News for today's 2018

THE GEOPOLITICS OF YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT

8:17 PM Tukiyooo 0

<br /> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaEBA81YAywMfv0yJugmzWf7LjMwl0T4Zqw6s9LUzCSbsiWW5zmZ2pPHxfdfZ8g3W8SUos670Vs5C4uBe6VHWA5WGP8BQtGdcJLolUtW__wasCpXBYDKD7sKzbcfcRIZm9AWLCw1pMwEhm/s1600/the-Voice-of-Youth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaEBA81YAywMfv0yJugmzWf7LjMwl0T4Zqw6s9LUzCSbsiWW5zmZ2pPHxfdfZ8g3W8SUos670Vs5C4uBe6VHWA5WGP8BQtGdcJLolUtW__wasCpXBYDKD7sKzbcfcRIZm9AWLCw1pMwEhm/s400/the-Voice-of-Youth.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A HARBINGER OF REVOLUTION</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Nearly three years removed from the onset of the Great Recession, we are now faced with a global economy that has uncoupled itself from the conventional laws of cyclical economics. This impressive feat was accomplished through a combination of quantitative easing and public stimulus, coordinated by various national governments around the world. They accomplished their immediate goal of stemming the tide of global economic contraction, yet no one can be certain as to the extent of their success because of the uncharted economic territory that we find ourselves in; where contradictory economic signs emerge on a daily basis.<br /><br />But there is one economic indicator that has remained consistently negative since well before 2008- global youth unemployment. This is arguably one of the most important indicators of all given the fact that, historically speaking, high youth unemployment has always been a harbinger of revolution; just ask the Hosni Mubarak or any other politician on the wrong side of the ARAB SPRING. <br /><br />It’s not only ARAB SPRING countries that are facing the problem of youth unemployment. Just about every quantitative measure available indicates that youth unemployment is a big problem all over the world, and it’s only getting worse.  <a href="http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_180976.pdf">According to the UN’s International Labor Office</a> (ILO), the global youth unemployment rate has maintained its 2009 peak-level of 12.6 percent through 2011, which equates to nearly 75 million unemployed youths (aged 15-24) worldwide.<br /><br />Some regions bear a heavier burden than others. The MIDDLE EAST and NORTH AFRICA have the highest rates of youth unemployment at 26.5 and 27.9 percent respectively, and EAST ASIA boasts a relatively low rate of 9 percent. However, there is a tendency across all regions for the youth unemployment rate to be higher than the adult rate. Even with the ostensibly positive example of EAST ASIA, youths are three times more likely to be unemployed than adults.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Background Information</span></u></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">: </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimlf6xn15_VAqhPkUy8kFKxmwNgNqX45mQrvBIEuVPnFZZ8rjOTR3JlXuZaN51LSGHyto1VHOOg4DKjJKUpjHZd_FP3jSYNvZNbfAOHsfsoqP-NAxvDgPp4_wuQQt2T1P00sG9-ru9t8KS/s1600/6a00d83451608369e200e552e6415c8834-800pi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimlf6xn15_VAqhPkUy8kFKxmwNgNqX45mQrvBIEuVPnFZZ8rjOTR3JlXuZaN51LSGHyto1VHOOg4DKjJKUpjHZd_FP3jSYNvZNbfAOHsfsoqP-NAxvDgPp4_wuQQt2T1P00sG9-ru9t8KS/s200/6a00d83451608369e200e552e6415c8834-800pi.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">WEAPON FOR CHANGE – DEMOGRAPHY – THE YOUTH EQUATION </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/10/iran.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2012/10/iran.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: red;">BBC ARGUES THAT THE OVERALL RATE IS SKEWED UPWARDS BY CLASSIFYING STUDENTS AS ECONOMICALLY INACTIVE</span><br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />Some organizations have taken exception with the ILO numbers, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19745115">notably the BBC</a>, arguing that the overall rate is skewed upwards by classifying students as economically inactive, especially since so many young people are going back to school in order to increase their employment potential. While there may be some truth to this argument, there is <a href="http://theyec.org/43-troubling-facts-about-the-youth-unemployment-crisis/">a considerable body of evidence</a> that indicates many of these students will end up in the ‘unemployed’ column after they graduate anyways. There are also several concomitant issues that don’t even show up in official statistics, such the increasingly highly-skilled competition over unskilled work, workers who are underemployed, and young people who have simply given up their search.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUOIv3R7k499RG2H-jh2GrKHlDWKYtgBw-u6_9jp7S6-s5CoM7iTtUzvDe87ijFvHwkjvPnq7ezDGGqXL-ykZTpXp_wee0-fktSB4SjJXjCW_sHNSPMOVMHgp0x5JhmynYqZ9xDsZkMz1y/s1600/50323427youth+unemployment.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="379" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUOIv3R7k499RG2H-jh2GrKHlDWKYtgBw-u6_9jp7S6-s5CoM7iTtUzvDe87ijFvHwkjvPnq7ezDGGqXL-ykZTpXp_wee0-fktSB4SjJXjCW_sHNSPMOVMHgp0x5JhmynYqZ9xDsZkMz1y/s640/50323427youth+unemployment.PNG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Youth unemployment</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> rates in OECD countries, December 2007 - March 2012</span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">STIFLING YOUTH OPPORTUNITY AND CREATING POCKETS OF INSTABILITY AROUND THE GLOBE</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /><br />The problem as it exists right now is stifling youth opportunity and creating pockets of instability around the globe, but there is a real risk that youth unemployment could begin to spin out of control in the future.  The ILO has projected that the youth unemployment rate will remain steady at around 12.6 percent through 2017. These projections are built on the assumption that global economic growth will stabilize. Given <a href="http://india.nydailynews.com/newsarticle/f21f65e62663d4afb0c9f39fabf1a578/india-china-slowdown-pulls-down-asia">recent signs of slowdown</a> in CHINA and INDIA, the ongoing Euro Zone crisis, and the ‘fiscal cliff’ that’s looming over the UNITED STATES; such assumptions may well prove to be misguided.<br /><br />There will be 100 million young people <a href="http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/eurpro/moscow/info/publ/employment/build_enabling_environment_yese.pdf">entering the global workforce</a> every year for the next ten years. In 2011, six million new university graduates began their job search in CHINA alone. It would be foolish to assume that the global economy will be able to create enough jobs to absorb these new workers. Their access to opportunity will be blocked by the following three factors:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Fewer jobs are being created.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> Technological advancements are <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/business/new-wave-of-adept-robots-is-changing-global-industry.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">reducing the role of human labor</a> in the manufacturing process. Simply put, there are fewer and fewer ways to achieve the widespread employment that was once possible via agriculture and later manufacturing, and this trend is being <a href="http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/Global_Crisis_and_Youth_Bulge_-_FINAL.pdf">reflected in dropping worldwide population-to-employment ratios</a> from 2005-2012)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">   </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /><br /><b>Federal governments are hampered in their ability to stimulate job creation via stimulus spending.</b> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/oct/02/world-bank-600-million-jobs-needed">According to a World Bank report</a> that was just released, federal stimulus spending will be required if 600 million jobs are to be created for young people entering the global workforce in the near future.  Judging from the budgetary challenges being faced by EUROPEAN governments, as well as the fiscal reckoning that looms over the UNITED STATES, this is easier said than done.<br /><br /><b>The paradox of an infinite economic growth that is fueled by finite resources</b>. The cohort that’s hitting the global job market over the next decade could well begin to feel what <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9741000/9741475.stm">Oxford Professor Stephen Emmott has dubbed</a> an ‘unprecedented planetary emergency.’ Or in other words, human population pressures on the planet’s natural resources. The very thing that is required for global growth and thus job creation- an expanding global middle class-<a href="http://www.newsecuritybeat.org/2012/08/from-youth-bulge-to-food-and-family-planning-los-angeles-times-beyond-7-billion-series-synthesizes-population-challenges/">is already stretching the planet’s resources to their limits.</a> It thus stands to reason that water scarcity and rising food prices will in turn create a drag on economic growth by eating into household budgets.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT ARE HERE TO STAY, A PROBLEM THAT HAS HISTORICALLY GONE HAND-IN-HAND WITH POLITICAL INSTABILITY AND REVOLT</span></b></span></span></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQsvJuhYZDXjweg7WuYel3XvcqFqWq6SOs3ncvDJTSSDa6SetjSaulVuaMhXhXpT18Caqaie4WgCShxKmUjlKZHSHj1VXmrRJD57RdItxk3k3nuHcrsWfKcv5U5DsVGhbZQyU8-yr7OZoG/s1600/riot111_51021t.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQsvJuhYZDXjweg7WuYel3XvcqFqWq6SOs3ncvDJTSSDa6SetjSaulVuaMhXhXpT18Caqaie4WgCShxKmUjlKZHSHj1VXmrRJD57RdItxk3k3nuHcrsWfKcv5U5DsVGhbZQyU8-yr7OZoG/s320/riot111_51021t.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></b></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">These three factors suggest that high levels of youth unemployment are here to stay, a problem that has historically gone hand-in-hand with political instability and revolt. The ARAB SPRING is just the latest in a long line of historic examples that includes the FRENCH REVOLUTION, the fall of the WEIMAR REPUBLIC, JAPAN’S invasion of CHINA, and the Marxist insurrections throughout LATIN AMERICA in the 1970s. <a href="http://www.cfr.org/society-and-culture/effects-youth-bulge-civil-conflicts/p13093">There is a school of thought</a> that believes a surplus of disaffected, economically marginalized youths contributed in large part to instigating all of these historic upheavals. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">YOUNG UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE ARE FAR MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO COMPETING POLITICAL OR RELIGIOUS WORLDVIEWS </span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The destabilizing dynamic of youth unemployment follows a fairly straightforward logic. Early job opportunities don’t just feed people and give them something to do, they serve to indoctrinate a new generation into embracing the current system. Alternatively, young people who cannot find jobs won’t become invested in the status quo, thus leaving them far more susceptible to competing political or religious worldviews that challenge the very traditional authority that isn’t working for them. Interestingly, <a href="http://www.cfr.org/society-and-culture/effects-youth-bulge-civil-conflicts/p13093">studies have shown</a> that job expectations also play a large part in this kind of unrest. The more educated a pool of unemployed youth is, the more likely they are to ferment dissent when they discover that their original expectations of a better life are not going to be realized. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">That’s why the IMF “loan doctrine” for countries seeking bailouts always includes two main demands, namely: reduction on education budgets as well as curtailing the health care system!! Poorly educated and fragile youths are easier to manipulate<span style="font-size: large;"> and control<span style="font-size: large;">.</span></span></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Background Information:</span></u></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">First step the IMF imposes on lending countries is to reduce its budget on national health care and education</span></b></span><b><span style="color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/global-financial-monopoly-game-part-2.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/global-financial-monopoly-game-part-2.html</a></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/imf-advice-to-europe.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/imf-advice-to-europe.html</a></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/08/imf-on-trial.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/08/imf-on-trial.html</a></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">DIFFERENTIATION SHOULD BE MADE BETWEEN DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /><br />The potential geopolitical repercussions stemming from youth unemployment differ depending on the political institutions of the state in question, so a differentiation should be made between developed and developing countries. There was a marked lack of legitimacy surrounding the authoritarian political institutions of Arab Spring countries, and this allowed a popular movement that was rooted in economic dissatisfaction to engender a political revolution. <b>It’s possible that similar scenarios could play out in developing countries with high numbers of unemployed youths, just as it’s equally possible that their efforts will be channeled towards other activities such as terrorism, crime, or sectarian conflict. Some notable hotspots to monitor in this regard are <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/Demo_Trends_For_Web.pdf">IRAQ</a>, <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/Demo_Trends_For_Web.pdf">SAUDI ARABIA</a>, YEMEN, PAKISTAN, AFGHANISTAN, <a href="http://www.ilo.org/manila/info/public/pr/WCMS_178637/lang--en/index.htm">the PHILIPPINES</a>, and much of sub-SAHARAN AFRICA as well as BOSNIA and KOSOVO</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></span></u></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Background Information</span></u></b><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">: </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">BALKAN states have a rather young and growing population of disillusioned youth</span></b><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/bosnia-european-unions-stepchild.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/bosnia-european-unions-stepchild.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Potential power of youth movements in the Balkans </span></b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/08/bosnia-cursed-by-european-union-eu.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/08/bosnia-cursed-by-european-union-eu.html</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">2011 LONDON RIOTS: 66 PERCENT OF THE RIOTERS WERE UNDER THE AGE OF 25</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Youth unemployment is also a problem in developed countries, most notably in EUROPE. SPAIN recorded a staggering youth unemployment rate of over 46 percent in 2011, and <a href="http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/Global_Crisis_and_Youth_Bulge_-_FINAL.pdf">CROATIA</a>, <a href="http://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/files/Global_Crisis_and_Youth_Bulge_-_FINAL.pdf">ESTONIA</a>, IRELAND, SLOVAKIA, BOSNIA and KOSOVO are all dealing with rates that range from 25 to 42 percent.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdNECoNQ9OXwIS26vQ1lsA7DI94eUl3Zn2WWknvOXf4kN6vbgSsMAZcmpIJoHyzt7CMfCrTTxS6LbPaeOxzc-qCwqgQnwlNIfU0xViFFZLXzzcX3YWVmSteAdt_ZBE1cMWw8-v_sPmilA-/s1600/150px-Otpor.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdNECoNQ9OXwIS26vQ1lsA7DI94eUl3Zn2WWknvOXf4kN6vbgSsMAZcmpIJoHyzt7CMfCrTTxS6LbPaeOxzc-qCwqgQnwlNIfU0xViFFZLXzzcX3YWVmSteAdt_ZBE1cMWw8-v_sPmilA-/s200/150px-Otpor.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> <br /><div class="MsoNormal">Otpor (Resistance) youth movement</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otpor">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otpor</a>!</div><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The potential repercussions of youth unemployment in developed countries are different due to the relative strength of the political institutions involved; sure there may be <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uk-youth-unemployment-plan-2012-10">1.1 million unemployed young people</a> in the UNITED KINGDOM, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that a BRITANNIC Spring is in the cards. Yet they are still detached from the political mainstream, and this detachment can manifest itself in other ways. Research conducted by the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/18/england-rioters-young-poor-unemployed">Institute of Public Policy Research found</a> that the worst-affected areas in the 2011 London Riots were those with high levels of child poverty and youth unemployment. They also discovered that over 66 percent of the rioters were under the age of 25. This trend is also beginning to show up in GREECE and SPAIN, where youths are taking to the street in protests that display a <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/chaotic-video-shows-you-how-serious-protests-are-becoming-in-spain-as-officer-is-drop-kicked-from-behind/">growing propensity for violence.</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">THE MORE IMMEDIATE THREAT IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD IS IDEOLOGICAL</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /><br />But the more immediate threat in the developed world is ideological, as neo-Fascism, xenophobia, and anti-globalization, have always shown themselves to be a natural cognitive fit for disenfranchised youths. In the case of EUROPE, these political forces rally around the goal of dismantling the EU, which is already the stated mission of both the National Front in FRANCE and Golden Dawn in GREECE, two extreme-right parties that happen to draw <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/10/marine-le-pen-young-voters">a lot of support</a> from young, <a href="http://transform-network.net/fr/blog/blog-2012/news/detail/Blog/the-rise-of-the-extreme-right-in-greece.html">male voters.</a> The EU makes for a handy scapegoat, as the free flow of labor and capital that EUROPEAN integration ushered in can easily be portrayed as the Trojan horse that ruined the purity of this or that contrived national nostalgia. But at its core, this is merely an issue of disenfranchised youths turning their backs on the status quo that has not provided them with any route for advancement. To a lesser degree, the same dynamic is at work in the Occupy movement of NORTH AMERICA, though in this case it produced starkly different political conclusions.  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: red;">WE CAN KNOW WITH ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY THAT WHEN JOBLESS YOUTHS GET TOGETHER IN LARGE NUMBERS: IT’S BEST TO EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED. </span></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLYy5Jsvt4jdHT3aZckqrwgmFuekY9Lz46_15qzHa3WZYESpWm7I4JjRqlYjHIOoLDJeS-rVkoX1dg-VMscxJsHQnaghyphenhyphenOzT7bb4L6x81xDpegVG2sKyM6TwnPLP2JBbkXeO5-hg-bxLSU/s1600/blog-jobless-youth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLYy5Jsvt4jdHT3aZckqrwgmFuekY9Lz46_15qzHa3WZYESpWm7I4JjRqlYjHIOoLDJeS-rVkoX1dg-VMscxJsHQnaghyphenhyphenOzT7bb4L6x81xDpegVG2sKyM6TwnPLP2JBbkXeO5-hg-bxLSU/s320/blog-jobless-youth.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="color: red;"></span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The problem of worldwide youth unemployment isn’t going away, and as it continues to get more and more pronounced, so too will instability in both the developed and developing world. <b>The list of potential repercussions is as long as it is troubling: revolution, state-collapse, religious fundamentalism, xenophobia, economic protectionism, and so on</b>. But as we saw with the Arab Spring, nobody can say with any certainty when a crisis is going to boil over and change world history forever.</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />But we can know with absolute certainty that when jobless youths get together in large numbers: it’s best to expect the unexpected. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By Zachary Fillingham, via Geopoliticalmonitor</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">See also: </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/looming-generation-conflict-old-versus.html">http://news-these-days.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/looming-generation-conflict-old-versus.html</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Otpor (Resistance) youth movement</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otpor">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otpor</a>!</span></div>

THE GEOPOLITICS OF YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A HARBINGER OF REVOLUTION Nearly three years removed from the onset of the Great Recession, we are now f...

Cure For Multiple Sclerosis? Treatment Wildly Popular Despite Scant Evidence It Works | Singularity Hub

6:32 PM Tukiyooo 0

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><p style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">There are <a href="http://www.nationalmssociety.org/about-multiple-sclerosis/what-we-know-about-ms/faqs-about-ms/index.aspx" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(100, 100, 100); ">2.1 million people worldwide</a> suffering from multiple sclerosis. It is thought to be an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks the body's own nervous system. To date there is no known cure. At best, some therapies can slow the progression of the disease. The array of symptoms, such as loss of muscle control, some vision and widespread pain plague patients. Desperate, some of these patients are turning to a treatment that is widely condemned by experts in the MS field. The treatment, pioneered by an Italian surgeon, also has powerful support from a small handful of practitioners and patients continually in search of options.</p><p style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The layer of cells surrounding neurons, myelin, have been shown to be <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001747/" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(100, 100, 100); ">damaged in the brains and spinal cords of MS patients</a>. Myelin serves as an insulator for neurons and is vital to the ability of neurons to pass electrical signals to one another. When they're damaged, as in MS, signaling between neurons is impaired, resulting in lack of bodily control, pain, and other symptoms.</p><p style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Most researchers and clinicians attribute the myelin damage to autoimmunity, the cause of which still remains uncertain. But <a href="http://singularityhub.com/2010/07/13/cure-for-multiple-sclerosis-controversial-liberation-procedure-moves-forward/" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(100, 100, 100); ">Paolo Zamboni</a>, a vascular surgeon at the University of Ferrara in Italy, disagrees. He doesn't think MS is primarily an autoimmune disorder. Instead, he hypothesizes that the disease is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/a-controversial-cure-for-multiple-sclerosis.html?_r=3&ref=magazine&" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(100, 100, 100); ">caused by chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency</a>, or CCSVI, a vascular disorder that results in the insufficient drainage of blood from the brain and spinal cord. Zamboni thinks that the accumulation of blood in the brain causes a buildup of iron and that the iron damages the layer of tissue surrounding neurons, myelin.</p><p style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Zamboni published a study in 2009 in which he found CCSVI to be present in 100 percent of M.S. patients at a particular stage in the disease. Following the finding he tested a treatment for M.S. that included inflating a balloon to open the veins that carry blood away from the brain and thus restoring normal blood flow.</p><p style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">But there were problems with the study. First, with only 65 subjects, it wasn't large enough to reach a robust conclusion about whether or not the treatment was effective. And even though the study compared the treatment between people with MS and healthy controls, Zamboni wasn't blinded to the groups – he knew which participants had MS and which did not, making bias a serious concern.</p><p style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">But for many patients these concerns paled in comparison to the possibility, no matter how remote, of being cured. In the face of this new demand the procedure spread quickly. The first neck angioplasty for MS in the US was thought to have been performed in 2009. The unproven procedure was restricted in many countries, but patients could still travel to the US, Costa Rica, Poland, Bulgaria and Egypt to have it performed.</p><div id="attachment_55794" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px 1.5em 1.5em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; float: left; max-width: 100%; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.199219) 0px 1px 4px; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; width: 310px; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; "><a href="http://singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/image1B.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(100, 100, 100); "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkl5YQ0iHXQvgSClSh7hQ8iVKpSdFUsDi9yvfYekGWiH1wWiluShAhP-8_lEC9D9_q6jcOBL5-zx8oNc_QaMVqcI0ArMa7XGvSzNWUnCW2_XbLLzFqovb5_Ze7FNHqxTqJ-sf6XkligUs/s1600/image1B-759926.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5806764692216051938" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkl5YQ0iHXQvgSClSh7hQ8iVKpSdFUsDi9yvfYekGWiH1wWiluShAhP-8_lEC9D9_q6jcOBL5-zx8oNc_QaMVqcI0ArMa7XGvSzNWUnCW2_XbLLzFqovb5_Ze7FNHqxTqJ-sf6XkligUs/s320/image1B-759926.jpg" /></a></a><div style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-top: 0.8075em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.8075em; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: left; ">Paolo Zamboni's procedure to treat MS has generated great enthusiasm among patients. Not so much among fellow researchers and clinicians.</div></div><p style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Patients also generated pressure to investigate the link between CCSVI and MS, eventually prompting the US National Multiple Sclerosis Society to<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/a-controversial-cure-for-multiple-sclerosis.html?_r=3&ref=magazine&" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(100, 100, 100); ">announce</a> in 2010 that $2.4 million, or about 7 percent of its research funding, would support research on CCSVI.</p><p style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Robert Fox, medical director at the Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis at the Cleveland Clinic, was not impressed. As he <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/a-controversial-cure-for-multiple-sclerosis.html?_r=3&ref=magazine&" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(100, 100, 100); ">told the New York Times</a>, "People without a scientific background often view all scientific papers with equal weight. Well, scientists don't. I don't know of a more prominent example where there's been such profound pressure, driven by a nonmedical and nonscientific – though rightfully very self-motivated – constituency on what specific treatments should be explored with weak scientific basis."</p><p style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Zamboni isn't the only one to look into CCSVI. The largest study to date was performed by Robert Zivandinov at State University at Buffalo. He did find an association between CCSVI and MS but at just 56 percent association compared to 23 percent in healthy controls, it falls well short of Zamboni's all-or-nothing finding. Furthermore, the increased CCSVI wasn't seen only in MS patients but in patients with other neurological disorders, suggesting that it may not have a specific link to MS.</p><p style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Florian Doepp, a researcher at the Department of Neurology at Charité Hospital in Berlin, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20695010" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(100, 100, 100); ">published a study</a> in 2010 looking at blood flow in 56 MS patients. Except for a single patient, blood flow for the group was perfectly normal. As Doepp decisively <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/a-controversial-cure-for-multiple-sclerosis.html?_r=3&ref=magazine&" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(100, 100, 100); ">told the New York Times</a>, "I conclude there is no evidence for CCSVI in multiple sclerosis and no evidence to support" the surgical procedure to treat it.</p><p style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The notion that MS is caused by faulty blood flow and too much iron – and not primarily an immune disorder – is not only weak on evidence, it's also weakened <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; ">by</em> evidence. Previous research has pointed to over 50 genes associated with M.S., and all of them are involved in the immune system. Also, Parkinson's disease patients have abnormally high levels of iron in their brains, yet do not consequently develop MS.</p><p style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The proper study would be to perform the angioplasty on some MS patients and a sham operation on others – in a double-blind study where neither the patients nor the researchers know who received the procedure and who received the sham. But these studies are hard to perform because they're costly and unattractive for a condition like MS which is incurable, and for which present medications can significantly prolong life. However, two such studies are now being conducted, largely due to patient demands.</p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">This past May the FDA issued a <a href="http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm303538.htm" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(100, 100, 100); ">warning about CCSVI</a>, saying "there is no reliable evidence from controlled clinical trials that this procedure is effective," adding that "the criteria used to diagnose CCSVI has not been adequately established." One person has died following the procedure, and the FDA has learned of "stroke, detachment and migration of the stents, damage to the treated vein, blood clots, cranial nerve damage and abdominal bleeding associated with the experimental procedure."</p><p style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">What the science lacks in hard data, patients are making up for in an abundance of testimonials. The CCSVI procedure overwhelmingly makes them feel better, sleep better, move around better with more energy. Many patients even come back for repeat procedures when the effects of a previous one had seemed to wear off.</p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">Is there something to Zamboni's procedure or is this some kind of mass placebo effect? Michael Arata, a vascular surgeon who has performed the procedure on about 1,200 patients, thinks it works, but for CCSVI patients. Not those with MS. He acknowledges that changing a person's blood flow will make them feel different regardless of whether or not it's beneficial. As he <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/a-controversial-cure-for-multiple-sclerosis.html?_r=3&ref=magazine&" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(100, 100, 100); ">told the New York Times</a>, "If I would operate on people's veins, I'm quite sure I'd have effects. Yet I know those effects will disappear and will not be really clear."</p><p style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Sounds like placebo to me, and probably also to attendees at a recent conference of European MS researchers and clinicians. Data from a study was presented at the conference that included 462 patients. The study showed that, while the CCSVI surgery lacked any benefits revealed by "objective measurements," about half of the patients reported feeling better. One professional group at the meeting attributed the effects to "high expectations."</p><p style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 300; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">More studies, like the ones being performed by the Multiple Sclerosis Society, are still needed to definitively assess any link between CCSVI and MS. Hopefully, at the end of it all, the patients will be proven right, that the surgery does work. It would be a shame to reach the alternate conclusion with so much time, work, and funding wasted on a procedure with lots of devotion but not much data.</p></div><a href="http://singularityhub.com/2012/11/03/cure-for-multiple-sclerosis-treatment-wildly-popular-despite-scant-evidence-it-works/">http://singularityhub.com/2012/11/03/cure-for-multiple-sclerosis-treatment-wildly-popular-despite-scant-evidence-it-works/</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Cure For Multiple Sclerosis? Treatment Wildly Popular Despite Scant Evidence It Works | Singularity Hub

There are 2.1 million people worldwide suffering from multiple sclerosis. It is thought to be an autoimmune disorder in which the immune s...

Bridging the gap between job seekers and recruiters

7:45 AM Anonymous 0

<br /><div class="RXart" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; padding-right: 20px; text-align: left;"><div class="ArticleHeadline" style="margin-top: -30px;"><div class="hdr_org_bld" style="color: #ff6600; font: normal normal bold 18px/normal arial, helvetica;"><h1 id="articleHeadline" style="color: #000066; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span id="cbArticle_lblHeadline">Bridging the gap between job seekers and recruiters</span></h1></div><b><span id="cbArticle_lblByLine">By Jennifer Seith, CareerBuilder's managing director of emerging solutions</span></b><br /><div class="cb_share_more_wrapper"></div></div><br /><div class="ArticleContent"><div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" class="media-image" src="http://art.icbdr.com/sites/all/files/styles/large/public/bridging%20the%20gap%20between%20recruiters%20and%20job%20seekers.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" /></div>Companies today are struggling to find employees with the right skills, despite the number of job seekers. While many experts blame a lack of skills on the worker side, recent research indicates that the <a href="http://thehiringsite.careerbuilder.com/2012/07/03/the-impact-of-the-u-s-skills-gap-and-vacancies-on-revenue-and-turnover/" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">difference between how employers and job seekers think and behave</a> is contributing to the problem. In other words, there is a fundamental gap between how recruiters search for new employees and how job seekers search for jobs. This gap is causing missed opportunities for both sides.<br />Here are five areas where the disconnect between recruiters and job seekers is most apparent:<br /><br /><strong>1. Job-search sources: </strong>Job seekers use an average of five sources in their job search<strong>,</strong> including job boards, the company career website, social media, search engines and peer networks. Recruiters tend to be creatures of habit; they usually use one or two tried-and-true sources. However, by not using every possible outlet to connect with job seekers, they may miss out on quality employees.<br /><br /><strong>2. Job titles: </strong>When it comes to job titles, recruiters and job seekers tend to speak a different language. Recruiters often fall into the trap of using job titles that are too broad ("nurse" could mean many different positions), too vague (are candidates really entering terms such as "rock star" or "evangelist" when searching for available positions?) or too internal (do people outside your company really know what a "project-development manager – level II" is?). Many recruiters can't change the job titles they post due to technology or process restrictions.<br />Understanding how and where job seekers search for jobs is crucial to targeting the most qualified workers. Job seekers today use between seven and 10 terms when job searching, so recruiters should consider the different ways in which job seekers might be entering these search terms. They should also be descriptive but concise when creating job titles.<br /><br /><strong>3. The application process: </strong>An <a href="http://thehiringsite.careerbuilder.com/2012/01/31/the-surprising-reason-youre-not-getting-the-candidates-you-need/" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">estimated 34 percent of job seekers</a> who start to apply for jobs don't complete the application process. Thanks to technology, such as smartphones, that provides seamless interaction and instant gratification, today's job seekers expect ease and speed in the application process and won't tolerate anything else. The more hoops they have to jump through to apply for a job, the less likely they are to do so. Yet, not only is it hard for recruiters to view the application process objectively, but even if they could see what the application process is really like, they often lack the resources and technology to create a better process.<br /><br /><strong>4. Brand perception: </strong>Today's most in-demand job seekers aren't just looking for jobs; they're looking for a place to fit in. They want to work for a company where they feel comfortable culturally and have opportunities to grow and develop. They do their research and weigh an employer's brand perception when considering where to work. Unfortunately, recruiters have limited control over how their company is perceived. Just as job seekers are "always on" in their job search, so is a company's brand. Social sites such as <a href="http://www.facebook.com/careerbuilder" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">Facebook</a>, <a href="http://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">Glassdoor</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/careerbuilder" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">YouTube</a> and others are difficult to control, but job seekers are on these sites researching various employers. By the time workers apply, they've already done extensive research and are actively engaged in the company.<br /><br /><strong>5. Engagement: </strong>Recruiters can't always continuously engage job seekers. They don't have the time, resources and technology to do so. Today's job seekers expect ongoing engagement throughout the hiring process. They expect to receive emails and newsletters -- even text messages -- with information about their application status and new job opportunities in which they might be interested. The traditional post-application auto-response email, followed by weeks of silence, doesn't cut it anymore. The more that companies engage job seekers, the better their perception of the company will be.<br /><br />Understanding where these gaps between recruiters and job seekers lie will help employers navigate their hiring challenges as they identify new ways to connect with potential employees. Even those who are strapped for time and resources can take advantage of new tools that create a faster, more efficient and more engaging hiring process. One such tool is <a href="http://thehiringsite.careerbuilder.com/2011/01/10/fill-your-pipeline-with-the-best-and-brightest-talent-introducing-talent-network/" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">CareerBuilder's Talent Network</a>, which uses more than 16 years of job-search behavior to help employers build a database of potential employees, engage candidates and measure the success of their efforts.<br />The marketplace for great workers is competitive, but those employers who make the effort to connect with the right candidates and keep them engaged will find themselves ahead of the curve.<br /></div></div><div class="clear" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; height: 1px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; text-align: left;"><h2 style="color: #c7560a; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;">Related Articles</h2><ul style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><li><a href="" id="mxsrRelatedArticles__ctl1_cbhlRelatedArticles" style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">INFOGRAPHIC: How to make a resume shine</a></li><li><a href="" id="mxsrRelatedArticles__ctl2_cbhlRelatedArticles" style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">5 career paths for retail workers</a></li><li><a href="" id="mxsrRelatedArticles__ctl3_cbhlRelatedArticles" style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">Can you switch careers and remain financially stable?</a></li><li><a href="" id="mxsrRelatedArticles__ctl4_cbhlRelatedArticles" style="color: #000099; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">9 jobs that pay $95,000 a year</a></li></ul><iframe class="Ad" frameborder="0" height="240" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="NO" src="http://ads.adsonar.com/adserving/getAds.jsp?placementId=1266420&pid=617757&ps=-1&zw=326&zh=240&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.careerbuilder.com%2f%3flr%3dcbrockl%2fJobSeeker%2fcareerbytes%2fCBArticle.aspx%3flr%3dcbrockl%26ArticleID%3d3197%26%26strcrit%3dQID%3dA6659272956687%3bst%3da%3buse%3dALL%3bCID%3dUS%3bSID%3dCO%3bTID%3d0%3bENR%3dNO%3bDTP%3dDRNS%3bYDI%3dYES%3bIND%3dALL%3bPDQ%3dAll%3bPDQ%3dAll%3bPAYL%3d0%3bPAYH%3dgt120%3bPOY%3dNO%3bETD%3dALL%3bRE%3dALL%3bMGT%3dDC%3bSUP%3dDC%3bFRE%3d30%3bCHL%3dal%3bQS%3dsid_unknown%3bSS%3dNO%3bTITL%3d0%3bOB%3d-modifiedint%3bRAD%3d30%3bJQT%3dRAD%3bJDV%3dFalse%3bHost%3dUS%3bMaxLowExp%3d-1%3bRecsPerPage%3d25&v=5" vspace="0" width="326"></iframe></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial,helvetica; font-size: xx-small; text-align: left;"><b>Article Reprints</b></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial,helvetica; font-size: xx-small; text-align: left;">Permission must be obtained from CareerBuilder.com to reprint any of its articles. Please send a request to<a href="mailto:reprints@careerbuilder.com" style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; text-decoration: none;">reprints@careerbuilder.com</a>.</span>

Bridging the gap between job seekers and recruiters

Bridging the gap between job seekers and recruiters By Jennifer Seith, CareerBuilder's managing director of emerging solutions Companies...