Sense and Nonsense

Further Proof That More Political Paralysis Lies Ahead

As we await news of today's results in the Wisconsin election that will decide Governor Scott Walker's political fate, let's ponder the latest confirmation of just how polarized the U.S. has become politically in recent years.  Take a look at these results from a report issued by the Pew Research Center, showing the widening differences in political values between Democrats and Republicans:

And if you don't feel like reading the report itself, here's a short take on it by the Washington Post's Don Balz.

U.S. Ranks 11th in Happiness

That's in part because the quality of life is better in the ten countries above us.  See the rankings here. 

Let's not fail to notice that most of the countries in the top ten on this list have a much stronger socialist element than the U.S. has; they have a communitarian ethos rather than an individualistic one.   Just saying.

"Overparented, Underhappy Kids"

Kevin Lewis has a weekly space in the "Ideas" section of the Boston Sunday Globe in which he provides a compendium of recent "surprising insights" from research in the social sciences.  In today's selection, he includes the following:

The phenomenon of helicopter parenting — being over-protective and over-involved in the lives of one’s children — has gotten plenty of attention from talk shows. Nevertheless, there hasn’t been much research on its consequences. Now, we have a study. Several hundred college students were asked how much they agreed with statements like “My parents supervised my every move growing up” and “It was very important to my parents that I never fail in life.” Students who reported more agreement with these kinds of statements also reported significantly less psychological well-being, and reported using significantly more medication for psychological reasons.

LeMoyne, T. & Buchanan, T., “Does ‘Hovering’ Matter? Helicopter Parenting and Its Effect on Well-Being,” Sociological Spectrum (July/August 2011).

Note to parents: back off.  Here's more on that subject. 

 (Photo: by Hugh Kretschmer for TIME).

Pushing Back at the Greedfest

You have to be comatose to be unaware of the grotesque income inequality that prevails in contemporary America. Take a look at the disturbing data (here and here), documenting  the extent of the inequality and the rate of change over time. 

This insanity was brought home powerfully to those of us in the Boston area this week when Wednesday's Boston Globe carried a front-page article detailing the $8.6 million in compensation that Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Massachusetts paid in 2010 to Cleve Killingsworth, the chief executive officer of the non-profit organization who resigned abruptly in the Spring of 2010 at the urging of the board.  This was after BC/BS posted back-to-back operating losses in 2009 and 2010 totaling $215 million. 

What is wrong with this country?  What is wrong with Blue Cross?  Are we really supposed to believe that it takes compensation at that level to find a competent executive to lead this organization?  That's absurd.  

Misunderstanding of Risk

 

American Sensitivities

© August J. Pollak 

 © Matt Wuerker

It's Good to Know Who's to Blame

© Barry Deutsch 

Cell Phones: The New Cigarettes?

See Maureen Dowd's column today about the telecommunications industry's irresponsible and grotesque response to a policy initiative in San Francisco to see that purchasers of cell phones are given information about the amount of radiation each model gives off.  She writes, "So now we have Exhibit No. 1,085 illustrating the brazenness of Big Business."  It's like the drug companies, peddling chemicals that do more harm than good; the oil companies, taking horrible risks with natural resources; the tobacco companies, deliberately fortifying cigarettes with more nicotine to make them more addictive.  Now the makers of cell phones want to punish a city that is trying to look out for consumers' interests by informing them about the relative risks of a product. 

The Culture of Exposure

David Brooks's column in today's New York Times is smart and spot-on.  Be sure to read it.

New Jersey: Armpit of America

"New Jersey is the most densely populated state, with 1,134 people per square mile."  Ugh.