Prosperity – Is Your Personal Misery Index Linked to the National Misery Index?

In the 1960’s, Arthur Okun, an advisor to President Johnson designed an economic indicator call the National Misery Index.  It is the sum of the unemployment rate added to the inflation rate.  Misery was assumed to be worse when there was high unemployment and high inflation.  Both conditions would cause economic and social chaos.  There was also a Barro Misery Index that included Gross Domestic Product and the bank rate, but it never got the full back as the simple Misery Index.

Many people have never heard of it, and most of us never track the Misery Index.  It seems to be one of those numbers bandied about by politicians.  In fact, President Jimmy Carter referred to the Misery Index often during his campaign.  It backfired on him because unemployment and inflation spiked during his presidency and hit an all time high – which led to his not winning a second term.  Even though the Misery Index was developed in the 1960’s, it was easy to calculate it by month for previous administrations.  Following World War II the following Misery Index averages were recorded:  Truman – 7.88, Eisenhower – 6.26, Kennedy – 7.14, Johnson – 6.77, Nixon – 10.57, Ford – 14.93, Carter – 20.27, Reagan – 11.19, Bush (41) – 9.68, Clinton – 8.80 and Bush (43) – 8.10.  Each president inherited the Misery Index ending value from his predecessor at whatever level it was when he took office.

Of course the average Misery Index doesn’t tell you the whole story.  As a statistician, I look at the range – the high and low – along with other factors to fully understand the final number reported.  The range for each president was:  Truman – 10.16, Eisenhower – 8.07, Kennedy – 1.98, Johnson – 2.49, Nixon – 5.81, Ford – 3.76, Carter – 9.36, Reagan – 11.63, Bush (41) – 2.83, Clinton – 4.82 and Bush (43) – 5.76.  The absolute lowest measured Misery Index was under Eisenhower at 2.97 and the highest was under Carter at 21.98.  One other factor that I consider in evaluating numbers is the trend – are the numbers going up or down.  In the case of the Misery Index, a downward trend is desirable.

The Misery Index focuses on implied misery in our society – higher unemployment and higher inflation – both infer that citizens in our society would be more miserable if the index number was higher.  A Gross National Happiness (GNH) index was designed to reflect the quality of life in more psychological terms.  Our current chief economic indicator, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), measures the commerce of our country.  The GDP contains costs reflecting positive contributions to our commerce, but, in reality, there are many costs that do not contribute to our commerce in a positive manner.  Researches thought they could just deduct those costs and the GDP would be a better indicator of overall happiness in our society.  Nevertheless, the GNH index attempted to truly reflect the social and psychological well-being of our population rather than commercial transactions.

The Misery Index is easy to state in mathematical terms – add inflation and unemployment and you have it.  The GNH is more qualitative than quantitative involving the promotion of sustainable development, the promotion and preservation of cultural integrity and values, environmental conservation, and good governance.  It is difficult to attach realistic numbers to measure the breadth of our country.  A Genuine Progress Indicator was developed that focused on well-being and happiness only.  Again, these factors are difficult to measure and Daniel Kahneman, a Princeton University psychologist, began recording this information using the ‘day reconstruction method’ which relies on diary entries recording memories of your previous day at work.

So, where am I going with this?  I started out asking the question about your personal Misery Index.  There is no such thing.  You are either employed or not, and inflation is a factor in your life, but it is difficult to quantify.  Happiness and misery are at opposite ends of a measurement.  Why not look at factors in your life that you can easily quantify or allocate a personal qualitative assessment?  I believe it should include wealth, health and other factors that should be balanced in your life.

I would propose that wealth could be measured in a variety of qualitative ways – are you better off today than last month or last year?  Do you have more disposable cash today compared to last month or last year?  Has your savings grown since last month or last year?  Are your bills being paid on time compared to last month or a year ago?  There are other similar questions that you could design into your personal index.  As a qualitative measurement, you can determine your trend toward happiness or misery.

The same assessments can be done for your health (mental and physical).  Are you genuinely feeling better today compared to last month or a year ago?  Are you medical expenses higher today compared to last month or a year ago?  Are you more active today compared to last month or a year ago?  Is your memory as sharp today as it was a month ago or year ago?  Are you sleeping better today compared to last month or last year?  I would then add topics such as work, relationships, time management, spirituality, personal development, and uncertainty caused by politics, regulations, environment, security, individual freedom, etc.

A personal Misery or Happiness Index could be developed if you so chose.  It would give you trends and allow you to reflect about what needs to be changed in your life to make a difference.  It gives you the ability to begin controlling things that you may take for granted or assume that you have little or no control over.  Attitude is a major driver of our misery and happiness.  Controlling your attitude is the first place I would suggest to begin a trend or shift towards more happiness in your life.  I suggested that these measurements be done today, last month and a year ago.  Why is that?  Today you can assess things pretty well – it is what it is.  You can remember last month fairly easily, at least for the vast majority of us.  Last year is a bit trickier, but it is not too far a time in the past to recollect where you were on certain issues.

It is interesting that when I worked for Memorex in the mid to late 70’s, the company did a random call to workers monthly and asked questions about a myriad of topics in which I (and other employees) chose to answer (not mandatory) about how well we were that day, a month ago and a year ago.  I’m sure thoughts emanating from part of my brain led me to this blog.

Choices have consequences.  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin

Health – More Than 50% of the World Has Helicobacter Pylori – Do You Know What To Do?

Most of us have heard the term ‘ulcers.’  We used to think it was caused by stress.  Now we know differently.  In the old days, there seemed to be no solution, so the symptoms were generally treated by drinking milk to reduce your stomach’s acidity.  It calmed the stomach, but did not cure the infection.  It’s hard to believe that over 50% of the world has this common bacterial infection, but they do.  Many people, over 80%, have no symptoms at all.  Those who do have symptoms usually experience abdominal pain, bloating and fullness in their abdominal area, indigestion, feeling extremely hungry after a couple hours of eating and mild nausea that might result in vomiting.

In 1982, Australian doctors Barry Marshall and Robin Warren discovered Helicobacter pylori (HP) in the stomachs of patients with gastritis and stomach ulcers.  It was traditionally thought that no bacteria cold live in your stomach because of the high acid content – almost the same strength as in your car’s battery.  For their seminal work in finding HP, Dr Marshall and Dr. Warren were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology in 2005.  It is interesting to note that this bacterium had been found earlier in history – in 1875 by German scientists and in 1893 by an Italian researcher.  They both described the HP bacterium, but were unable to culture it.  HP has a characteristic spiral or corkscrew shape.

HP survives in your stomach by hiding in the mucus lining.  As such, it weakens your stomach lining and allows your digestive juice to irritate your stomach lining.  It is interesting that patients with an actual ulcer benefit better from antibiotic treatments than patients with heartburn and acid reflux.  A preferred treatment by some doctors today is to treat HP patients with antibiotics and proton-pump inhibitors.  These treatments must be taken for two weeks.  In most cases a combination of antibiotics are used so that the HP bacterium cannot develop a resistance to any single treatment.  Typical antibiotics used are clarithromycin (Biaxin), amoxicillin, tetracycline and metronidazole (Flagyl).  Sometimes proton-pump inhibitors are used to treat HP.  These drugs include omeprazole (Priolosec), lansoprazole (Prevacid) and esomaprazole (Nexium).    I personally prefer non-prescription options.  In some cases, bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol) works.  I use whole-fruit mangosteen juice for any stomach ailment.  I’ve found that it offers nearly instant relief and it lasts a long time and has no side effects.  Regardless of what you use, HP is difficult to cure.

HP grows only in your stomach.  Most people contract HP when they are children.  The most likely cause is unsanitary living conditions – prevalent in so many areas in the world.  HP can also be passed on from one person to another.  Many people can have HP and never get an ulcer.  However, drinking coffee and alcohol increase your risk of contracting an ulcer.  An increased risk of developing an ulcer can be found in people who smoke.

There are many tests that can confirm you have HP.  Blood (antibody), breath (carbon urea breath test), stool (antigen) test and urine tests can be used.  The most accurate and reliable method to detect HP is a biopsy check with an upper endoscopy of your esophagus, stomach and duodenum.  This is a particularly invasive procedure and can be used to verify any existent stomach ulcers.  None of the tests are absolutely fail-proof.  Biopsies are dependent on the location where the biopsy was taken – blood antibody tests are 75-85% accurate – urine tests can be up to 96% accurate.  False negatives can be obtained by drug interactions that you might be taking.  The good news is that once you have been cured of HP, the odds of it returning are very low.  Breath and stool tests can confirm if you have been cured of HP.

There have been some reports that untreated HP can lead to other stomach complications, most notably stomach cancer.  Contact your doctor if you have blood in your stool, abdominal pain, persistent indigestion or heartburn.  Seek immediate medical help if you begin vomiting blood.

Choices have consequences.  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin

Health – Phosphatidylserine (PS) – A Solution That Works Combating Alzheimer’s and Dementia

Phosphatidylserine (PS) is an essential fatty acid.  Our bodies produce essential fatty acids from the food that we eat.  As we age, our chemical processes slow down – they lose efficiency.  PS levels begin to decline as we reach middle age.  This is exacerbated by lowering levels of other essential fatty acids, folic acid and vitamin B12.  PS is absolutely required for successful neurotransmission.  PS deficiency has been noted to various types of mental impairment – Alzheimer’s, dementia, depression and Parkinson’s disease.  The deficiency of PS in patients with mental impairment led some investigators to believe that PS supplementation could reverse memory loss if PS levels were brought up to normal levels.

It has been observed that PS supplementation has raised levels of PS in our brains and has boosted nerve chemical activity, stimulated nerve cell growth and lowered levels of stress hormones.  In many cases, PS appears to reverse age-related memory loss in clinical studies.  I have looked at several studies with successful outcomes when patients were treated with 100 to 400 milligrams of PS a day for an average of three months.  The patients were typically elderly with various degrees of age-related memory loss.

Is a deficiency in PS the only cause for age-related memory loss?  No.  A number of studies have shown that hypertension, diabetes, vitamin B12 deficiency, heavy mental poisoning, menopause, multiple medications, depression, lack of mental activity, stress and atherosclerosis have an effect of cognitive impairment.  In fact, one study done by Larrabee & Crook in 1994 estimated that more than half of people over age 60 have some age-related memory impairment.  Age-related memory impairment can be as slight as a perception of memory loss.  You say to yourself, “Where did I put my car keys?”  Many times, this slight level of perceived memory impairment can be overcome by looking at the location of where you placed your keys, glasses, or other item that you use frequently and say to your brain, “I left my keys on the counter next the phone.”  This reinforces your brain to remember where you left something.

What other things can help retain memory loss?  Let’s go down the list – treat hypertension if you have it, take more vitamin B12 if you are deficient, take a test of heavy metal poisoning, and, if poisoned, take an appropriate remedy.  You can also have your doctor review your medications to see if there might be overlapping side effects might also include memory loss.  A change in prescriptions might be advised – talk to you doctor.  The FDA has had reports cognitive difficulty from patients taking statin drugs for cholesterol control.  Half of the memory loss problems occurred within the first two months of starting a statin protocol.  Some memory loss problems were identified within five days.  Recovery from memory loss was noticed in those most of those patients who discontinued their statin drug programs.

Depression can be treated in a number of ways.  I have seen interesting positive results with Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT).  Lack of mental activity is easy – do more crossword puzzles, Sudoku and the like, read more, talk more to people you don’t associate with much – the conversations will be different and simulating.  Overcoming stress is similar to depression relief.  There are many solutions.  EFT has amazing results with stress relief.  Atherosclerosis can be evaluated by your doctor and treatment can be forthcoming if that is your problem.  I was reading yesterday that 30-40 minutes of moderate walking a day can ‘force’ more blood into your brain and begin knocking down some of the cobwebs that might have grown there because of inactivity.  All these options are open to you, plus PS supplementation.

PS supplementation has been shown to be more effective with lower levels of age-related memory loss.  There are few side effects from PS supplementation – nothing greater than an upset stomach.  Generally, the longer you had impaired memory problems, the longer it takes to return to normal.  There has been a noticeable change in memory loss in most patients, even if they don’t return to the full memory level.  There seems to be a gradual build-up of PS to required levels in your brain.  The longer it is taken the better the results.

Professor Parris Kidd from the Memory Loss Institute has reviewed over 3000 peer-reviewed research papers on PS and found remarkable benefits.  PS supplementation has been established as very safe to take.  Professor Kidd believes that PS supplementation (phosphatidyl serine and phosphatidyl choline) is the single best means for conserving memory and other high brain functions as we age.  Retaining good brain function in later years can be as simple as using your brain more.  But, there is a supplement that can help you if you are interested.

Choices have consequences.  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin

Motivation – 16 Desires That Get In Your Way

A couple weeks back I blogged about desires and expectations.  I said that happiness is the difference between our expectations and our reality.  Expectations are always in the future.  Desire is related to our present and is representative of our reality.  If we have it pretty good, then our desires are satisfied and our future expectations are lowered.  If our current reality is lacking, then our desire is for better and our expectations are increased.  Our desires and expectations today are dynamic; they change as our reality changes.

I was doing further research on desire and came across some interesting tidbits that fascinated me.  A desire is a sense of craving or yearning for a person, thing or outcome.  The philosopher Hobbes (1588-1679) stated that human desire is the fundamental motivation for all human action.  Motivation can be intrinsic (coming from within you) or extrinsic (coming from the environment).  A lot of people think they are motivated by money, but they really are not.  That’s a topic for another blog.  I used to teach courses around the country in an earlier life and spent the better part of a couple hours talking about motivation.

Many of us have heard that we are motivated to minimize physical and mental pain or maximize pleasure.  Anthony Robbins took those two concepts and explained decision theory – why we decide to do something – avoid pain or seek pleasure.  Professor Steven Reiss, is a professor of psychology and psychiatry and an author.  In his book, Who Am I?  The 16 Basic Desires That Motivate Our Action and Define Our Personalities (Tarcher/Putnam, 2000), said that these sixteen desires are what drive our everyday actions and make us who we are.  The uniqueness of individuals are based on the combinations and ranking of these desires.

Professor Reiss found that many researchers tried to reduce all human behavior to the basic two elements – pleasure and pain.  He did a number of studies involving over 6000 people and determined that there are sixteen intrinsic desires in each one of us.  These sixteen basic desires guide nearly all human behavior.  The sixteen basic desires are:
Acceptance – the need for approval
Curiosity – the need to think
Eating – the need for food
Family – the need to raise family
Honor – the need to be loyal to the traditional values of one’s clan or ethnic group
Idealism – the need for social justice
Independence – the need for individuality
Order – the need for organized, stable and predictable environments
Physical Activity – the need for exercise
Power – the need for influence of will
Romance – the need for sex
Saving – the need to collect
Social Contact – the need for friends (peer relationships)
Status – the need for social standing/importance
Tranquility – the need to be safe
Vengeance – the need to strike back

Professor Reiss emphasized that at least fourteen of the sixteen basic desires appear to have a genetic basis.  The desires of idealism and acceptance do not appear to have a genetic base.  These sixteen basic desires can describe over two trillion desire profiles.  Think about two or three people you know extremely well.  How different are they on each of the sixteen basic desires? These desires are intrinsic – they are internal to each of us.  They are part of our mindset.  They determine how much effort we are willing to expend to get something.  If we have an exceptional strong desire for vengeance, then we will do literally anything in our power to exact that revenge.  Other people with a low basic desire for vengeance will rationalize or justify to themselves why it is not worth their time to seek vengeance – the person, the object of their hatred will get his or her just rewards in this life or the next.

Each of these sixteen basic desires has been built from genetic codes which established your baseline at birth and have been reinforced in different ways through your learning experiences.  You may realize that your career requires a lot more of the basic desire for social contact – the need for friends and peer relationships.  I am an introvert and don’t like to walk up to a stranger and introduce myself and begin a conversation.  I feel very uncomfortable doing that.  I understand it.  But, I understand that my business requires that I wear that hat to do business.  If you ask people who know me about my being an introvert – they would swear that I’m absolutely the opposite.  I recognize a need to improve my skills in the area of social networking to earn more money.  I have changed my basic desire for social contact by direct action and will continue to change it in the future.  There was a lot of trial and error and awkward moments, but I have the ability to put on a particular hat and act professional.
Are any of these basic desires getting in the way of your life?

Choices have consequences.  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin

Alex, I’ll have #1 Songs for a $1000.00

I was dancing the Macarena tonight at a St. Valentine’s Day dinner and dance.  I didn’t realize that I would be the chef for 200+ people for this event.  The lyrics are:  When I dance, they call me Macarena.  And the boys, they say that I´m Buena.  They all want me, they can´t have me.  So they all come and dance beside me, move with me, jam with me, and if your good I take you home with me.  A la tuhuelpa legria Macarena.  Que tuhuelce paralla legria cosabuena.  A la tuhuelpa legria macarena Eeeh, Macarena.  A-Hai 2x.  Now don´t you worry ´bout my boy friend, the boy who´s name is Nicorino.  I don´t want him, ´cause sent him he was no good so I – hahaaaa.  Now, come on, what was I supposed to do ?  He was outta town and his two friends were soooo fine.

I like dancing.  I like fast dancing.  I love the 60’s music and appreciate music that has a good beat after the 60’s.  Beside, ‘Joy to the World’ by Three Dog Night, there really wasn’t a whole lot of songs I enjoyed.  Maybe it was because of the diversity of the group present in the hall tonight, or maybe it was other factors.  It all started this morning.  Today at 0900 my day started – we met at our church’s assembly hall to begin the day by setting up tables for tonight’s event.  After a couple of hours I was ‘invited’ to purchase the food to the event.  We have a chef in our organization and I looked forward to learning a lot from him.

The early phone calls to our chef and a visit to his home proved fruitless.  As it turned out many hours later, he thought the event was tomorrow night.  I purchased up 350 chicken breasts along with some potatoes and green beans plus some salad materials and dessert.  It took almost three hours to thaw out 350 chicken breasts.  During that time I had some help preparing salads and prepping and cooking the potatoes and green beans.  The big item of the night was chicken.  I know that if your cook it too long, it turns to leather and is no good.  I was at a major point in my cooking life – no place to turn to.

I’ve cooked spaghettis dinners for 150 people and felt pretty confident.  But, I felt 200+ chicken dinners was a bit beyond my ability.  Two hours before the event I started cooking the chicken breasts in a convection oven for about ten minutes each – about 60 chicken breasts at a time.  They were not done, but they were ready for additional time in an oven set on ‘low’ so that they would not be leather-like when served.  I was very concerned with the chicken and really disregarded the other items being served with it.

Seven o’clock arrived and people have been pouring in for almost an hour.  It was time to serve the salads and begin the dinner preparations.  I had prepared a mushroom sauce and sliced some green onions and pulled some sprouts off springs of parsley as an extra touch to add to the chicken.  We set up eight plates at a time and began loading the plates with the chicken, sauce, potatoes, green beans and bread.  I had 350 chicken breasts to feed 200+ people.  I remained in the kitchen overseeing the activities of salad delivery, food preparation and delivery until it became a routine.  At that point I left and put on my tuxedo and joined the regalia.

I received many compliments tonight regarding the chicken and overall dinner preparation and display.  I was pleased with the results.  I decided to pull the chicken out of the oven before it was done to ensure that the time spent in ‘warming’ did not dry the chicken out too much.  It worked out well – I guessed right – 200 people were served and the chicken was not dry or overcooked.  To me, it was a major success.  I learned a lot thrust into the breech at the last second.

I enjoyed the festivities and got to dance more than a few dances and felt pretty good when the evening was over.  Even though I didn’t have a mentor tonight to teach me how to cook for two hundred people, it worked out well in that I accomplished that mission with gut feeling and intuition.

Sometimes you have to ‘wing it’ and do what is required with the information you possess.  I love the cook but, cooking for 200+ people was a challenge.  It was more of a challenge when it contained an item that is easily overcooked and is served too dry or leathery.

Great lessons learned tonight and looking forward to the next challenge!  Oh, by the way, the answer to the trivia question about the last #1 song before the 21st century that had the a women’s name in the title was…is Macarena.

Choices have consequences,  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin

Checking IN

Welcome aboard. I am Your Prosperity Professor. I also go by Prosperity Red. It’s always best when we learn lessons in life that can make us better. Those kinds of lessons that we can say that we’ll never do again if presented with the same circumstances.  What I learned was the real meaning of SPAM.  I had a blog on another free blogging website.  I had done 300 blogs in a row and felt like I was doing everything correctly.  What I didn’t realize was that the links that I was putting into the blog at the end of each one of my blogs – intended to drive traffic to my websites and to increase my web presence in the internet world – was SPAM and not allowed.  I doubled-checked this free blog website to make sure that their terms/policies were fully understood before I signed up. They are the same – SPAM is SPAM and not allowed.  So, the lesson I learned is not to SPAM.  Yes, I want to help people and would like to direct them to my other websites, but they will have to find those websites without direct links on this one.  

So, this is blog number one, but, in reality blog number three hundred and one.  My goal is to provide information that will help with personal development, self-improvement, health and wealth.  Occasionally, I may share a personal story from my military or civilian life that may be of general interest – or, might reinforce a principle or topic that I have blogged about over time.

Choices have consequences.  Your Prosperity Professor, Red O’Laughlin