Real life effects of Xenophobia (the fear of foreigners) and how ill advised it is to use it as the basis for economic policy...

So much for the thought that "Americans" will fill the jobs that migrant/illegal/ the undocumented so willingly do year after year. 

Here real life examples of  the "unseen" effect of policies that are misguided and are enacted to please certain constituencies that should have been plainly "seen".  This is bad economic and social policy.

The following links and blurbs are from Carpe Diem...

1. NPR -- "Alabama farmers are facing a labor crisis because of the state's new immigration law as both legal and undocumented migrant workers have fled the state since the strict new rules went into effect last month.

In Baldwin County on the Gulf Coast, strawberry planting season is just a few weeks away. Farmers are wondering if they'll have the crews to get the plants in the ground.

Alabama Agriculture Commissioner John McMillan says there's no doubt the immigration law has left farmers in a lurch. He says they're concerned about where the labor is going to come from since legal immigrants are leaving along with the illegal ones."

2. SEATTLE TIMES - "One after another, at a recent emergency meeting called by the Governor's Office, Washington fruit growers talked about how hard it's been to find workers as the harvest hits its sweet spot. Apples alone are a $1.5 billion-a-year business in the state.

And two weeks ago Gov. Chris Gregoire amped up what now has become an almost annual harvest-time refrain by growers when she declared the state's farm-labor shortage a crisis.

Growers mostly blame rising tensions around illegal immigration that have spooked migrant farmworkers, the majority of whom are here illegally, while worker advocates say there'd be no shortage if growers were willing to pay workers more."

3. ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION -- "State officials have set their sights on another potential pool of workers to help bridge Georgia’s severe farm labor gap: prisoners."

Nice graphic showing the situation with Social Security...A concern for the young and old...

Go HERE for the source of this graphic in the Washington Post (Via: Jared Bernstein blog).

A concern should be the cross-over point between surplus and shortfall.  There are lots of divergent viewpoints as to whether this constitutes a crisis or not.

Revenues will still come into the fund from current workers payroll taxes (6.20% from workers and 6.20% from employers).  Until now that has been sufficient to pay current benefits.

However, as we pass into shortfall, workers will still pay into the fund from payroll taxes, BUT the Social Security Trust fund will have to redeem bonds (according to the graphic) to pay for the difference.  Where does the money come from to do that?

I am just trying to follow the money trail.  Is it from taxes? Borrowing ("private and/or public)?  Printing? A continued shell game with the Treasury?

A vigorous economic recovery, seemingly remote at this point, would lesson the problem in the short run as a surge in tax revenue from the payroll tax would continue to fund current and future obligations.  While that would be terrific, it would give politicians breathing room to postpone necessary reforms that must take place in order to make the program solvent for the next generation of recipients. 

Nice graphic showing Americans are driving fewer miles... In general this is good, but maybe it is for the wrong reasons..

Number of the Week: Cutting Back On Driving

4.6 Billion: How many fewer miles traveled by drivers on U.S. roads in August than a year earlier:

Source: WSJ

These two graphs/charts don't synch up exactly, but you can see the direct relationship between the demand for gasoline and the miles driven over time.  The independent variable of course is the price of gasoline.

It is generally accepted that consumer demand for gasoline is relatively inelastic. This means that the percentage change in demand for a good is LESS than the percentage change in price.  In other words, consumers do not dramatically change their quantity demanded for a good when the price of the good changes.

In the case of gasoline, this is especially true when the price increases.  There is no immediate subsitute for gasoline in the short run---gotta have what you gotta have to satisfy how you have organized your life, job or business around, well, getting around.

This article and graphs suggest that the demand for gasoline has become MORE elastic in the last few years.  In other words, relative to previous gas price hikes, the percentage change in quantity demand for gasoline now is greater relative to the percentage change in quantity demanded for gasoline in a previous time period.  People are quicker to change behavior or have developed coping mechanisms the serve as subsitutes for consuming more gasoline:

""When gasoline prices started shooting higher earlier this year, U.S. drivers throttled back much more quickly than they used to in response to price increases. One reason why might be that the 2008 energy price shock is a recent enough memory that it’s easy for people to conserve. They still have the phone numbers of their old carpool buddies handy, and they know where the bus stop is. What’s more, with so many scarred by the recession and scared by the jobless rate, people seem quicker to cut back in response to price increases not just at the gas pump, but of any kind.""

It is certainly desirable for the country as a whole to consume less gasoline (hence oil) and drive fewer miles. However, the best way to achieve that is not through recession and economic hard times.  Improved transportation infrastucture, fuel effeciencies, and better consumer decision making would be far more preferrable.

Nice podcast from NPR on the pitfalls of measuring GDP. Good stuff!

Measuring Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a daunting task, especially in an economy like the US which so large and has many moving parts. 

This is a short primer on some of the shortcomings of measuring GDP and how it is not an accurate measure of "social welfare".  Like all statistics on the economy, you have to drill down deeper into the data to really get a sense of what is happening in the economy.  (Listen or read the transcript below)

Why GDP Is Like GPA

Heard on All Things Considered

October 28, 2011 - MICHELE NORRIS, host: By one measure, the U.S. economy has completely recovered from the last recession. GDP, the nation's gross domestic product, is the sum total of everything the U.S. produces, and it's now back to where it was before the financial crisis. Of course, the country has more people now and millions of them are unemployed.

And as NPR's Robert Smith reports, GDP is not a perfect number.

This is probably THE BEST protest sign from "OWS". It sums up the "investment" vehicle that brought down the financial/banking system. Wonder how many people ACTUALLY know this???

For a further explanation of this toxic "investment" go HERE...

Source: Chris Blattman

"Don't Cry for Dallas/Ft Worth, Argentina"---See how US cities stack up in production of goods and services relative to whole countries...

The US economy is STILL a GDP producing monster, even in the midst of a recession/near-recession. Below is a comparison of US cities dollar value of production of goods and services with a country that has a similar dollar value of production (GDP). 

Dallas/Ft Worth is ranked number 6 in the US. If it was its own separate country it would have the GDP of Argentina.  Argentina is the 28th largest economy in the world!  Go HERE to see how the other metropolitan areas/country equivalents rank...

Carpe Diem

OWS protesters really smoked all the grass in the park...No, really they did. Read about it here...

Not literally, but it has been obliterated..."OWS" protesters have killed newly sodded grassy areas that were funded with Federal stimulus dollars...

I wonder if any of them are going to volunteer to pay for their damage or organize to help clean up and restore the park...Rhetorical question---no answer required...

'Occupiers' killing stimulus-funded sod in D.C.

""The Occupy D.C. protests, as Conn noted the other day, continue to violate federal law by camping out on National Park Service Land. Law enforcement officials from the alphabet soup of agencies that police D.C. are letting them get away with it.

You could say they haven't harmed anyone here downtown, except that they have. In McPherson Square, where some two or three dozen of them have been camping out for the last week, they have already ruined a few newly sodded sections of the park. The re-sodding of the park was completed this year as part of a $419,000 stimulus project to refurbish the square. The park, which is across from the Examiner Building in downtown D.C., was shut down for months during the project.

You could say they're stimulating the economy, because now taxpayers will have to cough up a few thousand more to fix the damage.
What you see in the accompanying photos are portions of the park where tents have been removed recently. In a few spots, the grass is only mostly dead, but in others it's dead and gone, and the new sod has given way to mud. The areas where the Occupiers have their tents pitched right now will be all mud before the end of this week, if they aren't already.""

3 men arrested for terrorizing the Amish community in Ohio...I KNEW they looked familiar!!

Steve Jobs career in numbers---Nice one-stop graphic for Everything Steve Jobs...

Source: The Big Picture

A young child has trouble navigating a magazine---thinks it is an I-Pad...What are the social implications of this, if any?

Nice population pyramid charts to remind us of the ticking fiscal timebomb awaiting the next generation. THIS is what the OWC's SHOULD be protesting...Go South protesters-- towards Capitol Hill...

Click on the video below to see the age-demographic change occurring in the US.  This is ground zero for a potential busted national budget in the coming decades.  Notice the shape of the pyramid in 1981, specifically the proportion of young working age adults to the retired population (65 and older).  It is a distinct triangle with a wide base and narrow top.  There are far more younger workers paying social security taxes and medicare taxes relative to the recipients, 65 and older.  This is ok---this entitlement program is solvent.

 As the decades pass, notice how the pyramid shape becomes more like a pear.  This is not so good.  The proportion of workers to retirees becomes more equal.  However, what does not become more equal is the tax revenue-to-tax expenditure ratio--expenditures will drastically increase relative to the tax revenues (at current payroll tax rates).  Retirees are living longer, there are more of them and their health care needs (read that "costs") will only increase. This is not ok---this will make these two retiree entitlement programs INSOLVENT, unless serious reform takes place--now.  Well, now is almost too late. Should have been done 15-20 years ago.

 Each of the graphs are below as well (Source for the Graphs HERE)

Nice article on "Rent-Seeking"---"The Rest of the Story" behind why Banks are now charging YOU fees for using your Debit Card...

I linked the article/opinion piece below in my previous post with the Venn diagram showing the over-arching common bond that the TEA party and the Wall Street protest movement have in common.  I am linking it again because it reveals "the rest of the story" behind the recent imposition of bank fees on debit card use.  I was not aware of this backstory, but probably should have known there was more to it. 

It illustrates the relationship between corporations and the interest groups they fund to get politicians to enact legislation favorable to them.  It also highlights the dirty business of former aides to longtime politicians who quit and become highly paid lobbyists.  This gives them an inside track to influence their former bosses in Congress/The Senate.   

Read it and I am guessing your reaction will be something to the effect: "Oh, C'mon! That is just NOT right!!"...

Thank Wal-Mart for your new bank card fee

When Bank of America announced last week that it would charge $5 a month to customers who make purchases with their debit card, customers railed against the bank.

Many conservatives and libertarians said the anger should be aimed at Congress and the Obama administration, which, through last year's Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, effectively outlawed the old debit card business model, spurring Bank of America to make this change.

But the real culprit is Walmart and the retail lobby, which used government to squeeze banks and fatten their own bottom line. Walmart won, banks lost, and now customers are stuck with a new monthly fee.

Venn diagram showing what Wall Street Protesters and TEA Party Protesters have in common...

Source:KPC

Below is an opinion piece that captures the fears of both sides of the political spectrum---Corporate influence on politics and the politicians (and their former aides) who use their position/power to cater to those corporate interests.  Read it and see how the system REALLY works...

Thank Wal-Mart for your new bank card fee

When Bank of America announced last week that it would charge $5 a month to customers who make purchases with their debit card, customers railed against the bank.

Many conservatives and libertarians said the anger should be aimed at Congress and the Obama administration, which, through last year's Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, effectively outlawed the old debit card business model, spurring Bank of America to make this change.

But the real culprit is Walmart and the retail lobby, which used government to squeeze banks and fatten their own bottom line. Walmart won, banks lost, and now customers are stuck with a new monthly fee.

Nice graphic on how much we spend educating each student in the US. My conclusion: We either spend too much, not enough, or it is just right. Confused? See why here...

Fact is, we know how much we SPEND on each student, but do we know how much is actually COSTS to educate each student?  Fundamentally different questions.

According to the graph below, in 1995 spending per student was approx $8,600 and in 2010 it was approx. $11,600 per student. That is an increase of 35% ($11,600 minus $8,600 = $3,000. $3,000/$8,600 X 100 = 35%) in 15 years. 

Source: Carpe Diem

 This is well above inflation during this period AND well above the percentage increase in the number of students from 1995 to 2010.  In 1995 there were 44,840,481 students in US public schools and in 2010 there were 49,373,307 students. That is a 10% increase in the number of students since 1995 (Data from HERE). 

A 35% increase in spending per student and a student population growth of only 10% in 15 years.

I really don't think we spend too little on primary and secondary education in the US. I just think collectively we make really bad decisions on how we allocate that money. Something about priorities being misplaced.  But that is just me...

Graphic showing Female leaders of countries around the world...Should be MORE!

Source: The Knowledge Effect via ChartPorn