Inequality IV

Declining mobility and comparisons with Western Europe

Wages


Wealth




Health and Politics in Fishtown

The White Working Class has taken a hit.

WWC v. All Others





From The Economist:

• The demographics of smoking (see Murray, pp. 36, 113).  Smoking rate by educational attainment:
• GED................ 34.1%
• High School.....19.8
• Some college...18.5%
• Associate deg...16.6%
• Bachelor.............7.4%
• Graduate deg......3.6%
• Deaths of despair and overdoses
• "“Most insurance, especially for poor people, won't pay for anything but a pill.” 
• The political side
• Obesity
• Disability

INCARCERATION

From Business Insider:

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.

From Federalist 76 (not on syllabus): 

This supposition of universal venalty in human nature is little less an error in political reasoning, than the supposition of universal rectitude. The institution of delegated power implies, that there is a portion of virtue and honor among mankind, which may be a reasonable foundation of confidence; and experience justifies the theory.  

Washington's Farewell Address:

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

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.

Murray's virtues:

• Marriage
• The marriage gap (Murray, chapter 8)
• Class and marriage

• Marriage and Income
• Education, Marriage, and Parenting
• Single mothers
• Fatherless in Massachusetts
• Never-Married Adults

Industriousness

• Labor Force Participation 

Perhaps wages are behind the trend:

• Disability Insurance -- Data from CBO:

Politics and Perception of Economic Conditions