Income stats

From an article about why the bottom half of earners do not vote to soak the rich.

Many don’t know. In 2015, Ipsos MORI asked respondents in 28 countries to guess the average annual wage. That year in the United States, the correct answer was around $59,000, according to the OECD. The average guess was less than half that — about $26,000. (Even if we suppose respondents had in mind post-tax not pretax income, the guesses were way too low.)

Another survey in 2007 asked Americans about average household income. The median respondent guessed $40,000. According to the Census Bureau, average household income that year was $69,193 — again, much higher than the typical answer.

Niskanen Center

Good article I love the stuff coming out of the Niskanen center because it is quite reasonable.

IMO in USA, school funding is not a problem. Does the United States spend more per student than most countries? I think funding is high enough. I also would go as far as to say that there are really very few bad schools in the USA, most of the schools we call bad rather have bad, poorly motivated students. (Why the children of lower income people are not more motivated and how to change that is another question.) 

Nor do I think less access to healthcare is the reason that the USA lags in health. Some groups with less access to healthcare are healthier.  See here
Also more evidence here, in that Hispanics are healthier than the overall population despite having less access. 

It seems to be mostly accidents and homicides that lower US overall health ratings. We have more auto related fatalities but people still choose to live in rural areas where they have to drive a more. See here and here. 

Also Italy seems to do much better than Denmark on social progress indicators but I do not think that the Government of Italy is anywhere near as good as that of  Denmark, so that indicates culture is a big factor (and maybe even genetics a small factor too). 

Given that I think we should target our goals as directly as possible: here are some ideas that I think might help the poor. I tried to think of more direct ways to help, like maybe for health, a subsidy for cars that avoid accidents would more effective than a subsidy for health insurance. Maybe more better trained police than the PPACA.


Does the United States spend more per student than most countries?

Some groups with less access to healthcare are healthier.

hereHispanics have less access to healthcare and are healthier than the overall population

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More traffic fatalities in rural areas makes for higher death rate

List of countries by traffic death rates. More traffic fatalities in rural areas makes for higher death rate List of countries by traffic death rates. Does the United States spend more per student than most countries? Some groups with less access to healthcare are healthier. Hispanics have less access to healthcare and are healthier than the overall population More traffic fatalities in rural areas makes for higher death rate List of countries by traffic death rates.


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More traffic fatalities in rural areas makes for higher death rate

List of countries by traffic death rates.

Does the United States spend more per student than most countries?

Some groups with less access to healthcare are healthier.

Hispanics have less access to healthcare and are healthier than the overall population

More traffic fatalities in rural areas makes for higher death rate

List of countries by traffic death rates.

Cities Where African-Americans Are Doing The Best Economically 2018

Cities Where African-Americans Are Doing The Best Economically 2018

Notice they are mostly in the south. 

And this:

Why Charlotte and Raleigh Work for Black Residents

Democrats Seem to Run Local Government Badly

Democrats seem unfit to run local Government because they do not believe in commercial rights like the right to subdivide and build. Think NIMBYism in New York City and San Francisco, they are beginning to also mess up places like Austin TX and Colorado.

If we could keep The Democarts from NIMBYism and/or the GOP away for wars metaphorical or real we could make great gains.

PBS Documentary about Cabrini Green

I found this documentary I saw on PBS very interesting.

It confirmed my belief that people outside a community often have a very distorted view of that community (BTW I normally hate the use of the word "community" these day but in this case it's the correct word to use).

If we want Government to help people we should just give them money, make a good environment for jobs to form and maybe provide adequate police protection and public goods. Other ideas often seem better than giving cash, like we should make sure that they buy food so we give food stamps,  but we don't know enough about other lives nor do we want to spend the time to find out for those to be better.

We see a place like Cabrini Green on the news when things go wrong there but we do not see the day to day living. the relationships etc.We end up with a distorted view of life there and we can do more harm than good.

Are US Schools Better than Schools in Europe

Counter to what the article says, I really do not believe that USA schools are better than schools in any other developed country, or worse for that matter, nor do I belive that PISA is a good measure of school quality but the linked article gives a little evidence of what I DO believe, that is as far as what they try to teach they are all about equally effective. Also there are very, very few bad schools in developed countries (an insignificant number).

Now I had some teachers incapable of controlling a class and some lazy teacher who it seemed where out of the class about 1/2 or the time but they seem to have little effect. (I had some very good teachers too.)

What makes a school look bad is a bad student body now why is a big question, but her is the article:

Tino Sanandaji
The amazing truth about PISA scores: USA beats Western Europe, ties with Asia.







I do believe that schools could get better but it would require more changing what they teach than the teaching quality and it would probably make PISA scores worse not better.

Do the USA bottom 10% Live Better that the German bottom 10%?

Tim Worstall on that subject:
Astonishing Numbers: America's Poor Still Live Better Than Most Of The Rest Of Humanity

Tim Worstall