World Overpopulation

            The world has too many people.  During the first Earth Day in April of 1970, I was a participant in a symposium at then California State College in California, Pennsylvania.  I was a freshman professor of biology and was given the assignment by the department head to give a 15 minute presentation on population and birth control before the largest audience I had ever addressed…a full house at Steele Auditorium on the campus. 

            At the time, the world population was 3.5 billion and the projections were that the population would double in half the period of time it took to previously double.  These projections were based upon non-human populations which are subject to a variety of constraints such as disease, overcrowding and famine.  Many didn’t believe the projections because, after all, we are not animals (we wear clothes) and are able to better anticipate and cope with demographic problems.  We are often able to ramp up agricultural production and treat or cure epidemic diseases. 

             However, solving the problem of overcrowding is limited by borders and money to satisfy limited infrastructure.  Animal and plant populations do not wage war but humans do and overcrowding is quite often solved by eliminating swaths of the population through war deaths, famine and disease.  In no way do I condone warfare, but World War II alone resulted in the deaths of 27 million people. The Spanish Flu of 1919 killed an estimated 30 million.  AIDS has killed an estimated 32 million since the early 1980s. Eight to 15 million children and adults die of starvation and malnutrition world-wide each year.  Still, the world population continues to increase and though predictions of a doubled population by 2000 (to 7 billion) didn’t occur, we got close…6.1 billion.  In the US, the population increased from about 202 million to 281 million during that same period.  The US population now exceeds 300 billion.  The world population currently is 6.89 billion.

            The world crises we are facing today largely stem from overcrowding whether they are wars, starvation or disease.  Populations which over breed their bounds violate neighbor’s territories and lead to wars.  Starvation results from inadequate agriculture, an infrastructure unable to get food to its people or wars which use food as a weapon. North Korea is constantly on the verge of starvation though the army is well fed.

            Crowded conditions increase the incidence of contagious diseases.  The most serious current crisis is global warming which the vast majority of biologists and climate scientists agree is human-caused.  This coming catastrophe will logarithmically increase the misery already caused by human overpopulation.  Droughts and floods will play havoc with agriculture.  Rising seas will force large populations to seek inland refuge only to usurp their neighbor’s land.  Disease incidence will increase as increased population density contaminates water sources and disease vectors such as mosquitoes spread to new habitats carrying with them malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, West Nile fever and other diseases.

            Population biologists know that stress brings on sexual reproduction.  If populations, non-human or human are stressed by climate change, food shortages, competition from other species, and habitat loss, they resort to increased sexual reproduction as a response. It is not a coincidence that countries with a high standard of living have the lowest birth rate.  Conversely, the Third World with the lowest standard of living has the highest birth rates.  Sexual reproduction provides new variations for the next generation, in an attempt to ensure the continuance of the population.  This phenomenon extends from single celled organisms in ponds to humans.   Early controlled studies on rat populations show they exhibit increased aggression (including sexual aggression) as well as anxiety, decreased resistance to infection, increased incidence of diabetes.  There are even studies that suggest schizophrenia may be related to the stress of over-population.  (If you question how neurologists evaluate such things as aggression, anxiety and schizophrenia in rats…the imbalance of neurochemicals are the indicators.)  Biological principles do not stop at the human door step.  The first blackout in New York City in the 1960s resulted in a spike in the birth rate nine months later. Some will jokingly lay the blame on lack of late night television but demographers believe it was a human response to the stress caused by the blackout.

            The United Nations has published an article projecting world population trends through 2300.  By 2050, the world population will nearly peak at 8.9 billion (10.6 billion on the upper end of the scale and 7.4 billion on the lower end).  By 2075, the anticipated world population will be 9.22 billion.  The slowdown in growth (3 billion to 6 billion from 1970-2000) vs. 6.89 billion today to 8.9 billion in 40 years) underscores the fact that we as humans are slowly approaching the carrying capacity.  The carrying capacity is the maximum population that an environment can support.  For example, when the number of tons of fish caught in the oceans of the world no longer increases, we have reached that specific carrying capacity.  (We reached that capacity about 8-10 years ago).  Another reason for the growth slowdown is a reduction in the average number of children born per woman.  Replacement fertility is 2.1 children per woman which accounts for those children who die before they can reproduce.  In the recent past, some countries have experienced average children born per woman in numbers as high as six.  As resources become more limited, the UN predicts that the average number of children born per woman will fall below replacement levels at 1.85. Even at that level, it still will take about 50 years for the reduced fecundity to affect population levels. Some countries that have had a negative NATIVE growth have maintained a static, if not increased population due to immigration.  Italy is a good example.

            Not the entire world satisfies the average.  Middle Africa will experience the fastest growth rates while though South Africa currently has a very low life expectancy (largely AIDS related), it will rebound and exceed the growth rate of even middle Africa.  West Asia will exceed East Asia in growth rate but Asia overall will experience about one half the growth rate of Africa.  Latin America and the Caribbean will remain relatively stable.  North American growth rates will not decline as some anticipated largely due to immigration.  Western Europe will have a higher growth rate than Eastern Europe largely due to diminished life expectancy in the eastern area which includes Russia. Life expectancy for males in Russia is currently 61.5, largely due to alcoholism.  

            What is the solution to the population bomb?  The education of women and the recognition of women’s rights may be the simplest answer to a complex problem though it won’t work overnight.  Educated women with rights better control their own reproductive rates.  The right to work and the money they earn for the family helps to reduce their reproductive rates.  Statistics all indicate this to be true.  One only needs to recognize that the highest population growth rates occur in countries where women are treated as chattel.  An educated woman with equal rights is more likely to use contraceptives.  A woman who is financially contributing to the family is less likely to become pregnant.  An increased standard of living concurrently increases the literacy and rights of women.

 I would hope that behind the closed doors of American think tanks, analysts have recognized these points and for those reasons concocted the various free trade agreements that have sprung up in the past decade as a means of lifting up the impoverished third world.  Unfortunately, none of the “thinkers” anticipated that the greed of businessmen would result in shipping American jobs out of the country.  While it is a plan, trade agreements must be re-tooled to protect American jobs yet still encourage economic growth in the Third World.

 

 

Losing Weight

Losing Weight

 

            I am writing this as a follow-up to my previous blog on diabetes.  America is becoming obese.  Placing the blame is not my prerogative…only helping people understand the causes, how to prevent it and also how to correct it.  Most people have preconceived notions about what causes obesity.  I grew up believing that any food eaten after the last meal of the day would lead to obesity.  Yet, in my family, we snacked every night and no one in the family would’ve been described as being obese. 

            Today we have media gurus who would want you to believe that eating fruit before 9 AM is a cause of obesity.  Others would have you eat large amounts of fruit, preferably grapefruit in order to lose weight.  Some would have you drink inordinate amounts of water as a weight loss regimen.  There is a kelp diet which convinces the believer that the iodine in kelp will increase metabolism.  We watch dated movies of the Wild West with its “snake oil” salesmen promoting their miracle cure-alls which in reality were nothing more than different concoctions, amply endowed with whiskey.  The numbers of diets “out there” are only limited by the number of hucksters promoting their product.

            The reality of dieting is simple…total calories in and total calories out.  What I mean by that simple statement is that if a person eats the same number of calories that they burn…their weight will remain the same.  On one hand, if a person eats more calories than they expend, they will gain weight.  Conversely, if a person eats less calories than they burn, they will lose weight.  It is nothing more complex than that.  

            My approach is to educate people in two ways:  how many calories you are eating…and how many calories you are burning.   Food is composed of caloric content and non-caloric content.  The non-caloric content consists of vitamins, minerals, water and fiber.  The vitamins and minerals are essential as metabolic additives but do not contribute to the total caloric input.  Water is obviously essential to life and contributes to general cell health, helps maintain the circulatory system and many other vital functions but contains no calories.  Fiber is indigestible and adds nothing to the caloric value of food.  It is valuable as a digestive system rotor-rooter, helping the digestive system maintain a regular train of movement thus eliminating harmful substances more rapidly.

            The caloric portion of food is composed of proteins, carbohydrates and lipids (fats and oils).  There is a significant difference in the caloric content of proteins, carbohydrates and lipids.  Lipids (fats and oils) are 2.25 times as caloric-containing as either proteins or carbohydrates.  In other words fats and oils have 225% the calories of proteins and carbohydrates.  In simpler terms, one cubic mouthful of a fatty meal contains  more than double the calories of a cubic mouthful of a protein-rich or carbohydrate-laden meal. 

            I realize that the Atkin’s diet proposes a largely meat diet, to eschew carbohydrates.  And…I also realize that there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that it does work in removing excess pounds over a rather short period of time.  However, I have seen no evidence of its success in long term weight loss.  One need only heed our evolutionary past to realize that our ancestors were not carnivores but existed on a mostly herbivorous diet with an occasional steak on Friday night.  (Chimps, our closest relatives who share 99% of our DNA, will periodically pack-hunt monkeys which they eat).

            For those intending to lose weight, I am suggesting a high fiber diet, replete with multiple daily servings of fruit and vegetables, limiting meat entrees to low fat varieties such as skinless chicken breasts, fish, lean beef such as round or sirloin, and lean pork.  Of course, salads are great but only if the dressings are limited and of a low-calorie variety.  Eating salads daily is of no use if it is saturated in blue cheese dressing. 

            Something must be said about each of the above.  There are some cautions that should be exercised about each.  Some fruits have surfaces subjected to pesticides.  Apples, pears, plums etc. should be carefully washed to remove any surface pesticides or waxes applied to make them appear more palatable.  Some fruits are high in potassium which requires caution if a person is on certain medicines.  On the other hand, I personally find that exhaustion caused by excessive sweating may be remedied by ingestion of such high potassium fruits as bananas, oranges and especially apricots.  Veggies such as cauliflowers and broccoli are endowed with a variety of chemicals which evidence suggests have anti-cancer properties.  Chicken like all meat is permeated with fat.  However, most of the fat in chicken lies in the skin and the red meat.  Chicken breast if eaten without the skin is low-fat and provides an ample source of animal protein.  Legs and wings (without skin) are by nature more fat endowed and of higher caloric content.  Pork is an interesting example of how animal breeders have changed the reputation of an animal.  When I was growing up, pork was, by reputation fatty.  My dad loved pork chops but in the 1950s, a pork chop contained a small circle of meat (the size of a donut hole) surrounded by a donut of fat.  In the past decades, animal breeders have developed a leaner pig, hence the “new white meat” which pig farmers have been touting.  If you prefer beef, round steak contains the least amount of fat with sirloin a distant second. Read the labels on ground beef.  It will tell you if it is 73%, 85% or 93% lean…  the higher the number, the less fat.  Of course, the price per pound is higher as the leanness increases.

            Most dieticians suggest fish as a suitable protein source.  We know that certain fatty fishes contain “good” lipids such as omega oils.   Tuna and salmon are amongst the fishes containing “good “fats.  Tilapia is mild tasting and reasonably inexpensive.  However, there are some negative consequences of eating each of those fishes.  Tuna are near the top of the food chain and as a result, concentrate all of the pollutants of those organisms lower on the chain.  For example, algae absorb chemicals from the ocean and are in turn eaten by plankton which is subsequently eaten by small fish, etc.  Each step along the way does not reduce the pollutants but simply passes them along to the next step in the food chain, thereby concentrating the chemicals.  Those organisms at the top of the food chain get all the “rewards”.  Shark and swordfish are particularly concentrated in pollutants.  To make matters worse, fish that are farm raised are fed the waste products of the beef, chicken and pork industry in order to fatten them up as quickly as possible.  Those waste products from slaughter (mostly the fatty portions) contain high concentrations of pollutants from the food chain.  Fats serve as the storage depot of many fat-soluble pollutants which are the most dangerous.  It is no wonder that “wild-caught” fish are many times more expensive than “farm-raised”. 

            Fats and oils are qualified as lipids.  However, there is a basic difference between fats and oils.  Fats are solids and oils liquid at the same temperature.  The reason is based in their chemical structure.  Fats because of their chemical nature contribute to the increase of blood cholesterol.  Therefore, a diet high in fats tends to increase the amount of cholesterol in the bloodstream.  An excess of bloodstream cholesterol tends to be stored in the arteries which makes them less flexible.  Less flexible arteries causes blood pressure to rise and are prone to induce spontaneous blood clots and arterial rupture.  On the other hand, most oils do not contribute to excess cholesterol though they are calorically every bit as rich as fats.   Substitute margarine for butter…and limit the amount of margarine.  Cook with corn, peanut, safflower…and particularly olive oil. The exceptions to this is palm oil and coconut oil. Evidence gleaned from the so-called Mediterranean diet, rich in olive oil, suggests increased longevity.  One controversial foodstuff which Americans maintain is absolutely necessary for good health is milk.  HUMANS ARE THE ONLY MAMMALS THAT CONTINUE TO DRINK MILK AFTER THEY HAVE BEEN WEANED.  Milk is high in saturated fat which is most contributory to elevated blood cholesterol.  Unfortunately cheeses and ice cream further concentrate the fat.  We all love cheese and ice cream.  Milk, cheese and…yes…ice cream are all good sources of calcium.  However, there are other sources of calcium.   And… there are races of humans who do not drink milk…and in fact are genetically unable to properly digest it yet maintain good health.  However, not wanting to incur the wrath of the milk lobby, I am suggesting that the dieter simply “wean” themselves of whole milk and convert to skim milk.  Skim milk provides all the protein, calcium and sugar of whole milk but does not contain the saturated fat which contributes to elevated blood cholesterol, concentrated pollutants and excess calories.   Soft cheeses like mozzarella contain less “bad fats” than hard cheeses like cheddar.  Ice cream of course is another matter.  Treat yourself periodically but limit your portions and periodicity.

            Carbohydrates get a bad rap on the diet scale.  Actually, they provide instant energy but in excess they are biochemically converted to fat.  If you consume more carbohydrates or for that matter protein, the excess will be converted to fat…as if you were storing them for hibernation.  Unfortunately, humans don’t hibernate nor need to store food for a rainy day.  It appears that those genetically pre-disposed to become type II diabetics tend to store excess food for a “rainy day”.  Researchers believe that evolution has provided them a step-up on others, providing them an ability to survive feast or famine situations.  

Carbs can be integral to a healthy diet by combining their intake with fiber.  Fruits and veggies are high in carbohydrates but also contain high fiber content.  Rice, bread and pasta are also high in carbohydrates but by eating brown rice, whole grain breads and pasta provide not only the craved carbohydrates but also the intestinal cleansing fiber and reduction in blood cholesterol. The commercials you have seen for Cheerios have some basis I fact.   Science shows that oats do lower blood cholesterol.   

            The answer to weight loss is to keep a caloric count of your daily intake…as well as your DAILY OUTPUT.  Obviously, if you curtail your intake of calories, but remain anchored to your couch, your weight loss will slow.  Carry a pocket tablet with you to list your caloric input but also detail you daily activities.  Most of us sleep 6-8 hours per day.  Sleep consumes calories but at the minimal rate.  On the other hand, anything more exertive consumes more calories.  Just sitting still consumes twice the calories of sleep. Driving a car consumes 10 times the calories of sleep while riding a bike consumes 49 times the calories.  Swimming consumes the greatest number of calories with the backstroke consuming the incredible 280 times the calories of sleep.  Plus, swimming is far less stressful on joints. Even sex is a good caloric-expending activity.  Studies show that a male sexual act involving ejaculation consumes as many as 150 calories which ironically is the same number of calories as a beer.  Of course, those studies are dependent on body weight and duration of sexual intercourse. The ejaculate itself is exceedingly rich in calories in the form of sugar and protein in order to provide sustenance to the sperm for their potential journey to meet the egg. Google calorie expenditure charts to find a guide for calculating weight loss dependent upon a particular activity.     

            There are some subtle behavioral modifications that are intended to be taught in this weight loss practice.  By keeping a daily record (in writing) of all the calories eaten as well as those expended, one has the tendency to focus on those foods that are high in calories versus those that are low in calories …but still filling.  One also realizes that a slight increase in physical activity allows for a greater net calorie reduction.  By collecting the data (like a scientist), you should be able to realize where you can make changes in your diet and your daily activity. 

            Now, beer is another matter… alcohol, whether beer, wine or spirits is burned as a carbohydrate.  It is quickly absorbed by the stomach and either burned for the caloric value or converted into fat if there are already ample foodstuffs to run the body’s metabolism.  The scientific data is confusing as to the pros and cons of alcohol consumption.  Much of the data suggests that modest alcohol consumption (one drink per day for females and two per day for males) actually leads to the greatest longevity as far as actuarial tables are concerned in comparison to teetotalers or heavy drinkers.  Yet, recently, another study suggests that drinking at any level may lead to greater incidences of cancer in females. 

The interpretation of data is difficult because it does not take into account individuals and their ethnic background.  Some cultures imbibe to a much greater degree than others and have done so for millennia.  This tends to eliminate from those cultures through natural selection those who are sensitive to alcohol.  Those cultures in which alcohol has not played a major role often show greater sensitivities.  Asians and Native Americans have a tendency to have a more detrimental level of reaction to alcohol.  The reason is that an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase quickly converts alcohol to another substance on the way to burning it.  Some peoples of the world metabolize alcohol more effectively than others.  Europeans and people of European descent have variants of alcohol dehydrogenase which more effectively metabolizes alcohol than Asians and Native Americans.  It has been suggested that ancient Europeans spiked their food and drink with alcohol in order to ward off harmful bacterial contamination.  Asians and Native Americans and others boiled their water as a means of purification.  Of course, variations exist in all populations, so scientists consider the average individual when making sweeping statements and yet…no one fits the “average” precisely. As a friend of mine likes to quote, “you pay your money and you take your chances”.

 

 

Diabetes

DIABETES

 

            I have decided to write about the greatest health threat to Americans because I feel that understanding the disease may help people avoid and battle it.  Diabetes is characterized by elevated blood glucose, elevated blood pressure and an increased urine production. There is a cause and effect physiological response in which elevated blood glucose causes the body to retain more water.  The increased amount of water held by the body increases the blood volume…and the more blood in the space we call the circulatory system (arteries, veins and capillaries) increases the tendency for the kidneys to produce more urine in an attempt to reduce the body’s fluid holdings.  We all recognize the need to urinate after we ingest fluids.  Fluids which contain caffeine or alcohol increase the production of urine.

            Normally, physiological mechanisms adjust glucose levels at about 100 mg/100 ml (90-110 mg/ml).  These physiological mechanisms revolve largely around two hormones, insulin and glucagon.  Both of these hormones are secreted by the pancreas, an organ sandwiched between loops of the small intestine.  Insulin is released after a meal as glucose is absorbed into the bloodstream from the gut after digestion of food.  The more glucose presented to the pancreas, the more insulin is released.  The insulin in turn encourages cells to uptake glucose.  Without insulin, cells incur difficulty taking up glucose and blood glucose rises and that drink that you take is retained rather than eliminated as urine.  Glucagon on the other hand encourages the release of glucose from storage depots, mostly the liver and muscles in order to get the body through those periods between meals. Physical activity modifies the release of these hormones. 

            Diabetes mellitus is described as Type I and Type II.  Type I diabetes is characterized by a reduction of insulin secretion by the pancreas. It has been called juvenile diabetes because it often appears in childhood.  However, I know of individuals who did not develop Type I Diabetes until their thirties.  It is an inherited disease which predisposes individuals to destruction of the specific cells in the pancreas responsible for the secretion of insulin, upon infection with a still-unknown virus.  Therefore, it is classified as an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks its own tissues.  Though the specific attack mode is ill-understood, it is believed that the invader (virus) has features which resemble the pancreatic cells responsible for insulin production.  As the body mounts a defense against the invading virus, it inadvertently attacks the pancreatic cells mistaking them for viruses.  The pancreatic cells are destroyed in an attempt by the immune system to eradicate the virus, thus eliminating the source of insulin, causing blood glucose to rise and all the related effects. Again, to summarize…a person must inherit a defective gene from each parent and become exposed to a yet-unidentified virus resulting in destruction of specific cells in the pancreas. This is Type I diabetes mellitus and is often referred to as insulin-dependent diabetes. 

            The treatment for Type I diabetes is insulin injections.  The person must develop an ability to not only monitor his/her diet but also blood glucose (sugar).  Many can predict if their blood sugar is high or low by regulating the carbohydrates in their diet and the appropriate insulin injections.  Most rely on regular finger pricks to determine their exact blood glucose so that they may adjust their insulin injections.  Some people have implanted devices which monitor their blood glucose and provide appropriate amounts of insulin. 

            Type II diabetes mellitus is also an inherited trait with conditions.  Just as type I is inherited but requires an individual to become exposed to a virus, type II is inherited but is largely affected by body weight.  Type II was called senile diabetes in the mid-20^th century because it almost invariably affected older people.  It was deduced that older people gradually became obese as they became less active (still eating as if they were active twentysomethings)…but with a fraction of the activity of their youth.  As we age, there seems to be a natural inclination to gain weight (though I know of many exceptions) and it appears that in the obese individual, insulin does not have the same effect on blood glucose as it does in the non-obese. Consequently, Type II Diabetes is often referred to as insulin-independent diabetes.  The principle remedy for type II diabetes is simple…lose weight.

            Americans have become increasingly fat.  What was called senile diabetes because it was only seen in the aged has now become an increasingly common diagnosis in primary school children.

            John F. Kennedy experienced the Sputnik crisis…and responded in kind by directing a space program that landed a human on the moon in less than a decade.  He and his family also were very physically active (touch football, skiing, water sports,etc.) and instituted a program in public schools which mandated a required daily session of physical activity.  (I lived through that period and though I loved school, lived for that hour of dodge ball, basketball, soccer, etc.)                                         

            Cells require insulin to absorb glucose from the bloodstream with some notable exceptions…the brain…and muscles.  For type II diabetics, the best way to adjust blood glucose is to maintain an active exercise regimen.  During exercise, muscles suck up glucose without the need for insulin, thus lowering blood glucose levels, blood pressure and all the concomitant consequences such as blood vessel hardening, eye and kidney damage, infections as well as increased risks of heart attacks and strokes.  Obviously, the limitations presented by advanced diabetes type II often prevent individuals from exercise and they must rely upon diet.  Calories are calories, regardless of when they are eaten or what foods they are contained within.  The calories you take in are exactly the same as the calories you expend…if you’re weight remains the same.  If your weight increases, then you have consumed more calories than you have expended.  If your weight decreases, then you have consumed fewer calories than you have expended.  It is that simple.  It isn’t about whether the calories are carbohydrates, fats or proteins.  It is simply total calories.  If you intend to lose weight, you must count calories.  There are calorie counters which will tell you exactly how many calories are in the next forkful.   There are also calories counters which can detail how many calories are expended in particular activities…from sleep to strenuous exercise.  Keep a diary and find out where you can improve…by diminishing your caloric input…or increasing your caloric output.  If you are true to this method and adhere to the math, you’ll lose weight.

            There are so many children who are obese that health officials predict America will see a dramatic increase in the present epidemic of diabetes II-related illnesses within twenty years if not sooner.  America can not afford a generation lost to diabetes. Instituting a Kennedy-esque, compulsory physical fitness regime in American schools will have a telling effect on the future diabetes crisis.  In addition, physical activity increases brain activity and should have a positive effect on learning.  I think it is not coincidental that as compulsory physical activities have been replaced by computer laboratories, obesity has increased.  The neurological rush of scoring a basket or winning a race has been replaced by a video game.  That’s not right.

 

 

 

Alien Hand Syndrome

Bush Presidential Poetry

AMUSING MUSINGS OF DUBYA

 

 

Kathy Harris sez, “no more”

Fearful of Dem votes galore

Judge Rehnquist presides

Scalia decides

To anoint Bush instead of Gore

 

A presidential daily brief

Danger of terror bequeath

Condolezza denied

August reports belied

Impending 9/11 grief

 

Osama Bin Laden attack

Instead, we invade Iraq

Bushies are loyal

But went after the oil

Despite intelligence lack

 

CIA covert named Plame

That yellow cake threat so lame

The Prince of Darkness outed

Rove’s leaks in turn he spouted

But White House dodges the blame

 

A search for WMDs

A foil for 9/11 appease

A grab for the oil

And Iraq to despoil

With Halliburton expressing its greed

 

Geneva designed to protect us

Abu Ghraib revealed as hideous

No concern about torture

Water board subject to cloture

And denial of habeas corpus

 

A cowboy our prez portrayed

Wanted dead or alive if betrayed

Saddam was his goal

Found deep in a hole

Mission accomplished allayed

 

 

 

 

 

Katrina came not too subtly

Destroying New Orleans levees

Snafus abound

Super Dome unsound

But heckuva job Brownee’

 

An intellect as president we’re yearning

Malapropisms of Bush, stomach turning

No memory by rote

He’d prefer not to quote

Yet warned, “Is our children learning”?

 

Criminals, the public enemy

Rumsfeld, Gonzalez and Cheyney

Abramoff’s in the slam

Scooter’s involved in a scam

And at the top, et tu Bushee’

 

Bush is the FISA presider

Domestic spying insider

Constitution no matter

Despite all the clatter

However, “I’M still the decider”

 

Economy fails and jobs go

Money at Enron, AIG and Citi we throw

Bush claimed it sound

But bailouts abound

For merely a trillion or so

 

A leader without a solution

Showed nary concern for pollution

Stem cells he’d ignore

Claims science a bore

                               He’s a product of de-evolution

Economy by a citizen

I am not an economist.  However, I am college educated, and have earned a Ph. D., and enjoyed more than 40 years of college teaching in the biological sciences.  I realize that there has been predatory lending amongst our financial institutions and that those recipients of the loans are somewhat at fault. Their fault is that they did not understand the stipulations that the banks had established.  Basically, they did not understand the fine print.  Who does?

The lending institutions realizing their own fault have sold that “bad paper” to higher-up institutions, literally passing bad loans on to others.  Those receiver institutions in turn have only sold the loans to institutions still higher in the food chain. 

All of us have been subject to chain mail, whether it is intended to gain the mailer money, prayers or freedom from guilt (for not breaking the chain).  This is no different.  The only people who gain (monetarily…can’t provide details on the prayer issue…nor can anyone else) are almost singularly at the first level of the chain.  By the time, the chain has run its course; the number of losers is infinitesimal. 

The big losers in this financial catastrophe are the huge companies who are ultimately left “holding the bag”.  However, the U. S. government has seen it desirable to bail out those companies despite the fact they are willing participants in a monumental  scheme (the term originates from its first perpetrator but most people recognize it as a Pyramid Scheme).  Any individual participating in such a scheme is usually prosecutable according to various state laws such as Missouri’s 407.400-407.420.

Our government has not only NOT prosecuted this practice but now is bailing out the losers at the bottom of the pyramid.  However, someone must lose in this pyramid scheme…and the loser…the US populace.  Well, not exactly.  I should have said the tax-payer populace, since the fat-cats have already gotten their monetary portion of the Ponzi/pyramid scheme before the dupes at the bottom of the pyramid have figured out that they have been had.

Those hapless individuals who began the process by innocently applying to become part of the American dream by owning their own homes are the real losers.  They are the low-to middle income wage earners whose only real guilt is that of being under-educated in financial matters; guilty of being gullible when they were told they were eligible for loans they didn’t think they could afford.  Many paid into the system until the interest rates rose to a point that made them realize the inevitable…that they had been had. 

Those individuals are the losers.  They paid into a system that was inevitably going to eat them alive.  Now eaten, they have become the losers.  However, the top of the pyramid (predatory lenders) has made its money and those recipients of that “bad paper” passed along to the bottom feeders of the Ponzi scheme have now been forgiven by the government. Who is going to rescue all those home owners whose mortgages have fallen into default?  Who is going to re-pay the lost equity as a consequence those predatory mortgages?

The government has in effect “socialized” the lending institutions.  We have heard time and time again about the evils of Socialism.  Yet, we have socialized local governments, socialized the airline industry, now socialized the banking industry.  Why not extend socialism to medicine?  Why not even…socialize the oil industry? Imagine not having to give the oil industry CEOs hundreds of millions of dollars per year…as bonuses. Imagine affordable gasoline at the pump.

Individuals have lost their homes, cars, credit and even jobs.  The predatory lenders have lost nothing.  The stooges who bought their predatory loans should have lost big…but our government has bailed them out.  The big losers are the homeowners who have defaulted on their mortgages but it is nothing compared to what America has lost. 

I drive through my home town and see “for sale” signs on virtually every block.  I know of people who are making mortgage payments on houses that will never be worth what they are paying for them.  I see homes boarded up that could be made livable.

Now, we are seeing our “big three” automakers on the verge of bankruptcy.  Whether the government bails them out or allows them to file for bankruptcy remains to be seen.  However, neither is the solution to the problem.  American automobiles have been eaten for lunch by the Asian makers.  I was always a Chevrolet or Ford owner until I bought my first Honda.  It was the best car I had until I more recently bought a Toyota Prius.  My wife and I love the Prius for its comfort as well as its economy.  Until, American automakers re-capture the confidence of Americans, they will continue to struggle.  The Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in due out in late 2009 is a good start.

The individual and the country were in excellent economic health in 2000.  We enjoyed a budgetary surplus for the first time in my lifetime.  America stood alone as the sole economic and military superpower in the world.  (Apparently we still maintain our role as the economic superpower since the actions of the past couple of months has had serious ramifications on the other world economies…e.g. Russia’s stock market has lost 50% of its value since May 2008 and during the late September crisis actually shut down for two days). China is beginning to see a turndown and subsequent civil unrest.  Our role as military superpower has seriously been affected by the misguided Iraq War.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic would greatly benefit from the development of a vaccine.  However, until the early 2000s, the US government had still not spent a billion dollars toward vaccine research in all the years of research to that point.  Pennsylvania’s roads are seriously in decline, requiring 1.7 billion dollars a year to maintain the bridges, secondary roads and turnpike.  The Iraq War is costing us 10 billion dollars a month (not to mention the cost of private contractors and stipends paid to the Sunni Awakening Group, formerly known as the Sunni insurgents.  The Sunni Awakening is the group which has made The Surge a success…we paid them off.  However, more recently, violence was surged once again because the majority Shiites have cut pay to the Sunni Awakening.)  My math tells me that paying for about five fewer days of the Iraq War could fund the highway infrastructure in Pennsylvania for a whole year. The 700 billion payout that our government has authorized in this latest buyout makes my HIV/PA roads argument petty.

Where does the money come from?  The answer is that you as a taxpayer will be ultimately responsible.  Well, not just you…since many of you will not outlive the debt that has befallen our country.  Your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will ultimately bear the burden of this responsibility.

No one thought Rome would ever fall.  It began with the excesses which included the Games of which the Coliseum was only the major leagues. Paying for all those gladiators (many were professionals), exotic animals and demonstrative displays helped to bankrupt the Roman Empire.  The size of the empire became too unwieldy to defend, taxing the army beyond its capability. The third nail in the coffin was a series of incompetent emperors.  It didn’t happen overnight.  It took a couple of centuries before bordering tribes saw a weakness and delivered the coup’de gras.

We have already experienced the “Games” portion, the overextension of our military and poor leadership.  However, I cannot see the Canadians or Mexicans taking over America.  But, these times are not as in Roman times.  A country can be overcome from afar by the simply key stroke on a computer.  Everyone has a credit card.  Everyone gets a bill which largely suggests satisfying the minimum payment…usually 15 dollars.  The majority of Americans are engaged in deficit spending and have a net savings of about minus1%.  Our government does exactly the same thing.  If China sells us a trillion dollars of goods, we hope to sell them a trillion in return.  However, the Chinese Yuan is devalued and therefore, the trade is uneven favoring China and increasing our deficit.  So, despite our government’s best intention of paying its monthly bill in full, it pays the minimum…the equivalent of your credit card companies’ 15 dollars.  The interest piles up and because we can’t pay, China buys in to our national debt.  It is difficult to get a handle on just how much of our national debt is owned by China but estimates are in the 20% level…with Japan holding a slight bit more.  What happens if Taiwan (our ally just off the cost of China) creates a problem and calls upon us for support?  Would China tell us to “pay up or shut up”?

President Bush first suggested that Social Security be nationalized in 2004.  Americans were smart enough to sound off and it was quickly moved to a back burner.    If individuals were left to deal with their own social security, we would have to re-invent the county homes for the indigent.  The events of the past months should illustrate that point. 

The solution to the social security problem is simple.  Most citizens erroneously believe that the money pulled from their weekly paychecks is invested in an account that they will be able to withdraw from when they reach their respective “social security “age. That isn’t the case.  The money coming out of your check is simply going to pay the current SS recipients.  So, as the population ages, there is a greater number of older people to pay for and fewer working people to provide the money.  I saw my obligation to social security rise as my salary rose.   

 The answer is to raise the ceiling on social security taxes and build up the surplus.  The ceiling is currently affixed at earnings of $102,000.  Allow those making between a $102,000 and $250,000 to enjoy a respite and then begin taxing at the $250,000 level to $300,000 level.  That would affect less than 1% of the US population.  Also make the government pay back the amount that it has borrowed from the fund, partly to finance the Iraq War. 

More importantly, the government continually tells us that SS will be broke by 2040.  A brief history lesson will tell us that in its incipience, SS had 15 people contributing for a single recipient.  Currently, 1.5 people now pay for one recipient.  It is a simple matter of demographics.  We have aged as a population but, as a population we will not age forever.  By 2040, all people deemed elderly now (including myself) will be dead, and the demographic shift will begin to reverse itself back toward the time of FDR.  The problem of social security should be solved and without all the hand wringing.

 

 

           

Socialism

Recently, one presidential candidate accused another of being a socialist.  To most people, socialism has a bad connation, related to our enemies during World War II.  In reality, much of the American economy is socialistic.  In socialism, money is collected from all but parceled to select groups.  America has embraced socialism in many forms.  Our progressive income tax system is one form.  The wealthier members of our society pay income tax at a higher rate and rightfully so.  Many of the higher economic class enjoy the benefits of the work their employees perform for them.  Yes, the employees make money for themselves but the employers make even more from the sweat of their workers.  So, the wealthy should pay more in taxes.

Medicare and Medicaid are two other instances of pure socialism.  In each case, the recipient is the beneficiary of a group contribution.  If you enjoy life-long good health, you will never fully benefit from the money you have contributed.  If you are a student at a public school or public university, you are a recipient of government money, collected from all despite the fact that all contributors may not be benefited by their largesse.  If you are a farmer and are paid NOT to farm (as a farm subsidy), you have enjoyed the benefits of socialism.

The money which runs the local, state and federal government is neither collected nor distributed equally.  At the local level, those who do not own properties do not contribute to local school and real estate taxes yet enjoy the benefits of sending their children to school as well as protection by the fire and police departments, not to mention the repair of the local infrastructure.  States contribute to the federal bank account yet enjoy an unequal return on their investment.  Many states pay far less tax to the Feds than they receive in federal funds.  Other wealthy states pay far more than they receive. 

One facet of our lives which is not socialistic is medical care for those not eligible for Medicaid or Medicare.  We pay for our medical care either as part of our contract (for those who are covered by their employer) or out-of-pocket (for those unfortunates who are not covered).  The 40% who are uninsured are simply gambling that they will not get sick or suffer a catastrophic medical situation.  The Hippocratic Oath prevents doctors from refusing care, so those in critical situations are usually treated.  However the cost of the uninsured fall upon all of the insured workers, raising the cost to their employers or those who have individual policies.  

Socialized medicine is common throughout the world.  The cost of medical care throughout the world is far less than here in the US.  Yes, we have some of the most expert physicians treating the most exotic of diseases.  However, too many Americans are going without care, suffering the consequences of manageable, chronic diseases such as treatable cancers, heart disease and diabetes.  The cost of drugs often forces us to make a decision between drugs, food and heat. 

A socialized program which seems to have worked quite well is Social Security.  When Franklin D. Roosevelt came up with the plan in the 1930s, it was seen as a method to close down the county poor houses.  In the program, employee contributions do not pay for a future retirement but instead simply pass that money to the already retired.  At the time of Roosevelt, 15 people contributed to the welfare of one retiree.  As the population has aged, particularly the “baby boomers”, we have now reached a point when 1.5 people pay for that single retiree.  As a consequence, Congress has had to pass bills which have periodically raised the ceiling to which workers have had to pay into social security with the ceiling currently at $102,000.

Our government has led you to believe Social Security is in trouble.  President Bush encouraged Congress to pass a program allowing people to invest a portion of their social security contributions into the stock market.  We now realize what a disastrous idea that was.  If you examine the premise of social security, you should realize that it is not in the dour condition you have been led to believe.  All the pundits agree that if SS proceeds at the current rate, the system will implode in 2042.  I have a simple explanation of why that won’t occur and a simple remedy.  In 2042, nearly all the “baby boomers” WILL BE DEAD.  A demographic shift will already have occurred, slowly returning the current 1.5 contributor:1 recipient ratio back toward the original 15:1 ratio at the time of Roosevelt’s program inception.

An interesting aside related to Social Security relates to the age 65.  Why 65?  It appears that during the reign of Otto von Bismarck of World War I-era Germany, aides decided (perhaps arbitrarily) that 65 would be a good age to provide life-long security to Germany’s aged.  When FDR came up with his plan for our current Social Security, he asked his staff statisticians to determine an age at which the Social Security retirement date should “kick in”.  His statisticians similarly determined that 65 would be a good age to begin paying retirement benefits.  The problem with that plan was that the actuarial tables which helped the government statisticians to arrive at 65 as the “magic age” was based on tables skewed by increased death rates in World War I and the Spanish Flu of 1919 which killed more than 40 million people world wide.  Today’s life expectancy of about 78 for a male and more than 80 for a female far out-distances the life expectancy at the incipience of Social Security.

In the meantime, the simple solution would to be to increase the ceiling at which SS taxes are collected.  The ceiling is slightly above $100,000.  I would increase the ceiling but not beginning at $102,000 but at $250,000.  Why should the federal income tax be progressive but not social security?  If the wealthy are enjoying increased incomes on the backs of their workers and paying federal income tax accordingly, then why should tax on social security be any different?           

The Edge Effect

The Edge Effect

 

            Most people think that scientists are part of geekdom when in reality, we are down-to-earth people who simply think beyond the box, applying  science to everyday life.  About ten years ago, a visiting professor filled an empty faculty position in my department, satisfying an environmental position.

He was a dynamic, full of life, thirtysomething who added greatly to our faculty, alas to leave after his one year stint was complete.

 

            His research specialty was a phenomenon known as the Edge Effect, which explains why in herds of wildebeests, schools of fish, gaggles of geese, and other populations, the sacrificial lambs are relegated to the fringe of the population.   This is called the Edge Effect.  The Edge Effect explains why the non-reproductive members of the population are restricted to the geographical edge of the population.  Those on the edge are most likely subject to predation, thus eliminating their genes from the gene pool.  The high quality breeders reside in the geographical interior of the population, protecting them from predation.  As interior members succumb, their positions are quickly filled by those working their way in from the edge.  Alas, some members of the population never make it into the inner circle and are deprived of their capability to sexually reproduce, losing their genome to history. 

 

            What does this have to do with society?  I played basketball with a group of over-the-hillers, twice a week for a number of years.  Some of us looked forward more to the beer-sucking ribaldry that followed the game than the game itself.  The group was composed of lawyers, doctors, and industrialists who enjoyed a good story.  The watering hole that we frequented, happened to be located alongside a darkened, defunct bowling alley with the overflow parking from the bar, diffusing into that nearby blackhole.  It was a dismal location, always leaving a bar customer with a feeling akin to leaving a child in a parked car.

 

            The day after I had first heard of the Edge Effect, and the evening of a game of basketball (in which I wasn’t the last kid picked), I arrived at the bar too late to get a prime spot in the parking lot, thus subjecting my reasonably new car to a spot in the predatory zone (my friends now affectionately refer to as The Edge.)  As I left my vulnerable car to the vagaries of vandals, the euphoria of the recent game left me ambivalent as to its potential fate.

      As I approached the door to the watering hole, I noticed a parking spot directly in front of the door.  Would it be worth the ATPs invested to walk back and rescue my vehicle from The Edge?  Would I be in time?  Would another interloper supercede me?  I had to make a decision and as a potential breeder, I made the decision to rescue my investment.  I made it to the desired parking spot and therein secured my car’s spot amongst the breeding elite, though I realized that cars are not  reproducible as any lemon owner realizes.

 

            Well, tongue-in-cheek, I entered the bar, greeted with a Bronx cheer by my buddies who had a head start on me. ” Buck”, they asked, what is the lecture for the evening?  (They had heard so many of my lectures, they requested continuing education credits from my university).  Calmly, after a pregnant pause, I stated that the lecture for the evening was entitled, The Edge Effect.  I gave them a short explanation of the genetics of the Edge Effect and then how it applied to that evening.  “What a bunch of crap”, one exclaimed.  Is that what higher education is all about?  noted another.  The biggest complainer happened to be a bigshot at the local newspaper and I foresaw a future editorial denouncing higher education as a waste of money.  After an evening of laughs and self-deprecating humor, I won the crowd over, but not before the newspaper honcho left the bar to find his car vandalized.  He had made the mistake of parking it at The Edge.

Synergy

The choice of the word synergy for this blog reflects the author’s attempt to intertwine science and politics, humor and seriousness and common sense and ideology.