This year’s Super Bowl economic impact is already being felt and will reverberate long after the clock reaches zero.

Check out a few fun facts:

• $3.8M: Average cost for a TV ad vs. $40,000 for the first Super Bowl in 1967

• See how much the most famous ads of all-time cost: From the Coke and Apple ads of the 80s to the Budweiser commercials of the 90s to the Betty White Snickers commercials today

• A whopping 71% of households with TVs watched the game last year

• A record 111M viewers last year equals 9.2 episodes of “Modern Family”

• $10,000,000,000 is estimated in illegal betting

Check out this Infographic courtesy of Infographic World

The Deficit: Not as Bad as They Want You to Think

By Evan Soltas Dec 26,

If those so-called deficit hawks would stop moralizing long enough to look at the data, they might find something surprising: That data almost entirely undermine their argument.

Yes, the long-run path of spending on federal health programs remains a serious and legitimate source of concern. But the numbers show that our current fiscal deficit is well within control — as have been the deficits of the last five years.

The right way to evaluate the U.S.’s current fiscal condition is not to look at at its budget deficit, which fluctuates sharply due to economic conditions. Rather, it is to calculate the structural budget deficit, the difference between government spending and revenues when the economy is normal. (More technically, it is when the “output gap,” the difference between actual and long-run potential economic output, is zero.)

For this post, I have calculated estimates of the current structural fiscal deficit from 1949 to 2012 with data from the Office of Management and Budget.These estimates come from breaking down the deficit into its components — spending by individual program and revenues from each tax — and computing their sensitivity to the output gap over time through linear regression. My estimates of the output gap come from the Congressional Budget Office.

For fiscal year 2012, the annual structural deficit was $325 billion, or 2.1 percent of GDP. (See the first graph accompanying this post.)

That is worse than no structural deficit at all. But it is hardly unsustainable. The U.S. economy is capable of growing at that pace over thelong run, which means that the ratio of debt to GDP, a key measure of sustainability, will be stable. The weak economy explains the remaining $1 trillion of the deficit, which amounts to 6.5 percent of GDP.

My calculations suggest that federal taxes would bring in revenue of 18.2 percent of GDP, …

Inside The Koch Empire: How The Brothers Plan To Reshape America

A man who, by FORBES’ careful measure, is one of the 50 most powerful people in the world, one of the 20 wealthiest–and one of the dozen most vilified–is perpetually in a position to reflect. But given it’s Charles Koch’s 77th birthday, the calendar demands it. Especially with the presidential election that Charles has called “the mother of all wars” less than a week away, and with Koch Industries, the firm he has built into the second-largest private company in America, considering several more big acquisitions, including an 18,000-employee automotive glassmaker, Guardian Industries.

A Death In The Family — And The Question Is: Whodunit?

By Jim Hightower

Born in 1930 in Schiller Park, IL, the deceased was 82 years old at the time of passing, which ironically was the day before Thanksgiving.

Having long enjoyed the sweet life, the end was a bit bitter, for the dearly departed’s estate had been mercilessly plundered in recent years by unscrupulous money managers. This left 18,500 surviving family members in dire straits. Indeed, the family contends that the octogenarian’s death was not due to natural causes, but to foul play — a case of corporate murder.

This is the drama behind the sudden death of Twinkies. Fondly remembered as “the cream puff of the proletariat” (and less fondly as a sugar-and-fat bomb that delivered a toothache in one bite and a heart attack in the next), this industrial concoction of 37 ingredients became, for better or worse, an icon of American food processing.

The father of the Twinkie was James Dewar, a baker at the old Continental Baking Co. who saw the goo-filled tube cake as a way to keep the factory’s confection machinery busy after strawberry shortcake season ended. Yes, the Twinkie was actually conceived as “food” for idle machines. How fitting is that?

But we humans happily swallowed this extruded marvel of comestible engineering. As a teenager, I probably downed my weight in Twinkies each year — and my long years on this Earth might well be due to the heavy dose of preservatives, artificial flavors and other chemicals baked into every one of those cellophane-wrapped two-packs I consumed.

The Twinkie was the best-seller of Hostess Brands, a conglomerate purveyor of some 30 nutritionally challenged (but moneymaking) brand-name food products, ranging from Wonder Bread to Ho Hos. In the past year, Hostess racked up $2.5 billion in sales — yet it suffered a staggering $1.1 billion in losses. Thus, on Nov. 21, Ripplewood Holdings, the private equity outfit that had taken over the conglomerate in 2009, pulled the plug, solemnly announcing that Hostess simply couldn’t survive.

Why? … READ MORE

Nitrogen fertilizers have been used for hundreds of years. Cover crops and legumes to enrich the soil, as well as manure have been used for at least a thousand years. But the residuals from waste water treatment plants, located in industrial urban centers, have only recently been applied to land and have caused serious problems beyond nuisance issues.

Hundreds of sludge-exposed rural neighbors have gotten sick, some with life-threatening illnesses; entire dairy herds have been wiped out after the animals ingested forage grown on sludge. People’s wells have become contaminated from sludge. No wonder, the Federal Clean Water Act defines sewage sludge –aka biosolids– as a pollutant. No wonder, the modern waste stream contains thousands of synthetic chemical compounds, toxic metals, and antibiotic resistant pathogens. Every entity connected to a sewer is permitted, every month, to discharge 33 pounds of hazardous waste into sewage treatment plants. These contaminants are REMOVED from the sewage and end up in biosolids. Although regulated, the National Academy of Sciences has warned that these regulations are out-dated and inadequate to protect human health.

Although using sludge may temporarily increase yields, long-term, agricultural land treated with biosolids will become degraded as persistent pollutants accumulate. Traditional farming practices improve and preserve agricultural land, which is the stated purpose of Legislative declaration 35-3.5-101. Using biosolids does just the opposite. For more information, visit www.sludgefacts.org 

[Dr. Snyder is emeritus professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology. ]

Caroline Snyder Ph.D.
North Sandwich, New Hampshire

CHICAGO (Feb. 29, 2012) – Banner Health’s Simulation Education program has been accredited by the American College of Surgeons – becoming the first program that ACS has accredited across an entire health care system.

There are 62 accredited simulation programs around the world and Banner Health is one of the few that is non-academic and non-university supported.

Banner Health’s simulation centers are the Western Region Simulation Center in Loveland, Banner Simulation Medical Center in Mesa, Ariz., and Banner Good Samaritan SimET Center in Phoenix.

Previously, only the Banner Good Samaritan SimET Center had been accredited by the ACS.

ACS reviewers were particularly impressed by Banner’s emphasis on quality and metrics in education. Banner’s processes for program evaluation and assessment were recognized by the association as a “best practice.’’

The Banner Simulation System at McKee Medical Center gives physicians, nurses and other health care professionals the chance to perfect clinical skills in a safe, but realistic environment – without touching a single patient.

The 3,000-square-foot center at McKee Medical Center has state-of-the-art training bays, multiple mannequins – or patient training simulators – debriefing rooms and a conference room with teleconferencing capabilities. The center also has virtual-reality equipment that doctors can use to test and refine their surgical skills.

ABOUT BANNER HEALTH

Headquartered in Phoenix, Banner Health is one of the country’s largest nonprofit health care systems. Located in seven states, Banner Health owns or manages 23 health care facilities as well as physician practices and nationally recognized research centers. To learn more go to www.BannerHealth.com.

U.S. Commerce Association’s Award Plaque Honors the Achievement

NEW YORK, NY, December 14, 2011 — One Step At A Time Counseling Service has been selected for the 2011 Best of Johnstown Award in the Divorce Counseling & Mediation category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA).

The USCA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2011 USCA Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USCA and data provided by third parties.

U.S. Commerce Association (USCA) is a New York City based organization funded by local businesses operating in towns, large and small, across America. The purpose of USCA is to promote local business through public relations, marketing and advertising. The USCA was established to recognize the best of local businesses in their community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations, chambers of commerce and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to be an advocate for small and medium size businesses and business entrepreneurs across America. SOURCE: U.S. Commerce Association

Cindi Rieb is a psychotherapist who grew up in a small town in Wyoming. She moved to Denver in 1977 and graduated from Regis University   where she obtained both her Bachelor and Master degrees in Counseling Psychology.

In January 2010, she moved to Johnstown, and opened a private counseling practice. One Step At A Time Counseling Service, in downtown Johnstown.  She provides caring and professional counseling services to adults, children, couples and families using individual or group therapy.

She is a former board member for the Domestic Violence Offender Management Board (DVOMB) and a current member of both the American Counseling and Colorado Counseling Associations.

Jeanette Meyer, Principal, Meyer and Associates at RE/MAX Alliance has earned the Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR®) designation, the benchmark of excellence for representing buyers of residential property.

This coveted designation is awarded by the Real Estate Buyer’s Agent Council (REBAC), an affiliate of the National Association of REALTORS®, to real estate practitioners who meet the specified educational and practical experience criteria.

Meyer has owned and operated Meyer Property, Inc. a residential real estate firm since 2001. She is licensed with RE/MAX Alliance and may be reached at 970.481.9340, or jmeyer@remax.net.  The company website is www.meyerproperty.com.