
 |
|
May 20, 2013
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Nov. 30, 2007
/ 20 Kislev 5768
Turning good news into bad
By
Linda Chavez
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
With housing prices falling, energy prices climbing and the stock market
on a roller coaster, it's no wonder many Americans are worried about
their economic condition. But a new study on economic mobility in the
United States suggests most of us are much better off than our parents
were. Two out of three Americans have incomes higher than their own
parents, and nearly 80 percent of children whose parents were in the
poorest group of Americans in the late 1960s have higher income than
their parents.
The study was published by the Economic Mobility Project, a consortium
made up of researchers from four widely respected public policy groups:
the conservative American Enterprise Institute and Heritage Foundation
and the liberal Brookings Institution and Urban Institute. The data come
from an analysis of over 2,300 native-born Americans who were under 18
years of age in 1968 who were included in the Panel Study of Income
Dynamics. The PSID is an annual survey of 8,000 families and is
considered one of the best sources available for longitudinal data on
income, health and social behavior for a representative sample of
Americans.
In 1968, median family income for the group was $55,600 (measured in
inflation-adjusted 2006 dollars), compared with $71,900 today a
whopping 29 percent increase. But those numbers don't fully reflect how
much better off families are today. Families in 1968 were larger on
average, comprising 3.1 individuals in 1968 but 2.1 persons now. Since
there are many more childless couples and single parents today, the
average family's income is spread among fewer people.
And, since the study counted only cash income, it substantially
understated the economic condition of the poorest families who receive
non-cash assistance such as food stamps, subsidized housing and medical
care. By all economic measures, the poor are better off today than they
were a generation ago. Cash income alone among the poorest fifth of
native-born Americans was up 18 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars
during the period.
The findings will probably come as news to those Americans who think the
middle class and poor are worse off today, a view Democratic politicians
and the media hammer home every chance they get. The Washington Post,
for example, headlined a story about the study by Post columnist Eugene
Robinson "Tattered Dream," which argued that "the American Dream is
nothing but false hope."
Robinson latched onto the finding that only 6 percent of those persons
whose parents were in the poorest fifth of American families in 1968 had
managed to climb into the wealthiest fifth by the time they were in
their late 30s or 40s. He doesn't bother to quote the study's finding
that "[c]hildren born into the bottom fifth are more likely to surpass
their parents' income than are children from any other group."
What seems to irk Robinson and others looking for bad economic news is
the finding that income among the top two quintiles has gone up more
than among the middle and lower two quintiles 52 percent for the top
fifth, 39 percent for the second fifth, while only 29 percent for the
middle, 22 percent for the second lowest and 18 percent for the bottom
fifth.
In other words, even though all Americans are much better off today than
they were a generation ago, the most affluent Americans have improved
their status relative to others. Robinson doesn't tell readers that more
than 60 percent of children born into the wealthiest group don't stay
there, slipping down into lower income groups, including almost
one-in-ten who slip into the poorest fifth of Americans.
About one-third of all Americans are upwardly mobile, according to the
study, meaning not only do they earn more money than their parents in
absolute terms, but they improve their ranking relative to others as
well. Another third, though their incomes are higher than their
parents', remain at the same relative rank, and one-third slip into
lower ranks than their parents'.
This seems to depict an almost perfectly mobile society, with equal
percentages of Americans moving up, staying the same or moving lower in
relative economic standing. But some folks, it seems, will always find a
way to turn good news into bad.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Linda Chavez is President of the Center for Equal Opportunity. Her latest book is "Betrayal: How Union Bosses Shake Down Their Members and Corrupt American Politics". (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.)
Linda Chavez Archives
© 2006, Creators Syndicate
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|