Mulholland Drive is a famous road that offers views of Los Angeles and the surrounding area. We spent nearly an hour driving along Mulholland Drive looking for a clear view of the city. We finally found a small spot to pull-off and snap this picture:
This street on the ridge to the north of Los Angeles is home to many wealthy people. See the road in this YouTube clip.
(My wife and I traveled to California for nine days in early July – this is part of a series of pictures from our trip.)
According to Entertainment Weekly, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was asked about all the important issues over the weekend:
ABC’s Jake Tapper asked Christie on The Week yesterday whether Situation, Snooki, and the gang are “positive for New Jersey or negative.” Christie answered “negative” without batting an eyelash.
The story also has a YouTube link where you can see the question about Jersey Shore follows inquiries about more typical political topics.
On the other hand, perhaps many Americans learn important facts about reality shows?
Yahoo reports on ESPN’s findings about stadium food. There were some noteworthy health violations and this little tidbit about Chicago stadiums in a discussion about how inspection practices differ by state:
Chicago stadiums had the lowest percentage of vendors with critical violations; that could be because city inspectors make their visits when the stadiums are empty and no employee is handling or serving food. (Gotta lova that Chicago political machine.)
In the last ten or twenty years, stadium food has improved in quality – from nachos with fake cheese to sushi, premium sandwiches, and more. However, perhaps a lot of it wasn’t very clean…
Time explores some of the cultural ideas Americans have about only children. These ideas date back to the late 1800s and are still common today.
Some of the recent research on this topic has been conducted by sociologists. Toni Falbo has countered some of the prevailing cultural ideas:
Twenty-five years ago, she and colleague Denise Polit conducted a meta-analysis of 115 studies of only children from 1925 onward that considered developmental outcomes of adjustment, character, sociability, achievement and intelligence. The studies, mainly from the U.S., cut across class and race. Generally, those studies showed that singletons aren’t measurably different from other kids — except that they, along with firstborns and people who have only one sibling, score higher in measures of intelligence and achievement. No one, Falbo says, has published research that can demonstrate any truth behind the stereotype of the only child as lonely, selfish and maladjusted.
People also have ideas about families that have too many children. Recent coverage and discussions of the Octomom and the Duggars (of 19 Kids & Counting) show there are powerful thoughts about not having too many children.
According to the article, a 2010 Pew survey showed 46% of American adults thought two children was the best number.
It’s fascinating to think that much decision-making about this is driven by economics. When families had farms and mortality rates were higher for children, families had more kids. Today, raising a child is expensive and life expectancy is higher so people have fewer kids.
More commentators have tackled the issue of tenure:
-Ilya Somin at The Volokh Conspiracy.
-The New York Times has an online discussion forum.
h/t Instapundit
Hollywood is a main attraction when visiting Los Angeles. Grauman’s Chinese Theatre draws a lot of attention – and it was no different on the Tuesday we were there. On the street in front, people were setting up for the premiere of Inception to take place later that night. Around the theater, people were milling around looking at the hand prints (and footprints and even a horseshoe) of famous stars and the stars of the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the sidewalk.
(My wife and I traveled to California for nine days in early July – this is part of a series of pictures from our trip.)
Christianity Today explores the implications of decreased American mobility for churches. According to Census figures:
Despite commercial air travel, interstate highways, mobile phones, and e-mail, the mobility rate has declined steadily since the U.S. Census Bureau began tracking such data in 1948. In the aftermath of World War II, as suburbs began sprouting from farmland, a record 21.2 percent of Americans moved between 1950 and 1951. But only 13.2 percent of Americans moved between 2006 and 2007. Then in April 2009, the Census Bureau reported that a mere 11.9 percent of Americans moved in 2008. This rate was the lowest in recorded U.S. history, and the 1.3 percent drop between 2007 and 2008 was the second-largest one-year decline. The number rebounded only barely in 2009, to 12.5 percent.
Looks like people are staying put though 35 million Americans still moved in 2008. This also suggests the suburbs are no longer drawing people like they used to – perhaps the result of many Americans growing up in suburbia and then sticking around. Some of these suburbs (and their churches) will become established places and will have to move past an image of being “new” or “recent.”
I would think this mobility rate will increase when the economy picks up again.
Yahoo Finance has a story that contains 22 statistics to “prove” the American middle class is “radically shrinking.” Interestingly, some of these statistics don’t prove much of anything about the middle class even if they do indicate something about America as a whole. The post does show that the wealthy have gotten wealthier but without more context (statistics to compare to from the past, rates from other nations, etc.), there are better statistics to use to make this argument. Some of the statistics are linked to the latest economic downturn such as a rising number of bankruptcies and a rising time for finding a job.
Some examples of weaker statistics:
-“36 percent of Americans say that they don’t contribute anything to retirement savings.” How does this compare to previous rates? Perhaps the Americans of today don’t save like people in the past?
-“More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying.” Service jobs are often low paying – but we don’t know much more from this statistic.
-“For the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011.” Sounds bad – but since we now have more people in the country, a percentage would be a much better measure.
-“Average Wall Street bonuses for 2009 were up 17 percent when compared with 2008.” This is a shot at Wall Street more than an explanation about the middle class.
Other statistics do back up his point (even though they would all benefit from more explanation):
-“66 percent of the income growth between 2001 and 2007 went to the top 1% of all Americans.”
-“Only the top 5 percent of U.S. households have earned enough additional income to match the rise in housing costs since 1975.”
-“The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.”
On the whole, this seems more an alarmist piece. There is evidence to back up his argument – but the evidence here is not presented well and needs a lot more context.
The view of the sunset from the pier at Pismo Beach, California. The town is a fairly small beach town and the pier seemed to be the local hang-out spot for many teenagers, some families, and a few surfers.
(My wife and I traveled to California for nine days in early July – this is part of a series of pictures from our trip.)
A new poll from the Chicago Tribune and WGN shows that more suburbanites would prefer to spend money on mass transit than on highways and roads. According to the poll:
Fifty-two percent of suburbanites said they agree with investing more of limited government resources in public transit, versus 32 percent who chose improvements to highways and toll roads. In a 1999 Tribune poll, 34 percent of suburban residents said more money should be spent on mass transit than on roads.
Even in the collar counties, half said public transit deserves a higher priority in spending decisions.
These are some surprising figures as suburbanites typically prefer road spending in their auto-dependent lives. How exactly this increased mass transit spending might happen is less clear with the state of Illinois facing a major budget crisis.
One citizen interviewed for the story mentioned adding “an around-Chicago rail line.” This would help improve rail service to the suburbs as the current Metra system is a hub-and-spoke model where travelers have to go into Chicago before heading back out. A plan for this has been in the works for a long time as the Star Line would use the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern right-of-way (just recently bought by Canadian National) to connect Joliet and O’Hare while crossing a number of Metra spoke lines. Read more about the Star Line here.
Legally Sociable 