1. Chart of the Day I. The chart above is an updated version of one I used for this CD post last November, and shows the relationship from 1990 to 2014 between: a) real annual median household income and b) the number US retirees as a share of the US adult population. In the five year period between 2009 and 2014, the number of retired Americans increased by 5.5 million, which was the largest five-year increase in US history, and more than double the 2.5 million increase in the previous five-year period. Given that wave of recent retirements, there have been millions of older, experienced, highly-paid workers going from their peak earning levels to a much lower retirement income that would typically include Social Security payments, pensions, and distributions from retirement accounts. As those millions of retirees are replaced in the workforce by younger, less experienced, lower paid workers, median household income could be falling even though the average income of working Americans could be rising.
A regression analysis of the 2005-2014 period shows that a 1% increase in the retirees’ share of the US adult population is associated with a $1,861 decline in real median household income (R-squared = 72.5%).
=====================================
2. Chart of the Day II (above). Based on new data released by the NHTSA last week, the US traffic fatality rate fell last year to 1.08 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles, the lowest fatality rate in history, and 85% below the rate in 1950 (7.24).
3. Who-d a-Thunk It I? A politician — Sen. Gary Peters (D-Michigan) — is a proponent of increasing the minimum wage to $20 per hour by 2010 for low-skill, limited-experience workers, unless they work for him as unpaid interns? Source.
4. Who-d a-Thunk It II? Portugal decriminalized drugs 14 years ago – and now hardly anyone dies from overdosing? Source.
5. Drug War Updates from WaPo: a) Harsh sentences, a legacy of the “War on Drugs,” have left elderly behind bars (source), and b) In the meth corridor of Iowa, a federal judge comes face to face with the reality of congressionally mandated sentencing (source).
6. Ethanol Fact of the Day I: Last year’s production and use of 14 billion gallons of corn ethanol resulted in 27 million tons more carbon emissions than if Americans had used straight gasoline in their vehicles. Source.
7. Ethanol Fact of the Day II: On an energy-equivalent basis, ethanol has been more expensive than gasoline for more than three decades. As Robert Ryce showed in a recent report for the Manhattan Institute, the Renewable Fuel Standard now imposes about $10 billion annually in additional fuel costs on motorists over and above what they would have paid for gasoline alone.
8. Markets in Everything. Allstate Corp. is expected to start rolling out insurance for drivers working for app-based car services such as Uber and Lyft, beginning on a limited basis in just a few states this year.
==============================
9. Chart of the Day III (above). The male labor force participation rate (LFPR) has been in a steady decline for more than 65 years, due to the aging of the US male population, and helps explain in part why the overall LPPR is at the lowest level since 1978.
===========================
10. Chart of the Day IV (below). From The Economist, showing that “Workers in poor countries have never had it so good. Two decades ago the extremely poor accounted for more than a third of all workers in developing countries, around 750 million people. Today their numbers have halved. The fastest-growing group are those considered “middle class”: they now represent 40% of the labor force in poor countries.”
from AEI » Latest Content http://ift.tt/1T7Dgto
0 التعليقات:
Post a Comment