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Race and Ethnicity Maps by US Cities

Human Beings are social animals by nature. Interaction with fellow human beings is part and parcel of our daily lives. Even though we are social by nature, we also have some parochial instincts which manifest themselves in our day to day lives. Be it where we choose to live, or who we choose to interact with a majority of the times, we have a tendency to look for people with similar interests, culture and backgrounds. We are simply more comfortable interacting with people who are similar to us.

The picture below is a map of Columbus, Ohio, where I have lived the last 7 of my 9 years. The map depicts how the population is distributed by race and ethnicity and was complied by Eric Fisher using 2000 census data. Each dot represents 25 people.

Image Source:Eric Fisher

As can be seen, there is this clear divide based on race and ethnicity, on where people tend to live and who they choose to interact.  This divide exists in all of the major cities be it Chicago, Detroit, New York or Los Angeles.

Few Stats to Consider

Earlier this year, Forbes magazine released the list of the Worlds Richest People. It is no surprise that America has the largest number of Billionaires, 396 to be exact. But the surprise was India, which almost doubled the number of Billionaires, to about 47 people.

Now consider a few facts about these 47 richest Indians combined.

1. The combined net worth of these 47 richest Indians accounted for 14.7% of India's GDP. Only Switzerland and Russia beat us in the list of countries with more then 10 billionaires
2. When you consider that India has more then a billion people, we have one Billionaire for every 25 million people living in the country.
3. The GDP per capita in India is $1091. Compare this to the average net worth of these richest Indians, about $4 Billion.
4. Add the fact that 42% of the Indian population falls below the International Poverty Level of $1.25 per day and you get a sense of how one dimensional the growth in the Indian economy is.





Data Source: Forbes List of Billionaires
Population and GDP: Wikipedia

Recession Over?

The National Bureau of Economic Research said that the recession is officially over. Since the economy began expanding at the end of June 2009, the recession officially ended in the 3rd quarter of  2009. But what about unemployment? It is painfully high at 9.6% with still more then 14 mil people unemployed.

The unemployment rates tends to be a lagging indicator as can be seen from the graphs below. With the economic growth rate slowing down from its peak at the end of Dec 2009, will that result in further increase in the unemployment rate?

Data Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics  

If Only The Queen Was Indian?

Uninsured in America

Several provisions of the new healthcare law also called the Affordable Care Act went into effect yesterday. Yesterday also was the day when the GOP unveiled its Pledge for America. The document included proposals to cut spending and taxes, a staple. In addition it also included a proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act. In case you haven't noticed, we are in an election cycle and each side will spend the next few weeks touting or assailing the new healthcare law.

But politics aside, the reality is that number of uninsured has been on a steady rise for the last decade. For the first time last year it crossed the 50 million mark. Now there can be debate about whether all the 50 million are legal residents or not. But that's besides the point. The number of uninsured has risen in almost every age group (except the under 18), as the graph below shows, and the recession has made it worse.

Data Source: US Census Bureau

State of the US Economy

The 2010 budget depicted below reinforces the fiscal disaster that the US is facing. About 92% of all the estimated revenue in 2010 from taxes and other sources goes towards paying for mandatory services like Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid and Interest on debt. The remaining 8% of the revenue must pay for the cost of the wars and must fund the other departments.

No wonder the US national debt ballooning every second because the government is borrowing to cover the shortfall. The last I checked, the debt per US Citizen was $43,473. Compare this to the median household income of $49,777 for year 2009.

Data Source: Wikipedia