Dim Lighting Sparks Creativity

New German research finds a darkened room encourages freedom of thought and inspires innovation. There are certain times when you want the lights turned way down low. One such time, according to recent research, is when you need to think creatively.

“Darkness increases freedom from constraints, which in turn promotes creativity,” report  Anna Steidle of the University of Stuttgard and Lioba Werth of the University of Hohenheim. A dimly lit environment, they explain in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, “elicits a feeling of freedom, self-determination, and reduced inhibition,” all of which encourage innovative thinking.

Steidle and Werth describe six experiments which provide evidence for their thesis. The key one featured 114 German undergraduates, who were seated in groups of two or three in a small room designed to simulate an office.

The room was lit by a fixture hanging from the ceiling directly above the desk. The amount of illumination varied, with some groups receiving only 150 lux (dim light), others 500 lux (the recommended lighting level for an office), and still others 1,500 lux (bright light).

After acclimating themselves for approximately 15 minutes, participants went to work on what the researchers describe as “four creative insight problems typically used in creativity research. These tasks require that individuals change their perceptions of a given problem in order to find the optimal solution.” Read more >>

The Layoff Kings Of 2012

If you have a job, be thankful, because more than 1 million American workers were laid off during the first three quarters of the year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's better than the same period last year, but not by much, and some companies handed out especially large numbers of layoff notices.

Check out some of this year's layoff kings. Read more >>

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Mind Control in America – What the CIA Did and Why They Did It

The disturbing saga of mind control begins with the science of Ivan Pavlov early in the twentieth century – the famous Russian who tested dogs with bells and food pellets.  His goal was simple:  to understand how behavior is trained.  Derived from his work was the psychological theory of Behaviorism based upon reflex conditioning.  Pavlov’s dogs are a famous tidbit most of us recall from our high school psychology class.

However, the pertinent part of his story commences with the lesser known fact that whatever is learned can be ‘unlearned’ if the individual being trained is subjected to sufficient fear, mental anguish, and physical pain.  In essence, fear can wipe out memory.

Pavlov discovered this when his pack of well-trained laboratory dogs forgot all their learned behavior as waters rose higher and higher in his lab (rising waters caused by a local flood), creating so much anxiety in his laboratory’s canines it figuratively ‘washed their brains’.  Subsequently, Pavlov asserted (and history has shown it to be so), that fear stands as a supremely powerful force in human conditioning, both individually and collectively in our society. Read more >>

Marc Faber: Obama's Job Package 'a Complete Joke'

Image by twid via FlickrThe package is “another complete failure of Keynesian economics and corrupt interventions,” Faber told CNBC.com on Friday morning.

Other economists have welcomed the plan as it attempts to boost employment.

Faber's major problem is that governments around the world should be attempting to cut spending, not spend more.

“This all amid talk of deficit reductions,” said Faber. The package is a “complete joke.” More...

The 20 Most Influential Blogs in Financial Media

Kevin Depew
"Most investors would acknowledge that social media is playing an increasing role in their investment decisions," observes the UK Web site Mindful Money. "Yet no-one has mapped the emerging network of influence likely to be playing a crucial part in those decisions." Until now.

The presentation below provides a fascinating map of financial media influencers. The MindfulMoney top 20 should come as no surprise. You probably visit them daily, or at least discuss ideas they have unearthed long before the mainstream media stumbles onto them.

Here are the top 20, with links, followed by the presentation. Congratulations to all listed:

1. Naked Capitalism
2. Infectious Greed
3. The Big Picture
4. Jesse's Cross Roads Cafe
5. Zerohedge
6. Mish's global Economic Analysis
7. Calculated Risk
8. Paul Krugman's Blog
9. FT Alphaville
10. Ludwig von Mises Institute
11. The Market Trader
12. WSJ Blogs
13. The Epicurean Dealmaker
14.Credit Writedowns
15. Dealbreaker
16. China Financial Markets
17. Max Keiser
18. The Angry Bear
19. The Economist
20. Jr. Deputy Accountant

Gold Is Its Own Currency

Image via Wikipedia

"While no major currency is likely to replace the dollar any time soon, the need for an alternative is clear, and growing...That gold has a currency aspect without being tied to any country is key to enhancing its value as an asset"

Chikako Mogi
Reuters
TOKYO -- As the dollar's dominance fades with the emergence of a multipolar world, gold may stand to gain the most of all assets, thanks to an unlikely quality -- neutrality.

While no major currency is likely to replace the dollar any time soon, the need for an alternative is clear, and growing. China among others is considering how to diversify its more than $2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, and talk of using other currencies to trade oil or commodities continues to circulate.

Supply constraints mean there is no chance of a full revival of the gold standard era, when currencies were pegged directly to gold, but investors say gold's duel role as both currency and asset make it an almost irresistible buy for years to come as financial geopolitics add risk into global markets.

"That gold has a currency aspect without being tied to any country is key to enhancing its value as an asset," said Koichiro Kamei, managing director at financial research firm Market Strategy Institute. "The realization that gold can be turned into anything spread quickly and widely as people used it to raise dollars last year when they were short of dollars."

Gold plunged almost 20 percent in October 2008, taking a hit when investors dumped assets across the curve for cash as liquidity dried during the height of the credit crunch.

But in comparison to other asset classes gold did well, with broader commodities and equities hitting multi-year lows in the unwinding of complex positions built over the past several years.

"Globally, gold has been bought as it is re-evaluated as a stable currency," said Osamu Ikeda, general manager at Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo, Japan's biggest bullion retailer.

It is also seen as a simpler investment after huge losses on sophisticated financial products endangered the global financial system and plunged the world deep into recession.

After the October 2008 plunge, gold returned to the upward momentum that had carried it to a record high in March 2008, defying the downtrend in most other assets.

The Reuters-Jefferies CRB Index, a global commodities benchmark, fell to a seven-year low earlier this year just as gold was again trying the $1,000 mark.

A big part of gold's gains have been attributed to the declining dollar. The dollar index, a measure against six major currencies, fell about 14 percent since March this year while gold rose about 13 percent during the same period.

"What has been a textbook reference of gold as a currency has been given life, especially after the Lehman shock. And that has concurrently highlighted its character as an asset that performs differently from other assets," said Shuji Sugata, a manager at Mitsubishi Corp. Futures & Securities.

"Given its price movements against other assets and the declining confidence in the dollar, more funds have begun to include gold in their asset portfolios," he said.

The launch of gold-backed exchange-traded funds has also altered the way gold is viewed.

Such ETFs grew explosively over the past year after the financial crisis as retail investors entered the market, giving significant support to gold prices.

"Prior to ETFs, it was supply/demand balances and currency, gold's inverse relationship with the dollar. The launch of ETFs was an additional supportive factor for gold just as scepticism was growing about the dollar's dominance," Sugata said.

The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, saw its holdings rise to a record 1,134.03 tonnes on June 1, a 44 percent rise on the year that contributed to gold's 16 percent rise in the same period.

The growing number of investors means price action could also add to gold's volatility.

"I think the moves to the upside will be far quicker in their velocity, hitting $1,100 very shortly and then far higher over the next few years," said Peter McGuire, managing director Commodity Warrants Australia.

Many age groups poorer than they were 40 years ago

Image by Marc :"" En el Pais de los sueños..."" via Flickr

Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY

The incomes of the young and middle-aged — especially men — have fallen off a cliff since 2000, leaving many age groups poorer than they were even in the 1970s, a USA TODAY analysis of new Census data found. People 54 or younger are losing ground financially at an unprecedented rate in this recession, widening a gap between young and old that had been expanding for years.

While the young have lost ground, older people have grown more prosperous over the years and the decades. Older women have done best of all.

The dividing line between those getting richer or poorer: the year 1955. If you were born before that, you're part of a generation enjoying a four-decade run of historic income growth. Every generation after that is now sinking economically.

Household income for people in their peak earning years — between ages 45 and 54 — plunged $7,700 to $64,349 from 2000 through 2008, after adjusting for inflation. People in their 20s and 30s suffered similar drops. Older people enjoyed all the gains.

The line between the haves and have-nots runs through the middle of the Baby Boom, the population explosion 1946-64.

"The second half of the Baby Boom may be in the worst shape of all," says demographer Cheryl Russell of New Strategist Publications, a research firm. "They're loaded with expenses for housing, cars and kids, but they will never generate the income that their parents enjoyed."