I think there is at least a slight possibility that there is someone here who likes charts about the economy ;-)
See the article. It's almost all stuff that has been mentioned here over the year, but it's a good assembly.
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/03/opinion/2016-in-charts-and-can-trump-deliver-in-2017.html?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits
Some takeaways
1. People aren't happy and it's lowering life expectancy
QuoteHere's a shocker: Death rates for middle-aged white Americans have been rising, even as they have been falling for their counterparts in almost every other developed country. The principal reasons are not disease, but suicides and drug and alcohol overdoses.
2. We must ban imports of lawnmowers and move forward with a lawnmower registry
QuoteMore Americans died in domestic terrorist incidents in 2016 than in any year since 2001. However, those 63 deaths, while tragic, are about the same as the number of Americans killed annually by lawn mowers.
3. We are a scared and skittish people.
Quotein 2015, anti-Muslim hate crimes jumped by 67 percent, the highest level since the 2001 terrorist attacks.
4. No quote, but look at which groups voted stronger for Trump than for Romney. Of course, we all know... white males. But also Asians voted 11% more for Trump, Hispanics 8% and African-Americans 7%. I'm sure you'll be surprised to find that Clinton connected with college-educated white women (+12% over Obama).
5. We continue to want our children and grandchildren pay for our excesses
QuoteThese huge tax giveaways — along with Mr. Trump's promises.... — add $4 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years over and above current projections
Thanks for that! Needs more Venn, though.
This is a great article, but troubling. There are a lot of very powerful statistics, but what hits me the most is the trends towards early death for white Americans seems to be much in line with the fall in manufacturing jobs. I suspect that Trump will talk a lot about nationalism, but in the end do very little to stop the long term trends in employment.
Quote from: littleman on January 06, 2017, 07:05:16 PM
what hits me the most is the trends towards early death for white Americans seems to be much in line with the fall in manufacturing jobs.
I'm not sure why, but this makes me think of something we skirt around, but I don't think have discussed here.
Not so many years ago (early 1960s perhaps), the poorest demographic in America was the elderly. Over the last several decades we have seen the largest transfer of wealth in history from the young to the old. They are now the wealthiest demographic in America and I think that's true for much of the OECD nations. This has been achieved with Social Security, Medicare, massive deficit spending, and so on.
For a long time, the young tolerated this because
1. The full effects hadn't hit
2. In a rapidly expanding economy where all boats are rising, people are more willing to see their parents' boat rise a little faster
But with the decline in growth, that tolerance is coming to an end. I've read some people who say that it reaches the breaking point in the 2020s, at which point the "young" rebel. One person I was reading recently predicts that the late 2020s will be like 1848, when there was a revolution or significant upheaval in a large number of the countries of Europe.
I think what you're picking out from the chart is not unrelated to that. A lot of people are seeing, either explicitly or intuitively that the transfer of wealth to the elderly was not a continuous thing for all generations, but a periodic thing for two generations (essentially my parents and grandparents).
Of course, I don't think Trump stands a ghost of chance of turning back the great demographic and economic tides, but that's what he's tapping into. A lot of "Make America Great Again" is "Give me middle and senior years like my parents had."
QuoteThe presidential election which we have experienced, unfortunately, confirms this forecast. We seem to be well on track for the 2020s instability peak
http://today.uconn.edu/2016/12/using-social-science-to-predict-the-future/
Good article RC
"But the other two factors in the model, popular immiseration (the stagnation and decline of living standards) and declining fiscal health of the state (resulting from falling state revenues and rising expenses [AKA OVER SPENDING]) are also important contributors."
[The Good News]
"Our society, like all previous complex societies, is on a rollercoaster. Impersonal social forces bring us to the top; then comes the inevitable plunge. But the descent is not inevitable. Ours is the first society that can perceive how those forces operate, even if dimly. This means that we can avoid the worst – perhaps by switching to a less harrowing track, perhaps by redesigning the rollercoaster altogether."
Quote from: Mackin USA on January 07, 2017, 01:23:10 PM
Good article RC
Yes, thank you for that. I clicked some links to his other articles that are a bit less general. Thought provoking stuff.
>However, those 63 deaths, while tragic, are about the same as the number of Americans killed annually by lawn mowers.
LOL, not surprised as every time I'm in the south and out in rural areas, I see at least one active lawn mower in every house. You 'mericans love that stuff, hehe.
Unless you have some of the slow-to-grow turf grasses (centipede), you pretty much HAVE to mow weekly in the South. Many/most cities and/or HOAs have it in their laws and will most definitely fine the sh## out of you if you let it get overgrown --and 'overgrown' is subject to THEIR interpretation, not yours. Don't ask me how I know this, hhh.
>deaths
The blades pick up rocks, nails, etc. and launch them at bullet-like speeds in a random direction. What could possibly go wrong?
When my kids were of toddlers-to-preschool age, I was mowing the shallow ditch in front of my house. That ditch was 80' (24m) from the house. The blade hit a rock hidden in the (properly maintained) grass. That projectile, about the size of a golf ball, flew with such speed and force that it not only broke the storm window and interior window, but it also blew out part of the frame. Thankfully, I already knew to not let kids in the yard while mowing but, after that, I never let them learn to use a lawnmower, either.
>HAVE to mow
We get fined by the city government here. There is a guy who drives a truck around looking for overgrown lawns.
Quote from: Rumbas on January 09, 2017, 02:34:26 PM
at least one active lawn mower in every house. You 'mericans love that stuff, hehe.
I convinced my brother to create a lawnmower coop in his neighborhood at least a decade ago because it is stupidly wasteful for everyone to have one of these machines.
Snowblower is a different deal - everyone has to get their drives cleared and out to work at roughly the same time, so they're hard to share. But really, everyone in a suburban neighborhood with 1/2 acre (roughly hectare) lots needs their own fricken tractor?
Personally, I'm a "meadow gardner." In our whole neighborhood of about 200 houses, there's only one lawn and, to my knowledge, one lawnmower. It's a climate change denier who busily plants non-native trees, flowers and grasses all around his yard.
This American custom is one thing in east of the Mississippi, but west of the Mississippi, almost every American is living in a DESERT and growing a lawn. It is completely insane. Lawns in Phoenix? Lawns in Las Vegas?
This is a great show about a guy who got sent to JAIL for failing to keep his lawn manicured in Florida.
http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/lawn-order/
Oh my people...
>drug overdoses
Quote
US organ transplants increased nearly 20% in five years
"The number of donors who died of overdoses increased over the past year," Klassen said. The percentage of donors who have died from overdoses is approaching 25% of the donor population in some parts of the country
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/09/health/organ-donation-2016/index.html
BUT
I read an article last week that says autonomous vehicles will massively reduce the supply of donor organs.