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Friday, March 30, 2012

Classes:  Survey: Affording Food and Healthcare

For more, see For the Public, It's Not About Class Warfare, but Fairness, March 2, 2012 at Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Health:  Sit at Your Peril

Yet another study illuminating this surprisingly significant health problem ...

In people 45 years and older, sitting for 11 or more hours a day led to an increased risk of death (from all causes) by about 40% over four years, compared to the risk of death in people who sat just four to eight hours a day, the study found.

People plopped on their behinds for eight to 11 hours daily had about a 15% increase in risk of death.

And no matter how much exercise the participants reported, sitting for long periods still raised the risk of death.

For more, see Sit at Your Peril by Brian Vastag, March 28, 2012 at The Checkup.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Healthcare:  What Happens If the Individual Mandate Falls, in One Chart

For health insurers, the worst-case scenario is one where the court overturns the mandate but still leaves standing the requirement that health plans accept all applicants. As less healthy Americans enrolled, premiums would most likely spike. America's Health Insurance Plans rounds up the research that health-care economists have done, so far, estimating what striking the mandate would mean for health-care coverage and cost:

For more, see What Happens If the Individual Mandate Falls, in One Chart by Sarah Kliff, March 23, 2012 at Ezra Klein.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Society:  Anti-Semitism on the Rise in Europe, According to Anti-Defamation League Report

The current Great Recession resembles the 1930s Great Depression in various ways, such as ...

... a new study reports widespread anti-Semitism in France and across Europe.

The survey, completed in January and released Tuesday by the New York-based Anti-Defamation League, finds that 24% of the French population holds anti-Semitic views, up from 20% in 2009.

When asked if violence against Jews is rooted in anti-Jewish or anti-Israel sentiment, four in 10 Europeans (39%) responded that it was the result of anti-Jewish sentiment.

The survey found particularly high levels of anti-Semitism in three nations.

"In Hungary, Spain and Poland, the numbers for anti-Semitic attitudes are literally off the charts and demand a serious response from political, civic and religious leaders," said Foxman.

In Spain, where Jewish civic groups say Spaniards blame their economic woes on the country's Jews, 72% of the population holds anti-Jewish views, compared with 64% in 2009. In Hungary, 63% of the population holds anti-Semitic views, up from 47% in 2009. In Poland, 48% show anti-Semitic attitudes, about the same as 2009.

By comparison, attitudes toward Jews in the United States are far more positive. The most recent ADL study, completed in October, found 15% of the population holds anti-Semitic views.

Still, nearly one in five Americans at the time said Jews probably have too much influence on Wall Street, a significant uptick from the previous study. As in other countries, tough economic times in the U.S foment age-old myths about Jewish control of the economy, the authors said.

For more, see Anti-Semitism on the Rise in Europe, According to Anti-Defamation League Report by Lauren Markoe, March 21, 2012 at The Huffington Post.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Society:  Survey: The Individual and the Village

For more, see For the Public, It's Not About Class Warfare, but Fairness, March 2, 2012 at Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Healthcare:  House Votes to Kill a Medicare Cost Panel

... the Republican-controlled House passed a bill on Thursday to abolish a Medicare cost control board created by the new health care law.
The stated purpose of the new panel, the Independent Payment Advisory Board, is to reduce the per capita rate of growth in Medicare spending. Spending cuts recommended by the 15-member board would take effect automatically unless Congress voted to block or change them.

The Independent Payment Advisory Board encompasses all that is wrong with the Affordable Care Act, said Representative Michael C. Burgess, Republican of Texas. It is not accountable to any constituency, and it exists only to cut provider payments to fit a mathematically created target.

Under the law, the board cannot make recommendations to ration health care, raise revenues or increase beneficiaries' premiums, deductibles or co-payments.

Republicans said the board would inevitably try to save money by cutting Medicare payments to doctors, who would then be less willing to treat Medicare patients.

Representative Alcee L. Hastings, Democrat of Florida, said: I am appalled by the hypocrisy of my Republican colleagues who keep stating that federal spending needs to be kept under control. But at the first opportunity, they wind up rejecting one of the most serious tools in place to actually tackle Medicare spending and make care more affordable.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that repealing the board could increase Medicare spending by a total of $3 billion from 2018 through 2022.

For more, see House Votes to Kill a Medicare Cost Panel by Robert Pear, March 22, 2012 at NYTimes.com.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Mind:  When the Good Do Bad

... even people who contain reservoirs of compassion and neighborliness also possess a latent potential to commit murder.

David Buss of the University of Texas asked his students if they had ever thought seriously about killing someone, and if so, to write out their homicidal fantasies in an essay. He was astonished to find that 91% of the men and 84% of the women had detailed, vivid homicidal fantasies. He was even more astonished to learn how many steps some of his students had taken toward carrying them out.

For more, see When the Good Do Bad by David Brooks, March 19, 2012 at NYTimes.com.

Government:  Senate Should Quickly Confirm Nominees, Panel Says

The Senate should swiftly confirm 150 of the most sensitive presidential appointments within the first 100 days of a new White House administration ....

On average, 35% of the top 100 political positions are filled in the first 100 days of a new presidency, including just eight of the 35 most critical national security positions, according to the Aspen Institute Commission to Reform the Federal Appointments Process, a nonpartisan group that released a report on the issue Wednesday.

Out of concern for the world's modern-day geopolitical and economic crises and the politicized nature of the Senate confirmation process, the panel, led by former senators Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Charles S. Robb (D-Va.) and veterans of the Clinton and Bush administrations echoed the conclusions of at least 15 other groups convened in the past three decades to explore allegations that the federal appointments process is dysfunctional and too-often rushed.

For more, see Senate Should Quickly Confirm Nominees, Panel Says by Ed O'keefe, March 22, 2012 at 2chambers.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Health Care:  International Health Care Costs and Results

We spend much, much more per person than the rest of the world ... but we don't live much longer than some eastern European countries that spend much less than us. As a result, when you plot the United States against similarly advanced countries based on life expectancy and medical spending, we're all alone on our little island.

For much more, see 10 Ways to Visualize How Americans Spend Money on Health Care by Derek Thompson, March 19, 2012 at The Atlantic.

Education:  Colleges Viewed Positively, but Conservatives Express Doubts

Just 38% of those who agree with the Tea Party viewed [colleges'] impact positively; that compared with 62% of Republicans and leaners who do not agree with the Tea Party.

Those who graduated say ...

For more, see Colleges Viewed Positively, but Conservatives Express Doubts, March 1, 2012 at Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

International:  Gauging Arab Public Opinion

The first of its kind - a poll conducted in 12 Arab countries, representing 84 per cent of the population of the Arab world, in an attempt to gauge the region's political mood - has arrived at some interesting results.

For much more, see Gauging Arab Public Opinion by Marwan Bishara, March 8, 2012 at Al Jazeera.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Society:  The Fertility Implosion

A woman in Oman today has 5.6 fewer babies than a woman in Oman 30 years ago. Morocco, Syria and Saudi Arabia have seen fertility-rate declines of nearly 60%, and in Iran it's more than 70%. These are among the fastest declines in recorded history.

For more, see The Fertility Implosion by David Brooks, March 12, 2012 at NYTimes.com.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Economics:  Capitalism, Version 2012

... the thing others have most admired and tried to emulate about American capitalism is precisely what we've been ignoring: America's success for over 200 years was largely due to its healthy, balanced public-private partnership — where government provided the institutions, rules, safety nets, education, research and infrastructure to empower the private sector to innovate, invest and take the risks that promote growth and jobs.

When the private sector overwhelms the public, you get the 2008 subprime crisis. When the public overwhelms the private, you get choking regulations. You need a balance, which is why we have to get past this cartoonish argument that the choice is either all government or all the market, argues Rothkopf.

For more, see Capitalism, Version 2012 by Thomas L. Friedman, March 13, 2012 at NYTimes.com.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Mind:  When Gaming Is Good for You

A growing body of university research suggests that gaming improves creativity, decision-making and perception. The specific benefits are wide ranging, from improved hand-eye coordination in surgeons to vision changes that boost night driving ability.

People who played action-based video and computer games made decisions 25% faster than others without sacrificing accuracy, according to a study. Indeed, the most adept gamers can make choices and act on them up to six times a second—four times faster than most people, other researchers found. Moreover, practiced game players can pay attention to more than six things at once without getting confused, compared with the four that someone can normally keep in mind, said University of Rochester researchers.

Electronic gameplay has its downside. Brain scans show that violent videogames can alter brain function in healthy young men after just a week of play, depressing activity among regions associated with emotional control, researchers at Indiana University recently reported. Other studies have found an association between compulsive gaming and being overweight, introverted and prone to depression.

For more, see When Gaming Is Good for You by Robert Lee Hotz, March 5, 2012 at WSJ.com.

Politics:  Many Alabama, Mississippi Voters Believe President Is Muslim

In the midst of tight GOP primaries in both states, Public Policy Polling (PPP) has released information showing that a majority of likely GOP primary voters in the Deep South do not see Obama as a Christian. PPP's Alabama survey of 600 likely GOP primary voters found that only 14% consider Obama a Christian, while 45% said he is a Muslim and 41% answered that they were not sure.

A similar picture surfaced in Mississippi. Of 656 likely GOP primary voters surveyed, 12% said Obama was a Christian, 52% classified him as a Muslim, and 36% fell in the "not sure" category.

For more, see Obama's Religion Still a Campaign Issue: Many Alabama, Mississippi Voters Believe President Is Muslim by Chris Gentilviso, March 12, 2012 at The Huffington Post.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Economics:  The White House's Economic Case for Reelection in 13 Charts

This chart compares the third year of Ronald Reagan's administraion with the first of Obama's ...

For much more, see The White House's Economic Case for Reelection in 13 Charts by Derek Thompson, February 29, 2012 at The Atlantic.

Society:  The Growth Lesson America Could Take from China

... cities make us smarter, richer and more productive. Avent sums up some of the (voluminous) evidence: Economist Masayuki Morikawa finds that productivity rises between 10 and 20% when density doubles. Morris Davis, Jonas Fisher and Toni Whited estimate that a doubling of density may increase productivity by between 17 and 28%. Their work suggests that more than 30% of real wage growth over the past 35 years is attributable to changes in density.

For more, see The Growth Lesson America Could Take from China by Ezra Klein, March 13, 2012 at Ezra Klein.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Privacy:  Our Broken Privacy Policy System

[if] each and every Internet user were ... to read every privacy policy on every website they visit would spend 25 [24-hour] days out of the year just reading privacy policies! If it was your job to read privacy policies for 8 hours per day, it would take you 76 work days to complete the task.

For more, see Who Has Time to Read Internet Privacy Policies? by Brad Plumer, March 2, 2012 at Ezra Klein.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Economics:  Poll on Where to Cut Federal Spending

For more, see Obama's 2013 Budget: Bad Deficit Reduction, Good Politics by Derek Thompson, February 14, 2012 at The Atlantic.

Society:  Foxconn "Sweatshops"

By a man who grew up in China ...

My aunt worked several years in what Americans call sweat shops. It was hard work. Long hours, small wage, poor working conditions. Do you know what my aunt did before she worked in one of these factories? She was a prostitute.
The idea of working in a sweat shop compared to that old lifestyle is an improvement, in my opinion. I know that my aunt would rather be exploited by an evil capitalist boss for a couple of dollars than have her body be exploited by several men for pennies.
If Americans truly care about Asian welfare, they would know that shutting down sweat shops would force many of us to return to rural regions and return to truly despicable jobs. And I fear that forcing factories to pay higher wages would mean they hire FEWER workers, not more.

For more, see What Cameras Inside Foxconn Found by David Pogue, February 23, 2012 at Pogue's Posts.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Mind:  Rich People More Likely to Lie and Cheat

... researchers now find that people in the upper crust may be more likely to engage in lying, cheating and other kinds of unethical activity than those in lower classes.
In two tests conducted in a natural setting, scientists examined a simple example of unethical behavior on the road — how likely it would be for drivers in the San Francisco Bay Area to cut in front of other vehicles at a busy four-way intersection and cut off pedestrians at a crosswalk. They estimated the social class of drivers based on vehicle make, age and appearance, and discovered that drivers of upper-class cars cut off other cars and pedestrians more often.

Four lab tests that included undergraduates at Berkeley and national online samples of adults revealed those who considered themselves upper class had greater tendencies to make unethical decisions. This included unrightfully stealing something, lying in a negotiation, cheating at a game of chance to boost their chances of winning cash or endorsing unethical behavior at work, such as stealing cash, receiving bribes and overcharging customers.

Another lab experiment revealed that unethical behavior was not necessarily inherent to individuals. The researchers had volunteers compare themselves with people with the most or least money, education and respected jobs, thereby subtly putting them into the mindset of someone with a relatively low or high socioeconomic status. When then presented with a jar of candy ostensibly for kids in a nearby lab, those made to feel as if they were upper class took more candy that would otherwise go to children, findings that suggest the experience of higher social class might nudge one to act unethically.

"If you take lower socioeconomic status people and just change their social values very subtly, they'll act just as unethically as upper-class individuals," Piff said. "The patterns of behavior naturally arise from increased wealth and status compared to others."

[Emphasis added].

For more, see Rich People More Likely to Lie, Cheat, Study Suggests by Charles Choi, February 27, 2012 at LiveScience.

Economics:  Housing Price History

For more, see The End of Ownership: Why Aren't Young People Buying More Houses? by Derek Thompson, February 29, 2012 at The Atlantic.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Economics:  Historical GDP Change by Area

For more, see 3% Growth: The Economy Just Had Its Best Quarter in 2 Years by Derek Thompson, February 29, 2012 at The Atlantic.

Health:  Knee Replacement May Be a Lifesaver for Some

In a sweeping study of Medicare records, researchers from Philadelphia and Menlo Park, Calif., examined the effects of joint replacement among nearly 135,000 patients with new diagnoses of osteoarthritis of the knee from 1997 to 2009. About 54,000 opted for knee replacement; 81,000 did not.

Three years after diagnosis, the knee replacement patients had an 11% lower risk of heart failure. And after seven years, their risk of dying for any reason was 50% lower.

For the motivated patient, it allows them to walk through that portal and become better conditioned and lose weight, he said. It's not a weight-reduction program. It's a potential avenue to improve your level of fitness, weight, cardiovascular health and mental health.

For more, see Knee Replacement May Be a Lifesaver for Some by Tara Parker-Pope, February 27, 2012 at NYTimes.com.