Rescue efforts were the first priority in the storm’s wake. Staten Island had such terrible flooding that some homes came loose from their foundations and ended up in a nearby marsh. Officers from the New York Police Department’s Harbor Unit, whose boats had been swept to the other side of the marina, had to improvise in their rescue efforts. “We took zodiacs, john boats, rafts, whatever flotation devices we had,” said Capt. Anthony Russo. “We were walking these rafts through the streets of Staten Island and pulling people out of their homes.”

As of Saturday, five days after the storm, the NYPD’s aviation team was still flying over the destruction to rescue people from rooftops, which gave them a full view of the destruction. “It almost looks like a wrecking ball just came through and just swept these homes out from this high up in the air,” said Sgt. Bill Shalleesh.

Electricity was cut in Lower Manhattan when the storm surge caused an explosion at a ConEd substation, and power was restored to most neighborhoods on Friday night. Witnesses say they could hear screams of joy when the lights came back on, as people prepared to return to their hastily abandoned apartments.

New York subway travel, suspended due to unprecedented flooding, had been 80% restored by Saturday, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The lack of transportation between the five boroughs caused long delays for commuters, who had long waits for shuttle buses. In New Jersey, the Northeast Corridor line from the Trenton Transportation Center to New York Penn Station was back in service by Friday.

Eight million gallons of fuel have been delivered to the region and more are on their way, but long lines at gas stations continue. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie set up a fuel rationing system; people with odd numbered license plates buy gas on odd numbered days and people with even numbered plates can fuel up on even numbered days.

In New York, mobile fuel stations throughout the city will distribute free gas with a ten-gallon limit, but emergency vehicles have first priority.

Many stations sold out of gas quickly, while others have available fuel but no electricity to run the pumps.

Gov. Cuomo asked people to remain calm and patient. “Do not panic. I know there is anxiety about fuel…The situation has been remedied. Gas stations will be getting fuel,” Cuomo said.

The median income dropped 1.5% in 2011, to $50,054. However, the top 1% of Americans saw a 6% increase in their income. The middle class experienced a 1.6 to 1.9% decrease, while the poorest class experienced virtually no change in median income. Essentially, the rich got richer, the middle class got poorer, and the poor stayed put. The western states were hit the worst, with a 4.1% decrease in the median middle class family income.

At the same time, the poverty rate decreased from 15.1% in 2010 to 15.0% in 2011. The poverty rate is currently defined as an income lower than $23,021 for a family of four.

The median income decline is worse than people might think, however. Since its peak in 1999, median income has declined 8.9%. Most of this has been recent, too. The median income has declined 8.1% since 2007, the year directly preceding the latest recession.

The poorest class seems to have avoided increased poverty by increasing their participation in the full-time work force. During the year 2011, the poor increased full-time work by 17.3%. Critics are quick to point out, as the Heritage Foundation has done, that $900 billion of stimulus money also influenced Americans’ place in reference to the poverty line.

Still, Hispanics in poverty decreased from 26.5% to 25.3%. Southern states saw 1.23 million more full-time workers and a 740,000-person decrease in poverty. Some regions and demographics fared better than others, but the United States as a whole experienced a slight drop in poverty while still not improving incomes.

All of these details play into the current presidential campaign. The Democratic Party is attempting to portray the Republicans as the party concerned solely with the success of the rich elites. On the other hand, the Republican Party frames the Democrats as irresponsibly expanding entitlements and ending the work requirement for government welfare assistance.

According to a poll taken in the swing states of Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida by Quinnipiac University in conjunction with CBS and the New York Times in mid-August, Medicare is important to approximately 90% of voters ages 65 and up, and nearly 80% of voters in the 50 to 64 age range.

Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan as his choice for vice president has placed an even larger focus on the topic of Medicare because of the changes that would come to the Medicare program if a budget proposed by Mr. Ryan and endorsed by many House Republicans were enacted, most notably replacing Medicare’s current guaranteed coverage levels with a voucher program for seniors.

However, in his Republican National Convention address, Paul Ryan attacked President Obama for changes that he has made in the way the Medicare program is funded and asserted that he and Mitt Romney would “protect and strengthen Medicare for my mom’s generation, for my generation and for my kids and yours.”

Although the Republican Party has traditionally had an edge with older voters, the Democratic Party believes that concern among seniors about their proposed changes to Medicare could give them an edge in this year’s presidential election. Democrats are also hoping for increased support from baby boomers who would be targeted for reduced benefits under the Republican Party’s latest Medicare reform proposals.

As members of the baby boomer generation slowly transition from the working world and head towards retirement, they will find themselves facing new decisions like the need to buy wheelchairs and other health assistance devices. After feeling the squeeze of the current economic crisis and facing the prospect of reduced standards of living in their retirement years, there can be no doubt that boomers and seniors may very well be the deciding factor in the 2012 Presidential election.

According to Kent Anderson, president of Macys.com, “[International traffic] was coming whether we were offering them, frankly, any realistic way to interact with the site or not.” Other retailers who haven’t yet built an international following are considering using their website to gauge market interest abroad. In either situation, the ability to expand a store’s offerings to a global consumer market has potential that can’t be ignored. Retail analyst John D. Morris of BMO Capital Markets explains, “The retailers have been looking for new avenues of growth beyond the U.S.”

This might make good sense as Forrester Research predicts that online retail sales from outside the United States will grow at a faster pace than domestic U.S. sales. Online retail sales within the United States are only expected to grow 42 percent between 2011 and 2015. However, growth in online retail sales in other areas of the world is expected to increase by 67 percent during that same time period.

Drivers of International Demand

Much of the new international traffic is driven by the growth of the mobile devices as the primary platform for accessing the Internet, which keeps people connected and surfing nearly all the time. The use of mobile phones outside the United States is quite high and growing.

However, international shoppers also visit U.S. retailer websites because the prices are often lower than those in shoppers’ home countries. Shopping on U.S. websites also gives international shoppers access to trendy or new U.S. products that aren’t locally available.

Challenges of Shipping Abroad

While the business case for enabling international shoppers to buy from U.S. online retailers is clear, the logistics are often more challenging. The warehouse management systems of many U.S. retailers only recognize five digit postal codes, since that’s the postal code length used in the United States. However, not all countries use five digits in their postal codes, so the software systems can’t process these orders.

Warehouse management, ordering, and shipping software packages also have to be upgraded to accommodate issues like customs labeling, local sales taxes, and postal charges. There are also closely related legal issues regarding what can be sold and sent into some countries. For example, it is illegal to import playing cards into Spain.

As a result, the transactional costs for a retailer to offer international sales can be prohibitive. In response, some smaller U.S. retailers are outsourcing their international fulfillment to third-party vendors, such as International Checkout, to handle all these issues.

Grow Your Own

Starting a small garden is an excellent way to keep your food budget under control. In addition to providing you with healthy food choices, showing children how to grow their own food teaches them sustainable methods of providing for themselves. Children often greatly enjoy selecting plants and helping with soil and mulch while planting.

For families who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as Food Stamps, money from the program can be used to buy plants to grow seasonal fruits and vegetables inexpensively. Supplies such as mulch, growing soil and planters are inexpensive. Growing your own food allows you to control how it is grown and is a great family activity.

You can easily grow tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, herbs, onions and other vegetables in small containers. Strawberries are also easy to grow in small container gardens.

Farmers Markets

You can also buy seasonal fruits and vegetables for little money by shopping at local farmers markets. Farmers’ markets have grown in popularity in recent years and you can find them in almost any town. Many smaller markets allow families with excess produce to sell to the community. This type of resource allows you to talk directly to the growers, learning about how they grow their products and even the best ways to prepare the food.

Environmental Work Group Suggestions

The Environmental Work Group (EWG) is a nonprofit group that provides information about making healthy food choices. They’re free download, “Good Food on a Tight Budget,” offers suggestions on inexpensive foods available that are high in nutrition and good tasting. They also provide a list of resources, including food banks and nonprofit organizations that provide food to families. Additionally, they have a recipe section and menu planning tools to help you plan your shopping.

Inexpensive Foods

You can also eat healthy foods without spending a great deal of money. Foods such as beans are inexpensive and are high in fiber and antioxidants, which fight off cancer and free radicals that can damage your skin and contribute to aging. You can buy high fiber foods such as rice and whole wheat pasta in bulk and save money.

Other ways to save money include buying fewer expensive cuts of meat and cooking them with potatoes, carrots and other vegetables in a slow cooker. You can also make your own cooking sprays using olive oil and substitute yogurt for more expensive cream or whole milk in recipes.

Eating healthy does not mean you have to spend a great deal of money. By growing your own vegetables, shopping at local farmers’ markets and buying in large quantities, you can save a great deal of money. Although it can be hard to give up cheap fast food, your health will improve in the long run, as will your budget.

Recently, a news report came out about high school graduates who were taking the ACT standards test. More than one out of four students who took the ACT was not ready for college according to their Math, Science, English or Reading score. Although the ACT report said that Math and Science scores have improved, the numbers still show many students trailing dismally behind. Only one out of four students was able to score high enough on all four test subjects to be considered college ready.

Translation into the Workforce

With so many students performing poorly in school, businesses are struggling to fill their positions with qualified applicants. Across the United States, 12.8 million Americans were searching for the job, but were unable to find one because they lacked the correct skills. To fill this demand, businesses have resorted to importing labor from abroad. Unfortunately, the United States has restrictions on the number of workers and kind of employees that companies can bring in.

If they had the option, businesses would increase the number of foreign-born employees. In just 2010, the United States reported 294,108 H-1B visa applications. Each year, the government in the United States limits the number of foreign workers to just 85,000. The only exception is for educational and non-profit organizations.

Changes to the Education System

The United States has been forced to deal with an ongoing recession in the last few years. As a result, 54 percent of schools had to increase class sizes and 35 percent had to reduce non-academic programs. For students that are lagging behind, the numbers show that 22 percent of schools eliminated the summer school programs students need to catch up. In the last three years, local schools have lost 312, 000 jobs. These teachers would have been a vital source of education for incoming high school students, but instead the positions were left unfilled or eliminated completely.

Despite budget limitations, not all of the blame for educational deficiencies is with the school systems. Each year, the Princeton Review ranks the top party schools in the nation. It seems that students in the United States spend a higher amount of time partying and less time studying than their peers in other countries. One survey even showed that college students in the United States were happier if they drank. Between a flailing school system and party-loving students, the education gap in the United States is only going to grow in comparison to its peers.

Apple sued Samsung for $2.7 billion based on what it alleged were violations of numerous patents they own for their popular iPhone and iPad devices. Samsung denied the allegations and filed a countersuit in the amount of $519 million for what it said were violations of several of its patents by Apple.

Because the court case dealt with several different product lines, detailed patents, and a wide range of laws, the jury was required to complete a lengthy verdict form (20 pages) that itemized each of the charges and products in dispute. However, before the jury even had the opportunity to deliberate on the facts of the case, they were required to wade through a mammoth set of jury instructions that exceeded 100 pages.

Ultimately, the jury sided with Apple and ordered Samsung to pay $1 billion in punitive damages for violating Apple’s patents. After the grueling deliberation process, all of the jurors chose not to speak with the media about their decision.

Representatives from Samsung expressed concern that in addition to negatively impacting their company, the court ruling would also adversely impact consumers by limiting innovation and competition in the smart phone and pad computing marketplace. However, Apple countered that the verdict was a validation of the veracity of their claims and a huge blow against corporate product copying and patent infringement.

The judge in the case, Lucy Koh, has ordered the court to reconvene on September 20th to decide if any injunctions will be issued preventing Samsung from selling the computing and mobile devices in question in the United States. The current battle being waged in U.S. federal court is just the latest in a long series of court battles between Apple and Samsung that have been fought with varying degrees of success all over the world.

Zakaria’s claims fail to hold up to close scrutiny, however.

While the United States does spend a smaller portion of its GDP on research and development than several of its rival countries, the actual amount spent on research in the United States dwarfs the amounts spent by all other countries. In fact, the United States spends a third of all research dollars worldwide, spending more than $400 billion dollars annually on scientific research. Although government spending for research has dropped, the private sector has more than compensated for these lost research dollars.

Zakaria’s second claim fares no better. American students haven’t fallen behind on the international tests he cites; American students have never done well on these tests. In the first international standardized test, done in 1964, American students scored 11th out of the 12 participating nations. In the 2009 test, Americans placed 25th out of 34. America’s schools teach its students how to think, rather than teaching its students how to take standardized international tests.

The United States is still recognized as the leader in education and science; more Nobel prizes go to Americans than any other nationality, and gifted immigrants still clamor to study in the United States.

While Zakaria’s concern for America’s future is admirable, it is misguided. Creating more scientists won’t necessarily lead to more jobs; academic positions are exceedingly hard to obtain. Even in the most promising fields, fewer than half of all recently graduated doctoral students find an academic position within five years; in other fields, fewer than one in five finds a position within five years.

Contrary to Zakaria’s claims, America actually has too many highly educated citizens and not enough positions that require their advanced degrees. Indeed, the imbalance between job seekers and jobs available is high enough that more than 5,000 janitors hold a Ph.D.

While America shouldn’t try to discourage education, there simply are not enough jobs for all of America’s highly educated science professionals. Rather than trying to force more education on America, a better solution to America’s problems might lie in a change to the nation’s immigration policies. Student visas are easy to obtain; work visas are not. As a result, thousands of highly qualified students must return to their home countries each year where they compete against America instead of working for it.

Though Twitter is used by many if not all US Olympic athletes, there are some that have received more followers on the popular site than others- some of these followers are very high profile celebrities and public figures.

• Michael Phelps has an astounding 1,227,843 followers keeping tabs on his activities during the Olympics. 935,636 of these followers started watching the swimming star after this year’s opening ceremony. He has gained more followers in the past two weeks than any American has on the site- and he tweeted about a special “good job” from the president, Barack Obama
• Ryan Lochte has a massive 897,783 followers on the site, with 754,109 signing on to monitor his progress since the games began. Some tweets sent from Lochte to his followers included attending a basketball game with Ludacris.
• Gabby Douglas is being followed by 600,967 Twitter fans, with 565,213 adding her to their feed since the beginning of the 2012 summer Olympics. Her favorite tweet came from the pop goddess Nicki Minaj.
• Jordyn Wieber, gymnastics star extraordinaire, has 438,030 followers, a gain of 375,573 since becoming an Olympian. Fan’s favorite tweet? One describing a meeting with the Duchess Kate Middleton.Olympians from the United States aren’t the only athletes using Twitter to communicate with a massive fan base. Olympians from all over the world have signed up with the social media site to update followers with their victories, defeats, and activities.
• Usian Bolt rocks an impressive 1,174,411 Twitter followers- an increase of 540,319. The track favorite loves to boast to his fans, even if that means declaring himself to be a living legend.
• Tom Daley, the British diving star has 1,170,866 fans, with an increase of 826,234 since the games began. Daley and his Twitter account have taught many users the downside to using social media with negative tweets after receiving bad blood for not placing in synchronized diving.

Whether fans use Twitter on their computers or on apps for their smart phones, they can stay up to date with the activities and thoughts of all their favorite Olympic athletes- whether those thoughts are positive, or lacking in sportsmanship.

The boys started off hiking around 3 in the afternoon on Wednesday, but the Unified Police Department received a call from the teenagers’ cell phone at 7 p.m. when they became stranded in Colepit Gulch. According to police, the teens had lost their way and were trapped on a ledge. During the night, their cell phone ran out of battery, and they were stuck alone on the cliff until 8 a.m.

In response to the boys’ call for help, 14 rescuers were dispatched to search for the teens late Wednesday night. The teenagers were easily spotted by rescuers, and it was clear that neither boy was hurt, but freeing them proved to be more difficult than anticipated. Both teenagers and rescuers spent the night on the mountain as a result. Lt. Steve Shreeve of the Unified Police said, “[The boys] got into an area that’s too technical to free climb and couldn’t go up and couldn’t go down. Now search and rescue is there with proper equipment to get them down.”
By noon on Thursday both boys were safely off of the mountain and reunited with their respective families but not without a few worries. “All of today, last night, yesterday, it’s just been kinda nuts… scary honestly,” one of the rescued teens admitted.

Both boys’ mothers acknowledge that their sons’ actions were ill-advised. Amanda Godwin, one the hikers’ mothers, told reporters that the boys were unprepared for this hike. They did not take any precautions or supplies, “[n]ot even water.” Godwin joked, “I am going to kill him…” She added on a serious note, “They didn’t tell anyone where they were going.”

The other boy’s mother states that her son has grown up in the Utah mountains, hiking many of the trails on a regular basis. However she calls her son’s actions reckless since this was more of climbing rather than hiking.