Our Country's Economy

"The typical respondent believed that the top 20 percent of Americans owned 60 percent of the wealth, and the bottom 40 percent owned 10 percent. They knew, in other words, that wealth in the United States was not distributed equally, but were unaware of just how unequal the distribution was."

In an op-ed appearing in the Los Angeles Times, explaining that the top 20% of Americans actually own about 85% of the wealth, while the bottom 40% own even less than 1% - the greatest disparity since the 1920s before the crash. Dan Ariely a professor of behavioral economics at Duke and Michael Norton an associate professor of business administration at Harvard.

"Outsized financial rewards should be reserved for those who take outsized financial risks with their own money or have outsized, demonstrable talent. Investment bankers, by and large, just do not make that cut."

William Cohan, writer and former Wall Street Banker, in his semi-monthly column for the New York Times, October, 2010.

It seems to me the people who do make the cut include Thomas Edison (GE), Henry Ford (Ford Motor), Steve Jobs (Apple), Barnum & Bailey, Houdini, Mickey Mantle, Frank Sinatra, Bill Gates (Microsoft), Carl Ichan, Warren Buffett, The Beatles, JP Morgan, Commodore Vanderbilt.

Some Things the Numbers Tell Us Today

These statements are accurate as of November, 2010:

Percentage of Americans who say government programs do not help familes: 54
Percentage of American families that do not get government benefits: 30

Rank of China's GDP: per person: 94 as a nation: 2

Percentage of developing nations' economies that grew faster than US:
Decade of the 1990s: 48
Decade of 2000s: 89

Number of offshore oil and gas leases apprived by Feds since 2005: 4,603
Number of offshore wind projects: 1

Amount the state of California spent in 2009 on each minor in juvenile detention: $224,712
Amount spent on each student in the Oakland school system: $4,945

All of the above are from Harper's Magazine's "Index" of January, 2011 issue.

In an essay in Foreign Affairs called "The Demographic Future," Nicholas Eberstadt describes the coming global manpower decline. Over the next two decades, for example, there will be a 30 percent decline in the number of Chinese between the ages of 15 and 29 - 100 million fewer workers.

From David Brooks' (New York Times) column of December 31, 2010

Comments on What is True and False

I have found these TO BE TRUE:

1. The Golden Rule works.

2. Compromise is better than a trial, but sometimes only one side understands that.

3. God is not on Our Side.

4. Women’s intuition is better than men’s, but that does not mean sometimes a particular man’s is not better.

5. Sex is most often a good thing, and there is definitely too little of it being shared, but that does not mean you should receive it whenever you want it.

6. There is other great wine than that from the Cabernet Sauvignon grape, and we should each spend a bit of time looking for it. Even the French know that.

7. God has blessed the United States; however, we thank ourselves and not Him.

8. These occupations are now underpaid: (i) school teachers (still),  (ii) airline pilots of regional airlines (dangerously), (iii)  songwriters, composers, and similar artists, (iv) anyone who gets taxed on all of his or her income for the FICA.

9. These occupations are now well overpaid: (i) airline pilots of major airlines with over 20 years service, (ii) CEOs, CFOs, EVPs and Presidents of US publicly traded companies, (iii) persons who trade commodities, including investment instruments as commodities, (iv) anyone who gets taxed on his or her labor at capital gains rates, (v) surgeons (still).

10. The “free market” has but one goal and if truly unregulated has but one result: monopoly.

I have found these TO BE FALSE:

1. Your loved-ones are safer with a pistol being near by than with one being far away.

2. “Christian” is a proper synonym for “Good” and “Moral.”

3. The Palestinians are wrong; the Israelis are wrong.

4. Alexander Hamilton was wrong; James Madison was wrong; Thomas Jefferson was wrong.

5. It is correct to sometimes use an apostrophe to indicate a plural.

6. “Muslims” is a proper synonym for “terrorists.”

7. Shakespeare was condemning lawyers with the words “First, kill all the lawyers.” [In truth, it was a rallying command by a character, signaling a way to conquer a people, for the lawyers are the people’s defenders of liberty, without whom the people cannot be free.]

8. The word for a real estate broker with access to the Multiple Listing Service consists of three syllables and not just two. [The truth is, it is pronounced REAL tor, not REAL A tor, and the word is a servicemark, like a trademark.]

9. It is perfectly lawful to drive in the left lane of a four lane divided highway even if you are not passing a vehicle in the right lane.

10. It is lawful to enter into an intersection in Houston, even if you cannot completely cross over the intersection without stopping.