Blog+Reflections

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 * __Economix__**

from the article __Britsh Executive Class Gets More Exclusive__
 * My theory about this rising number of professionals coming from families with incomes above the average is, that it is a result of the cost of schooling. College costs alot these days and only students who come from families with large incomes can afford to stay in school for the amount of years necessary to gain the degree needed to become a professional. For example doctors may need 6 years of schooling but a child's scholarship may only cover 4 of those years. Families with lower incomes can not afford to send their kids to college for those two extra years there for those kids will not become doctors. This is also true with lawyers continuing on to lawschool. The fact that doctors and lawyers born in the 1970s grew up in better off families is proven in the chart on the Economix blog.

from the article Americans in Their 50s and 80s Are Least Happy by Catherine Rampell
 * It seems that by looking at these charts that americans in their 50s or 80s have a lower well-being than people of any other age group. People just entering adulthood (18-20 yrs) and american in their late 60s/early 70s are the happiest. Another fact is that women always seem to be happier or equally happy as men except at 18-20 years old where men are happier. This could be possibly because women stress more than men in general and when they know they have college and all of their adult life ahead of them this puts alot of stress on a woman. She may not report to be as happy as a result. The middle-aged population may be less happy because they may have less financial security or they may have declining health or they may be unhappy about their children growing up and leaving them.

from the article Women as Breadwinners by Catherine Rampell
 * Compared to 1967, in 2008 approximatly 20% more working women earned as much or more than their husbands. This may have been due to the lack of education that women were recieving in 1967. Many more men when to college than women in 1967 therefore husbands would usually make more money than their wives. Another factor to consider when thinking about women's wages compared to men's is the different ethnicities. 51 percent of black non-hispanic wives earned the same or more than their husband last year. Lastly women of the lowest income quintile are also ones to be most likely to earn the same or more than their husband.

from the article The Housing Split(s) by Catherine Rampell
 * It seems that low cost homes and expensive new homes are selling the best right now. This makes sense because of the increasing amount of young couples buying their first homes, they don't have much money therefore they will buy the cheaper houses. As for the more expensive homes, the wealthier population are now buying those homes. All the houses at median prices are not moving on the market. The middle class citizens are staying where they are and not looking for new places at the moment.

from the article Who Recieves SIck Leave? by Steven Greenhouse
 * In this blog Greenhouse writes that the workers who do not recieve wages for sick days often go into work even though they may have the flu. I believe this may be something to worry about when it come to spreading the H1N1 virus. The lowest 10 percent of wage percentile is most susceptible to the flu, whether it be the H1N1 or the regular fl. They are the ones who mostly are going into work with weak immune systems. The people who are not effected by the flu in the workplace are the people who are in the top 10 percent because most of them are getting paid for their sick days, so they can afford to stay home on days when they are feeling under the weather in order to protect others and themselves from ingesting other harmful bacteria.

from the article Who's Hurting the Most? by Catherine Rampell
 * I believe it is hard for the younger citizens to get a job because the employers are keeping the older more experienced workers on the job. When the employer does lay offs they often cut people "lower on the todem pole" and that is usually younger employees. People with a bachelor's degree or higher are less likely to be unemployeed. Employers keep people who are more knowledgable and they can do their job better than someone who has less experience. Men are becoming more unemployed because there are more males working in industries that are sensitive to business cycle.

from the article The Uproar Over Mammography by Uwe E. Reinhardt
 * The United States Preventitive Services Task Force on Tuesday recommended against routine screening mammography for women under the age of 50. They also said the decision to have regular biennial screenings under the age of 50 is a individual one. The patient should take into consideration their own values reguarding the specific benefits and harms. I can say that I see what the new rules are trying to say. They are trying to say that only if you are younger than 50 should you get annual mamograms if you have a specific reason to, such as a family history or other condition that may lead to breast cancer. The individual choice they are talking about is since they are only recommending the procedure for women 50 and older, than if a woman still wishes to persue her yearly mamogram than she should look at the risks and benefits before going for it again. Some of the risks being she may ge diagnosed with a false positive or she is exposed to more radiation. The benefits however are that the cancer will be caught sooner. From their prospective I think they think that they can still treat a person who has cancer that has not been checked for 2 years and that person will survive. That is just what I think they may have been thinking when they made that recommendation.

from the article Obesity and Health Care Spending by Catherine Rampell
 * The first map shows obesity rates in the US. The highest obesity rates seem to gather in the southeast extending toward Kentucky and West Virginia, parts of Nevada, the coasts of Alaska, and sparse other areas. The second map shows Medicare expenditures per capita for all ages throughout all the United States. The same areas that were highlighted to have high obesity rates also have high Medicare expenditures. This makes sense because if a person is obese they are unhealthy therefore going to the doctor more often.

from the article Unbanked America by Catherine Rampell
 * The statistics of the article state that about one in thirteen american households don't use a savings or checking account. These "unbanked" households are disproportionatly low-incomed and minority. Over one fifth (21.6%) are black households and 3.3% are white households. While older people and more educated people are more likely to have bank accounts. A possible reason for this is because with lower incomes there is no need for a checking account or a bank account. Also if you have a lower education level a person may not know how to, for example balance/keep the check book in order therefore they just do away with the whole situation.

from the article Reimporting American Drugs from Canada
 * I agree with the majority on this amendment. It seems fine to import the drugs to the United States because they work same and they are cheaper that way. This would also keep the patient paying the same price for the brand name prescription verses the generic. If the price was lower many American who are not on medication today could get the meds they need. These people would therefore live a healthier lives and enrich society.

from the article If Colleges Worked Like Health Care by Uwe E. Reinhardt
 * Most colleges today work like HMOs, that is their is one price paid and it includes all neccerssary parts college life. However if college worked on a piece rate compensation basis, the student would be paying for each little thing. For example they would pay everytime they use the library, there would be different prices for the higher level dorms. It would cost money everytime they use the computer, even every time they send an email. This is not the way, in my opinion, to run a school. If a student doesn't have enough money they would not get the highest education that they deserve, after all, he/she would have gotten into the same school as all the other kids.

from the article Getting Old is Expensive by Catherine Rampell
 * The elderly have rising health expenses ranging from $197,000 to $311,000 per year, not including home health aid. Including home health aid the elderly can see prices up to $570,000 per year. With bills like these it is possible for these people to turn to their middle aged children for financial aid when their medical bills catch up to them between social security checks. The children of the elderly now feel obligated to help their parents with their health care bills, as a result their own lives are altered with now a lower income. Hopefully when the elderly heals the child can now bring themself and/or their family back to their normal way of living. This was the thought that went through my head when reading this blog.

from the article Is Any Job Better Than Unemployment? by Catherine Rampell
 * Some people who become unemployed feel the need to stay unemployed, collecting unemployment checks until they find another perfect job much like the one they had. Other people make use of the time they have while unemployed by picking up odd jobs for money. It seems it is a preference of the individual whether they want the specific job or anything they can get. People who may have had jobs that they had to work their way to the top for, may not want to just pick up any odd job that they can get. However a person who was low on the todem poll may not have such a problem with that.

from the article Single Parents Around The World by Catherine Rampell
 * The graph in this article shows the countries with the greatest number of single family households. Many times the mother is the single parent. Estonia has one of the largest percent of father only in the household. The United States is on the graph with a high percent of solely mother households. Overall throughout the countries shown most households contain a mother and a father.

from the article What We're Reading: New 100 dollar bill by Catherine Rampell __The New 100 Dollar Bill__
 * I saw this blog and decided to further look into it on other sights. I was only released yesterday. The new one hundred dollar bill seems like a very smart idea. The 3D technology in the blue stripe is fighting against counterfeiters. If put under a UV light a stripe appears on the left side of the bill. When put against a backlight it shows Benjamin Franklin's head on the right and it shows the number 100 on the left. It is amazing to me all the technology that can be put into paper money. This is to be put into circulation in February 2011.

from the article Are 'Feminie Problems' Keeping Poor Girls Out of School? by Emily Oster and Rebecca Thornton
 * This is a very plausible suggestion made by these women. Oster and Thornton say that girls who cannot afford modern sanitary products often miss school during menstration and this leads to lower attendence rates, eventual failure or dropping out. One possible solution is to provide these girls with the sanitary products needed during this time. This is a much cheaper way for the school to handle this situation than to buy uniforms or construct new schools closer to the girls' homes. The company Procter & Gamble have already supported the Protecting Futures Program which provides sanitary and hygiene products for girls in Africa. This shows it is possible to get a company to help the cause, to get girls back in school.

from the article What We're Reading. China Could Wipe Out Recycled Toilet Paper by Alexis Madrigal
 * Apparently China is now starting to find ways to recycle paper (especially office paper) into toilet paper. The main concern is the softness of the new paper. This slight concern of mine, however as long as it is softer than white office paper I'm pretty much ok with it. It does not matter to me if my toilet paper is white or not because the white color comes from bleach and countless other chemicals, what's the point? Using recycled paper means using only recycled products therefore no bleach is required according to me. When I read the article it never said China was using used toilet paper to make new toilet paper. If they did make it from used toilet paper I might be grossed out by it, however if it is coming from other paper products being refined into new eco-friendly toilet paper I am totally cool with that.

Recyled Toilet Paper ->

from the article A Soda Tax: More Reading by David Leonhardt
 * In this article they state that there is a strong connection between the steep rise in soda consumption and the steep rise in obesity. This only makes sense to me. Based on what I have learned in school the more sugar and fats a person comsumes, the more they have to burn off through exercize and metabolic processes. If a person is ingesting much to much soda, they are ingesting more sugar than the body needs and therefore they store it as fat. In recent times many people have been doing this and therefore the statistics for soda comsumption has increased and due to that those people are increasing the obesity ratings.

from the article Do Video Games Equal Less Crime? by David Leonhardt
 * In this article it says that video games are taking up much of the time of young men who play more than their share of video games. This prevents them from going out and getting into trouble. Video games however can however have bad side effects such as obbsesive and antisocial behavior. In my opinion there should be a better way to prevent young men from commiting crimes. Things such as sports for example where kids could choose which sport they enjoy and excell at. This would involve an outlet for frustration that would not involve actual violence. It also keeps children fit and social.