The Pursuit of Happiness

FINAL EXAM:  TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17 AT 7 PM

Demographics

From The Declaration:

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

From The Ethics: (see Murray 253-254).

Since happiness is an activity of soul in accordance with perfect virtue, we must consider the nature of virtue; for perhaps we shall thus see better the nature of happiness. The true student of politics, too, is thought to have studied virtue above all things; for he wishes to make his fellow citizens good and obedient to the laws. 

From Federalist 51 (see Murray p. 297).

 But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. The provision for defense must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack. Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.

More on Global Inequality

This video discusses the widening income gap in 22 countries, displayed using graphs and data. It is based on an OECD report from 2011, which you can find the press release for and more information about here.  The video shows the way the OECD measures the income gap, using the Gini coefficient, where 0 signifies total inequality, and 1 means that the richest person has all of the nation's income.  The possible solutions given at the end of the video to combat income inequality are: reforming tax and benefit policies, getting more people into the labor force, and making sure those people stay in jobs that pay good wages. Obviously, these are easier said than done, and it appears not much progress has been made in the two years that have passed since the report was completed.

 Clearly, the U.S. isn't the only one suffering from income inequality; it is a global issue that nations around the world are seeking solutions for. Hopefully world leaders can come together to find ways to solve this problem.

Here is a graph that shows the difference between the income gap from the mid-1980s to 2008 in 22 countries, from the same OECD report:

Murray on Education

After reading Coming Apart, I looked into more of Murray's work and found that he also wrote a book on American education titled Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality. The four simple truths are:

1. ability varies
2. half of children are below average
3.too many people are going to college
4. the future of the nation depends on how we educate the academically gifted

Murray argues that people without above average abilities are not fit for true college level education and that many children cannot learn more than rudimentary reading and math. He argues that very few people actually benifit from a BA. He also proposes that America's future depends on how we educate the academically gifted who will run the country. He talks briefly about these views here and less briefly here.

I find it interesting that Murray supports views on education that could further stratify the nation by accelerating the class formations identified in Coming Apart. A large part of what differentiates Belmont from Fishtown is quality and level of education. Murray's views seem as though they support the disparity. Although it is not certain that Murray is completely against class formation, he is certainly worried about the trends that have declined especially in Fishtown. These trends have been witnessed in a time of increasing seperation between the upper class and the lower class. So although his views on  education and social trajectory do not conflict, I found them to be a curious combination. I am interested to hear what you guys think. 

Considering Murray's Conclusion

I was very impressed with Murray's identification of class divergence in America. However I was less persuaded by his proposed solution(s) for this dilemma, and I would like to identify two particular issues that may open up further discussion. 

Central to Murray's argument is the idea that if our lower classes can rediscover traditional American virtues (industriousness, honesty, marriage, religiosity, community, social capital) then they will become more self-sustaining, and we will not have to resort to a "welfare state." Certainly a renaissance in these values would indeed be beneficial for the poor. But through what means does Murray propose to re-instill these values? In his conclusion (pg. 308), Murray addresses this: "there remains a core of civic virtue and involvement [in lower class communities] that could make headway against those problems if the people who are trying to do the right things get the reinforcement they need - not in the form of government assistance, but in validation of the values and standards they continue to uphold." Murray clarifies on the next page who is doing this 'validating': "A great many people, especially in the new upper class, just need to start preaching what they practice"(309). Okay, but what exactly does this mean? What does validation entail, and through what medium is it to be done? Will attorneys, physicians, and executives parade through lower class neighborhoods, patting the backs of local community leaders? I may have overlooked a few points here, but overall I did not come away with a comprehensive understanding of how Murray envisioned the reinstallation of these virtues into the lower class. 

Secondly, and on a similar note, I was puzzled by another aspect of Murray's conclusion. Murray lauds the part of American exceptionalism in which "people must be free to live life as they see fit and to be responsible for the consequences of their actions; that it is not the government's job to protect people from themselves"(309). And yet on the previous page Murray quotes economist Robert Fogel: "...it is necessary to address such postmodern concerns as the struggle for self-realization, the desire to find a deeper meaning in life than the endless accumulation of consumer durables and the pursuit of pleasure..."(308). Well is not this "endless accumulation of consumer durables"(and all the lack of 'genuine satisfaction' that it entails) simply a byproduct of a system in which people are "free to live life as they see fit", namely to create a commodity culture? Likewise Murray laments the "unseemliness" of CEOs and their exorbitant paychecks, but once again are these men and women not simply "living life as they see fit" and adhering to the economic principles of Libertarianism? To ground this talk in reality: Walmart executives see it fit to pay most of their employees anywhere from about $8 to $13 per hour - Walmart's website claims its average hourly wage for associates is $12.81 while an organization of Walmart reformers says the figure is actually around $8.81. Regardless there are a lot of meagerly paid Walmart employees. The consequence? A recent Congressional study found that a single Walmart Supercenter may cost taxpayers anywhere from approximately $900,000 to $1,700,000 in government assistance programs for its employees each year. Also keep in mind that Walmart is just one corporation of many paying its unskilled workers scanty wages. In this sense then, the welfare state that Murray laments becomes unavoidable if the government does not "protect the people [i.e. corporate executives in this case] from themselves."

These were just a few thoughts I had. I'm interested to see how others perceive Murrays' proposed solutions to the inequality problem. 

Murray on gay marriage

I found this really interesting article about Murray, which talks about his speech at the conference CPAC, which Republicans gathered after the 2012 election. Many came to talk about a way to move the party forward after the defeat, and Murray surprised him with his remarks. He encouraged the GOP to "accept the legalization of both gay marriage and abortion."

Murray is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and considers himself a libertarian. Yet many Republicans praise his writing, especially Murray's argument that social programs worsen poverty. Murray, however, said that he was inspired to talk about these issues on his drive to the conference, and decided then to change the topic of his speech.

Murray's pro-gay marriage argrees with his arguments about the importance of marriage. If marriage correlates with stable homes and higher prosperity, than the sexual orientation of the couple that marries should not be a factor. Murray spoke about the evolvement of his beliefs based on personal experience and other's arguments. He also talked about the fact that none of his four children (whom agree with Murray on many points) even considered voting for a Republican because of their stances on social and religious views. I really encourage everyone to read the article because it explains his stance farther and it is interesting to have this thought in mind when reading Coming Apart.

A Gentrifying Fishtown

When I googled Fishtown, one of the first articles that game up was "A Creative Renaissance in Philadelphia's Fishtown," published in the travel section of The New York Times. The article detailed a few of the trendy places to eat and shop in the once working class Fishtown neighborhood.

Some further investigation led to the realization that the Fishtown that Murray wrote about, based on 1990 and 2000 census data, is rapidly disappearing. After the publication of Coming Apart, some residents of Fishtown argued that Murray didn't understand their community and was mischaracterizing them. In this article, Murray responded to the criticism of Fishtown residents.

Murray contacted an expert on Fishtown, Ken Milano, who told him:

Some of the complaints I heard were ‘What Fishtown is Murray talking about?’ The one in the book is barely recognizable in 2012. Yes, there are still working folks here, but to the newcomers, they are the pain-in-the-ass juvenile delinquents who mess with their cars, vandalize their houses, and make life miserable for the newbies.

 Murray then responded to the criticism:

[There] is a legitimate underlying reason why people living in Fishtown in 2012 believe that I got it wrong: I described Fishtown in its latter years as a working-class community during the late 1990s.

Gentrification is in high gear. I could see it when I visited Fishtown during the writing of the book — abandoned factories that had been turned into chic loft apartments, and blue-collar bars transformed into trendy watering holes for the twenty-something singles who had moved in.

For the newcomers, there are no memories of a tight-knit community organized around the family and the Catholic Church where everybody knew everybody, doors could be left unlocked, and children safely allowed to play outdoors, knowing that neighbors were keeping an eye on them, and where local problems were solved in local ways. There are also no memories among the newcomers of how that community slowly unraveled in the face of the forces that I blame (well-intentioned but disastrously destructive reforms of the 1960s in education, criminal justice, and welfare) and the forces that the left blames (the loss of skilled blue-collar jobs, the decline of unions, globalization).

With gentrification often comes tension between original residents and newcomers. In a place like Fishtown, the tension is exacerbated by the disparities in education, wealth, and cultural background between the original residents and newcomers. As newcomers are often wealthier than original residents, they are often able to change the face of the neighborhoods they enter, opening cafes, coffee shops, galleries, shops, et cetera that cater to their preferences. This article, published on a Fishtown-centric blog, explores some of that tension.

What is happening in Fishtown is not isolated. As I alluded to in class, neighborhoods in San Francisco including SoMa and the Mission District are rapidly gentrifying. Other neighborhoods, including Hayes Valley, Cow Hollow, the Marina District, Outer Sunset, and even the Tenderloin, are feeling the effects of gentrification. Talk to someone from New York, especially residents of Brooklyn, and I'm sure you'll hear much of the same. The gentrification of parts of Philadelphia has even led the city to be referred to, in some cases disparagingly, as the "Sixth Borough," as residents of New York move to Philly en masse. Here's another article exploring the influx of New Yorkers into Philly.

Founding Virtues, Fishtown and Belmont

Marriage Data:

• Marriage and Income
• Marriage and Crime
• Most young moms are unmarried

Industriousness

Honesty and Trust

Religiosity

• Religion and Charity
• Religion and Volunteering

The Other Side of Inequality

As we discussed last week in class, the creation of a new rich is not without its merits. USA Today is running an article today that notes how more and more Americans are affluent (income exceeding $250,000) for at least a year:

New research suggests that affluent Americans are more numerous than government data depict, encompassing 21% of working-age adults for at least a year by the time they turn 60. That proportion has more than doubled since 1979.

Predictably, this group is not emblematic of the US as a whole (as Murray notes). It tends to be older, whiter, and, more recently, has been hurt far less by the economic recession:

Sometimes referred to by marketers as the "mass affluent," the new rich make up roughly 25 million U.S. households and account for nearly 40% of total U.S. consumer spending. 

While paychecks shrank for most Americans after the 2007-2009 recession, theirs held steady or edged higher. In 2012, the top 20% of U.S. households took home a record 51% of the nation's income. The median income of this group is more than $150,000.

 

This affluence comes at a price. Most of the Americans who temporarily enter into the top 2% of earners quickly fall out of it. Nevertheless, they continue to remain in the top quintile of earners for the most part. Lastly, they tend to have a different conception of what state the US finds itself in:

In a country where poverty is at a record high, today's new rich are notable for their sense of economic fragility. They're reached the top 2%, only to fall below it, in many cases. That makes them much more fiscally conservative than other Americans, polling suggests, and less likely to support public programs, such as food stamps or early public education, to help the disadvantaged.

----------- 

The group is more liberal than lower-income groups on issues such as abortion and gay marriage, according to an analysis of General Social Survey data by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. But when it comes to money, their views aren't so open. They're wary of any government role in closing the income gap. 

In Gallup polling in October, 60% of people making $90,000 or more said average Americans already had "plenty of opportunity" to get ahead. Among those making less than $48,000, the share was 48%.  

The Opportunity Index

The Opportunity Index provides an Opportunity Score with economy, education, and community sub-scores for all 50 U.S. states and Washington, DC, and Opportunity Grades for more than 3,000 counties. You can also compare each state's score with the national average.

The annual Opportunity Index was started by Opportunity Nation, a campaign by Be the Change, out of the idea that "your zip code shouldn't determine the amount of opportunity available to you."

Further Discussion of the "Bubble Test"

I'm really curious to see how everyone else scored on the "Bubble Test".  I thought it might be interesting for us to share our scores on here, so comment on this post with your score!

Feel free to also say whether or not you thought your score was accurate, whether or not you think this is a good way to measure how isolated one is from mainstream American culture, or any questions on the test that particularly stood out to you.

My score was 56 and having grown up in a small city with middle-class parents (neither of whom attended college), I feel that this is pretty accurate. I found it interesting the way that Murray indirectly asks certain questions, such as asking if you had a close friend who could not get better than C grades even if they tried really hard instead of asking about IQ scores, and asking whether you lettered in something in high school rather than simply asking if you attended a public or private school.  It is clear that Murray put a lot of thought into his questions in order to find out a lot of information in as few questions as possible, making it an effective way to measure how in touch one is with American culture.

I hope you are all having a great weekend; happy studying!

What CAN'T money buy?

Just an interesting Ted talk.

Inequality in Education

As we consider inequality in America, one area we should consider is our education system and how it can work to both allow social mobility and inhibit it. One area where inequality in public education is stark is in dollars spent per student. There remains some debate as to whether spending more money on students can lead to better education for them, but what is not debatable is that some districts can raise millions of dollars in outside monies to the benefit of their students, while others must work with the funding allocated by the state/feds. This is in many ways allowed by the "neighborhood sorting" that Murray argues has occurred.

When considering school funding, you need to realize that while some of the money comes from the state and federal governments, other sources of revenue include donations, parcel taxes passed by the voters in a school district, and bonds passed by the voters (usually for construction).Not only is it far easier in CA to raise donations in a wealthy community, but also far easier to pass a parcel tax or bond to add to district revenue. Additionally, in California many public education advocates argue that Proposition 13, which caped property taxes, has served to harm public education funding and has resulted in an environment in which inequality in school funding exists.

If you have communities of almost all upper class parents, they can afford to help their schools become the best they can be. In my own community, the disparity was stark. The Menlo Park School District completed a new $52 million middle school last year, decked out with all the bells and whistles you could think of, and my own elementary district just passed a $60 million bond for remodeling, while many students who attend Willow Oaks School, located in the much poorer Ravenswood School District, went to class in portables plopped on a parking lot. A focus on district revenue and the millions that districts like Menlo Park raise every year to sustain low class sizes, classroom technology initiatives, et cetera, should not detract from how schools located in poor neighborhoods must also combat all the issues that come along with the low socio-economic status of their students.

The following articles discuss the culture of school funding and what we can do to remedy the issue. A couple of these articles were especially significant to me, because they examined the area and culture I grew up in. If you are short on time, I highly recommend you read the article by George Packer. His was a particularly interesting analysis not only of public education funding, but also of Silicon Valley political culture. For the record, I do not agree with all of the arguments or characterizations these authors make, in particular Packer's demonization of "Silicon Valley excess" (I paraphrase), but do see all the articles as eloquently capturing a very real problem.

George Packer: "Change the World"
And the "Reply from Silicon Valley" (less relevant to the public education part, more about Silicon Valley culture)

Rob Reich: "Not Very Giving"

Richard Reves: "Funding Gaps in Public Schools"

Raj Chetty and John Friedman; Harvard Univ. Study: "Does Local Tax Financing of Public Schools Perpetuate Inequality?"

Poverty and Inequality in California

A press release from the  Southern California Association of Governments:

Poverty levels in the six-county Southern California Association of Governments region have jumped 69 percent since 1990, with one in four children now living in poverty, according to
research to research being presented tomorrow (Thursday, Dec. 5) at SCAG’s 4th Annual Economic Recovery & Job Creation Summit.

The numbers, from U.S. Census Bureau data, show 3.2 million people in the SCAG region living in poverty in 2012, up from 1.9 million in 1990. That 69 percent increase is nearly three times the  population growth rate (26 percent) during that period. Overall, the share of SCAG-region residents living in poverty is now 18 percent, led by Imperial County (23 percent) and San Bernardino County (20 percent).

A press release from the UCLA Anderson Forecast:

The California forecast report, authored by Senior Economist Jerry Nickelsburg, examines the recovery in employment in California, both by geography and sector. The economic news coming out of California is relatively bright when compared to the rest of the United States, but the state is not participating in the recovery equally. Rather, the California economy is divided both by geography and skill class.

In a report titled, “Where are the Jobs, California,” Nickelsburg notes that the coastal economies in California that are driven by investment, technology, and trade have outperformed the U.S. Conversely, the inland economies driven by migration, construction and government have stagnated. The data from the past 12 months reveals a similar pattern to that of the previous three years. Employment in the Bay Area, Orange County, San Diego and Ventura has consistently grown at a faster rate than the U.S. Los Angeles and the Mid-Coast, after a slower start, have seen employment growth at about the anemic national rates. But the Sacramento Delta, San Joaquin Valley and Inland Empire, absent the primary drivers of economic growth, continue to fall further behind the rest of the state. 

At The Weekly Standard, Charlotte Allen writes of Silicon Valley:

The big names in tech might be awash in capital and might have made their founders billionaires (New Economy founders typically retain large blocks of their own stock), but they employ surprisingly small numbers of U.S. workers. Google, the valley’s largest employer, has 46,000 people on its payroll. Facebook employs only 4,600, and Twitter, in San Francisco, fewer than 2,000. Apple claims 400,000 people putting together components and creating apps and other extras for its iPhones, iPads, iPods, MacBooks, and desktop computers. Yet only 16,000 of those are on the payroll in Cupertino. Another 31,000 work at Apple operations in Texas and other states, but the vast bulk of manufacturing is outsourced abroad via contractors to China and other cheap-labor purgatories. Yet those 16,000 in Cupertino make Apple the second-largest employer in the valley. [Joel] Kotkin compares those numbers to the 212,000 employed by GM, the 170,000 employed by Ford, and the more than 100,000 employed by Exxon Mobil, all three presumably Old Economy dinosaurs. The New Economy generates prosperity all right, prosperity that mostly flows to those in the upper echelons.

Urban Planning and Racial Segregation in Cities

http://www.wired.com/design/2013/08/how-segregated-is-your-city-this-eye-opening-map-shows-you/

Inequality and Virtue

This class is way ahead of the curve.  This morning, President Obama said:

Inequality and Taxes

Family and Education

Education and Inequality

The "Founding Virtues"

From Federalist 55 (not on syllabus): 

As there is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust, so there are other qualities in human nature which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence. Republican government presupposes the existence of these qualities in a higher degree than any other form. Were the pictures which have been drawn by the political jealousy of some among us faithful likenesses of the human character, the inference would be, that there is not sufficient virtue among men for self-government; and that nothing less than the chains of despotism can restrain them from destroying and devouring one another.

Industriousness and Honesty

The Decline of Social Trust

Marriage and Religion

From Tocqueville, pp 291-292:

In Europe almost all the disorders of society are born around the domestic hearth and not far from the nuptial bed. It is there that men come to feel scorn for natural ties and legitimate pleasures and develop a taste for disorder, restlessness of spirit, and instability of desires. Shaken by the tumultuous passions which have often troubled his own house, the European finds it hard to submit to the authority of the state's legislators. When the American returns from the turmoil of politics to the bosom of the family, he immediately finds a perfect picture of order and peace. There all his pleasures are simple and natural and his joys innocent and quiet, and as the regularity of life brings him happiness, he easily forms the habit of regulating his opinions as well as his tastes.

Whereas the European tries to escape his sorrows at home by troubling society, the American derives from his home that love of order which he carries over affairs of state.

In the United States it is not only mores that are controlled by religion, but its sway extends even over reason.

...

Thus, while the law allows the American people to do everything, there are things which religion prevents them from imagining and forbids them to dare.

Religion, which never intervenes directly in the government of American society, should therefore be considered as the first of their political institutions, for although it did not give them the taste for liberty, it singularly facilitates their use thereof.

Inequality... Not Just a United States Issue

I came across this video and thought it was an interesting and shocking way to illustrate the disparity of wealth distribution in the United States. I was floored when I saw how large the gap is between the top 1% of wealthy people and the rest of the country. It's clear from the charts shown that the majority of Americans (or at least those sampled) are also unaware of just how prevalent wealth inequality is. Murray discusses the growing upper class as well as the growing lower class and provides insightful depictions of what life is like for these two groups, but I was not able to get a clear sense of just how large the gap has grown in recent years until I saw the numbers displayed as clearly as they are here.

Towards the end of the video, the narrator says, "we certainly don't have to go all the way to socialism to find something that is fair for hardworking Americans."

Well how far exactly do we have to go to find a solution to economic inequality? I found this article about legislation that has been recently introduced to combat inequality in Switzerland, which currently ranks far better than the U.S. in regards to economic inequality. The "1 to 12 initiative" was put to a national referendum last week, which would have capped CEO pay at 12 times the amount that the lowest-paid company employee makes. The proposal did not pass, likely because would clearly have had negative effects on the Swiss economy, hurting competition and making it more difficult for Switzerland to attract talented workers. However, this shows that nations around the world are getting serious about inequality and attempting to solve the problem through legislation.

*** Inequality is a complex issue and can thus be depicted many different ways, making it possible for data and figures to be misrepresented. It is important to note that in the video above, the main focus is on wealth inequality, not income inequality. The difference between the two, and further criticism of the "Wealth Inequality in America" video is given in this other video.

The Cycle of Poverty

From our discussion on Monday and subsequent blog posts, it is clear that even two bordering neighborhoods can be worlds apart. From working with some of the seniors at Pomona High School on their college essays, I was able to hear one girl's struggle in her family's cycle of poverty as not just another statistic of people below the poverty line but as a very personal account. 

She grew up in South Central Los Angeles in which some zip codes show the percent of college graduates to be as low as 3%. Drive by shootings, drug dealers, and gang members are common on the streets. Her father was addicted to drugs, leaving her family broke with sometimes no money for food or for paying their gas and electricity bills. He passed away from AIDS, and her family moved to Pomona. 

She is the youngest of five children, and her brothers and sisters who are well into their 20s are either jobless or working minimum wage jobs. She will be the first in her family to graduate from high school and attend college, if accepted- which I have faith that she will be. Her way out of the cycle of poverty is a college education, and she knows it. She has worked hard these past four years, involving herself in extracurricular activities to keep her motivated and, in some cases, away from the troubles of home. Her older siblings, however, will most likely end up raising their children in similar environments. One of her main motivations to become successful is to be an example for her nieces and nephews that if she can do it, they can too. 

I believe that colleges accepting more and more first generation college students, those who have proved that they have worked hard and are willing to work hard like the rest of their peers in college, is one step in addressing the large gap in our class system.  

Relationship Between Geography and Income Mobilitiy

After our class discussion on Monday, I found this interesting article that talks about the relationship between location and the odds of moving up the income ladder. The study looks at factors such as education, family structure, and the economic layout of metropolitan areas to see how they affect socio-economic mobility. Variation in mobility does not seem to be related to average income of an area, as Seattle and Atlanta (two cities with similar average incomes) have disparaging upward mobility rates. The study found that some of the highest rates occurs in the West, the Northeast, and the Great Plains of the United States.

If you visit the website, it shows a map of the USA shaded based on upward mobility. It also includes a calculation where you can input location and parents' earnings to determine what the likely income of the child will be. It is important to note that while location plays a determining factor for middle-class and poor children, affluent children are likely to grow up to be affluent (unsurprisingly).

The study determined income mobility to be highest in areas with a high percentage of two-parent households, better education systems, and more civic engagement (including participation in religious and civic groups). These factors are tied to the themes of religiosity, industriousness, marriage, and honesty discussed by Murray.

19th St

In my city, there is one street that is famous for dividing two very different communities. 19th Street doesn't need census evidence to prove that it is a major dividing line, either. By crossing the street and walking a block on either side, the viewer will seen a drastic change in the types of houses and individuals who make up either side. From listening to others talk in class, I know that this is not an isolated phenomena but instead a pattern that is seen throughout the country. I believe that these cases exemplify Murray's argument about the geographic division between different classes. 19th Street is a particularly good example, also, because the majority of individuals who live on the side with the lower income and education levels are white- though a smaller majority than the other side.

My city newspaper published this article that mentions 19th street and talks about the socioeconomic segregation of Cedar Rapids. The article also goes on to talk about how individuals reinforce the division when moving to certain areas.

I also think its worthy to check out the interactive map on the Washington Post site to compare the zip codes 52401 and 52403. Though the two do not correspond to the 19th St division, they both represent an individual side rather well. 52401 is the smaller income, less educated side of 19th St. The median income is $24,507 and only 20% of adults have college degrees. On the other side, the median income of 52403 is $55,024 and 38% of individuals have college degrees. I'd also like to note that 52403 includes all of the "better off" side of 19th and a portion of the "less better off" side of 19th, which influences its rating. Without that portion, I believe both levels would be even higher.

While I do see truth in much of Murrary's argument, I think that the makeup of my school discredits some of his argument about the size of your bubble depending almost primarily one's income and education level. The kids that went to my high school almost perfectly came from half on one side of 19th and half from the other. As a result, individuals were exposed to individuals with very different backgrounds on a day to day basis. While this did not destroy ignorance, it did help promote understanding between classes.

The invisible unemployed

Though the recent trend in an overall lowered unemployment rate seems to calm the general public and point to a progressive economy, the statistic (7.9 percent in October 2012, 7.3 percent in October 2013) ignores an invisible group of people - discouraged workers. A discouraged worker is an unemployed person who has given up looking for work. This person is no longer considered as part of the labor force. Discouraged workers face the same issues as unemployed persons; both are victims of poor job prospects. When these people have given up hope, the measured unemployment rate declines. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 6.9% of the total number not in the labor force currently wanted a job in October 2011. The number remained steady at 6.9% in October 2012, and recently has shifted to 6.2% in October 2013. However, the number of people out of the labor force between October 2012 and October 2013 has also grown by over 3 million. This may indicate that out of those no longer in the labor force, the people included within the steady 6.9% in both 2011 and 2012 gave up looking for work in 2013, leading to a smaller percentage of people currently wanting a job.

Murray indicates male unemployment has remained higher in low-income areas such as Fishtown rather than high-income areas such as Belmont. However, recent college graduates and educated middle-aged adults seeking positions are more likely to be found in Belmont. Most of these educated individuals are not seeking blue-collar service/factory jobs that can be more readily found than white-collar positions. Murray's statistics of lower rates of unemployment in Belmont could be ignoring the amount of discouraged workers who are not actively seeking employment or have chosen to retire early. As part of a high-income family, many individuals can still expect financial support from their families/existing assets. In contrast, the uneducated must be persistent and keep looking for work. Low-income families more often depend on living paycheck-to-paycheck and cannot live comfortably without a regular source of income. There will be less discouraged workers among those who cannot afford to live without wages. Belmont's unemployment ratio may actually be higher than what Murray documents, should the ratios be adjusted for discouraged workers. Murray might be ignoring an important issue. In communities such as Fishtown, there could be a lower rate of discouraged workers among those out of the labor force. Among communities like Belmont, there could be a higher rate of discouraged workers - because they can afford it.

Class

For Wednesday, take the "How Thick is Your Bubble?" test here.

The Executive Branch:

Barack Obama POTUS	Columbia	Harvard	UCC
Joseph Biden VPOTUS	U of Delaware	Syracuse	Catholic
John Kerry, State	Yale	Boston C.	Catholic
Chuck Hagel, Defense	U of Nebraska		Catholic
Jack Lew, Treasury	Harvard	Georgetown	Jewish
Eric Holder, Atty Gen.	Columbia	Columbia	Episcopalian
Ben Bernanke, Fed Res.	Harvard	MIT	Jewish

The Supreme Court:

Name	Appt. by	College	Law school	Religion
John Roberts (Chief Justice)	G.W. Bush	Harvard	Harvard	Catholic
Antonin Scalia	Reagan	Georgetown	Harvard	Catholic
Anthony Kennedy	Reagan	Stanford	Harvard	Catholic
Clarence Thomas	G.H.W. Bush	Holy Cross	Yale	Catholic
Ruth Bader Ginsburg	Clinton	Cornell	Columbia	Jewish
Stephen Breyer	Clinton	Stanford	Harvard	Jewish
Samuel Alito	G.W. Bush	Princeton	Yale	Catholic
Sonia Sotomayor	Obama	Princeton	Yale	Catholic
Elena Kagan	Obama	Princeton	Harvard	Jewish

SuperZips and residential segregation

The geography of inequality:  the case of California

Murray's virtues:

• Industriousness
• Honesty
• Marriage
• Religiosity