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6/30: The U.S. Economy

June 30, 2010 | by Marist Poll

By John Sparks

What is the current state of the economy? Who’s to blame, and what is the possible impact of unemployment on long-term earning potential? Phil Izzo is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, and he recently discussed these issues and more with the Marist Poll’s John Sparks. Read the transcript below.

Phil Izzo

John Sparks
The Marist Poll questioned Americans on how they felt the President was performing in the area of the economy. President Obama has been in office 18 months now. Have we reached a point where he must shoulder the blame for the current economic state instead of his predecessor, George W. Bush?

Phil Izzo
Well, I think that’s a difficult question, because it’s hard to shoulder — it’s hard to put blame for any economic issue too much on the shoulders of a president. Did the President — President Bush get too much of the blame when the economy tanked? Probably. He took a lot — took more of a beating than it was probably warranted. A lot of these things are beyond a president’s control. I mean they can do what they can, but we have an economy that’s run primarily by the private sector, and there’s only so much that the government can do one way or another to either promote growth or to institute policies that subtract from growth.

John Sparks
Some might say that a free market economy driven by the greed of investors on Wall Street got us into the mess. Others say that huge government bailouts aren’t pulling us out of the problem and, in fact, may be part of the problem. Is there some middle ground that we need to be looking at to turn things around?

Phil Izzo
It’s sort of an over simplification to say that we — greed got us into this, and now we’re at a point where the government is making it worse or the government is the solution. There sort of has to be… At this point we’re in a position where the economy suffered so badly that the private sector couldn’t pull itself out, so we had programs like the TARP, which is universally considered to have been a positive thing for propping up the financial system, for the most part. There was a significant fear in 2008 if we didn’t do anything, the entire economic system could collapse. Through the TARP program, we were able to at least stabilize things. And then since then, there’s been a lot of different programs to move through. Now there’s… Take the stimulus, for example. There’s a lot of arguments on both sides about what’s wrong with the stimulus. Some people are saying straight out that stimulus failed, but that doesn’t seem to be — that… economists don’t really back that idea. There are debates about how much stimulus you should pump into the economy. There’s debates about how the stimulus should be distributed. Should it be directly given to states? Should it be given to citizens through tax cuts? Should it be given to the poor through the food stamps or unemployment benefits or something like that? But for the most part, economists agree that some level of government support when the economy is so low, is so — is — was so — suffering so badly was necessary, and now, we’re at a point where it’s difficult to make that determination. When we first passed the stimulus, it was much clearer that the economy needed some level of government support. At this point, it’s much harder to… There’s more room on either side of the debate where some are arguing — well, the private sector is starting to recover, and we have to sort of let that happen. But on the other side, we’re still in a pretty deep hole, especially when you look at the unemployment situation. There’s people… the amount of people who’ve been out of work for more than 27 weeks is at about six-million people. That’s more than double the highest it’s ever been in — since 1948. So, there’s this debate about can the private sector completely take over now or should the government be injecting more money and trying to promote jobs? But again, both of those issues are difficult to address at this point when we see some growth, but we just haven’t seen that blockbuster growth yet.

John Sparks
Well I want to explore two things that you said: one about jobs and the lack of them. That is, of course, still a problem. Part of the problem is that technology has done away with tasks that have kept several folks earning a paycheck. How can you put people back in jobs when machines or computers are doing the work that people are no longer needed for?

Phil Izzo
Well, that’s obviously a big issue, and we’ve seen over the last couple of years productivity has really soared in this country, and a lot of that is through the technology, and there are some jobs that you just have to accept are not coming back. And the best way to do that is to have new jobs. And, there’s a question about how much the private sector can do and how much the government can do and what the government’s role in that is. I mean if people have to transition from one career to another, they need to be re-trained. Now should that be handled by government or should that be handled by private sector or can — is there some way to do those things together? But the problem is that training, just throwing money at training doesn’t really do anything unless there’s jobs for those people to train into. You sort of have to hope that the economy creates new types of jobs that those people who have lost their position through technology or other major impacts like the construction industry for example, the people have lost a lot of jobs in construction over the last couple of years after the housing boom essentially busted. At this point, you have a problem where those jobs, the number of jobs that were in that sector, they’re just not going to come back. We… we’re building residences at a much too quick rate, so there’s some of those people are just not going to be able to find jobs in construction, so what do they do? Now there’s been pushes for green jobs and things like that, but the problem is that there’s not necessarily enough. There’s only so much the government can do if the private sector doesn’t have a job for that person to fill.

John Sparks
For those people looking for jobs, is this a case where many people must lower their standards and expectations, perhaps working for lower wages and not being afraid to do jobs that they feel are beneath them in order to get back to work?

Phil Izzo
Well, it is always positive to be working. It’s a good thing to be for the most part. What happens when someone is unemployed for a long-term — a long time, it can have really negative effects on their long-term earning potential. The longer you’re out of a job, the harder it is to get back to a job. So I… there’s debate about whether there are people out there who want a job but are just unwilling to take a certain job. I’m not sure how large that number of people is, but it is generally a good thing to be working instead of to be unemployed. But at the same time, there — you have to find something to support your family, so does working a lower level job make it harder for you to find a higher level job? That’s another debate.

John Sparks
I want to get back to the stimulus for a moment, specifically about the stimulus to get — turn companies around. I’ve heard some say that when you allow a company to get so big that you cannot afford to let it fail that you’re asking for the trouble that we’ve seen, and some have suggested to me that what we need is a trustbuster or someone to break up monopolies in the likeness of a Theodore Roosevelt. Any thoughts on something like that?

Phil Izzo
Well, I mean, there is a big concern about too big to fail, especially with banks, but we’ve seen that it goes even beyond banks. I mean if you look at the U.S. automakers, essentially the government bailed out GM and Chrysler because they felt that they didn’t want — that they were too big to fail, too big of an employer to fail, too big a part of America to fail. I mean the bigger concern is with banks, and they’re working on that right now in the financial regulatory overhaul that they’re working on conference committee. There seems to be a really strong drive to make it easier to unwind something like that so we don’t have the same situation we had when Lehman Brothers failed in 2008 and the whole system seemed to implode for a short while. There needs to be some sort of process in place, and bankruptcy in fact does it for the most part for much of the private sector. But, there are those companies that get to be so ingrained and interconnected that their failure can affect a huge amount of the rest of the economy, and there needs to be some mechanism in place to wind those down.

John Sparks
Some people have talked to me about fiscal responsibility beginning with individuals — that financial solvency means living within our means, paying off credit card debt. Many Americans are not doing this, and the truth is that governments aren’t doing it either. Should the federal government take the lead with an austerity program if we expect to get out of debt and turn this thing around?

Phil Izzo
Well, I think that the government needs a plan. Do I think, right now, the government should be making serious budget cuts? It probably isn’t the best time to do that. I mean, we’re still just have these tentative steps into recovery. It’s not necessarily the best time to be hacking and slashing government spending. But at the same time, you can create credible plans that the markets can look at and that the country can look at, the citizens of the country can look at and see this is a serious step towards reducing government expenditures. Maybe right now is not the best time to start hacking and slashing away at the budget. But in the long-term, if there’s a plan, people will understand that keeping your budget deficit under control is an important goal. It’s just… the problem is when to do it, and the other problem is that Congress has gone back on itself so many times over the last 40 years that people don’t trust that when they make that plan they’re going to actually stick to it. It’s really easy to say that you’re going to go on a diet tomorrow, but how many of us actually go out — how many of us actually do it? What they need is… it’s difficult to have credibility with the American people, and it’s not this administration’s fault or this Congress’ fault necessarily. It’s something that you just seen happen for decades where they say when things are fat, they say, “Well, we’ll cut eventually,” and then it just never happens.

John Sparks
Phil, is the problem that we want to easy answers for tough problems? We have no fault divorce. We don’t want to sacrifice. We want it all, but the truth is we cannot have it all, can we? And because of that, folks will have to suffer, and we’re trying to delay or prevent that from happening?

Phil Izzo
Well, I think that I mean, if you’re talking about government, that is definitely the truth. I think people expect a lot but don’t realize that it has to be paid for necessarily. I mean, if you look at the federal budget, I mean, the biggest problem by far is paying for Medicare. But at the same time, it’s — no one ever wants to cut anything in Medicare. No one ever wants to seriously take… it’s politically unpalatable to make those cuts because people expect certain things from the government. But, the problem is there’s — you have to… if you’re going to provide services like that, you’re going to have to some money coming into the government. So, it’s great to cut taxes. It’s a good thing for the economy. It promotes investment and things like that. But if the government’s going to provide services, it needs to get that money from somewhere. So, if you’re going to cut taxes, then you’re probably going to have to cut spending because you can’t take more — you can’t send out more than you’re getting in.

John Sparks
Phil, there’s certainly greater minds than mine that have put some thought into this, and we could certainly talk all day. I wanted to kind of close things off and ask you is there anything else that you might want to share with our listeners about the problem of the economy that we haven’t touched on… something that you might want to add?

Phil Izzo
Well, I mean I think we’ve hit the big points. I mean, the biggest struggles going forward is: Is this real? I mean we were just talking about the balance between jobs and deficit. I mean, we know that in the long-term we have to deal with the amount of debt that the U.S. government has. And at the same time, we’re facing this issue where –I mean, the jobs picture is really, really bad right now. I mean the amount of people who are unemployed, the amount of people who have been unemployed for a long time… and when we had situations like this in the past in the 1980’s and the 1970’s where we had a huge number of people unemployed, we — the economy grew very strongly afterwards because it was a different type of recession than we are — than we’re in right now. So those jobs came back relatively quickly. In the last two recessions, in the 1990’s and in early in this decade, early in 2000’s, it took a much a longer time. We didn’t the same level of job losses, but when the jobs started to come back, they came back at a much slower rate. And we seem to have the worst of both worlds right now where we saw this huge spike in unemployment like we saw in the 1980’s and 1970’s, but we’re seeing that really slow return back to employment. When you’re in an environment like that, that’s — there’s — something has to be done because you can’t have this long-term problem with your citizenry. But at the same time, we are facing this — severe issues with our budget where we’re going to be in a position where it’s going to be difficult to pay things off.

John Sparks
Well, Phil, I thank you so much for your time. We’ll continue to look forward to your reports for the Wall Street Journal. And again, thank you for taking time for Marist today.

6/30: 57% Say Obama’s Handling of Gulf Spill No Better Than Bush’s Katrina

6/30: Spill in the Gulf — On the Ground

American Millennials

June 23, 2010 | by Marist Poll

By John Sparks

Director of Media Relations for The Knights of Columbus, Andrew Walther, speaks with The Marist Poll’s John Sparks about the survey, American Millennials: Generations Apart. The survey, undertaken by The Knights of Columbus in partnership with The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, was released in January and aimed at identifying the views of America’s youth in the wake of the nation’s economic crisis and at uncovering the priorities of these young adults.

In their discussion, Sparks and Walther touch upon business ethics in the workplace, the similarities and differences between the Greatest Generation and Millennials on the economy and their expectations on the recovery.

Read the transcript below:

John Sparks
Andrew, we’re talking about the survey the Knights of Columbus commissioned on American Millennials: Generations Apart. I’m curious, what did the Knights hope to learn from this survey?

Andrew Walther
Well, the Knights hoped to learn what the moral attitudes of Millennials were, both on an individual basis as a group, but also in terms of the comparison to the other generations of Americans to sort of figure out where the up and coming generation, if you will, how they stack up to Americans historically from the Greatest Generation to Baby Boomers to Gen X-ers.

John Sparks
Let’s talk about how you would define Millennials for the purpose of the survey?

Andrew Walther
Sure. For the purpose of the survey, we define Millennials as those between the ages of 18 and 29 years old, and that’s a pretty standard characterization for that generation.

John Sparks
Sure. Now I’m just curious, what did you find distinguishes the so-called greatest generation from their grandchildren?

Andrew Walther
Well, you know, there were some areas of similarity and some areas of difference really. In some ways, the greatest generation was more what we would call I think generally conservative. But at the same time, there were areas of significant overlap with Millennials. Marriage was very important to both groups. Marriage and family were rated very highly by both. The attitudes of Millennials on certain social issues, including abortion and euthanasia were quite traditional. And so I think that Millennials are, really I think in looking at the survey, you can see that they follow the tradition of the American ethic, if you will.

John Sparks
You asked everyone, if they were more inclined to approve of President Obama’s job performance and especially in handling the economy. I believe that it indicated that the Millennials were more inclined to approve of the President’s performance. I’m just curious why you thought they answered that way.

Andrew Walther
Well, the Millennials were in a way the most optimistic to some degree. I mean they were a little more likely to approve of the performance specifically. But when it came to issues of the government’s ability to handle the economic crisis, they were just marginally more positive. 59% of Americans were not confident that the government could handle the crisis, and 55% of Millennials felt the same way, so very, very close. In terms of the country heading in the wrong direction, it was 67% of Americans, 60% of Millennials. And in terms of increased regulation, Millennials were very much in line with the rest of the American population. 55% of Americans and 53% of Millennials wanted a more free market, less government regulation approach to business. So I think, while maybe a little bit more cautiously optimistic, they were definitely in line with the rest of the American population and their outlook. And in terms of believing that their personal career would be negatively impacted long-term by the economic situation, the numbers for Millennials were exactly the same as for the rest of Americans, 55% and 55%.

John Sparks
Now I’m both intrigued and concerned about the finding that both groups had lost confidence in the government’s ability to handle the economic crisis. What do you think it’ll take to restore people’s confidence? Can it be restored?

Andrew Walther
Well it’s interesting to see from the numbers what people are liking or disliking, but I think you have a twofold problem that’s brought to light by the survey. On the one hand, Millennials and Americans in general are concerned that the government may not have a good handle on this. On the other hand, they’re equally or more concerned, frankly, that business is getting this wrong as well. So you have 75% of Americans and two-thirds of Millennials wanting the same set of moral standards in business and personal life, 74% of Americans and 77% of Millennials, an even greater number, seeing decisions and business based on greed as morally wrong. So you have a situation where on the one hand, they don’t have a lot of confidence in the government to fix this problem. But on the other hand, they’re really looking at the problems in the business community in terms of ethical behavior and saying that they want solutions to that.

John Sparks
I would like to ask you about the finding that the Millennials were optimistic that they would be financially better off than their parents.

Andrew Walther
Sure.

John Sparks
I know that the Generation X and the Baby Boomers did not quite share that optimism. Are the Millennials just living in a dream world? After all, we are in pretty tough economic times.

Andrew Walther
Well I think that could be part of it. I mean as things are bad now and for their parents especially, I think that they see long-term prospects as being a little better. Interestingly, the Greatest Generation also thought they would be better off than their parents, and they were the generation that grew up during or shortly after the Depression. So I think in a way you have people whose parents have had careers and tough economic times seeing the future as a little brighter, and I think that’s consistent with the Greatest Generation and the Millennials.

John Sparks
Most Americans, I think it’s safe to say, want to have it all. They want to have a career. They want to have family. You asked a question of the folks that you surveyed whether they believe that their career success would or would not come at the expense of their families, and I believe three-quarters of them believe that career success would not interfere with the families.

Andrew Walther
And, that goes very much in line with the heavy emphasis on marriage and family that we found among the Millennials generally and Americans in particular. I think that people are looking to have a good and healthy balance between their work life and their family life; and I think that there’s certainly a lot of optimism among Millennials, but also among the other groups that such a balance can be achieved.

John Sparks
Now, let’s talk about this topic of morals and ethics in the workplace. I recall about a year ago, the Knights did a survey about morals and ethics in the workplace, and I believe this latest survey, the Millennial survey, that I think about two-thirds or more believe that our moral values are headed down the wrong path. Am I correct?

Andrew Walther
Yes, that’s correct, and that number’s been pretty high over the past year whenever we’ve done surveys like this. I think people are a little concerned that the country, well more than a little concerned, that the country is headed in the wrong direction morally, and I think some of this is certainly the big scandals that we saw in Wall Street in the financial community over the last couple of years with the economic crisis and the causes of that being quite clearly attributable at least to some degree to, if not unethical, certainly less than ethical business practices. And I think people see that as a real problem, but also see that business in their opinion can be both ethical and successful. If you look at the numbers on that, I mean very, very high numbers. I think more than three-quarters of Americans believe that you can have an ethical and successful business and you see that many of the businesses that have continued to do well in this economy are exactly that, the businesses that are run with a higher standard in mind.

John Sparks
I thought that it was interesting that there seemed to be an indication that ethical standards are different in business than in people’s personal lives.

Andrew Walther
Yeah, I think that Millennials in the country in general see that a lot of people might treat their family and loved ones one way and treat their customers and consumers and stockholders a different way, and I think that there’s a growing dissatisfaction with that dichotomy. I think people want consistency. People want there to be morality and ethics, not morality and ethics here and morality and — not home ethics and business ethics. I think they just want ethics.

John Sparks
You mentioned greed a minute ago, and I gather that most everyone senses that greed is at the root of our economic dilemma, but do people just accept that as a way or is there — are there any inspiration or motivation to do something about it, to change that?

Andrew Walther
Well, I think there is a bit of motivation. I mean, I think the fact that you see these high numbers of people believing that you can be simultaneously ethical and successful says a lot for the fact that people believe that they you can in fact have both, and I think that that’s a good step in the right direction because if you can’t have both ethics and success, then there’s frankly little reason not to do it. And, with the economic crisis on everybody’s mind, we’ve seen where the other path leads.

John Sparks
It seems that many Americans think that their religious beliefs and values if they’re a business executive certainly influence their business decisions, but the survey also with this separation seemed to indicate that Americans leave their morals and ethics outside the door on the hanger when they come to work. Why the separation?

Andrew Walther
Well, I think the people view business as different from their home life, and I think that, unfortunately, in various ways a culture has taken hold in, not everywhere but in enough places that it’s a problem, that says profits first and profit is the only thing that matters when you start down that road. When you start looking in I think the survey we did last year, last February, there was a series of questions about what people thought business decisions were motivated by. They thought they were motivated by personal career advancement. They through they were motivated by greed, but they didn’t think they were motivated by the common good. And I think when you completely exclude the common good from the calculation, and you’re looking to get as much as you personally can right now at the cost of everybody else, you end up with situations like we have now — it’s simply not sustainable. And, so I think it’s very easy for anyone probably to be dazzled by the promise of instantaneous riches and a quick buck. But at the same time, we’ve seen that that may work for one person today, but it hurts a lot of people tomorrow.

John Sparks
Sure. You know, Andrew, the results are all very interesting, but other than raising an awareness, I’m just curious what the Knights of Columbus might do with the information to effect a positive change in our country and the in the workplace.

Andrew Walther
Well, we’ve certainly done a fair amount of writing in various places, in our own magazine, and also our CEO Carl Anderson has done a fair number of columns in the media on the importance of ethics in the workplace and of having an ethical standard that really is taken from home to the workplace and not left at the nightstand, if you will. And, I think both in terms of our 1.8 million members and in terms of the public at large, we’ve been always very outspoken in terms of taking care of your neighbor, and this is something that we continue to do with these numbers, with these — with the release of these numbers and our various conversations with the media and various outlets and the writing and so on that’s been done by the Knights of Columbus in a variety of outlets. The message is pretty clear. An ethical approach to business is really the way forward and really the way to make sure that we don’t fix this crisis and end up with another one based on the same problem.

John Sparks
Certainly. I found the survey most interesting. Any other thoughts that you’d like to share about the survey?

Andrew Walther
Well I think it’s — I think it is a very good place for people to look to see that Americans are looking for a more effective response from the business community and also a less heavy-handed approach from the government. They don’t want to sleight of hand from the Wall Street community. They don’t want a heavy hand from the government, as Carl Anderson’s pointed out on several occasions. They’re looking for common sense solutions, and that begins with taking the ethics that this country shares and that makes our country the great place that it is and our families, the places that they are, and bringing these into the workplace, treating our neighbors in a way that really takes into account the common good and not looking to get an extra dollar today at the expense of everybody tomorrow.

6/10: Alzheimer’s Disease: An Expert’s Perspective

June 10, 2010 | by Marist Poll

By John Sparks

Dr. Maria Carrillo is the Senior Director for Medical and Scientific Relations for the Alzheimer’s Association, a national group headquartered in Chicago. Its goal is a world without Alzheimer’s.

Dr. Maria Carillo

Dr. Carillo talks with the Marist Poll’s John Sparks about the prevalence of the disease, the costs of caring for Alzheimer’s patients, the signs of the disease, and the latest on the search for a cure.

John Sparks
Dr. Carrillo, you’re a Senior Director for Medical and Scientific Relations for the Alzheimer’s Association. Can you tell me that what entails?

Dr. Maria Carrillo
You know, my responsibilities vary from essentially really keeping an eye on our grant program, our international research grant program. It’s a program that awards on average around $20 million per year to medical research and the field of Alzheimer’s disease, and my job is really to oversee all of the applications that come in and then to ensure that when we make our decisions, they – – the grants are awarded to the most meritorious of the applications that come in.

John Sparks
I know the Association does many things. I think education is one of the primary areas. Can you briefly describe some of the other services that the Alzheimer’s Association provides for people?

Dr. Maria Carrillo
Certainly. We have a 24-hour call center, that’s very important part of our mission, and that is to make sure that we are there to serve people suffering from the disease and their families 24 hours/7 days a week, just to make sure also they have information in times of crises, but also information on how to talk about the future of Alzheimer’s disease in their family, how to plan for the future, how to talk to social workers or have family counseling sessions at our offices across the country. We also have several informational and educational sessions that can be had through the Alzheimer’s Association services at our national chapter offices across the country. All of them have libraries; support groups; certainly, again, family counseling opportunities, all of them free to the public.

John Sparks
Now we hear a lot about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Can you tell me what the difference is between the two?

Dr. Maria Carrillo
Certainly. And I think that is a very common misconception. Dementia’s actually an umbrella term. It’s like – – I liken it to saying, for example, cancer, and then you really have to follow-up that up with saying, “What type?” And when you say that, then when you ask me what type, you have Alzheimer’s disease, which is the most common. You have vascular disease, which is the second most common type of dementia, and then you have other types like frontal temper lobe dementia, Lewy body dementia, et cetera. So really dementia is the overarching term.

John Sparks
Okay. Now we can conducted a national survey and we found that a majority of Americans personally know someone with Alzheimer’s. How prevalent is Alzheimer’s in the United States?

Dr. Maria Carrillo
There about 5.3 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease today and there are over 12 million Americans actually caring for those individuals, family members, other professional cares, et cetera, and so it is quite a lot of people affected by the disease. But we certainly also know that in the future, we are facing a really large increase in that number because the baby boomer of our population is starting to turn 65 and older, and that actually starts happening next year in 2011.

John Sparks
Is it increasing, or are we just becoming more aware of it?

Dr. Maria Carrillo
That’s a very good question and we hear that question quite a bit. I think it’s a combination of the two, so we’re living longer. I think on our website at alz.org, we have a lot of information about a report called Facts and Figures and it actually tells the story that we have been very successful in terms of biomedical research investments in lowering the incidents of many other diseases, like cancer, specifically breast cancer, prostate cancer. We’ve lowered the risk of heart disease – – of death rates for heart disease, for… And so with that, we have been able to really allow the American public to live longer. By being so successful in research and other areas, we have been a little bit negligent in research in Alzheimer’s disease because the death rate for Alzheimer’s disease over the course of the same years that other diseases went down, actually went up by 46%, a little bit higher than 46%. So, we are living longer. We’ve bought ourselves fairly healthy lives from the neck down, and now, I think it’s really time to turn that investment to the brain and to Alzheimer’s disease, because we need the stop this disease so that we can live longer in healthy fashion and actually know that we’re living longer.

John Sparks
Absolutely. Now many of those that we polled told us they had a relative or friend with Alzheimer’s, so we asked them if the cost for caring for that person created a strain on their family finances. What kind of cost does one incur when caring for someone with Alzheimer’s?

Dr. Maria Carrillo
Well, certainly we know that medical costs increased quite a tremendous amount and caring costs in general increased. So, health care costs increased because when a person is hospitalized with Alzheimer’s disease, they don’t just need hospitalization that addresses that particular need, so for example diabetes or a heart disease or a broken hip or broken knee. When a person has dementia, a lot of other things come into play. It’s hard to determine pain levels. They need many more services to come in. Sometimes, they must be watched in a special unit, because they perhaps might wander or they don’t understand that they are plugged into, for example, an IV machine or a heart monitor, and they’ll take those things off. Again, because they have memory loss, they’re not quite sure of their surroundings, so costs escalate just for regular issues. However on top of that, you’ve got the issues that over time once a person moves on from sort of the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, they’re going to need 24-hour care. They need to be watched, again, for the same reasons. They might wander because they don’t recognize their surroundings. Even though it’s a home or a sibling or a child’s home, they don’t recognize the surroundings, or they might forget and leave something on the stove or many can actually burn themselves in the shower because they forget which is the hot and the cold or that the hot and the cold need to be adjusted. Many won’t make themselves food in the right way because they don’t remember how to make a sandwich, so many issues that really require 24-hour care.

John Sparks
I know this is a question you get asked all the time and that is: What are the signs of the disease? If a friend or family member have told you, for instance, that they’re being forgetful or had concerns about not remembering things, does that mean they’re getting Alzheimer’s? What are the signs?

Dr. Maria Carrillo
You know, I… that doesn’t necessarily… um, you know, certainly forgetting certain things is not a – – I guess something to be too worried about because we all forget things. Especially under stressful situations, we forget where we put our keys or where we put our wallet. But I will tell you that I have the Alzheimer’s disease in my family. My mother-in-law was diagnosed with the disease just six months ago. But maybe about two years ago, I started noticing some changes in her, so some of the early changes that one can notice and I would really recommend certainly looking at our website, and that is alz.org, and actually know the ten signs is something that we really stress in our website. And then it’s some things that we stress is that memory loss that actually disrupts your daily life is really the key. So, it’s important to think about: Does a memory loss, does losing your keys every single day, is that interrupting your daily life? Are you experiencing challenges in perhaps planning or solving problem? It’s hard for people who have Alzheimer’s disease and have the beginnings of Alzheimer’s disease to actually keep track of several things at the same time, so complex tasks. Another thing to look at is: Is it difficult to complete familiar tasks that you’re used to completing, especially when they’re a little bit more complicated, like how to follow a recipe that you used to be able to do or to how use the microwave oven that’s get a little complicated, how to program your coffee maker? That’s a little more complicated than usual. So these are some of the things we kind of look for.

John Sparks
Now I have family members on both sides of my family who have had the disease. Do I need to be concerned about myself? What can I do?

Dr. Maria Carrillo
You know, absolutely. If you have a first degree relative that has Alzheimer’s disease, I think anybody with – – in such a situation should be thinking about their own risk. So, for example, my mother-in-law has Alzheimer’s disease. She is one of… She’s actually the third of four siblings to be diagnosed at this point, and the fourth is the youngest of all, so we’re hopeful that the youngest won’t get it. But that… What does that mean? That translates into me knowing that in my husband’s family, he’s one of the three, he – – they have most likely inherited some type of a risk, genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease. And so what are we thinking about now? Well we’re thinking make sure that in his middle age, he stays as healthy as possible. He eats right. He eats antioxidants. He makes sure that his diet is healthy. He makes sure to watch his weight, to make sure that he avoids diabetes, if possible, avoids the heart conditions if possible. If not, then make sure that they’re treated and make sure that they’re watched and make sure that they’re kept under control.

John Sparks
Okay, so what about a cure or a vaccine? What’s new on the horizon in that area?

Dr. Maria Carrillo
You know we have a lot of hopes in terms of medications for Alzheimer’s disease in the near future. There are a few vaccines that are actually in phase three testing, which is the phase that’s right before you would get approval to be used in a doctor’s office and in a pharmacy. So, that’s exciting. And prevention’s probably a little bit further off. So, we’re very excited that not only vaccines, but a few other types of drugs are in the pipeline for hopefully slowing down the progression of the disease, and you really have to start there because experts today really understand that Alzheimer’s disease begins many, many years before the first clinical diagnosis is made. So, for example, I mentioned my mother-in-law, six months ago she was diagnosed, but we noticed, well I noticed that she was experiencing symptoms for two years and she may have experienced symptoms for many more than that, and so, we understand that we really don’t want to give a vaccine or any type of medication at the point where today we’re diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease. We want to be able to give it 10 years before. So, the movement of the future, of science and Alzheimer’s disease is really to a very early detection before there are clinical symptoms of the disease and then try to interfere then. Now, we’re moving towards that very slowly because, first, you have to prove some advantage in the current drugs we have with the population we have available today. But we’re making definite moves in the direction in terms of research to move that clinical diagnosis much earlier and be able to interfere with the disease much earlier, and that would be what we would call a secondary prevention, not a primary prevention because primary prevention involves avoiding the disease completely, and we still can’t prove that. But, secondary prevention means we’ve avoided the symptoms, and that would be an excellent place to be in the future.

John Sparks
Well, I certainly hope we get there. The sooner the better. Dr. Carrillo, I really thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you wanted to add for our listeners?

Dr. Maria Carrillo
One last thing I would just leave all your listeners with and that is that Alzheimer’s disease research can never move forward unless we have more federal funding, and so the Alzheimer’s Association has – – is proposing through our Public Policy and Advocacy Office in Washington DC a new bill called the National – – The Alzheimer’s Breakthrough Act, and that calls for $2 billion for Alzheimer’s research. And, as I mentioned earlier, it’s only by investing in the research that we’re ever going to actually eradicate this disease, and we know we can do it, because we’ve done it in other diseases. So, we really need to push for $2 billion for Alzheimer’s research and push forward on the research that we have today and accelerate progress, because we cannot afford to wait. I would just leave you with that.

** The views and opinions expressed in this and other interviews found on this site are expressly those of the speakers or authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Marist Poll.

6/4: From the Floor: The Democratic and Republican Conventions in New York

June 4, 2010 | by Marist Poll

By Dr. Lee M. Miringoff

More than two centuries ago, George Washington warned us about the corrosive effects of political parties. Having spent the better part of the past two weeks at the New York State Democratic and Republican conventions, I am pretty convinced that this cherry tree chopper was not telling a fib.

To begin with an oddity, the two political parties underwent a role reversal. The Democrats, known for their rancor and gut-wrenching issue debates, had their house pretty much in order. In a rare display of organization, the Democrats entered with a game plan and exited with their ticket largely intact. Largely forgotten was their last convention which produced such headliners as Eliot Spitzer, David Paterson, and Alan Hevesi.

The Republicans, who typically run their gatherings with something akin to the political equivalent of Mr. Clean, were anything but that this time around. They frequently referenced Ronald Reagan as they ignored his 11th commandment, “thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.” They experienced unruly back and forth chanting over their gubernatorial nod. “No primary” voiced by the Lazio forces was met with “let the people vote” from the Levy-ites. It sounded like a tune taken from the Democrats’ “how not to run a political convention” songbook.

But the fun had just begun. I apologize for not keeping an official count of the number of times the phrase “it’s an honor and a privilege” was uttered at both conventions. The runner-up zinger for the GOP was the use of “Status Quo-mo” in reference to the back to the future candidate and the early favorite to be New York’s next governor. (I can almost hear former Governor Mario Cuomo humming the George Harrison classic “Here Comes the Son.”) As for the Democrats, the podium pontificators referenced their “new Democratic Party” to the point that it seemed to become the old Democratic Party before your very eyes.

Speaking of convention traditions, there was some clever head counting at both events. The Democrats managed to create a delegate tally of 125% to get all five candidates for Attorney General to the 25% threshold to qualify for the primary ballot. For their part, the Republicans required Democrat-turned-Republican Steve Levy to reach 50% to be authorized to run in a GOP primary … this bar was set too high.

Both political parties tried to corner the market on change. After all, it worked in 2008, and politicians like generals do nothing if not fight the last war. Yet, the more things change, the more they seem to remain the same. The early frontrunners remain the early frontrunners. Candidates with momentum, money, and media remain the attention hogs. And, despite all convention ”winners” predicting they will lead the voters and be elected this fall, I’m not sure this sentiment is shared by an increasingly frustrated electorate.

5/25: The News Media: It Comes Down to Accuracy and Accountability

May 25, 2010 | by Mary Griffith

Is the media fair? The question is certainly not a new one. And with advances in technology, it’s a query that, rightfully, receives renewed attention.

For the record, nearly half of Americans in the latest national Marist Poll — 49% — think the press is generally fair when it comes to its coverage of President Obama. 38% think today’s journalists are unfair. And, while 49% of residents throughout the nation think the press’ questions toward the president are just tough enough, 37% report they aren’t getting to the heart of the issues.

To those who are cynical of the media, I applaud you. It is our right and our duty as citizens to question our elected officials. Unfortunately, though, most of us don’t have and will never have press passes that allow us access to directly challenge our elected officials. So, we must rely on our surrogates in the press.

Now, many of you might be thinking, “Not any more. We don’t need the traditional press to uncover the truth. We can research the facts on the Internet, and spread the truth in our blogs.” As a blogger, I am not one to throw stones. But, I have to admit. A hole exists in that logic. Journalistic standards are often left out of the equation.

One woman who is innately aware of the media’s power and responsibility is also one who could never be accused of avoiding the tough questions, the First Lady of the White House Press Corps, Helen Thomas. Recently, Ms. Thomas honored the Marist community with a visit to our Poughkeepsie campus and shared her experiences, sagacity, and quick wit with students, faculty, and members of the local community. And, of course, the fearless Thomas was not shy about tackling the issue of new media.

MIPO Director Lee Miringoff and Helen Thomas during Thomas' visit to Marist College.

MIPO Director Lee Miringoff speaks with Helen Thomas during her visit to Marist College.

While Ms. Thomas does believe that those living in a democratic society should be involved in reporting the news, their attempts should not come at the expense of accuracy. “Everyone with a laptop thinks they are a journalist. Everyone with a cell phone thinks they are a photographer,” stated Ms. Thomas. “They don’t have any of our standards, none of our ethics. They don’t understand that we only hold people accountable when we feel we have the privilege to find out the truth.”

Those last two sentences really say it all. The pursuit of truth should not occur, because someone has a political ax to grind or an agenda to feed. If either of those is the rationale for digging up dirt, it’s not the pursuit of truth. It’s the pursuit to uncover something which will promote one’s self-interest.

Think about it. Anyone can write a blog for the entire world to see. Are all of those writers unbiased? Are their stories accurate? Do they misrepresent the subject matter? In fact, how can the average reader know if what they’re reading is credible? The short answer is they don’t. In traditional journalism, editors make sure their writers adhere to standards that present the facts. With the emergence of new media, that filter is removed. Citizen journalists are not held accountable for their publications.

Not all citizen journalists have an agenda, and not all blogs are biased. In fact, there are many reputable online publications. But, in order to weed out the fact from the fiction, the every day Joe and Jane need to play an active role. Each of us needs to research and uncover whether we can trust a particular author.

News flash! Not everything on the Internet is true. It’s a lesson we teach our students at Marist every day. Just as we need to be critical of our traditional media and ensure they are holding our elected officials accountable, we, too, need to question those in the new media and hold them to a similar ethical standard.

5/20: A Farewell to One of MIPO’s Shining Stars

May 20, 2010 | by Mary Griffith

Nick Mayr shouldn’t be graduating this spring.

Nick Mayr

No. Mayr, 21, has not fallen prey to an ailing academic record in need of life support. Rather, Mayr’s drive and determination have led him to complete his undergraduate studies in three years time. And, it’s that perseverance which has contributed to Mayr’s selection as The Marist Poll’s featured student.

Like many of MIPO’s supervisors and interviewers, Mayr began his polling “career” by signing up at Marist’s job fair his freshman year. Although he was familiar with the poll, he didn’t know just what he was in for once he walked through the phone room door.

“I was excited. I was excited. I wasn’t really sure what to expect,” says Mayr. “I didn’t really understand the kind of work we did or what it would mean to be an interviewer, what that might require, how it would work. It was a pretty blank page.”

But, that blank page soon filled in. Taken with survey methodology, the political science major began studying related coursework with Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, during the 2008 presidential primary season.

“Nick is the model MIPO student,” says Miringoff. “He’s intelligent, hard working, and really embraced the opportunities afforded to him both in and outside of the classroom.”

Mayr’s interest in political science developed at an early age, and so it’s probably not surprising that this self-described “organizer of people” and “builder of systems” became energized by witnessing firsthand how survey data came to life during the historic 2008 primary season.

“I was doing the polling at work. I was talking about the polling in class, and we were watching the election unfold,” recalls Mayr. “It was pretty exciting.”

The interconnectedness of his coursework and employment in the MIPO office had an added benefit, too. It provided Mayr with a broader understanding of the American political debate.

“I have a much better appreciation for where the numbers that are being batted around in the media or by politicians in talking points actually come from, and what it actually takes to get that information, [and] how it’s disseminated,” states Mayr.

Mayr’s interests, though, extend far beyond the survey center. He enjoys travel and participated in three short-term educational programs abroad during his three years at Marist. Mayr’s journeys took him to Italy, South Africa, and Israel. And, of the three, he cites South Africa as his favorite. It was there that Mayr was able to participate in issues of the developing world, an area of strong interest to him, and he came face-to-face with a polling experience while in the country.

“I realized one day it’s a country that’s kind of straddling the border between first world and third world,” remarks Mayr. “It really floored me because it made me wonder where we get the information we get about the very poorest of the poor. How we get it and what we do with it and what it really reflects, because it would be impossible to call them up or to do a web survey which is something we can do here, but we can’t do there.”

His travels to South Africa also affected this socially aware 21 year old in another way. Mayr says he has always been committed to improving the world. But, he had a very “hands off” attitude. Like many, to an extent, he accepted the socioeconomic disparities that exist in the world, reasoning that there was a special type of person who could make a difference, and that person wasn’t him. However, that all changed after visiting South Africa.

“I think normal people make a tremendous difference in the world,” states Mayr who goes on to say, “I recognized that if there were simple answers, they would have been found already. If there were people who were specifically talented with this…. then, the rest of us could step back, but there aren’t. And, when we outsource the responsibility to care, people are left alone.”

So, what’s next for this insightful, 2010 college graduate? After receiving the MIPO Excellence Award and the top designation in political science at baccalaureate ceremonies and his degree at graduation, he will attend Johns Hopkins University in the fall, pursuing a Masters Degree in Public Policy.

But, before he steps off the Marist College campus, Mayr has one very big piece of advice for all those interested in working at The Marist Poll.

“If you’re an incoming freshman, don’t think that you [have to] come into The Marist Poll with skills or with a drive or even a very serious interest,” Mayr counsels. “If you come, and you are open to the experience, and you are committed to doing your best, the place will open up to you, and you can follow it where you think you fit.”

5/20: In Their Own Words

| by Marist Poll

As The Marist Poll prepares to send its graduating seniors off into the proverbial real world, we’ve asked those students to share some of their favorite MIPO memories with us. Here’s what some of them had to say in their words.

“I have been working at MIPO since spring semester my freshman year and was promoted to supervisor the summer into my junior year. Although I am not a political science major and know extremely little about politics in general, this experience has fulfilled my educational, social, and professional experience. Over the past four years, MIPO has given me the skills I need to succeed throughout my life. Being such a well-known and respected organization, MIPO has helped me attain a career as an auditor at Ernst & Young. Most importantly, the people I met at MIPO will stay with me throughout my life. I am eternally grateful for the opportunities MIPO has offered me, and I will sincerely miss everyone at MIPO.

– Caileen Collins

“My experience at MIPO has greatly had an impact on my time here at Marist. As an interviewer and a supervisor, I have been a part of MIPO for four years and during this time, I have learned a great deal about myself as well as others. MIPO has given me the opportunity to improve my people skills and the ability to handle difficult and challenging situations with ease. These qualities [which] I have been able to improve upon will help me tremendously in the field of education as I aspire to be an elementary school teacher when I graduate. In a classroom, the unexpected can, and most likely will happen. Being a part of MIPO, I have had quite a few difficult respondents on the phone that required me to think quickly and calmly. Having this type of patience is absolutely essential within a classroom setting and I am thankful to have had my experiences at MIPO aid in shaping who I have become.”

– Kimberly Rastelli

“My favorite MIPO memory is meeting some of my closest friends during my time at the Marist Poll. The atmosphere at MIPO has always been friendly and pleasant to work in, making the projects run smoother. I became a supervisor during my sophomore year and enjoyed interacting with the student interviewers and being able to advise them when it came to conducting the survey — like I had been taught in the past. Being a supervisor taught me many important lessons, such as leadership, patience, and responsibility. I will always look back at my time at MIPO as a pleasant and rewarding experience.”

– Courtney Savoia

“I started working at The Marist Poll my freshman year. After going through piles of papers and souvenirs from my 4 years at Marist, I came across a drawing. I clearly remember the night my housemate, Dawn, created this masterpiece in the Spring of freshman year. One of us had just gotten off the phone with a very nice caller from Washington. I have a loud and distinct “phone voice,” and Dawn drew a caricature of me complete with headset, smiling while I dialed. After saying Marist so many times in a row, I found I have an accent not reminiscent of where I come from. She included a speech bubble phonetically spelling out the way I read my introductions and, then, continued to point it out after every call. I’ve had jobs where I dreaded going to work, and I was nervous about managing classes, extracurricular [activities], and a job. However, I found the perfect job at MIPO, allowing me a flexible schedule and the opportunity to get to know some awesome people.”

– Julia Stamberger

“I have been working at the Marist Poll since my first semester of freshman year. Starting that year, I tried to attend as many Marist Poll events and lectures as I could. Despite not being a political science major, the speakers that Dr. Miringoff brought in for his classes were always really interesting to me and added another dimension to my work at the Marist Poll. At the end of my freshman year, I interviewed to become a supervisor, due to my envy of Margo Peters, David Hochman and the others who always looked like they were having so much fun.

I really enjoyed my time working as a supervisor and getting to know all of the older students at the Marist Poll. I became great friends with them and was really able to learn a lot from them, both about the Marist Poll, Marist College, and life in general. I am still in contact with many of these Marist Poll alumni today. As a supervisor, I was also able to get to know the up-and-coming Marist Poll students and work with them to improve their interviewing skills. It was so interesting to be able to watch them grow over the course of the semester.

At the end of my sophomore year, I was asked to become the Poll Assistant. And, I was extremely honored to be offered this position and was excited to increase my role at the Marist Poll. Through my work in the office and as Poll Assist during the polling nights, I have grown to love the Marist Poll even more. The nights I have spent in the phone room with Meghann Crawford, Stephanie Calvano, Meghan McKeever and Alicia Buhse are times I will never forget. All of the people at the Marist Poll have truly made my experience one to remember and allowed me to find a second home there. The Marist Poll is just one great example of the saying – “It’s not the work you do, but the people you do it with.”

– Amy Wheeler

5/19: An American Student’s Experience with Global Perceptions of the U.S.

May 19, 2010 | by Marist Poll

Rob Schmidt, a Marist College political science major, spent his spring semester studying in London and working in the British Parliament as part of the Hansard Scholars Program. And, in an interview conducted before the British Parliamentary elections, Schmidt spoke with Political Communication and Politics student, Andrew Overton, about the results of the latest national Marist Poll focusing on the global perception of America, the differences between British and American politics, and his own experiences studying abroad. This interview was conducted as part of Overton’s senior year coursework. Read the interview below.

Andrew Overton
MIPO recently did a poll. According to the poll, 67% of U.S. residents said people in other countries generally have a negative view of the United States. Did you find that was the perception in London while you were living there, and do you have any stories that would maybe highlight the British perceptions of Americans?

Rob Schmidt

Rob Schmidt
Well, I have to say I would agree with that and I would say that’s accurate. I did notice a difference though. If I was to tell people I was from the United States, I would get a much different reaction than if I told someone I was from New York. Telling people I was from New York often generated a better response. I guess New York kind of they have a different mentality towards all types of Americans. I can’t really think of a specific instance, but I still — I get the impression that we have this sense of arrogance and even a sense of almost laziness in terms of just pretty much all aspects of life. The thing obviously now that was the big talk was the health care debate. With everything going on, everyone would ask us: “What’s the matter with you guys? Why haven’t you hopped on board to socialized medicine? It just makes no sense.” And, that was pretty much what sparked conversation when I would tell people where I was from.

Andrew Overton
Interesting. 57% of U.S. residents said in this poll that what we have in common with people who live in England is greater than how we are different. What are your thoughts on that, and what were some surprising similarities you found, and what were some of the biggest difference you found?

Rob Schmidt
Well, I definitely think we have a lot in common, obviously being arguably the two biggest and most successful democracies in the world. In terms of technology, over in London, everyone was glued to their Blackberries either on Facebook, Twitter, reading some type of — reading something, playing some kind of game. Just that kind of engagement in technology was quite similar. The thing I noticed though that was different in terms of reading the news and stuff was that everyone in Britain reads a newspaper. There’s a free newspaper that comes out in the morning and a free one in the evening. When I would be riding the subway to work in the morning, you could almost hear a pin drop, because everyone is sitting down reading their paper, and I would say that’s much different here in the United States. People often are going to the new media, the Internet, and the blogs and stuff for their information. Where that is very popular in the U.K. as well, but definitely in the U.K. that the newspaper industry is still a staple over there.

Andrew Overton
12% of U.S. residents said that the U.S. is the world’s only superpower. Do you think these numbers echo the beliefs of Europeans, and why or why not?

Schmidt with fellow Hansard scholars, Marissa Ryan and Joe Mager.

Rob Schmidt
Well, I really didn’t engage in any conservation with anyone in the U.K. about America’s power, world power, but I did get the sense of when I was in London, even though there were different cultural — there were cultural differences, I still felt that London was very Americanized. Or I shouldn’t say Americanized, but it was like America. I did feel like … I did feel very safe and I felt that everything was kind of in sync with the American way of life. I don’t know if that makes Britain kind of equal to a world superpower in — on the United States’ level, but I do think that … oh I should say, I am surprised that only 12% of U.S. residents thought that.

Andrew Overton
How does British politics differ from, say, the U.S. party system?

Rob Schmidt
Oh well right off the bat, I’m sure you know this from doing the Hansard Program as well, every Wednesday they have the PMQs, Prime Minister’s Questions, where Gordon Brown, the current Prime Minister, goes into the Chambers of Parliament and different members of Parliament are able to ask some questions about anything, any type of policy, anything that’s going on. And to be honest, I think America could take that one-hour time interval and put it on Fox, and I think it would get more ratings than “American Idol.” It’s so entertaining. And I think that’s the biggest difference in British politics is that there’s much, from what I saw, much more deliberation among members. I just have a hard time seeing President Obama or even President Bush going down into Congress on Capitol Hill and just getting raided with questions. I mean presidents have enough trouble dealing with scheduled press conferences and staged press conferences and our current members of Congress have a problem even putting on the debates in the Senate and the House on CSPAN, and I think that’s much different in Britain. I think the policies and the politics are much more open to the public. If the public utilizes these resources, I’m not sure if they totally use it to their advantage though.

Andrew Overton
There is a U.K. general election in less than three weeks [on May 6th]. Well it’s two weeks now probably.

Rob Schmidt
Yeah.

Andrew Overton
What is the political climate like there, and do you have any predictions?

Rob Schmidt
Well, when I was there, the Conservative Party was thought to have — was going wipe out Labour this election. Best case scenario for the Conservatives when I was there was that it was going to be a hung Parliament with the Conservatives in the minority, but without Gordon Brown having a mandate to run the country. So, best case scenario was that Cameron and Brown would lead a coalition government, and hopefully, Cameron would eventually either hold another election, or Parliament would file a No Confidence Act against Brown. But, now very recently, I think things are changing. Just … I’m obviously not as engaged in politics as I was — British politics as I was, but I did catch a little bit of the first ever debate held by the three members — Nick Clegg of the Lib Dems, Cameron of the Tories, and Brown of the Labour — and from what I heard and saw, Nick Clegg did very, very well in the debate and that has shifted a lot of the momentum towards the Liberal Democrats and taken it away from the Conservatives and from the Labour. I would still say right now, if I was to make a prediction, that the Conservatives will do well in the election, much — or I think they will do better than the Labour, but I think the third party Liberal Democrats will take some of that away from them; and with this recent thing, I think it makes everything so much more confusing. But that sentiment of big government and failure of — failure to the public, too much spending, I would still safely say is still there, and I think that there’s going to be a lot happening over the next two to three weeks.

Andrew Overton
All right, well thank you so much, Rob. Appreciate your time. I know you’re working hard.

Rob Schmidt
Yeah, and actually I just have another minute. There’s just one other thing I wanted to comment on …

Andrew Overton
Go for it.

Rob Schmidt
… in terms of Hansard. I actually… I had a… With everything with the health care debate going on, I did have a firsthand experience with the National Health Service, the government health care in the U.K. I actually wound up being in the hospital for three days. I came down with an intestinal infection and had to unfortunately be sent home a bit early. But in terms of care, I thought that the care was good. The hospital that I was in was quite comparable to one in the United States. And, I did wait a little while in the emergency room, but that’s not much different than anything here. I was sent home with a diagnosis, and I came home, and I was treated for something else. And, I actually wound up getting much better here in the States. I’m not saying that I was totally misdiagnosed in the U.K., but I think that in the U.K., they were a little bit more pressed for time. I don’t know if it was just my situation, but I didn’t … although the care was good, I didn’t seem to get as much attention from the doctors as I did over here. Like I said, whether that’s due to my time constraints when I was in the U.K., but I think it cleared up some things for me in terms of the care of the nurses and things like that, and I think now that the issue that I have with the whole idea of a “socialized medicine” isn’t the fact of the treatment, it’s the fact of the cost because I luckily didn’t pay a penny for those three days in the hospital. But somebody, some farmer probably in Northern England, is footing my bill. Whether that’s justifiable or not is I think the key component for the debate here going on in America.

4/30: 59 Candles

April 30, 2010 | by Marist Poll

It’s an annual tradition at The Marist Institute for Public Opinion. To commemorate the director’s birthday, we ask the nation if they think Dr. Lee M. Miringoff’s age is young, middle-aged, or old. How did our fearless leader do this year?

The age is 59, and Miringoff escapes, again! 72% of U.S. residents think 59 years old is “middle-aged.” 15% believe the age is “young,” and 13% report it’s “old.”

Needless to say, age affects perceptions on this question. The older Americans are, the more likely they are to say 59 years old is “young.” The younger the residents, the more inclined they are to say the age is “old.”

Table: How Old Is 59?

Marist Poll Methodology

MIPO Director Lee Miringoff on the perception of age:

4/28: The Tribeca Film Festival’s Identity Crisis

April 28, 2010 | by Marist Poll

We’re already at the halfway point for the ninth session of the Tribeca Film Festival, yet unless you live downtown, it’s hard to notice. The festival isn’t exactly a hot topic around the water cooler.

Michael Avila, TV producer and pop culture writer.

That’s not an indictment against the quality of films.

Documentaries, a traditionally strong category at Tribeca, have made a strong impression, thanks to the eco-warning “Climate of Change,” the Shea Stadium love letter “Last Play at Shea” and the festival’s most talked-about entry, the work-in-progress about New York’s disgraced ex-governor “Untitled Eliot Spitzer Project.” Several features, like “Legacy” and “Spork,” have also earned strong reviews.

Still, there doesn’t seem to be much electricity around town for TFF. A new poll by Marist indicates 79% of New Yorkers have no intention of attending a single TFF event. That’s a staggering number.

The star-studded premiere parties and the countless sponsor events are still making it into Page Six. How is that different than any other night in Manhattan? There is nothing approaching the buzz that turns Park City, Utah, into mini-Hollywood every January for Sundance, or the excitement in Toronto as likely Oscar contenders are screened there in the fall.

It’s not exactly fair to compare Tribeca to Sundance or Toronto or Cannes, for that matter. Those festivals are established events with longer histories. They also benefit from better placement on the calendar (Sundance in January, Cannes in May, Toronto in September). And you can’t ignore the fact that the options for entertainment in Manhattan are slightly more plentiful than Park City or Toronto.

For all these reasons and more, Tribeca has been forced to dig a little deeper than other festivals to find quality pictures.

Fortunately, there are plenty of great independent movies out there. And TFF has shown a knack for finding gems in the foreign markets, with “Buried Land,” “Dog Pound” and “My Brothers” being good examples this year.

It’s not like the festival isn’t drawing crowds. Last year, nearly 350,000 people attended. They can’t all be out-of-towners, can they? But attendance figures can’t explain Tribeca’s lack of cultural cachet.

You can go ahead and blame the festival’s one-size-fits-all approach to programming for that. Co-founders Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro have embraced mainstream popcorn pictures such as “Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones” and “Spider-Man 3” since the festival began in 2002, as a way to drum up publicity. But kicking off a film festival with “Shrek Forever After” – this year’s Opening Night movie – isn’t the way to gain street cred on the film festival circuit.

By striving for national attention with splashy red-carpet premieres of upcoming summer blockbusters, Tribeca sabotaged its own efforts to position itself as a central player in independent film.

But it may not be too late to fix that.

Festival organizers have drastically scaled back the number of feature films they screen, from 176 in 2005 to a more manageable 85 this year. Yes, they did premiere with “Shrek 4,” but at least it was a 3D movie. The recent explosion in 3D moviemaking goes hand-in-hand with TFF’s mission to embrace new film technology.

For the first time, Tribeca has made festival movies such as Ed Burns’ “Nice Guy Johnny” available for viewing online. In addition, TFF struck deals with several cable companies to offer movies through Video On Demand. Those films will become available at the same time they premiere at the festival.

The old independent film business model is undergoing drastic change. People are watching movies online and on their iPhone, when they want to watch. TFF is embracing these new platforms as a means to finding new ways to expose independent films to wider audiences. By doing so, the Tribeca Film Festival may have finally figured out a solution to its longtime identity crisis.

Who knows? Maybe New Yorkers will finally get jazzed about Tribeca if they know they can see the films without having to take the A train downtown.

This article is written by Michael Avila, a television producer and pop culture writer.