Write Your Legislatures Urging them to Extend Unemployment Benefits. The Moneys Are in Place, Thanks to the Bailout Dollars.

March 30, 2009

Dear Friends,

Greetings from the National Employment Law Project, and our unemployment information action site, www.unemployedworkers.org!

We are urging you to take action to extend unemployment benefits. As many of you know, the federal government is providing up to 33 weeks of federal emergency unemployment compensation (EUC) benefits to workers in high unemployment benefits.

However, there are over 1 million workers who are reaching the end of these Tier II EUC benefits in these high unemployment states. Fortunately, allies of jobless workers slipped an EXTENSION OF THE EXTENSION into Section 2005 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)-that gave states the option of providing 13-20 weeks of benefits on top of the EUC program.

The details of this extension have been largely ignored. You can learn more about all the extended benefits programs by visiting our website HERE.

The bottom line is that some high unemployment states have to pass STATE LEGISLATION to get jobless workers all they deserve out of this 3rd extension of benefits (which is known simply as EB, extended benefits).

The states where action must be taken are: **ALABAMA, ARIZONA, DC, FLORIDA, GEORGIA, INDIANA, ILLINOIS, KENTUCKY, MAINE, MASSACHUSETTS, MISSISSIPPI MISSOURI, NEW YORK, OHIO, PUERTO RICO, SOUTH CAROLINA AND TENNESSEE.** In most of these states, legislation is already proposed to make the necessary changes to pay the maximum EB benefits.

**NOW, WE NEED YOUR HELP TO BUILD PUBLIC PRESSURE TO GET THIS LEGISLATION PASSED.**

Please take a moment to contact your state legislator by visiting NELP's action center HERE

It's imperative that you act today, and share this link with all your friends: http://www.nelp.org/page/speakout/EB324

Thanks again for your patience as we retool our website.

We look forward to being in touch.

Sincerely,
Andy, Christine, Debbie, Judy, Rick and Maurice The National Employment Law Project

P.S. If you have question or comments please email unemployedworkers.org@gmail.com

Our Postal Address: 75 Maiden Lane Suite 601 New York, New York 10038 United States

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Paterson Orders 8,900 Layoffs of State Workers.

March 24, 2009.
photo: A. Golden, eyewash design, c. 2009.

Governor calls for first job cuts since the late 1990s as the state faces a $16 billion deficit.

(AP) - Gov. David Paterson on Tuesday ordered layoffs that could total more than 4 percent of state workers after unions refused concessions amid a staggering economic downturn that was projected to push the state's deficit to $16 billion in the next year.

Budget Director Laura Anglin told The Associated Press that the layoffs of nearly 9,000 employees would be the first since the late 1990s after unions refused to even provide counterproposals.

It was unclear if the eventual number of layoffs could be offset by attrition or early retirement incentives. Those are among the details that would be worked out in coming weeks.

The layoffs, which Ms. Anglin said could save the state $500 million over two years, could begin July 1. The state currently employs nearly 200,000 people.

Ms. Anglin said unions, including the state's largest public employee unions, have been informed and could still try to return to the table in the coming days before a budget is negotiated.

"We felt there was no other option at this point considering the size and magnitude of the deficit," Ms. Anglin said in an interview. "We asked everyone for a sacrifice and the unions were not willing to have that conversation."

There was no immediate comment from two of the state's biggest unions, the Civil Service Employees Association and Public Employees Federation.

Ms. Anglin said the unions refused proposals to delay 3 percent pay raises expected this year; defer a week's pay until retirement, a practice known as "lag pay"; or reduce state payments into retirees' health care.

The action is expected to save $161 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year.

It will take months to figure out which agencies and employees would be affected. The layoffs would apply only to workers in agencies under direct control of the governor's office such as highway crews, nurses, prison guards and forest rangers.

Employees not under Mr. Paterson's control include workers in the office of the attorney general, comptroller, state courts system or Legislature, Ms. Anglin said.

Mr. Paterson said no jobs are safe but he committed to protecting public safety.

State unemployment has risen during this recession to 7 percent in January, the latest number available, up from 4.7 percent a year before.

State jobs are most heavily concentrated in Albany and New York City, but they also represent a major part of local economies in many rural areas such as the Adirondacks and Southern Tier — particularly state prisons.

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Americans See 18% of Wealth Vanish <--- Poof!

The Hole in Our Wallets.

WALL ST. JOURNAL March 13, 2009.
by: S. MIRTA KALITA
photo 1: Alane Golden c. 2009.
photo 2: Fabio Stachi c. 2007. Website
photo 3: Lazy Bone c. 2006. Blog

The wealth of American families plunged nearly 18% in 2008, erasing years of sharp gains on housing and stocks and marking the biggest loss since the Federal Reserve began keeping track after World War II.

The Fed said Thursday that U.S. households' net worth tumbled by $11 trillion -- a decline in a single year that equals the combined annual output of Germany, Japan and the U.K. The data signal the end of an epoch defined by first and second homes, rising retirement funds and ever-fatter portfolios.

Past downturns have been mere blips compared with the losses Americans faced last year, which set them back to below 2004 levels. "In the postwar period, we've never had anything other than very modest declines. That life experience led many people to think that houses were a one-way bet," says Douglas Cliggott, the chief investment officer of Dover Management LLC.

The decline in Americans' net worth, which was the first in six years, follows an extraordinary boom. Not accounting for inflation, household wealth more than doubled from 1990 to 2000, and then, after a pause, rose nearly 50% before the bust of 2008.

While the value of their assets was falling, Americans' total debt remained roughly flat. Total household debt increased by half a percentage point in 2008 as families faced tighter lending standards and many started trying harder to live within their means. After years of splurging with an eye on their rising assets, that phenomenon, known as the wealth effect, now cuts the other way, spurring frugality.

Dawn Cortese, a mother of three boys, recalls the giddy days when she worked as an account executive for Pfizer Inc. and its stock price surged on sales of hit drugs such as Viagra and Lipitor.

"I'd look at my 401(k) and we'd feel comfortable, happy.... I was never very cautious," says Ms. Cortese, 40 years old, of Oakland, N.J. If her boys and their friends wanted burgers or pizza after a roller-hockey game, she obliged. A cleaning lady scrubbed her four-bedroom house and a landscaper mowed her lawn.

Eighteen months ago, Ms. Cortese quit Pfizer to start an event-planning business. She did well initially, turning a Sweet 16 party into a Hollywood set with lights and megaphones one weekend, or a country-western retirement party with a rodeo bar and mechanical bull the next. But last fall, business dried up. Her party props began to collect dust in the basement.

She has moved on to a new business: selling skin-care products through Arbonne International LLC, mostly through word of mouth and catalog sales.

Ms. Cortese's husband, Chris, says his job at a corporate-trade company is relatively stable. But the two are looking to get back on a firmer financial footing.

They've put their house, a gray McMansion in a development carved out of a mountain, on the market, for $799,999 -- $100,000 less than it was worth a year ago, Ms. Cortese says. The family's total portfolio, including stocks, retirement plans and college funds, is down 35%, the Corteses say.

"Even though my husband has a good job, I'm just looking at our portfolio and trying to do what's best," Ms. Cortese says, citing coupons and cooking at home as new survival tactics. If they can sell the house, they have their eye on a less-expensive property or would be open to renting for a few years. "My dad always said, 'Dawn, live below your means.' That's what I am trying to do."

Overall, the quarterly Fed report, known as the flow of funds report, underscores the new strain on the U.S. consumer: Mortgages and credit-card debt alone totaled $13 trillion, or 123% of after-tax income. In 1995, for instance, it was 83% of income.

Collectively, homeowners had 43% equity in their homes -- the lowest level since records have been kept. Amid foreclosures and tighter lending, the total amount of mortgage credit was down last year for the first time since the Fed started keeping track in 1945.

The recession that began in December 2007 has reversed a particularly long boom. "What's misleading about this being the biggest drop is that it was preceded by one of the biggest rises," says David Backus, an economics professor at the New York University Stern School of Business. "Even where it's come down to is not a low level compared to the last 50 years of history."

In all, the net worth of U.S. households stood at $51.48 trillion at the end of 2008, the Fed data showed. Besides being down 17.9% from a year earlier, it was down 9% just from the third quarter.

The net-worth figure encompasses all of families' assets -- housing, stocks, personal property -- minus their total debts.

Americans' assets have taken further hits in the first two months of 2009, a period not covered in the quarterly report.

Although stocks have risen for three straight days, they remain down roughly 16% since the fourth quarter, when Americans' portfolios of stocks and mutual funds were worth $8.76 trillion.

The national median home price, meanwhile, was $170,300 in January, down nearly 15% from a year earlier.

Among those hurt are small-business owners.

"Many people in the small-business sector were putting up their house" as collateral, intertwining their personal and business credit, notes Jane D'Arista, a research associate at the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. For many, "there's no channel for credit now," she adds. "The hit to the American family is so broad and so deep."

Deidre Helberg in Freeport, N.Y., once owned two homes, operating a day-care center out of one. She sold that home and business and put the profits into a business called Helberg Electrical Supply. "That money's all gone now," she says bitterly.

The past few years, while mostly profitable, were a game of juggling working capital and credit. "If you don't have capital, your credit rating is shot," she says. "And if you do have capital, you're supposed to invest it back into the business. That's part of the sacrifice, and there is not one company in America that has not gone through that sacrifice."

The process has wreaked havoc on her personal credit, as late fees accrue on mortgage payments.

Her son, a high-school senior, wanted to attend a private college but now is looking at state schools.

The last straw came late last year when Ms. Helberg was turned down for a credit line badly needed to pay a vendor. "I had $2 million in sales revenue and couldn't get $50,000," she says.

Ms. Helberg is hoping the Obama administration's stimulus package and "green" focus will help, noting that she sells solar panels, wind turbines and energy-efficient street lights.

Signs are emerging that Americans, in ways big and small, are pulling lessons from their collapsed empires. Of 46 economists responding to a recent Wall Street Journal survey, 43 predicted the new era of thrift will persist beyond the end of the recession.

That's evident in the Cortese household. The other day, Ms. Cortese says, her son asked if they could go to Abercrombie & Fitch, the retailer.

He didn't need anything in particular, "just wanted to go shopping," she recalls. She told him no.

And when her boys get their allowance weekly, it comes with a message.

Spend a little, give a dollar to church and, their mother advises, "put the rest in the piggy bank."

Write to S. Mitra Kalita at mitra.kalita@wsj.com

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A1

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

U.S. Jobless Rate Rose to 8.1 % in February

Posted: Crain's NY
March 06, 2009 9:09 AM

Number of unemployed climbed to 12.5 million as employers slashed payrolls by 651,000 and trimmed workers’ hours to hold down costs.

(AP) - The U.S. unemployment rate bolted to 8.1 percent in February, the highest since late 1983, as cost-cutting employers slashed 651,000 jobs.

Both figures were worse than analysts expected and the Labor Department's report shows America's workers being clobbered by a relentless wave of layoffs.

The net loss of 651,000 jobs in February came after even deeper payroll reductions in the prior two months, according to revised figures. The economy lost 681,000 jobs in December and another 655,000 in January.

Employers are shrinking their work forces at alarming clip and are turning to other ways to slash costs — including trimming workers' hours, freezing wages or cutting pay — because the recession has eaten into their sales and profits. Customers at home and abroad are cutting back as other countries cope with their own economic problems.

Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost an astounding 4.4 million jobs, more than half of which occurred in the past four months.

With employers showing no appetite to hire, the unemployment jumped to 8.1 percent from 7.6 percent in January. That was the highest since December 1983, when the jobless rate was 8.3 percent.

All told, the number of unemployed people climbed to 12.5 million. In addition, the number of people forced to work part time for "economic reasons" rose by a sharp 787,000 to 8.6 million. That's people who would like to work full time but whose hours were cut back or were unable to find full-time work.

Meanwhile, the average work week in February stayed at 33.3 hours, matching the record low set in December.

Job losses were widespread in February.

Construction companies eliminated 104,000 jobs. Factories axed 168,000. Retailers cut nearly 40,000. Professional and business services got rid of 180,000, with 78,000 jobs lost at temporary-help agencies. Financial companies reduced payrolls by 44,000. Leisure and hospitality firms chopped 33,000 positions.

The few areas spared: education and health services, as well as government, which boosted employment last month.

Disappearing jobs and evaporating wealth from tanking home values, retirement accounts and other investments have forced consumers to retrench, driving companies to lay off workers. It's a vicious cycle in which all the economy's negative problems feed on each other, worsening the downward spiral.

A new wave of layoffs hit this week.

General Dynamics Corp. said Thursday it will lay off 1,200 workers due partly to plummeting sales of business and personal jets that forced it to cut production. Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp., and Tyco Electronics Ltd., which makes electronic components, undersea telecommunications systems and wireless equipment, also are trimming payrolls.

The country is getting bloodied by fallout from the housing, credit and financial crises— the worst since the 1930s. And there's no easy fix for a quick turnaround, economists said.

President Barack Obama is counting on a multi-pronged assault to lift the country out of recession: a $787 billion stimulus package of increased federal spending and tax cuts; a revamped, multi-billion-dollar bailout program for the nation's troubled banks; and a $75 billion effort to stem home foreclosures.

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

NYC has lost 85,000 jobs since August.

Posted: Crain's NY
March 05, 2009 3:48 PM
by: Daniel Massey

Job losses wiped out more than 30% of New York City’s job gains since the end of the last recession.

The city has seen a net loss of 85,400 jobs since the labor market peaked in August, wiping out 32% of the job gains made since the end of the last recession in 2003, according to an analysis of New York State Department of Labor data by real estate services firm Eastern Consolidated.

After adjustments to last year’s data, the city’s unemployment rate fell to 6.9% in January, from 7% in December, the state labor department reports. But the January 2009 figure was significantly higher than in January 2008, when unemployment was 4.8%. The number of unemployed city residents jumped to 290,600 in January 2009, up 41% from a year earlier.

The sharpest losses since August were in financial activities, construction, and business and professional services, which eliminated a combined 48,600 jobs.

“It’s a pretty widespread decline, and it’s pretty obvious it’s going to get worse in the months ahead,” said James Brown, principal economist at the labor department.

One rare bright spot: Educational and health services, which remained the strongest sector, gained 6,400 jobs since August.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said he expects the city to lose nearly 300,000 jobs in this recession, more than the 222,700 that were shed from the 2001-03 downturn and on par with the 330,300 jobs lost when the 1987 stock market crash sparked an economic tailspin through the early 1990s.

At the state level, job-market conditions also deteriorated rapidly toward the end of 2008. As recently as the third quarter of 2008, the state was adding almost 70,000 private-sector jobs on a year-over-year net basis. But newly revised data show the private-sector count plummeted after peaking in the summer: About 111,300 private sector jobs were eliminated between August and December.

More recently, in January, the city lost only 300 private-sector jobs and 3,100 public-sector jobs, the Eastern Consolidated analysis shows, relatively modest losses compared to other recent months. The only industry with a significant loss was securities, which shed 4,200 jobs in January, bringing the total loss since Wall Street’s December 2007 high to 15,400.

January’s moderate loss was more a statistical fluke than a reversal in the downward direction of the economy, according to Barbara Byrne Denham, chief economist at Eastern Consolidated. The previous four months each saw an average loss of more than 20,000 jobs, and Ms. Denham expects the bad run to continue.

“The city,” she wrote, “should continue to see job losses of 10,000 a month, on average, for the next year and further.”

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner

Worst job losses in 60 years expected.

Posted: WSJ

By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch

Last update: 10:41 a.m. EST March 1, 2009.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The recession tightened its grip on U.S. businesses and consumers in February, according to economists, who are predicting the largest one-month job loss in almost 60 years.

"Pink slips continue to fly," said Meny Grauman, an economist for CIBC World Markets.

With output still falling at a dizzying rate, most companies are shedding unneeded workers and cutting back the hours of those remaining. Strapped by debt and seeing their paper wealth evaporating, many consumers are spending as little as they can.

"The economic patient is still in critical condition, with little medication to relieve the pain," wrote economists Brian Bethune and Nigel Gault of IHS Global Insight. "We will have to bite the bullet."

The first week of the new month brings two of the most important economic indicators: the ISM index and the non-farm payrolls report. Both are expected to be very grim news.

Little joy in manufacturing data:

First, on Monday, the Institute for Supply Management reports back from purchasing managers at manufacturing firms across the nation.

Although few people outside of the financial markets or the economics profession know what it is, the ISM is probably the best single leading indicator marking the end of a recession. The ISM is a diffusion index that measures the breadth of economic distress or success across firms. It asks key executives to judge whether business is getting better or worse.

Once the ISM -- and especially the new-orders component -- turns up decisively, the expansion is typically one to four months away, although in some cases it has turned up as much as a year before the end of a recession.

The ISM plunged to 32.9% in December -- a level only seen at the depths of the very worst recessions -- but it bounced back to 35.6% in January, giving some hope that we'd seen the bottom.

Unfortunately, the ISM is expected to dip back to 34% in February, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by MarketWatch, as global export markets worsened and U.S. capital spending remained weak.

The key components to watch will be new orders, export orders and inventories. Manufacturers' own inventories are too high, and they judge that their customers' inventories are too high as well. Once customer inventories are worked down, factories can get back to work.

Horrendous payroll numbers:

If the ISM is forecast to be awful, the non-farm payrolls report is expected to be horrendous. The Labor Department is slated to report the figures Friday.

Economists expect payrolls to plunge 630,000 in February, slightly more then the 598,000 lost in January and the 597,000 lost in November. The unemployment rate is expected to climb to 7.9% from 7.6%, breaking through the 7.8% peak in the 1991 recession to the highest level since 1984.

It would mean that a record 4.2 million jobs will have been lost since the recession began in December 2007, with no end in sight.

"Employment losses have deepened considerably in recent months," wrote economists for Wachovia, who expect total losses for the recession to top 6.5 million.

"With total revenue declining at its worst pace since the late 1950s, many businesses and governments are in survival mode and have no choice but to cut jobs," Wachovia economists said.

The main evidence for a worsening job market has been the rise in unemployment benefits. First-time claims have risen decisively over 600,000, nearly double the level at the beginning of the recession. Continuing claims are at an all-time high. Consumer surveys also show extreme pessimism about finding a job.

While some forecasters think job losses in February stayed in the ballpark of about 590,000, a few economists think the labor market got much worse in February and are expecting losses of 650,000, 700,000, or in one case, even 800,000.

The report is "likely to be the weakest to date," wrote economists for Barclays Capital, who expect payroll losses of 675,000 and an unemployment rate of 8%.

"February was the worst month yet," said Global Insight's Bethune and Gault, who are predicting payroll losses of 750,000 and an employment rate of 8%.

Others have a slightly less dire view, if a loss of 625,000 could be considered upbeat. "Our sense, admittedly based mostly on anecdotes, is that labor market conditions remain dismal but are not necessarily accelerating to the downside," wrote Stephen Stanley, chief economist for RBS Greenwich Capital.

Economists expect the number of hours worked to continue plunging as more workers are forced into part-time shifts. In January, 7.8 million workers wanted to work full time but could only get part-time work.

Average weekly earnings likely rose 0.3% again, as the lowest-paid occupations took a larger share of job losses.

Worst since '49? Or since '45?

If the economy did shed 630,000 jobs in February as expected, it would be the third largest monthly loss on record, dating back to 1939.

The record was set in September 1945, when nearly 2 million people lost their jobs after the Allies won the most destructive war in history and industry was retooling for peacetime, sending "Rosie the Riveter" back to her knitting.

In October 1949, 834,000 jobs were lost when almost all the nation's steelworkers went on strike in the final month of a brutal but short recession.

Another strike in July 1956 cost 629,000 jobs, but the next month saw 678,000 jobs regained.

Of course, the size of the workforce is much larger today than it was in 1949 or 1956. But as a proportion of the workforce, this recession also is moving up in the record books.

If 630,000 jobs were lost in February, it would bring total losses in this recession to just over 3% of payrolls, close to the 3.1% lost in the recessions of 1982, 1954 and 1949 (excluding the strike). Next on the list: 4% in 1958 and 6.9% in 1945.

If Wachovia economists are right that 6.5 million will lose their jobs by the end, employment will have fallen by 4.7% in this recession.

And remember: These forecasts assume the Federal Reserve will slowly be able to get credit flowing again, and that the recently approved fiscal stimulus will give a significant boost to the economy.

Rex Nutting is Washington bureau chief of MarketWatch.

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.