AMERICAN INDICATORS

Below is data that converts key information about the United States into an easy to read chart that attempts to live up to Edward Tufte's definition of graphics: intelligence made visible. The chart deals with a basic question: how are we doing? Progress is shown in green, regression in red and little change in yellow. We have broken the time periods into five year chunks with the years used in data rounded off. Sources to right.

ECONOMY

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Minimum wage as % of average wage

Fro

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/07/28/an_unlivable_minimum/

Real income

Up 233%

http://prorev.com/liberals.htm http://www.alternet.org/story/28626/

http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=1119025

Real manufacturing wages

Dow

Paul Krugman

Real income householders under 35

Down 8%

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyid=2006-02-26T170917Z_01_N2660992_RTRUKOC_0_US-LABOR.xml

Real income men in their 30s

Up 5

Down 12%

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-men26may26,1,1521168,full.story?coll=la-headlines-business&ctrack=2&cset=true

Real family income

Federal Reserve, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/29/opinion/29wed1.html?ex=1346040000&en=c384a3b808f63285&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Real individual income

http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/article/20070821/ZNYT01/708210407/1002/business

Real income bottom 60% of Americans

Down 5%

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/28/business/28tax.html?ei=5088&en=fd84bcc13c1bba9c&ex=1322370000&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1166198532-3If28rH3TBNMLL/vKERokQ

Real income top 5% of Americans

Up 53%

-2%

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/28/business/28tax.html?ei=5088&en=fd84bcc13c1bba9c&ex=1322370000&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1166198532-3If28rH3TBNMLL/vKERokQ

Real income top 1% of Americans

Up 248%

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/28/business/28tax.html?ei=5088&en=fd84bcc13c1bba9c&ex=1322370000&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1166198532-3If28rH3TBNMLL/vKERokQ

Real income of male workers

http://www.harvard-magazine.com/on-line/010682.html

Real income of male workers 35-44

<---------------Down 10%--------------->

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyid=2006-02-26T170917Z_01_N2660992_RTRUKOC_0_US-LABOR.xml

Top 1% share of total income

From 24% to 8%

From 8% to 21%

http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/piketty-saezAEAPP06.pdf

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/29/163/

NYT 3/289/07

Income gap between rich and poor

http://www.cbpp.org/1-26-06sfp.htm

Family indebtedness

http://maxspeak.org/mt/archives/001849.html

CEO pay as a percent of average workers' pay

24x to 300x

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-06-22T050606Z_01_N21289227_RTRUKOC_0_US-FINANCIAL-PAY-1.xml&src=rss

Women's pay vs. men's

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_4766864?source=rss

Top 1% share of wealth

From 36% TO 29%

29% to 39%

http://prorev.com/liberals.htm

Top 1% growth in wealth

Greatest gap in 75 years

Up 109%

http://prorev.com/statsec.htm

Bottom 40% decline in wealth

Greatest gap in 75 years

Down 46%

http://prorev.com/statsec.htm

Foreign debt as a percent of GDP

Up five times

http://prorev.com/extreme.htm

Federal debt

Up 61%

Morris Investment Management Company

Deficit

http://prorev.com/statsec.htm

Older families with pensions

Over half lost

http://prorev.com/extreme.htm

Workers covered by defined benefit pensions

Down 63%

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/03/29/fidelity_to_end_employee_pension_plan/

Savings rate

Nega

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/08/BUG7IGJHEK1.DTL

Age at which one can receive Social Security

Median rent

Up 33%

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-03-08T061225Z_01_N07361515_RTRUKOC_0_US-PROPERTY-APARTMENTS-STUDY.xml

Annual personal savings rate of families

From 12.3

Hunger

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051029093925.htm

Use of soup kitchens

Washington Post 3/23/06

Personal bankruptcies

Up 400%

http://prorev.com/statsec.htm

Consumer credit debt

Up 60%

Housing foreclosures

Up 350%

http://prorev.com/statsec.htm

Poverty rate

Census and Brookings

Child poverty rate

http://maxspeak.org/mt/archives/001849.html

Black poverty rate

Down

Centers for Disease Control

Latino poverty rate

Up 36%

Down

Centers for Disease Control

Senior poverty rate

Down from 35% to 10%

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0310/p01s02-ussc.html?s=hns

Severe poverty rate

Up 25% 2000-2005

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0223-09.htm

U.S. auto industry relative to foreign car makers

Down 67%

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=11242

US manufacturing jobs

Down 18%

http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=27975

US share of world tourist market

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2095-2360948,00.html

Number of women owned businesses

Up 51%

http://prorev.com/statsec.htm

Yearly mergers

Up 245%

http://prorev.com/statsec.htm

CRIME & CORRUPTION

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Most corrupt administrations

http://prorev.com/extreme.htm

Nbr in prison

Up four times

http://prorev.com/extreme.htm

Drug induced deaths despite drug war

Almost doubled

http://prorev.com/extreme.htm

Violent crime

http://prorev.com/cl.htm

Executions

10 yr low

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-executions15dec15,1,7725566.story?track=rss

Crime rate

FBI

Teenage murders, suicides, fatal accidents

Doubled

Domestic violence

http://www.msmagazine.com/news/uswirestory.asp?ID=10076

CIVIL LIBERTIES

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Civil rights

Civil liberties lost as result of drug war

Civil liberties lost as result of Bush regime

Progressive Review

Censorship of airwaves by FCC

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/09/AR2005110902078.html

Police SWAT team deployments

Up 1500%

Reason Magazine

Secret wiretaps

Up over 100%

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8ORR5TG0&show_article=1

WAR

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Wrongful wars

http://prorev.com/extreme.htm

Military expenditures

Up 126%

MINORITIES

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Blacks moving out of poverty

25%

http://prorev.com/liberals.htm

Increase in black work hours for same pay

190 more hrs a year

http://prorev.com/extreme.htm

White families net worth

http://prorev.com/statsec.htm

Black families net worth

http://prorev.com/statsec.htm

Number of black owned TV stations

Down 30%

http://blackpressusa.com/News/Article.asp?SID=3&Title=Hot+Stories&NewsID=11945

HEALTH

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Health care benefit with pension

From 2/3s to less than 1/2

http://prorev.com/extreme.htm http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/nationworld/nation/~3/41270734/la-na-health25oct25,1,7649608.story

Nbr of families without health insurance

Up 33%

http://prorev.com/extreme.htm http://www.cbpp.org/8-30-05health.htm

% of corporations offering retiree health benefits

Down 50%

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/060628/28biztravel.htm?s_cid=rss:site1

% of corporations with employee health benefits

Down 19%

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/09/02/another_year_another_wage_loss/

Middle class without health insurance

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-uninsured26apr26,1,2553979.story?track=rss

% covered by fee for service

71% to 14%

http://prorev.com/statsec.htm

% doctors who treat poor for free

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/22/AR2006032202052.html?nav=rss_health

% children covered by health insurance

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/04/national/04states.html?hp&ex=1133758800&en=052e944e5079b8b0&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Increase in out of pocket medical expenses

Up 93%

http://www.drummajorinstitute.org/library/article.php?ID=6529

Cost of health insurance premiums

Up 50%

http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/UsatodaycomHealth-TopStories/~3/27713996/2006-09-26-health-premiums_x.htm

Longevity male

6 years added, about 1.2 a decade

Centers for Disease Control

Longevity female

8 years added, about 1.6 a decade

Centers for Disease Control

Longevity at 65

4 years added, about 0.8 a decade

Centers for Disease Control

Fatal heart disease

Down 60%

Centers for Disease Control

Fatal heart disease women

Cardiovascular Disease in Special Populations

Fatal heart disease men

Cardiovascular Disease in Special Populations

Fatal strokes

Down 24%

Nat Ctr for Health Statistics

Cancer death rate men

Down 19%

Centers for Disease Control

Cancer death rate women

Down 14%

American Cancer Society

Cancer survival rate

http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article2548725.ece

Fatal male lung cancer

American Cancer Society

Fatal male prostate cancer

American Cancer Society

Fatal female lung cancer

American Cancer Society

Fatal female breast cancer

American Cancer Society

Fatal HIV

Down 50%

Centers for Disease Control

Turberculosis rate

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/24/health/24tb.html?ex=1300856400&en=a71c618b6eac7a2b&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Sexually transmitted diseases

Centers for Disease Control

Male testosterone levels

Health News Daily

Five year cancer survival rate

Centers for Disease Control

Infant mortality

Down 72%

Centers for Disease Control, UN Development Report

Black infant mortality

Down by two-thirds

Social Indicators 1976 & CDC

Premature & low birthrate babies

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-children14jul14,1,7553085.story?track=rss

Lead in children

Down 64%

Centers for Disease Control

Evidence of second hand smoke in adults

Down 75%

Centers for Disease Control

Childhood obesity

Up 4

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-11-pastimes-childhood_x.htm

State childcare programs

http://www.alternet.org/stories/42507/

Is drinking a problem in your family?

Gallup

Fatal motor accidents

Down 37%

Centers for Disease Control

Depression

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,2075796,00.html

Suicide rate

Down 18%

Centers for Disease Control

Suicide rate young and older persons

http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=13634811&src=rss/healthNews

Suicide rate middle aged persons

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/mar2008/suic-10m.shtml

Accident death rate (not cars)

Down over 50%

Social Indicators 1976

Accident death rate cars

Centers for Disease Control

Murder rate

Doubled

Down by 50%

Centers for Disease Control

Black murder rate

Down by one third

Social Indicators 1976, Centers for Disease Control

Health expenditures as percent of GDP

Up 190%

Centers for Disease Control

Decline in emergency rooms

http://tinyurl.com/kg4ru

Decline in public hospitals

Down 1/3

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=f135608ba7baa39de409e05762e67504

Infection rate in hospitals

Up 36%

http://www.governing.com/articles/8med.htm

Abortion rate

Generations Strauss & Howe

Women as % of all doctors

From 12% to 27%

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/15/us/15census.html?ex=1323838800&en=0854df3ef0203103&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

Consumption of fructose corn syrup

Twice as much

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/15/us/15census.html?ex=1323838800&en=0854df3ef0203103&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

Decline in smoking

Washington Post

Decline in teenage drinking & smoking

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-teen9jun09,0,2589635.story?coll=la-story-footer

MEDIA

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Nbr of corporations controlling most media

From 50 to 6

http://prorev.com/extreme.htm

Trust in major media

http;//prorev.com/stats.htm

SOCIAL

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Time children spend playing