September 9, 2016 12:00 PM
State of the Nation
28% of Americans say the country is headed in the right direction while 59% say it is on the wrong track. (USA/Suffolk, 8/29)In her September 1st column, Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report makes the point that “the right direction/wrong track number has been terrible for years.” “…not everyone interprets ‘wrong direction’ in the same way. For some, it means….a deep frustration in the way government and corporations have failed America. For others, it is dislike of the polarization and partisanship that has enveloped our political and social dialogue….there is no one reason why people are upset. They are also likely to be frustrated by their choice for president.”
Let’s take a look at the “official” unemployment numbers.
The official BLS seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for August 2016 is 4.9%, the same as last month.
If one takes into account the total number of unemployed + those marginally attached to the labor force + those working part-time who want full-time work, the current rate is 9.7%. [BLS data is based on those 16 years of age and older.]
In the first week of July, Gallup found an unadjusted unemployment rate of 5.4%. It also found an under-employment rate of 13.1% (unemployed + those working part-time but wanting full-time). [Based on those 18 years of age and older.]
“One of the most disappointing numbers from the recovery has been the growth rate of wages. In the first 5 years of the recovery (2007-2012), hourly wages edged up just 2 percent a year. After factoring in the effect of consumer price inflation, this translates into a gain of exactly 0 percent.”
“….estimates show that between 2009 and 2015, recipients in the top 1 percent enjoyed real income gains of 24 percent. Among Americans in the bottom nine-tenths of the income distribution, average market incomes climbed only 4 percent.” [Brookings 7/22/16]
On the other hand, the National Association of Homebuilders estimates that there are approximately 200,000 unfilled construction jobs in the United States. According to the Department of Labor, the ratio of construction job openings to hiring is at its highest level since 2007. As a result, labor costs are rising. [Reuters, 9/6]
A record 60.6 million Americans live in multigenerational households. [Pew Research Center, 8/11]
The following represents the average GDP growth during each expansion at an annualized rate. [WSJ, 7/31]
| 1949-53 | 7.6% |
| 1954-57 | 4.0% |
| 1958-60 | 5.6% |
| 1961-69 | 4.9% |
| 1970-73 | 5/1% |
| 1975-80 | 4/3% |
| 1980-81 | 4/4% |
| 1982-90 | 4/3% |
| 1991-01 | 3.6% |
| 2009-16 | 2/1% |
| 2nd Q 2016 | 1/2% |
The average American will consume 27.4 gallons of bottled water this year. That is about a gallon more than the projection for the amount of soda that will be consumed. [FiveThirtyEight, August 3, 2016]
U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps won his 12th individual Olympic gold medal, tying a record set 2,168 years ago by Leonidas of Rhodes. [Deadspin]
30% of college and post-graduate students have done video job interviews from the bathroom or conference room at their current job. [USAToday, 8/14]
Nine million Asian Americans will be eligible to vote in 2016. This is an increase of 16% from four years ago. The following shows the percentage of Asian Americans in the electorate of a hand full of states:
California 14.9%; Nevada 9.0%; New Jersey 7.0%; New York 6.3%; Virginia 5.0%; Minnesota 3.1%; Arizona 3.0%; Pennsylvania 2.1%; Michigan 1.8%; North Carolina 1.8%; Ohio 1.3%. [WSJ, 8/23]
“Student debt has now topped $1.3 trillion.” [The Progress Report, 8/23/16]
Notwithstanding all of the electronic devices that can be used to read books, the vast majority of people still read books printed on paper.
The number of people reading books in any format took a large drop between 2011 and 2012 from 79% to 74%. Since then the number of folks reading books in any format has fluctuated. In 2014, the number was 76% and this year it is 73%.
The number of people who have read books on paper has dropped from 71% in 2011 to 65% in 2016. Those who have read e-books or listened to an audio book has grown from 28% in 2011to 42% in 2016. In the last 12 months, 6% of Americans have read only digital books, 38% read only print books and 26% read no books in any format.
77% of women have read a book in any format in the last year while only 68% of men make that claim. [Pew Research Center, 9/1/16]
A 63% majority of women say obstacles continue to make it harder for women than men today, compared with 34% who say obstacles are largely gone. Among men, 41% think women still face obstacles that make it harder to get ahead, while 56% say those challenges have mostly been eliminated. (For more on women in society, see the Center’s report.) [Pew Research Center, 8/16/16]
“…. Today is the day (August 23, 2016) a hypothetical black woman finally makes the same as a white man made in 2015. It takes black women 8 additional months to reach pay parity because, on average, full-time, year-round working black women earn 60 cents for every $1 made by a white man…. A massive pay gap still exists despite the fact that black women are the most educated group in the United States. And in 2014, they participated in the labor force at a higher rate than other women.” [The Progress Report, 8/23/16]
In the 2016 Olympics there were 169 events for men and 137 events for women. In the only event that pits individual men against individual women – equestrian – women have won 25 of the 45 individual medals issued since 1996. [WSJ, 8/7]
As you may have noticed, after changing his political designation from Independent to Democrat in order to run in the Democratic presidential primary, Bernie Sanders has now returned to describing himself as an Independent. Sanders has argued that Independents ought to be able to participate in either major party’s primaries.
19 states already do what Sanders suggests. In some other states, one party’s primary is open and the other is closed. In two states, Washington and California, all candidates of any party are listed together on the ballot rendering, party affiliation being irrelevant, during primaries. Nebraska allows for open primaries for state legislative office but not federal offices. There are a variety of other permutations.
This and That: Did You Know?
In the time it takes you to say LOL you could have laughed.I love the way you make me laugh…at you.
Sometimes when I can’t hear what someone says I just laugh and hope it wasn’t a question.
May you be happier than a bird with a French fry.
