Various articles & reactions
May. 27th, 2007 07:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
semiotic_pirateWages Through the Ages: Men Earn Less Than Fathers at Same Age
Why Are Men Today Earning Less Money Than Their Fathers Did 30 Years Ago?
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN
May 25, 2007
A new report finds that men in their 30s make less money than their fathers did at the same age, raising questions about deeply held notions of social mobility and the realities of the American Dream.
It's not just because they're typical Generation X slackers either.
In 2004, the median income for a man in his 30s was $35,010, the study found. Adjusted for inflation, that's 12 percent less than what men the same age were making in 1974.
The study, "Economic Mobility: Is the American Dream Alive and Well?," conducted by economists at the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Brookings Institute and several other think tanks, found that absolute mobility -- or the economic growth rate that allows a generation to improve relative to a previous generation -- has fallen.
Despite the downturn in men's wages, family incomes for most of the past 30 years have risen.
"The big picture here is that over a 30-year period, from 1974 to 2004, the median income of men in their 30 fell 12 percent," John Morton of the Pew Charitable Trusts and one of the report's primary authors told ABC News. "But there are several other substories. One of those is that family incomes -- families with men in their 30s -- in the same period rose by 9 percent. & The picture may be gloomy for men but it's generally positive for families."
In the 1990s, median income for men in their 30s was $32,901, 5 percent more than three decades earlier. Since 2000, and in one of the few instances since World War II, family incomes have lagged behind productivity growth, the report said.
The authors of the report were reluctant to speculate as to why men's wages are weaker today, but suggested the decline might be attributed to more women in the work force, a generally weaker economy and men working less hard than they did a generation ago.
"We don't know all the reasons for the decline," Isabel Sawhill, an economist at the Brookings Institute and a principal author, told ABC News. "It could be because economic growth has slowed in the U.S., despite all the talk about how rapidly the economy grew in the 90s."
The report used the data to examine the current reality of the American Dream, or as Morton put it: "The popular belief that there is an economic meritocracy."
"We try to make the case that the American Dream, the idea that successive generations will do better based on hard work and skill actually requires absolute mobility -- strong economic growth -- and relative mobility, movement from being poor to being rich," he said.
Michael Scotto, a 34-year-old mover from Queens, N.Y., said he thought he probably earned more than his father did as a bricklayer in the 1970s. Scotto wouldn't say how much he earned but said there was little difference in his class now and when he was growing up.
"I still live in the same middle class neighborhood I grew up in," Scotto told ABC News. "But when my father was a kid, he had nothing. His parents were immigrants and he worked to make something of himself."
"I might make more than he did at 34, but he was the real American Dream," he said. "You have to be an immigrant or the children of an immigrant to get that for real."
According to Sawhill, "Each generation expects to be better off than previous generations."
"In a growing economy everyone is on an up escalator, and that's one reason children do better than parents, but the elevator (escalator? was this a misquote to make her seem stupid?) may not be working as well," she said.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
So, not only do women receive lower wages to start and lower wages over time as their male counterparts - men are making less over time as well. I'm trying to figure out if it is strictly wages, or buying power that is decreasing. I love how they start talking about "family wages" because even economists are admitting that both people HAVE to work in order to accomplish the version of the "American Dream" that the advertising industry and others want us to believe in. I'm not talking about the American Dream of home ownership or whatnot, I'm talking about the American propensity to over-consume, live beyond our means, keep-up-or-surpass-the-Jones' mentality and on and on. Oh, that and a male economist towards the end blaming the decrease in increases on women entering the workforce. Bitch, please! And what is with the continuous editorial flubs? Gah.
I recently read a Dean Koontz novel from the 1970's about subliminal advertising and its effect on the human psyche, consumption patterns and such. Everything except the drug that he made up that made people willing to even go against core principles to follow the subliminal messages was/is REAL. I would be very interested in finding out how far subliminal messages have come since then. From what I do know now, it should be illegal but isn't, and that is scary indeed.
And Now, more bad food from China:
Imported Monkfish May Actually be Poisonous Puffer Fish: FDA
Forbes.com, May 27, 2007
Americans should not buy or eat imported fish labeled as monkfish that may actually be puffer fish containing a dangerous and potentially deadly toxin called tetrodotoxin, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.
The agency said that 282 22-pound boxes of the fish were imported from China and distributed by Hong Chang Corp., of Santa Fe Springs, Calif. to wholesalers in Illinois, California and Hawaii beginning in September 2006.
Two people in Chicago became ill after they ate soup made with the fish and one of them had to be hospitalized. Initial symptoms of tetrodotoxin poisoning include tingling of lips, tongue, face and extremities. Subsequent symptoms may include headache, balance problems, excessive salvation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. Anyone with these symptoms should seek immediate medical care, the FDA said.
Severe cases of tetrodotoxin poisoning can cause muscle paralysis and death due to respiratory muscle paralysis.
The boxes containing the fish are white, with one label that reads "FROZEN MONKFISH GUTTED AND HEAD-OFF" and "PRODUCT OF CHINA." A second label includes nutritional facts and the following information: "Ingredients: Monk fish; Imported by Hong Chang Corp, Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670; Product of China (P.R.C.)" A third label has a checkbox indicating the size as either "0.5-1" or "1-2" and show the net weight as 22 pounds.
There are no manufacturing codes on the boxes. The fish are individually wrapped in plastic bags with no labeling.
Finally, giving in to some silliness, I'm watching Ice Princess on Disney. Or is it ABCFamily? Yeah.
Why Are Men Today Earning Less Money Than Their Fathers Did 30 Years Ago?
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN
May 25, 2007
A new report finds that men in their 30s make less money than their fathers did at the same age, raising questions about deeply held notions of social mobility and the realities of the American Dream.
It's not just because they're typical Generation X slackers either.
In 2004, the median income for a man in his 30s was $35,010, the study found. Adjusted for inflation, that's 12 percent less than what men the same age were making in 1974.
The study, "Economic Mobility: Is the American Dream Alive and Well?," conducted by economists at the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Brookings Institute and several other think tanks, found that absolute mobility -- or the economic growth rate that allows a generation to improve relative to a previous generation -- has fallen.
Despite the downturn in men's wages, family incomes for most of the past 30 years have risen.
"The big picture here is that over a 30-year period, from 1974 to 2004, the median income of men in their 30 fell 12 percent," John Morton of the Pew Charitable Trusts and one of the report's primary authors told ABC News. "But there are several other substories. One of those is that family incomes -- families with men in their 30s -- in the same period rose by 9 percent. & The picture may be gloomy for men but it's generally positive for families."
In the 1990s, median income for men in their 30s was $32,901, 5 percent more than three decades earlier. Since 2000, and in one of the few instances since World War II, family incomes have lagged behind productivity growth, the report said.
The authors of the report were reluctant to speculate as to why men's wages are weaker today, but suggested the decline might be attributed to more women in the work force, a generally weaker economy and men working less hard than they did a generation ago.
"We don't know all the reasons for the decline," Isabel Sawhill, an economist at the Brookings Institute and a principal author, told ABC News. "It could be because economic growth has slowed in the U.S., despite all the talk about how rapidly the economy grew in the 90s."
The report used the data to examine the current reality of the American Dream, or as Morton put it: "The popular belief that there is an economic meritocracy."
"We try to make the case that the American Dream, the idea that successive generations will do better based on hard work and skill actually requires absolute mobility -- strong economic growth -- and relative mobility, movement from being poor to being rich," he said.
Michael Scotto, a 34-year-old mover from Queens, N.Y., said he thought he probably earned more than his father did as a bricklayer in the 1970s. Scotto wouldn't say how much he earned but said there was little difference in his class now and when he was growing up.
"I still live in the same middle class neighborhood I grew up in," Scotto told ABC News. "But when my father was a kid, he had nothing. His parents were immigrants and he worked to make something of himself."
"I might make more than he did at 34, but he was the real American Dream," he said. "You have to be an immigrant or the children of an immigrant to get that for real."
According to Sawhill, "Each generation expects to be better off than previous generations."
"In a growing economy everyone is on an up escalator, and that's one reason children do better than parents, but the elevator (escalator? was this a misquote to make her seem stupid?) may not be working as well," she said.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
So, not only do women receive lower wages to start and lower wages over time as their male counterparts - men are making less over time as well. I'm trying to figure out if it is strictly wages, or buying power that is decreasing. I love how they start talking about "family wages" because even economists are admitting that both people HAVE to work in order to accomplish the version of the "American Dream" that the advertising industry and others want us to believe in. I'm not talking about the American Dream of home ownership or whatnot, I'm talking about the American propensity to over-consume, live beyond our means, keep-up-or-surpass-the-Jones' mentality and on and on. Oh, that and a male economist towards the end blaming the decrease in increases on women entering the workforce. Bitch, please! And what is with the continuous editorial flubs? Gah.
I recently read a Dean Koontz novel from the 1970's about subliminal advertising and its effect on the human psyche, consumption patterns and such. Everything except the drug that he made up that made people willing to even go against core principles to follow the subliminal messages was/is REAL. I would be very interested in finding out how far subliminal messages have come since then. From what I do know now, it should be illegal but isn't, and that is scary indeed.
And Now, more bad food from China:
Imported Monkfish May Actually be Poisonous Puffer Fish: FDA
Forbes.com, May 27, 2007
Americans should not buy or eat imported fish labeled as monkfish that may actually be puffer fish containing a dangerous and potentially deadly toxin called tetrodotoxin, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.
The agency said that 282 22-pound boxes of the fish were imported from China and distributed by Hong Chang Corp., of Santa Fe Springs, Calif. to wholesalers in Illinois, California and Hawaii beginning in September 2006.
Two people in Chicago became ill after they ate soup made with the fish and one of them had to be hospitalized. Initial symptoms of tetrodotoxin poisoning include tingling of lips, tongue, face and extremities. Subsequent symptoms may include headache, balance problems, excessive salvation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. Anyone with these symptoms should seek immediate medical care, the FDA said.
Severe cases of tetrodotoxin poisoning can cause muscle paralysis and death due to respiratory muscle paralysis.
The boxes containing the fish are white, with one label that reads "FROZEN MONKFISH GUTTED AND HEAD-OFF" and "PRODUCT OF CHINA." A second label includes nutritional facts and the following information: "Ingredients: Monk fish; Imported by Hong Chang Corp, Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670; Product of China (P.R.C.)" A third label has a checkbox indicating the size as either "0.5-1" or "1-2" and show the net weight as 22 pounds.
There are no manufacturing codes on the boxes. The fish are individually wrapped in plastic bags with no labeling.
Finally, giving in to some silliness, I'm watching Ice Princess on Disney. Or is it ABCFamily? Yeah.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 02:08 pm (UTC)We KNOW China has little to no regulatory climate.
We KNOW that what regulations they have can easily be bribed around and China has a huge corruption problem,
We KNOW that Chinese companies have an unfortunate reputation for cutting corners.
Knowing all this, what possible excuse is there for importing food from China without testing it first?!
no subject
Date: 2007-06-03 07:17 pm (UTC)*hack* profiteers...
*wheeze* people have no idea, unless they've done complete research on their value chain, where their shit comes from - there are too many "middle-men" and go-betweens as well as a commodity market to bolster. people who work in that field don't see the product as something that should be crafted mindfully, they see dollar signs and competitors with cheaper prices and higher profit margins.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-04 11:06 am (UTC)I can see the normal people being too ignorant.
I can see the coporations being too greedy
But whwere the hell is the government? This is what government's FOR!
Oh dear, I can't believe I just typed something so innocent