As seen in the San Diego Union-Tribune September 12, 2010, from the Wall Street Journal:
"Money can't buy happiness, but a study shows that we can earn it.
The study, which analyzed Gallup surveys of 450,000 Americans in 2008 and 2009, suggests that there were two forms of happiness: day-to-day contentment and overall satisfaction with one's place in the world. While a higher income brings little day-to-day contentment, it does boost people's overall satisfaction.
The study, conducted by Princeton University economist Angus Deaton and famed psychologist Daniel Kahneman, found that there's a specific dollar number, or income plateau, after which more money has no measurable effect on day-to-day contentment.
As people earn more money, their day-to-day happiness rises. That is, until you hit the magic number: $75,000 a year. After that, it's just more stuff, with no gain in happiness.
That doesn't mean wealthy and ultrawealthy people are equally happy. More money does boost people's overall satisfaction all the way up the income ladder. People who earned $160,000 a year, for instance, reported more overall satisfaction than people earning $120,000, and so on.
"Giving people more income beyond 75K is not going to do much for their daily mood...but it is going to make them feel they have a better life," Mr. Deaton told the Associated Press.
He added: "As an economist, I tend to think money is good for you, and am pleased to find some evidence for that."
However, $75,000 in New York doesn't buy as much as it would in, say, South Dakota. Based on cost-of-living index values from Kiplinger.com, the happiness salary would vary widely across the nation. For example, New Yorkers would have to earn $163,000 a year to achieve the $75,000 happiness level; in Chicago, $84,750. It took the least amount of money to achieve happiness in Fort Smith, Ark., and Pueblo, Colo., where a $62,000 salary buys $75,000 worth of happiness."
Reported the same day, with the headline "Ranks of Poor Grow at Record Clip," reporting that demographers expect one result of the US Census will be a rise in the poverty rate to 15%. In 2008, the poverty level stood at $22,025 for a family of four. I can't imagine providing for a family of four on that small amount! On top of this, the article reports that beginning next year, the government plans to publish new, supplemental poverty figures that are expected to show even higher numbers of people in poverty. This last sentence is good news: only if we know the true and complete story will we find the proper solutions, the will, and the fortitude to institute those solutions.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Wealth Inequality vs. Foreclosure Crisis
Interesting article on this subject, with good statistic backup: "Is income inequality to blame for the Great Recession? There are several ways to try to explain the potential connection between income inequality and economic crises. Bruce Judson of the Yale School of Management describes a "Governance Problem," whereby the wealthy use their increased income to control the levers of power to further consolidate their advantages ("insulate, insulate, insulate" as Sherman McCoy might say). The history of financial sector deregulation over the last thirty years tracks this rise in income equality. And many of the economic gains over this period can be traced to the financial sector."
See the full article with excellent graphs: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ray-brescia/when-the-rich-get-risky-i_b_695535.html
See the full article with excellent graphs: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ray-brescia/when-the-rich-get-risky-i_b_695535.html
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Sick to Death of Poor Government!
I'm sick to death of the very poor government we get stuck with, decade after decade. Who else thinks the watered-down education received at public high schools is a major reason we continue to suffer from this crap? Sure, there are plenty of good and great teachers; sure there are plenty of students who graduate and go on to become productive members of society. Sure, parents should and do have a major responsibility to educate their children. However, the schools still turn out millions of unthinking masses, who don't have even basic analytical skills, skills need to think for oneself. This is my point.
By the way, although I have my own liberal values, I have lots of friends who are conservative and rational, and whom I respect. My point or desire is not to produce more liberals, it's to produce more and better informed citizens, period. All of society would benefit, and it would not cost any more money than is already spent on education, our money.
In the mean time, I seriously want to see a disclaimer added to each high school diploma that includes "The education provided by this high school is in no way meant to prepare you for the real world. Any similarity between it and the tools to think for oneself is purely coincidental, yadda yadda." Help me fill in the yadda yadda if you agree.
By the way, although I have my own liberal values, I have lots of friends who are conservative and rational, and whom I respect. My point or desire is not to produce more liberals, it's to produce more and better informed citizens, period. All of society would benefit, and it would not cost any more money than is already spent on education, our money.
In the mean time, I seriously want to see a disclaimer added to each high school diploma that includes "The education provided by this high school is in no way meant to prepare you for the real world. Any similarity between it and the tools to think for oneself is purely coincidental, yadda yadda." Help me fill in the yadda yadda if you agree.
Monday, July 26, 2010
The Middle Class in America Is Radically Shrinking. Here Are the Stats to Prove it
Very scary statistics, assuming they are accurate. Everyone should be very concerned about these facts. How many people know these facts, and understand how telling they are?
From The Business Insider
Editor's note: Michael Snyder is editor of theeconomiccollapseblog.com
The 22 statistics detailed here prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America.
The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace.
So why are we witnessing such fundamental changes? Well, the globalism and "free trade" that our politicians and business leaders insisted would be so good for us have had some rather nasty side effects. It turns out that they didn't tell us that the "global economy" would mean that middle class American workers would eventually have to directly compete for jobs with people on the other side of the world where there is no minimum wage and very few regulations. The big global corporations have greatly benefited by exploiting third world labor pools over the last several decades, but middle class American workers have increasingly found things to be very tough.
Here are the statistics to prove it:
• 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.
• 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
• 66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.
• 36 percent of Americans say that they don't contribute anything to retirement savings.
• A staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.
• 24 percent of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.
• Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.
• Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
• For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all individual Americans put together.
• In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.
• As of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.
• The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
• Average Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.
• In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.
• The top 1 percent of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America's corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.
• In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.
• More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying.
• or the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.
• This is what American workers now must compete against: in China a garment worker makes approximately 86 cents an hour and in Cambodia a garment worker makes approximately 22 cents an hour.
• Approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 - the highest rate in 20 years.
• Despite the financial crisis, the number of millionaires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009.
• The top 10 percent of Americans now earn around 50 percent of our national income.
From The Business Insider
Editor's note: Michael Snyder is editor of theeconomiccollapseblog.com
The 22 statistics detailed here prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America.
The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate. Once upon a time, the United States had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the world, but now that is changing at a blinding pace.
So why are we witnessing such fundamental changes? Well, the globalism and "free trade" that our politicians and business leaders insisted would be so good for us have had some rather nasty side effects. It turns out that they didn't tell us that the "global economy" would mean that middle class American workers would eventually have to directly compete for jobs with people on the other side of the world where there is no minimum wage and very few regulations. The big global corporations have greatly benefited by exploiting third world labor pools over the last several decades, but middle class American workers have increasingly found things to be very tough.
Here are the statistics to prove it:
• 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.
• 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck, which was up from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.
• 66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.
• 36 percent of Americans say that they don't contribute anything to retirement savings.
• A staggering 43 percent of Americans have less than $10,000 saved up for retirement.
• 24 percent of American workers say that they have postponed their planned retirement age in the past year.
• Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.
• Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.
• For the first time in U.S. history, banks own a greater share of residential housing net worth in the United States than all individual Americans put together.
• In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.
• As of 2007, the bottom 80 percent of American households held about 7% of the liquid financial assets.
• The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
• Average Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.
• In the United States, the average federal worker now earns 60% MORE than the average worker in the private sector.
• The top 1 percent of U.S. households own nearly twice as much of America's corporate wealth as they did just 15 years ago.
• In America today, the average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks.
• More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying.
• or the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.
• This is what American workers now must compete against: in China a garment worker makes approximately 86 cents an hour and in Cambodia a garment worker makes approximately 22 cents an hour.
• Approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 - the highest rate in 20 years.
• Despite the financial crisis, the number of millionaires in the United States rose a whopping 16 percent to 7.8 million in 2009.
• The top 10 percent of Americans now earn around 50 percent of our national income.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Ronald Reagan, The Ultimate Hawk? Not So Much
Follow the link to an excellent article comparing President Reagan to the myths surrounding him.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/06/07/think_again_ronald_reagan?page=0,0
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/06/07/think_again_ronald_reagan?page=0,0
Transportation Freedom Day Marked
Los Angeles marked Transportation Freedom Day last week. What's that? It's the day when the typical median-income family has earned enough money to cover transportation costs for the entire year. Your basic middle-class L.A. household spends about $8,600 a year on gas, insurance, parking and vehicle maintenance, according to the California Public Interest Research Group, a watchdog organization. That compares with about $8,000 for the average U.S. family and represents more than 20% of most people's annual expenditures.
"It's an eye-opener how burdensome transportation is for most families," said Erin Steva, transportation advocate for CalPIRG. "People are spending more for this than they do for food, clothing and healthcare."
Yet what are we doing to make public transportation a more convenient and practical alternative for people? Not enough. ... it's almost as if the dozens of entities that constitute the region's public-transit network are conspiring to make the system as unwelcoming as possible.
LA Times, March 23, 2010
"It's an eye-opener how burdensome transportation is for most families," said Erin Steva, transportation advocate for CalPIRG. "People are spending more for this than they do for food, clothing and healthcare."
Yet what are we doing to make public transportation a more convenient and practical alternative for people? Not enough. ... it's almost as if the dozens of entities that constitute the region's public-transit network are conspiring to make the system as unwelcoming as possible.
LA Times, March 23, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Double-tracking project to begin in June in Carlsbad
Great news for commuters: Starting in mid-June, contractors will add a second set of tracks to a two mile stretch of the coastal railway through Carlsbad. This will results in slightly more than 50% of the 60 mile coastal train route having double tracks.
Having a double set of tracks will provide new passing points for trains and reduce delays for both local Coaster commuter trains and Amtrak long-distance trains, John Eschenbach, senior project manager for Amtrak, said last week.
"This particular project will increase on-time performance and reliability," he said.
Most of the project's $16 million price tag is being paid for by Amtrak, but the state Department of Transportation contributed $1 million for design work, Eschenbach said.
Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner runs 24 trains a day along the coastal railway corridor, and the Coaster line has 22 daily trains. There also is regular freight train service along the route during the night-time hours.
While the extra row of tracks may improve existing train service, the number of trains using the route will not increase because of this project, officials have said.
That's because the new "double-tracked" area in Carlsbad will cover just a small portion of the regional coastal railway corridor. The full route between San Diego and the northern border of the county is 60 miles. Even after the conclusion of the Carlsbad project, just slightly more than 50 percent of that 60-mile route will have two sets of track, Eschenbach said.
Regional transportation planners have recently said that they want to have the full 60-mile coastal rail route in San Diego County double-tracked by 2030, adding that would allow up to 119 trains a day to use the route. However, they have had trouble finding funds for such a huge undertaking.
Hmm, just announced, a FOUR BILLION DOLLAR project to add ANOTHER FOUR LANES to sections of Interstate 5, which serves the same corridor. This project is insanity defined, doing the same thing and expecting different results, as if this will improve the horrible commuter and other traffic situation along I-5. Real progress would be to spend that money on converting the other ~30 miles of track to double-track first, and ASAP, which would allow for more trains and faster transit times, encouraging people to use the train instead of their personal traffic congesters. http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/carlsbad/article_6755bb05-6c9c-58fc-86bb-ebb39874a455.html?mode=story
Having a double set of tracks will provide new passing points for trains and reduce delays for both local Coaster commuter trains and Amtrak long-distance trains, John Eschenbach, senior project manager for Amtrak, said last week.
"This particular project will increase on-time performance and reliability," he said.
Most of the project's $16 million price tag is being paid for by Amtrak, but the state Department of Transportation contributed $1 million for design work, Eschenbach said.
Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner runs 24 trains a day along the coastal railway corridor, and the Coaster line has 22 daily trains. There also is regular freight train service along the route during the night-time hours.
While the extra row of tracks may improve existing train service, the number of trains using the route will not increase because of this project, officials have said.
That's because the new "double-tracked" area in Carlsbad will cover just a small portion of the regional coastal railway corridor. The full route between San Diego and the northern border of the county is 60 miles. Even after the conclusion of the Carlsbad project, just slightly more than 50 percent of that 60-mile route will have two sets of track, Eschenbach said.
Regional transportation planners have recently said that they want to have the full 60-mile coastal rail route in San Diego County double-tracked by 2030, adding that would allow up to 119 trains a day to use the route. However, they have had trouble finding funds for such a huge undertaking.
Hmm, just announced, a FOUR BILLION DOLLAR project to add ANOTHER FOUR LANES to sections of Interstate 5, which serves the same corridor. This project is insanity defined, doing the same thing and expecting different results, as if this will improve the horrible commuter and other traffic situation along I-5. Real progress would be to spend that money on converting the other ~30 miles of track to double-track first, and ASAP, which would allow for more trains and faster transit times, encouraging people to use the train instead of their personal traffic congesters. http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/carlsbad/article_6755bb05-6c9c-58fc-86bb-ebb39874a455.html?mode=story
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