THE AVERAGE AMERICAN

TIME (2007) 11/26

GIBB/ 36-62

When you ask what the average American is like, you are really asking about the median American in most instances. At any rate, the extremes are in the country, but here is what is happening in the middle.

We will make generalizations. If you want specifics beyond this review, it should be in the TIME archives. We are the following:

• Most households do not have children. That means the kids are gone or there has yet to be children or that couples and singles will not have children. That is 76 million households.
• 35 million have both parents and 11 million do not. Duo- parents, 64% both work.
• 86% go to public school.
• Most travel to work.
• The happiest are clergy and firefighters. The least happy are roofers and gas station attendants.
• In adjusted dollars, we have more money than from 1920. The biggest division is between rich and poor started in 1985.
• Since 1980, most households have grown by 25%, but when cost of living is utilized, the bottom 99% have stayed about the same. The real growth in standard of living is the 15,000 families that occupy the top 0.01. They make nearly 10 million dollars a year and up. The bottom of the top 1% made about $400,000 a year. It is a Mandelbrot curve, not a Gaussian bell curve. The top go up and off the map.
• We play by watching television and using the internet. We don’t work out. We eat out more too. The folks that get the most sleep are the very young and the elderly.
• We really don’t like where the country is going.
• We worry about keeping are jobs.

U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT (2007) 11/19

82/ There is a new painkiller for arthritic joints and other pains. It is in an ointment and thus can get right to the pain without going through the G.I. system. VOLTAEREN GEL

is the name and it is under FDA approval now.

82/ Black male patients are the most likely to check out of a hospital without the medical doctors consent.

82/ It appears that doctors are over prescribing influx medications when the normal reflux

occurs in a baby.

82/ Care givers to various patients that are relatives or very close friends have complex feelings and depression when doing their jobs. They experience sadness, ambivalence, and a new sense of who they are.

BUSINESS WEEK (2007) 11/26

MANDEL/57-60

THE LONG 25 YEAR RIDE OF EASY CREDIT AND SPENDING is coming to an END. There is so much foreclosure and the financial community is facing consumers who are now defaulting in large numbers. This means billions of dollars. Savings rate is now down to zero. In the past, numerous articles were written on consumers running on empty and still spending. Now the end is near. Credit markets are tightening. Salary increases among the population have been stagnant for years.  A major recession appears to be on its way. HOWEVER, it doesn’t matter what you call it, there is some kind downturn in the making. That means fewer trips to the mall and related spending activity. During good times, credit card companies like consumers who pay the minimum and then pay high interest. Now those in the top tranch are the honored ones. They use the card for easier transactions, but always pay their bills every month. There are fewer and fewer of these type of consumers.

Rate cuts can soften the landing, but it appears that a landing is coming. The only lift is our exports. As the dollar is in a free fall, exports become even more attractive to foreigners. However, how long will central banks of other countries hold on to our dollar? The yield curve is beginning to flatten in the states. Why are banks still in business?

118/ The GOOD OLD DAYS a book review of KUTTNERS’ SQUANDERING OF AMERICA. Before Reagan, there was a solid middle class, the poor were improving, the dollar was relatively sound, the labor movement was vital and industries had regulatory bodies. The 40 years up to Reagan were on balance better. The 40’s, FDR kept Americans busy, and World War II brought us out of the Depression. From there on were short term downturns, but on balance a country full of full time career jobs. The stagflation of the 70’s was the worst part of the era. From the 80’s onward, growth was fantastic, but the standard of living for almost all Americans stagnated or flattened. Inequality grew by leaps and bounds.

THE NEW REPUBLIC (2007) 11/5

HARMEN/A book review  dealing with GENETIC GOODNESS by DUGATKIN is presented..

This is a very long review that transcends history and numerous scientists even including the soft sciences. The basic argument is the following: on one extreme is that humans are bad and can sometimes be forced or manipulated to be good. The other is humans and other life forms are good and are soiled by civilization. HOWEVER, there are hundreds of nuances, side strategies, and middle ground to this argument. If you want to look this up in the archives, you are welcome. However, as a vast generalization is that humans have the genetic background to be both good and bad. There are times when we act well for evil purposes. Further, the reverse appears to be true. We act badly to get the best out of others. Further, culture varies. Whatever goodness that we have can be contaminated by a very evil culture. In reverse fashion, whatever bad genetic material may be lessened by a kind and supportive culture. We appear to be kinder to closer kin and when we are in small groups. One may act in a way that is selfish but on balance is an attribute to the common good. We are on safer ground, when we start that humans are genetically self serving, but that their selfishness can be nudged into socially proactive behavior. However, to do that the culture is a useful tool in gently persuading good behavior if the individual perceives that it is also a benefit to themselves and that rule breakers and cheaters are punished. In the meantime, numerous scholars have spent their lifetime trying to deal with this question. Further, religion is introduced and is synthesized into the philosophical arguments.

This review suggests that we generally need a group and that the things we do in that group have something to do with our survival. What the group values may encourage or discourage what genetic material suggests is good. To say that humans have the capacity for goodness does not mean that their behavior is always translated into goodness.