financial crises and political instability. When such countries are hit by external shocks, they often stumble into gridlock rather than agree to tough policies needed to keep growth alive. Raghuram G. Rajan, the IMF’s former chief economist, says political systems in economically divided countries become polarized and immobilized by the sort of zero-sum politics now gripping Washington. “It makes the politics more difficult, and that makes it more difficult to grow,” says Rajan… “There is no consensus on any of the solutions that are proposed.”

As rich and poor drift apart, the constituency that favors redistributive tax and spending policies grows. “The guys who are falling behind don’t see much hope of getting ahead and therefore are more focused on redistribution,” says Rajan. Ultimately, unbridled inequality threatens social stability as rich and poor nurse their mirror-image resentments.

Policymic, thanks to Susie:

OWS Brews Perfect Storm For 2012 Democratic Comeback

As Zuccotti Park’s protesters prepare for winter, determined to carry the Occupy Wall Street movement’s message through the cold season and beyond, a perfect political storm is forming that might help Democrats keep the White House in 2012 – despite stubbornly high unemployment and a frustratingly slow economic recovery.

The storm stems from the OWS movement’s growing popular appeal, as a new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll finds that an overwhelming majority of Americans (over three quarters) think the country’s current economic structure “favors a very small portion of the rich over the rest of the country” – echoing the protesters’ calls to reduce the power of major banks and end tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.

The finding comes after a new census measure found that a new record number of Americans (49.1 million) now live in poverty, after accounting for rising medical costs and other expenses. In addition, a Congressional Budget Office study recently corroborated the historic exacerbation of the country’s income inequality (or widening gap between the so-called 1% and 99%). Both developments are likely to stir new debate over changes to Social Security, Medicare, and other programs that assist the poor as a congressional Super Committee approaches the November 23 deadline to make cuts of over $1 trillion to the federal budget.

This spells trouble for Republicans who so far have campaigned on repealing financial regulation, opposing any form of tax increase on the wealthiest Americans, and slashing public spending. President Barack Obama and the Democrats seem to have taken note of it since the president’s Labor Day populist makeover and have lost no time hammering the GOP for their opposition to the jobs bill and other initiatives put forward to relieve the American middle class – a core message with broadening appeals as the country’s growing income gap is increasingly seen as one of our main economic ailments.

Yeah, Republicans are AIDS, Democrats are only herpes.

So vote Democrat!

Economist’s View:

[Via CBPP]

Washington lawyer Henry Banta, writing at Nieman Watchdog:

Looking ahead: A handbook for Occupiers on winter days

With cold weather coming, Henry Banta says Occupy Wall Street may want go indoors for town hall meetings to push on issues that politicians would rather ignore, such as income inequality, the financial crisis, financial reform, taxes, spending, and unions. Sort of like the Tea Party did, but getting beyond the hostility, and if possible, the expert obfuscation.

He lists super-duper questions to ask them. A sampling:

Q. Do you believe that the tax code should be used to mitigate the enormous inequality between the top 1% and all the rest of us?

Q. Didn’t inequities in the tax code contribute to the inequality in the first place?

Q. Do you think income from investments should be taxed at a lower rate than income from labor?…

Q. Would you repeal the tax provisions that encourage corporations to move jobs overseas?

. . . is to lie, cheat, and break the law.

Mother Jones:

Conservatives Plot to Burn, Shred, and Sabotage Scott Walker Recall Effort

A group of self-identified conservatives say they plan to sabotage the effort to recall Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker, which begins on Tuesday, by burning and shredding recall petitions they’ve collected and misleading Wisconsinites about the recall process.

These plans, discussed in Facebook posts that were first reported by the blog PolitiScoop, entail posing as recall supporters and gathering signatures, only to later destroy the petitions. They also include telling Wisconsinites that they can only sign one recall petition (which is false—they can sign different petitions as long as they each correspond to a different organization) and directing signature collectors to the homes of registered sex offenders. (Requests for comment were sent to each of the Facebook posters who allowed messages from other users.)

Cannonfire:

“Obama the socialist” — has the meme backfired?

It suddenly occurs to me that the Fox/teabagger propaganda campaign to convince America that Obama is a “socialist” has backfired.

Obama is, of course, no socialist…

Failure that he is, he sounds like a reasonable man — especially when compared to the maniacs now vying for the GOP nomination. Obama’s motto: Talk softly and carry a weak shtick.

So now we find ourselves in a strange situation: The “socialist” comes across as a moderate, decent fellow, even as he takes a stand only about three inches to the left of George W. Bush (and maybe one inch to the right of George H.W. Bush). Meanwhile, the anti-socialist candidates sound like Jack the Ripper on laughing gas. Even Mitt Romney, the establishment candidate, has dangerous ideas about Social Security.

The end result is to make socialism seem benign — non-threatening. 36% of Americans favor socialism, which means that socialism is now more popular in this country than is the Tea Party. This development is unprecedented.

New posts at Many Years Young 11/20/11

Good Reasons to Give Thanks

People seek altruism in their holiday shopping

Holiday Travel: Coping with Jet Lag

A Portable Glow to Help Melt Those Winter Blues

Plus lots more.

New posts at Many Years Young 11/19/11

Thanksgiving foods some of healthiest

Budget-Friendly Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving Recipes

Healthy and Unhealthy Holiday Drinks

Plus lots more.

New posts at Many Years Young 11/18/11

More Americans Living to 90, U.S. Census Finds

Some expect to work until retiring at 80

Diabetes visual impairment declining

Smoking and Stroke

Plus lots more.