Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

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MIT Researchers Solve Temperature Problem in 3D Printing Glass; End of Glass Blowers? Posted: 16 Sep 2015 03:01 PM PDT Are custom glass blowers next in line to be replaced by robots? The problem has always been in working with temperatures at close to 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. However, MIT researchers have solved the problem. Please consider Scientists Develop New High-Temperature System to 3D Print Transparent Glass. MIT researchers have for the first time developed a new high-temperature system that can produce 3D printed transparent glass objects. Researchers have attempted to 3D print glass objects in the past, but a major obstacle has been the extremely high temperature needed to melt the material. The high-temperature system developed by the team at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) retains the strength and transparency of glass. The new system was developed by Neri Oxman, an associate professor at the MIT Media Lab; Peter Houk, director of the MIT Glass Lab; MIT researchers John Klein and Michael Stern; and six others. Like other 3D printers now on the market, the device can print designs created in a computer-assisted design programme, producing a finished product with little human intervention. One challenge the researchers faced was keeping the filament of glass hot enough so the next layer of the structure would adhere to it, but not so hot that the structure would collapse into a shapeless lump. They ended up producing three separate components that can independently be heated to the required temperatures - the upper reservoir for the stock of molten glass, the nozzle at the bottom of that chamber, and a lower chamber where the printed object is built up. "Glass is inherently a very difficult material to work with," Klein said. The new process could allow unprecedented control over the glass shapes that can be produced, Oxman said. "We can design and print components with variable thicknesses and complex inner features -- unlike glassblowing, where the inner features reflect the outer shape," Oxman said. Mike "Mish" Shedlock Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

Real Median Earnings for Men at 1971 Level, Women at 2001 Level; Household Income at 1996 Level; What About the War on Poverty? Posted: 16 Sep 2015 10:55 AM PDT If you are looking for evidence that QE has done anything to improve income for the bottom half of the nation you will not find it in data released today from the Census Bureau. Please consider the census report on Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States for 2014. Highlights Median household income was $53,657 in 2014 [down 1.5% from 2013]. This is the third consecutive year that the annual change was not statistically significant, following two consecutive years of annual declines in median household income. In 2014, real median household income was 6.5 percent lower than in 2007, the year before the most recent recession. The real median income of non-Hispanic White households declined 1.7 percent between 2013 and 2014. For Black, Asian, and Hispanic-origin households, the 2013-2014 percentage changes in real median income were not statistically significant The real median income of households maintained by a foreign-born person increased by 4.3 percent between 2013 and 2014. In contrast, the median income of households maintained by a native-born person declined 2.3 percent. Real Median Household Income Household Income Progress Real median household income for all races is where it was in 1996. Real median household income for white non-Hispanics is where it was in 1997. Real median household income for blacks is where it first was in 1995. Real median household income for Hispanics is where it first was in 1998. Real median household income for Asians is where it first was in 1995. Real median household income for all races is 6.5 percent lower than 2007, and 7.2 percent lower than the median household income peak ($57,843) that occurred in 1999. Earnings of Men vs. Women - Fulltime Workers Earnings Progress The female-to-male earnings ratio is at an all-time high of 79 percent Real median earnings of male fulltime workers is at a 1971 level Real median earnings of female fulltime workers is at a 2001 level By the way, those "real earnings" numbers assume you believe the government's measure of inflation. Note that the CPI does not reflect home prices or property taxes, and is at best a crude, inefficient, measure of prices. Poverty The poverty rate is where it was in 1966. On August 20, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the "Economic Opportunity Act" kicking off his "Great Society" and the "War on Poverty". Johnson stated "Our aim is not only to relieve the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it". Until Johnson declared a war on poverty there was actually progress on poverty. In 1996, president Bill Clinton signed the "Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act" on a mission to "end welfare as we know it". President Clinton succeeded, in a perverse way. For details of Clinton's success, please see States Have an Incentive to Promote (Not Stop) Disability Fraud; So How Much Fraud Is There? Mike "Mish" Shedlock Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific.

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