America’s regions are poles apart when it comes to gun deaths and the cultural and ideological forces that drive them.
Using raw numbers / absolute values instead of per capita data is so misleading. I know that data don’t actually change minds, but some skepticism around statistics couldn’t hurt 🤷♀️
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis published a jaw-droppingly misleading graph that portrays China as spending more on its military than the US. In reality, the Pentagon’s budget is roughly three times larger.
In an accompanying report, the St. Louis Fed admitted that China’s 2021 defense spending was just 1.7% of GDP, “which was the lowest share among the six nations in the figure”.
Yay! I love Actual Propaganda! With a good ol dose of racist fearmongering 🙃
My Biostatistics teacher in college devoted our entire first lecture to discussing ways you could lie with data, so we would be better able to recognize it — and hopefully, not do it.
If we acknowledged how much we waste on bloated military spending, we would have to come to grips with our spending priorities. We would have to acknowledge what we don’t buy with that money. Some of that money could help stop children from going hungry, or keep diabetic people (who aren’t on Medicaid) from dying for lack of affordable medicine 🤷♀️ (To name some real problems in the US that shouldn’t be controversial yet somehow are.)
A much more accurate graphic created by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation shows how, as of 2022, the United States spent more on its military than the next nine largest spenders combined – including China, India, the UK, Russia, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and South Korea (and several of these countries are close US allies).
Some of what our $$$$$$$ military spending buys is impressive: a rapid response force that can be wheels up in under 18 hours (the logistics of that alone are mind-blowing), a sophisticated anti-tank weapon that still beats out everything anyone else has and is making a huge impact in Ukraine, and development of GPS.
Preserving self-governance in Ukraine A+++++++ But mayyyyybe we could spare some of the $850 billion we’re spending on the military this year to care directly for people?
WHY THE SUPER RICH ARE INEVITABLE by Alvin Chang | January 2023
Why do super rich people exist in a society?
Many of us assume it’s because some people make better financial decisions. But what if this isn’t true? What if the economy – our economy – is designed to create a few super rich people?
That’s what mathematicians argue in something called the Yard-sale model…
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Who Benefits from Income and Wealth Growth in the United States? by Blanchet et al
Realtime Inequality provides the first timely statistics on how economic growth is distributed across groups. When new growth numbers come out each quarter, we show how each income and wealth group benefits.
Controlling for price inflation, average national income per adult in the United States decreased at an annualized rate of -2% in the third quarter of 2022, and average income for the bottom 50% shrunk by -2.4%.
The 2023 reading log is here! It can help you track your reading stats and generate infographics to help you achieve your reading goals.
👀 This could be handy for tracking my reading.
DOJvPRH Day 4: Dohle: “Around 20-25% of heavy readers account for 80% of the revenue of the industry ” from consumers. “If the really dedicated readers go all-access, the revenue pool is going to be really small. The retail sector will be gone…authors are going to lose.”
— John Maher (@JohnHMaher) August 4, 2022
Pareto principle in action! When that’s your revenue stream probably doesn’t make sense to offer all access as a service 🤔
DOJvPRH Day 1: Pande explains how standard payout of advances went from thirds to quarters. Says approximately 20% of her authors earn out the advance, which can take 3-4 years to happen, forcing authors to teach, "work in coffee shops," do journalism (poor saps), nonprofits, etc
— John Maher (@JohnHMaher) August 1, 2022
If that applies industry-wide, shocking that only 20% of authors earn out their advance considering many advances are pretty small!
DOJvPRH Day 4: Dohle says Penguin-Random House merger did not result in reductions “at all,” attributing later reductions to “market sources.” He notes that genre fiction, especially romance, “switched to self-published stories…away from what we call mass-market paperbacks.”
— John Maher (@JohnHMaher) August 4, 2022
😎💪
DOJvPRH Day 4: On to BookScan, which Dohle says tracks “70-75% of print sales” (PW estimates more like 80-85%) and that's only“50% of the overall market, but a very relevant one.” AAP StatShot estimates PRH market share at “15%,” he says, and BookScan at “20-21%.”
— John Maher (@JohnHMaher) August 4, 2022
DOJvPRH Day 4: Dohle says outside of Big Five except for Scholastic, in 2019, “43%” of the market was “dominated” by other publishers (This means all other pubs, I think.) In 2021, “around 50% of the books sold in America were sold by publishers outside of the Big Five.”
— John Maher (@JohnHMaher) August 4, 2022
DOJvPRH Day 4: Dohle: “The main reason for the industry fragmenting is the shift to online and e-commerce,” where, he says 50% of books are sold, which has “leveled the playing field between larger houses and smaller houses.” See: https://t.co/ki5DTLdGoy
— John Maher (@JohnHMaher) August 4, 2022
DOJvPRH Day 4: “We don’t think it’s good for writing and for writers,” Dohle says re: Kindle Direct and other models, so PRH’s books don't compete in them. But “consumers like these models,” says Read. Will S&S’s books be pulled from them post-merger? Dohle hasn’t decided yet.
— John Maher (@JohnHMaher) August 4, 2022
Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to assemble a baseball team on a lean budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players.
I find it ironic I lived in the Bay Area during this time period and am so tuned out of sports don’t recall even hearing about it.
It’s surprising that statistics wasn’t a big part of baseball until 2002! Of course, this approach works for a “poor” team only until the rich teams start doing it, then theoretically players aren’t undervalued and affordable.
Some of the trading scenes were hard to follow.