Finances Getting Worse

The percentage of Americans who say their financial situation is getting worse is at a record high, according to an analysis of 2010 results from the General Social Survey. Thirty-seven percent say their financial situation is getting worse, 38 percent say it is stable, and 24 percent (a record low) say their finances are getting better.

How Much Cash is in Your Pocket?

You have only $34 in your pocket, purse, or wallet right now--if you are typical. That is the median amount of cash carried by the average American, according to a recently published Federal Reserve Bank of Boston paper analyzing results of the 2009 Survey of Consumer Payment Choice (yes, there really is such a thing).

You make 64.5 payments during a typical month (including everything from buying groceries to paying your credit card bill). You make 29 percent of those payments with a debit card, 28 percent with cash, 17 percent with a credit card, 13 percent with a check, and 5 percent with online bill payments. Money orders and bank account number payments account for most of the remainder.

During a year's time, 77 percent of Americans access their bank account by going into a bank, 69 percent use an ATM, 61 percent use online banking, 32 percent use telephone banking, and 9 percent use mobile banking services on their cell phone.

About those Landline Phones

Here is the AP headline in today's newspaper: "Landlines Falling by the Wayside." The story behind the headline describes the results of a new survey by the National Center for Health Statistics, released yesterday, that measured the presence of wireless and landline telephones in households by state. According to the results, 27 percent of households use wireless telephones only. This figure surpasses the 13 percent with landlines only. Thus the headline.

It is always a good idea to turn numbers around in your head and look at them from the opposite direction. If 27 percent of households are wireless only, then 73 percent of households still have a landline phone (minus a percentage point or two to account for households without any telephone whatsoever). Affluent households are most likely to have landlines, since they can afford both types of phones. In New Hampshire, the most affluent state, 83 percent of adults live in households with a landline phone. In Connecticut, the second most affluent state, the figure is an even higher 86 percent (the highest in the nation). In Mississippi and Arkansas, the two poorest states, 63 percent of adults are in homes with landline phones--the lowest in the nation but still a big number. The majority, in fact.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Wireless Substitution: State-level Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, January 2007-June 2010

Bet You Didn't Know

Average number of years required to complete a bachelor's degree: 5.6.

Source: Bureau of the Census

Medical Visits Top 1 Billion

Americans visited a doctor, hospital outpatient department, or emergency room 1.2 billion times in 2007. That's four visits per person per year. Between 1997 and 2007, the annual number of medical visits grew by 25 percent.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Ambulatory Medical Care Utilization Estimates for 2007

Who Is the Most Stressed Out?

People aged 45 to 54 are most likely to be feeling stressed out and depressed, according to a government survey. When people aged 18 or older are asked how often during the past 30 days they have been feeling mental distress, fully 12.3 percent of 45-to-54-year-olds say they have felt mentally fragile on at least 14 of the past 30 days. Among all adults, the percentage is 10.6 percent. Least stressed are people aged 65 or older, with 6.6 percent feeling frequent mental distress.

Source: CDC, Health-Related Quality of Life

No More Social Security Statements

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has suspended issuing Social Security Statements--those annual summaries of your earnings history that arrive in the mail and tell you how much you can expect to receive from Social Security in retirement. "In light of the current budget situation, we have suspended issuing Social Security Statements," the SSA reports on its web site. Ironically, the termination of Social Security Statements is occurring simultaneously with the release of a study that shows how effective the statements are in educating the public about their Social Security benefits.

In a study of Social Security Statements, researchers at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College analyzed whether receiving a Social Security Statement boosted knowledge of future benefits. It does. Before Statements were introduced in 1995, workers had to apply online for information about their benefits and wait a month or more for an answer. Those who went through this time consuming process were much more knowledgable about their benefits than those who did not. But only about half of households made the effort before age 62. Enter the Social Security Statement, which provided benefit information to every worker every year without requiring them to contact the SSA. The Center for Retirement Research study found that receiving the Statement boosted the percentage of workers who could estimate their future benefits by up to 20 percentage points.

Alas, the Statement is no more. For those who want to know what their future retirement benefit will be, the Social Security Administration has some advice: "You may be able to estimate your retirement benefit using our online Retirement Estimator." In other words, goodbye and good luck.

1 Million Metros: Asians

These metropolitan areas are home to more than 1 million Asians...

	# Asians
Los Angeles:	1,884,669
New York:	1,878,261
San Francisco:	1,005,823

Source: 2010 census

1 Million Metros: Blacks

These metropolitan areas are home to more than 1 million blacks...

	# blacks
New York:	3,362,616
Atlanta:	1,707,913
Chicago:	1,645,993
Washington, DC:	1,438,436
Philadelphia:	1,241,780
Miami:	1,169,185
Houston:	1,025,775

Source: 2010 census

1 Million Metros: Hispanics

These metropolitan areas are home to more than 1 million Hispanics...

	# Hispanics
Los Angeles:	5,700,862
New York:	4,327,560
Miami:	2,312,929
Houston:	2,099,412
Riverside:	1,996,402
Chicago:	1,957,080
Dallas:	1,752,166
Phoenix:	1,235,718
San Antonio:	1,158,148

Source: 2010 census

The Least Diverse Metro

Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna, West Virginia-Ohio: 96% non-Hispanic white.

Source: 2010 Census

Congress Not Honest, says Public

Percent rating the honesty and ethical standards of Congress as low/very low: 57%.

Source: Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics Online, Table 2.15.2010

The College Bubble

In a recent article in the Washington Examiner, Glen Reynolds suggests that the higher education market is in a bubble of rising costs, driven by the perception among parents and children that a college education leads to higher earnings. The statistics do show a strong link between having a bachelor's degree and earning more. But does a bachelor's degree cause higher earnings or is there another reason for the association?

Reynolds notes that a college education can help people make more money in three ways: by giving them skills that pay well, by providing them with valuable social networks, and--here's the kicker--by providing "a credential that employers want, not because it represents actual skills but because it's a weeding tool that doesn't produce civil-rights suits as, say, IQ tests might."

Take a look at the job postings of any corporation, government, or university, and you soon discover that those without a bachelor's degree need not apply unless the job is janitor or parking lot attendant. Most employers have erected the barrier of a bachelor's degree as the minimum qualification for any job that pays a middle class wage. It could be that having a bachelor's degree does not cause higher earnings. Instead, the causal relationship flows in the other direction. Higher earnings are caused by the requirement that anyone who wants a well-paying job must have a bachelor's degree. For many jobs, the bachelor's degree barrier has no practical purpose. It is simply a hiring convenience for employers.

How do you untie this knot and free young adults and their parents from the frenzy to get a college degree at any cost? Good question.

Bad Math

Between 1999 and 2009 (after adjusting for inflation)...

Percent change in the cost of one year of college at a four-year school: +34%
Percent change in the median income of families with children: –7%

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, 2010 Digest of Education Statistics, Table 345; and Bureau of the Census, Historical Income Tables—Families, Table F9

White Attitudes

Percentage of whites who say they feel close to blacks, by age...

aged 18 to 29: 54%
aged 65 or older: 35%

Source: 2010 General Social Survey

Minority Majorities in Large Metros

According to 2010 census results released this morning, among the nation's 51 metropolitan areas with populations of at least 1 million, minorities (primarily Asians, blacks, and Hispanics) are the majority in these 12...

METRO:	% minority
Los Angeles	68.4
Miami	65.2
San Jose	64.7
San Antonio	63.9
Riverside	63.4
Houston	60.3
San Francisco	57.6
Memphis	53.8
Las Vegas	52.0
San Diego	51.5
Washington	51.4
New York	51.1

Source: 2010 Census

In Denial

Percentage of homeowners who think the value of their house has increased or stayed the same since the start of the Great Recession: 48%

Source: Pew Research Center, Home Sweet Home. Still. 

More Spending, Please

When presented with a list of problems and asked whether the United States spends too little on them, about the right amount, or too much, the majority of the public says we should spend more on...

Improving the nation's education system: 73.9%
Assistance to the poor: 67.5%
Improving and protecting the nation's health: 60.3%
Improving and protecting the environment: 60.2%
Halting the rising crime rate: 59.5%
Social Security: 57.3%
Dealing with drug addiction: 56.4%
Assistance for child care: 51.7%
Drug rehabilitation: 51.6%

Source: Trends in National Spending Priorities, Tom W. Smith, National Opinion Research Center

Employer-Based Health Insurance Discourages Entrepreneurship

That is the finding of a new study by the Rand Corporation. By examining business ownership among workers with and without a spouse's health insurance coverage and with and without Medicare coverage, researchers at Rand discovered what they call an "entrepreneurship lock." Business starts are suppressed by workers' dependence on employer-based health insurance.

People with access to a spouse's health insurance plan are more likely to become self-employed than those who do not have this health insurance alternative, according to the results of the study. Self-employment also rises when people turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare and no longer need employer-based health insurance. In fact, self-employment rates jump up in the very month people turn 65.

The researchers conclude that "the bundling of health insurance and employment may create an inefficient level of business creation."

Marijuana Use

Number (and percent) of Americans aged 12 or older who have used marijuana in...

Lifetime: 104 million (42%)
Past year: 29 million (11%)
Past month: 17 million (7%)

Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health