There are several theories as to why. Some guess that the women’s movement was unsuccessful. Others posit that men have gained more than women from women saturating the workforce, but that doesn’t really explain the absolute decrease in female happiness.

Many are overlooking a few fundamental reasons:

• Women have a natural instinct to rear their children. By becoming career women, they leave their children in the primary care of others. Regardless of how much they try to convince themselves, they feel guilt for not being home with their children.
• Society as a whole has become much more “aware” of unpleasantness. The Media could be called the culprit here, but there are lots of reasons for it. We have become a much more depressed society. It’s now in vogue to be a complainer. Look at the majority of Facebook status updates; “Why can’t I finish my laundry?”, “Monday is winning!”, “Just trying to survive today.” Now one might say that should affect men as much as women, but men are a little more resilient to societal pressures and often don’t care to be in style (just look at the way I dress).  Happy people are seen as annoying.

The study is inherintly flawed because of it’s subject matter, but still might illustrate some proplems in our society.  In the end, the study asks more questions than it answers.

Thanks GM and CBM.

• Greed: comparing average incomes with the total number of inhabitants living beneath the poverty line.
• Envy: using the total number of thefts—robbery, burglary, larceny and stolen cars.
• Wrath: comparing the total number of violent crimes – murder, assault and rape – reported to the FBI per capita.
• Lust: compiling the number of sexually transmitted diseases—HIV, AIDS, syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea – reported per capita.
• Gluttony: counting the number of fast food restaurants per capita.
• Sloth: comparing expenditures on arts, entertainment and recreation with the rate of employment.
• Pride: the “root of all sins”, in this study, is the aggregate of all data – combining all data from the six other sins and averaged it into an overview of all evil.

It’s important to recognize that the data in these images are all relative to itself.  So the “cream” color means the county/area is within “normal” ranges.  Although this gives us the extremes, it doesn’t really give us a true reading of the problem with a specific sin, just the areas that are outside the norm.  For instance, most areas of the nation are within the nominal range for Gluttony.  Does that mean gluttony is not a problem?  Surely not.  It just means we are all equally gluttonous.

There are also some additional oversights with the data:

• Lust should have integrated pornography statistics as that implies more lustful behavior than STDs. Apparently Utah would have been higher in the Lust scale (but that’s for a different post).
• Gluttony should not have been measured by number of fast food restaurants as McDonald’s is everywhere.  Instead, a much better measure would have used obesity rates as well as smoking, alcohol consumption and prescription drug abuse.
• Art and entertainment is a terrible measure for slothfulness as there is plenty of art and entertainment that is uplifting rather than slothful.

Check out additional spacial mapping of the data (including “hotspots”) in an article from the Las Vegas Sun.

Thanks Ryan (probably the coolest site in Utah) and RB.

1. Marry the right person. This one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery.
2. Work at something you enjoy and that’s worthy of your time and talent.
3. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
4. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
5. Be forgiving of yourself and others.
6. Be generous.
7. Have a grateful heart.
8. Persistence, persistence, persistence.
9. Discipline yourself to save money on even the most modest salary.
10. Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.
11. Commit yourself to constant improvement.
12. Commit yourself to quality.
13. Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power or prestige, but on relationships with people you love and respect.
14. Be loyal.
15. Be honest.
16. Be a self-starter.
17. Be decisive even if it means you’ll sometimes be wrong.
18. Stop blaming others. Take responsibility for every area of your life.
19. Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you’ll regret the things you didn’t do more than the ones you did.
20. Take good care of those you love.
21. Don’t do anything that wouldn’t make your Mom proud.

(thanks Greg Mankiw)

It’s rare that we get a glimpse at what happends in the battlefield.  He’s an oportunity to see an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) up close.  A little too close.

IED Up Close

[youtube 61wj4tJICcc]

Remember if you can’t see the video, view the full post here.

Interestingly enough, these two economists follow each other’s blogs and often comment on the other’s analysis.  Following both, I feel I get a fairly well rounded view of things.

Recently, Mankiw commented on the Presidential candidates tax plans and how it effects his incentive to work extra hard for his children.

Using the chart on the right (borrowed from the Wall Street Journal), an assumption that he will live another 35 years and some economic formulas, he calculates how much each dollar he earns now will be worth to his children when he dies.  Under McCain’s plan, each dollar will be worth $4.81 (in 35 years) while Obama’s plan would yield $1.85 for every dollar earned now. Sadly, he also points out that without any income, capital gains or estate tax, his $1 would be worth $28 in 35 years.

So in Mankiw’s view, Obama’s plan would, in a way, reduces or removes the incentive for Americans to work hard.

Of course, Mulligan doesn’t quite agree.  Well, he kind of does.  He argues that Obama won’t be able to get these tax laws passed.  In additional to that, Mulligan gives the following argument:

Second, most of the price-tripling result comes from the capital tax side. Because Professor Mankiw expects to live about 35 more years, the President during the next eight is hardly relevant. Indeed, if it were true that Obama would be a heavy taxer, Professor Mankiw and his kids might be better off if Obama gave a vivid demonstration of the harms of heavy taxation before they realized their capital gains in the year 2043.

So in essence, he agrees that Obama’s tax proposals would be economically detrimental, but claims that Mankiw’s argument doesn’t really hold much weight because policy can easily change in the next 35 years. And in fact he says that voting for Obama will help you enjoy your children more because you won’t have a desire to work additional jobs/hours because it won’t be worth as much.

Although Mulligan’s arguments may be relevant, I think Mankiw’s intention was to illustrate the problems associated with a higher capital gains tax and other heavy taxation.

So one of problems with both arguments is the that the details are what makes both arguments even close to valid.  Without the nasty formula from Mankiw, you can’t really understand the problems associated with the heavy taxation.  But without the understanding of when the taxes actually take affect, one can’t accept Mulligan’s argument.

What is the average person going to see when they look at this chart?  Do they see higher taxes are do they think, “Oh, that won’t affect me for a long time, so I’m not going to worry about it.”

Be sure to read both articles to fully understand the different arguments.

PS. Interestingly enough, both economists minimize the current downturn/recession/depression.  Mulligan claims that it’s not even a downturn as it only affects two markets (financial and real estate).

Part I

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Part II

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Part III

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Part IV

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He claims that because America has “sinned,” we shouldn’t celebrate Independence Day.

Put the fireworks in storage.

Cancel the parade.

Tuck the soaring speeches in a drawer for another time.

This year, America doesn’t deserve to celebrate its birthday. This Fourth of July should be a day of quiet and atonement.

For we have sinned.

Wow… talk about overreaction as well as bad patriotism.  This is the negativity that The Centrist mentioned in this article.

Balance is what this country needs.  Not polarization.