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Politics and Economics
The FBI released its 2017 Hate Crime Statistics report a couple days ago. The report was covered by a bunch of news outlets, but the stories were mostly a rehash of the FBI’s relatively short press release. Few reporters dived into the detailed data tables that accompanied the report. I found none that compared the 2017 data to the previous year’s numbers. But I did.
To be pragmatic doesn’t mean one is shallow or selfish, lacking compassion or ideals. Pragmatists may be motivated by a strong sense of right and wrong, but they’re likely to keep their emotions in check in the service of whatever moral good they’re trying to achieve. That’s because strong emotion can make us stupid and short-sighted.
And yet in some other countries, for-profit schools and prisons are considered an improvement on their government-run counterparts. For-profit schools are doing wonders for poor children in India and Nigeria and for-profit prisons are widely accepted and praised in Australia.
The rationale for the proposed $450 billion home ownership program is that home equity is an important source of “iterative wealth building”, especially the use of home equity loans to build businesses and put the kids through college. Current disparities in wealth could therefore be reduced if more people owned homes. But does home equity actually play a significant or essential role in financing business or college educations in America?
The basic idea is that home owners are able to leverage their home equity to move up the economic ladder. Thus, the rationale for the Act is to right historical wrongs through a massive home ownership program to promote economic mobility within previously discriminated communities; hence the name, “American Housing and Economic Mobility Act”. Sounds good but would it work?
Then again, Americans love their specialists – nothing soothes the soul so much as expensive displays of conspicuous compassion.
“The Republicans [walked] away from the 1946 midterms with gains of 56 seats in the House and 13 in the Senate—and majorities in both houses…” - Top 10 Historic Midterm Elections by T.A. Frail/Smithsonian October 13, 2010
…Damning the Inner Other: a propensity to focus on and condemn the beliefs, motivations, biases, and inner life of out-group members and political opponents, as in accusations that rich people only give to charity out of self-interest. …
This post will address: How has the US government sought to redress historical inequities in home ownership within previously discriminated communities? How successful have these efforts been?
“Sixty-two percent of jobs fall short of that middle-class standard when factoring in both wages and the cost of living in the metro area where the job is located, according to the study by Third Way, a think tank that advocates center-left ideas.” Whopping 62 percent of jobs don't support middle-class life after accounting for cost of living by Paul Davidson/USA Today October 30, 2018
“…a charming stroll through the ruins of late capitalism that feels real and metaphorical at once.” - Review of the TV show Lodge 49: “Lodge 49 Nails the Sad Absurdity of Modern Life” by Matt Zoller Seitz/Vulture.com
Of the 200 CEOs listed, five made more than $50 million, 17 made between $30-49 million, and 178 made between $14-$29 million….
…support for strong border controls does not imply traditional marriage values, just as support for universal health care does not imply hostility to large corporations. That certain political opinions tend to go together is mostly a product of American history - an artifact of our two-party system and the dynamics of coalition politics.
…over half of the households in the top 20% of net worth are not in the top 20% of income. That makes sense given that so much of their wealth is based on the value of their homes and businesses. Think of farmers classified as middle-class by their income and wealthy by the value of their land and equipment.
Studies on the effectiveness of driver safety messages found that messages that focused on “fear arousal” were more likely to be rejected, while those that focused on concrete, doable behaviors were more likely to be accepted.
So over half of young adults and seniors live in lower income households…
…remember that most households in the top 20% percent of income have at least two earners and the lower limit for the top quintile was $126,855 in 2017. That’s an average of $63,428/year per earner.
A few years back, sociologists Thomas Hirschl and Mark Rank reviewed 44 years of US household and individual income data and found …
…my TBI would provide $1000/month up to six years total (minimum one month at a time) for adults enrolled at least part-time in postsecondary training and education programs, from ESL classes to apprenticeships to graduate school. Among the benefits…5. A TBI would not be means-tested so recipients could work without reducing the benefit. Note that part-time work (20 hours or less a week) is associated with higher college GPA and completion rates. …
[Americans] “felt ashamed that ‘their’ country's history was being stained by cruelties, lies, and betrayals. So they went to work in protest—not merely as advocates of universal human rights, but as Americans who loved the common American project…