Rising Health Care Costs Felt by Employers

A recent Wall Street Journal article discusses the results of a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health and Research Educational Trust, which found that the average cost of family health-insurance coverage has exceeded $15,000 for the first time. The survey was conducted between January and May 2011 and included 3,184 randomly selected companies. According to the survey, the average annual family premium for this year, $15,073, is a 9% increase from last year's $13,770. Most of the burden of the cost increase is being felt by employers, as employees' average premium contribution is only up 3% from 2010. This is illustrated in the chart from the article (below), which indicates the average annual premiums for family coverage from 2000 to 2011 and the portion contributed by employers and by employees. While the chief executive of Kaiser Family Foundation said that the cause of the increase in employers' premiums was unclear, the article quotes Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Borsch, who speculates that the increases may have been due to the fact that insurers "have been conservative in their pricing, so they have overshot to some degree."

Southern Unemployment Rates Among Worst in the Nation

The South, which entered the recession with lower unemployment rates than the nation's other regions, currently has some of the highest rates of joblessness in the nation. A New York Times article reports that the South now has higher rates of unemployment than both the Northeast and the Midwest. Unemployment rates in the South have even surpassed those in the Rust Belt. The Rust Belt, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, has been plagued by high rates of unemployment since before the recession began. Currently, Southern states account for 6 of the 10 states with the highest unemployment rates.


One explanation, for which the article cites the Brookings Institution's analysis, of the shift in regional unemployment rates relative to the rest of the country is that the auto-industry of the Rust Belt may be slightly improving from the hard hit it took at the start of the recession. The plummeting value of homes in the Sun Belt and Western states, on the other hand, have not improved.
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Most Have Health Insurance

According to new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau, most Americans had health insurance coverage for all of 2010. A relatively small 16.3% of the population (49.9 million people) did not have coverage; a large majority of 83.7% (256.2 million) did have health insurance coverage for the entire year.
Income was also an important factor; uninsured rates were higher among those in lower income brackets. Households with incomes of less than $25,000 were more than 3 times as likely to be uninsured than members of households with incomes of $75,000 or more.
Racial minorities and individuals born abroad were also more likely to be uninsured. Noncitizens had the highest uninsured rates with 45.1% lacking coverage. Naturalized citizens fared better, with 20% lacking coverage. About 11% of non-Hispanic whites were insured for all of 2010. Racial minorities were not as likely to have coverage; the uninsured rate for Hispanics Asians, and blacks was significantly higher, with 30.7%, 18.1%, and 20.8% lacking coverage, respectively.
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Public Loses Confidence in Congressional Leaders and Ability to Handle Deficit; Republican Leaders Hardest Hit

As debates over deficit reduction approach, the public's confidence in congressional leaders, especially Republican leaders, has decreased. Last May, according to a report published by the Pew Research Center, 47% said they had a great deal or fair amount of confidence in Republican congressional leaders in addressing the government budget deficit. Since May, this percentage of those confident in Republican congressional leaders has sharply decreased to 35%. However, a national survey conducted by the Pew Research center for the People & the Press in mid-September found the public's confidence in Barack Obama's on the same issue to have held relatively steady; currently 52% have a fair amount of confidence in Obama to address the deficit issue, down only slightly from 55% who said the same earlier this year. Democratic congressional leaders have also lost public trust, although not to the same extent as Republicans. Currently, 43% say they have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in Democratic leaders, down from last May's 51%.
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Executions Decrease, Time Between Death Sentencing and Execution Increases

On September 21st, Troy Davis was executed in Georgia despite challenges to the quality of evidence used in his conviction. On the same night, Lawrence Brewer, a member of a white-supremacist gang convicted of brutally killing a black man in 1998, was put to death in Texas. Including these two, there have been 35 executions in America so far this year.The Economist examined trends in death penalty use. Data show a decrease in both death sentences and executions over the past few years. Despite momentary increases, the overall trends of both executions and death sentences have decreased since 1999. In 1999 nearly 300 convicts were sentenced to death and nearly 70 were executed in America. In 2010 the number of death sentences dropped to a little over 50, and the number of executions fell to approximately 50 annually.JVSF cf

Excess Female Deaths

A recent article in The Economist discusses what the article refers to as the "missing women" of the world, which it defines as "women who have died because the rate of female mortality is disproportionately high compared with men's." This includes sex-selective abortion, which accounts for the largest share of "missing women" or "excess female deaths," as a related Daily Chart blog refers to them as. According to the chart (below) from the blog, which is based on results from the 2011 World Development Report, sex-selective abortion resulted in 1 million excess female deaths in China and 257,000 in India in 2011. This has already resulted in distorted gender ratios in China, with roughly 105 boys for every 100 girls born. While sex-selective abortion accounts for the largest portion of excess female deaths, the largest growth in these deaths has been in Africa among women between the ages of 15 and 49. According to the chart, there were 751,000 excess female deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2011.

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Census Figures Tell Story of Dramatic Decline in the County Hit Hardest by Recession

An article in the New York Times focused on the county where, according to census figures published Thursday, "the falloff of the economy...was the steepest in the country." Greenwood county, a district of nearly 70,000 in South Carolina, saw its poverty rate double to 24 percent from 2007 to 2010, "the largest increase for any county in the nation."

Residents pointed at the closing of textile mills as one of the central causes of the decline. The Times writes: "The number of workers in manufacturing alone fell by a quarter in the county from 2005 to 2009, according to a census survey of employers." The mills were not alone responsible for the devastating decline, however, as layoffs from "a foundry, restaurants and construction companies [also] pummeled the county’s residents." According to the Times, the "decline also engulfed the middle class." Median household income fell by 28 percent over the period--a loss of nearly $12,000 in annual earnings.
A closer look at the county's social demographic characteristics might worry people around the country, as by many indications Greenwood residents are not so different from the average American. Over a quarter of residents had at least some college education in 2009, close to the 27 percent nationally. And Greenwood contains a number of institutions that can be as sprouting--or having sprouted--from economic success; the county "has a public university, which grants four-year degrees, a museum and a shopping mall."

But the economy does not appear to be improving in Greenwood. Unless it does, residents will be forced to do what they can to stay afloat. Writes the Times: "Apache Pawn and Gun, a pawn shop in town, is packed with items sold by people trying to make ends meet."

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Americans Say More Than Half of Federal Government Spending Is Wasteful

A Gallup Poll earlier this month found Americans' estimation of money wasted by the federal government at an all-time high. The poll asked a random sample of Americans to estimate how many cents the federal government wastes per tax dollar they spend. The responses averaged 51 cents wasted per tax dollar. Although similar to 2009's estimate of 50 cents, this is the first time since the survey began in 1979 that Americans have indicated that more than half of federal spending is wasteful. The estimation was lowest in 1986, with Americans estimating that 38 cents per dollar were wasted by the federal government. Americans have consistently perceived the federal government as more wasteful than both state and local governments, however these estimates are increasing as well.

Although estimates did not vary largely across political affiliations, they were influenced by more general ideologies. Conservatives were much more likely than liberals to view federal government spending as wasteful, with conservatives estimating 56 cents of every dollar and liberals estimating 44. In addition to conservatives, senior citizens and Americans with less formal education had high estimations. Americans aged 65 and older had an average estimate of 56 cents wasted per dollar, greater than that of 18- to 29-year-olds by 10 cents. Americans with a high school education or less had an average estimate of 52 cents wasted per dollar, 7 cents higher than the average estimates of Americans with postgraduate educations.

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Plurality of Americans Favor Palestinian State, but Sympathy Rests With Israel; Divisions Drawn Along Partisan Lines

A September 15-18 survey administered by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and The Washington Post reveals stark partisan differences on the issue of Palestinian statehood and Middle East relations. A plurality of Americans (42%) believe the United States should recognize Palestine as an independent nation, as compared with 26% who oppose U.S. recognition and nearly a third (32%) of respondents who state no opinion.

The numbers, however, change within partisan groups. A much higher percentage of Democrats (54%) say they are in favor of U.S. recognition, while only 14% oppose the action; and the numbers are similarly skewed among independents, 45% of whom are in favor of recognition and only 28% opposed. But there are more Republicans (38%) who believe the U.S. should not recognize Palestine than there are those who believe it should (27%).

Views similarly fall along partisan lines when respondents are asked with which population they sympathize more. On the whole, 40% of Americans say they sympathize more with Israel, as compared with 10% who sympathize more with Palestinians; 21% say they do not sympathize with either side; and 25% express no opinion. The percentages are nearly unchanged since 1978.Far more Republicans (62%) sympathize with Israel than with Palestinians (4%), especially when compared to other partisan groups. 27% of Democrats sympathize with Israel and 15% with Palestinians; and among independents, 41% sympathize more with Israel than Palestinians (10%).

The report also addresses the "low visibility of the Israel-Palestinian dispute." According to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ), coverage of the issue has been limited. Pew writes: "Last week, less than 2% of all news coverage was devoted to the debate over Palestinian statehood, far less than the amount of coverage devoted to the U.S. economy (20%) or the 2012 presidential campaign (12%)."

The survey was conducted in anticipation of the planned UN debate on Palestinian statehood this week.

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Changes in Party Affiliation Since 2008

The Pew Research Center recently reported on the demographic changes in political party affiliation since 2008. Obama’s approval ratings have decreased drastically since his election, as has the percentage of registered Democrats.

Although the amount of registered Republican voters has remained at 28%, the Democratic Party is losing voters to Independents (now 34%), a higher percentage of which now lean Republican (11% then and 16% now). This is the highest percentage of people identifying as independent since the late 1930s, when party identification was first measured.

The increase in Republican-identified respondents mainly comes from white voters (a 12-point lead in 2011). There has been no change in African American or Hispanic party affiliation—the majority of which continue to identify as Democrats (86% of African Americans, and 64% of Hispanics).

What is surprising is the change in the age of Republican voters. In 2008, democrats held a 28-point lead among young voters, which has fallen to a 13-point lead. Currently, among those born after 1980, the Democratic Party has a 13-point edge on the Republican Party (52% to 39%), down significantly from their 32-point edge three years ago. In 2008, Republicans held a 2-point lead among seniors, which has increased to 12 points.

Also unexpected are the gains made by the GOP among voters with family incomes of less than $75,000 a year. In 2008, Democrats held a 12-point advantage among middle income voters ($30,000 - $74,999), but now just as many identify with the Republican Party as with the Democratic Party. The Republican advantage among whites with a high school education or less has grown from one point in 2008 to 17 points in 2011.

The GOP has also made gains among men, reaching 21 points in 2011, ten points higher than in 2008. They now also have a five-point lead among white women, a stark reversal from the seven-point Democratic lead in 2008.

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