While World War II convulsed the world, selected leaders and chief economists from the Allied nations met at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire to hammer out the details of financial stability in the post-war era. This days-long conference’s deliberations have never been made public before now. The Bretton Woods Transcripts have now been released along with other primary source material.
Archive for October, 2012
New Jersey’s Population Growth to 2030
The Projections of New Jersey’s Population and Labor Force, issued 10-12-12, show the following: the elderly population will rapidly increase while older workers become less of a factor in the workforce; Hispanic population will grow so dramatically that by 2030 they will comprise 26.7% of the state’s population; the Asian population will also show advances in numbers; the African American population will grow but more slowly; there will still be more women than men in the state; and by 2025, the white population will no longer be in the majority, comprising 49.4% of the total state population.
New Jersey Has Third Highest Public College Tuition in the Country
According to table 7 in Trends in College Pricing 2012-2013, New Jersey has among the highest in-state tuition rates for public four-year colleges in the U.S.(17) Other findings include the fact that 92% of college enrollees in New Jersey were in-state residents and”… in fall 2010, 35,000 New Jersey residents left the state to begin college — over six times as many as the 5,500 who came to New Jersey to study.”(33) This would indicate a tremendous demand for student spaces that is not being addressed by this state. As the Bergen Record reports: “A high cost of living and a relative lack of state support for public colleges and universities help make New Jersey’s schools expensive for students, experts say. The state ranks 32nd in per-capita spending on higher education, according to the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities.” Tuition at New Jersey public colleges averages $12,399; the national rate is $8,655. For those interested, NJCU’s annual in–state tuition is $7,360, the lowest in the state.
Work-Life Balance of Congressional Staff Members
How do individuals who work on the Hill reconcile their home lives with the demands made upon them by their hectic, pressure-filled schedules and duties? Based on 1400 interviews, Life in Congress: Aligning Work and Life in the U.S. House and Senate, gives the reader some insight into the domestic and professional lives of congressional staffers. Topics addressed include: work schedules, office culture. flexibility to balance work and life issues, time management, and job burnout. These are then followed by advice from private sector exports on balancing work and life. The report ends with a socio-economic profiles of the interviewees. Information on congressional staff salaries is available as is Inside the Hill, a series of videos describing how social media and technology are changing the ways Congress does business.
Presidential Salaries from 1789 to the Present
President Obama currently receives $400,000 a year, subject to income taxes. President of the United States: Compensation from CRS presents an historical overview of presidential salaries along with numerous footnotes.
Video of Third-Party Presidential Debate
Not only President Obama and Governor Romney have had debates. Yesterday, the third-party candidates held a joint debate. The participants included Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Constitution Party candidate Virgil Goode, and Justice Party candidate Rocky Anderson. It is on C-SPAN, of course. Democracy Now hosts Expanding the Debate featuring news and further elucidations from third-party candidates.
Facts About America’s Libraries
Try these on: Americans spend three times as much on candy as they do on public libraries; 6.6 million reference questions are answered every week; and college libraries receive only three cents of every dollar spent on higher education. These and other facts are found in the American Library Association’s Quotable Facts About America’s Libraries.
Women as Authors of Scholarly Papers, 1665-2010
The Chronicle of Higher Education presents interactive data tracing the publishing patterns of women in academe. Not surprisingly, women’s contributions to the scholarly dialog are markedly different from their male colleagues. The information is broken down into 1800 fields and subfields of inquiry and is sortable by whether women are first authors or not, and by broad time period. According to the analysis, there are two million academic authors identified as women since 1665.
Video/Transcript of Presidential Debate on Foreign Policy
The complete debate, along with questions/answers, are available from C-SPAN whileThe New York Times provides a full transcript.
Economic and Social Characteristics of the BRICS Countries
All five of the national statistical services – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – have pooled their resources to issue this in-depth look at what makes these countries so dynamic. Numerous graphs focus on the various statistical categories, whether it is the demographics of these countries or their utilization of natural resources. Each chart/graph/table compares all five countries. It is a great place to find a lot of information quickly; another worthwhile place to look is the BRICS Information Centre at the University of Toronto.
World’s Greenest Companies
Brought out by Daily Beast/Newsweek, the listings include the top 500 U.S. companies as well as a separate 500 list for the world. Some of the sortable criteria include company name, industry sector, impact, management, and green score. There is an informative FAQ that accompanies this site.
Where Do Your New Jersey State Taxes Go?
This report from Rutgers – Fiscal Flows in New Jersey – shows what happens to your New Jersey personal income tax and sales tax; both of these taxes account for a little over 70% of state revenues.(3) The vast majority of these funds go to county, municipal, and school aid. Section 1 of this report shows county and regional income and sales tax figures and the proportion each county/region contributes. For example, Bergen County has 10.3% of the state population but contributes 14.8% of the state’s income tax revenues and 13% of the state sales tax collection. On the other hand, Hudson County with 7.2% of the state’s population generates only 2.9% of the income tax collection and 4.7 % of the sale sales tax funds. Per capita statistics for each county/region are also given. Section 2 examines where the aid goes. To continue with the county comparisons from above, Bergen County with 9.9% of the state total enrollment received $310M in school aid for an average of $2,297 per pupil, while Hudson County with 5.7% of the total state enrollment received $1,014B for a per capita expenditure of $13,114 per student. A separate table details county and municipal aid with similar findings as to the above. Section 3 deals with the distribution of aid versus the taxes collected: Bergen County generates 14% of the taxes and receives back 4.4%; Hudson County contributes 3.7% of the taxes and receives 10.8%. The conclusion of this report states: “The general finding, as expected, is that both the taxes and the aid are progressively distributed with respect to income.”(15)
Lance Armstrong Doping Report and Its Consequences
The USADA report along with the supporting documentation is here. In light of this report, he has been stripped of all his Tour de France titles and banned from competitive cycling for life by the International Cycling Union. He already had resigned as chairman of his charity – Livestrong, and had also lost numerous sponsors because of his improprieties.
Fungal Meningitis Report from the CDC
This report from the CDC gives the background to this outbreak and developments through October 10. Much more recent news and dozens of links are available at its Multistate Fungal Meningitis Outbreak Investigation site. This program, Tainted Steroid Injections and Public Health, from the Diane Rehm Show is especially apposite.
500 Most Expensive Zip Codes
Forbes has published this list based on median home prices. New Jersey appears at the top – Alpine ranks as the second most expensive zip code in the country. Within a zip code in San Francisco, a home remains on the market an average of only42 days, the shortest wait in the country. The list is sortable by zip code, home price, price change, days on market, and number of homes for sale.
Summary of U.S. and International Sanctions Against Iran
This CRS report – Iran Sanctions – provides in 86 pages a succinct overview of the various sanctions and mechanisms being employed against Iran. Foreign countries and their actions,or inactions, are also detailed. Additionally, this report compares the various sanctions imposed by the U.S., U.N. and the EU(46-49); examines the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 (PL112-158) and its major provisions (65-67); lists options for additional sanctions whether unilaterally or multilaterally (68-69); and concludes with a list of “entities” under sanction. Another good source of information is this “Backgrounder” – The Lengthening List of Iran Sanctions (Council on Foreign Relations). Other sites worth visiting for current information include: Sanctions( Brookings Institution);International Sanctions: Complexities and the Impact on European Business (Chatham House); Containing Iran: Strategies for Addressing the Iranian Nuclear Challenge (RAND Book); Should the United States Rethink Sanctions Against Iran? (Federation of American Scientists – Policy Debate); U.S. and Iranian Strategic Competition: Sanctions, Energy, Arms Control, and Regime Change (CSIS); Iran Sanctions (U.S. Department of the Treasury); Iran Sanctions (U.S. Department of State); Iran: Could There be a Compromise? (UK Parliament Library); EU-Iran Relations (European Union); and Preventing a Nuclear-Armed Iran (Princeton University). Previous blog entries on Iran are available here.
K-12 EdTech Policies for the Fifty States
This database from the State Education Policy Center allows access to state-level policies, if available or in existence, concerning broadband adoption, online assessment, instructional materials, and general information such as NCES figures, state edtech organizations and edtech events held within the state. Links are provided along with the email of the state’s edtech officer. The information is current (as of this writing, many entries have been updated through October 2012). This new publication – Digital Directions – speaks directly to edtech issues.
Video/Transcript of Presidential Town Hall Debate
The entire debate is available from C-SPAN as are the questions posed and their answers. A complete transcript is at the Washington Post.
How Much Diet Soda Do You Drink and Is It Healthy For You?
If you are a white child or adult, you drink more than black or Hispanic children or adults; if you’re female, you drink more than a male; and if you have a high income, you drink more diet soda than a person who has a low income. These are some of the results from the CDC report – Consumption of Diet Drinks in the United States, 2009-2010. On any given day, roughly 20% of the U.S. population had a diet drink, and of that number, 11% had 16 ounces or more. The consumption of diet drinks has steadily increased over the years while consumption of “sugar added” beverages has declined. Does this mean that drinking diet soda has health benefits? The report states: “Although substituting sugar drinks with diet drinks may promote weight loss in the short term…, it is unclear if long-term consumption leads to weight loss, weight maintenance, or even weight gain.”(5) For a fuller read on this complex subject, peruse this article from the online July 9, 2012 issue of Circulation: Nonnutritive Sweeteners: Current Use and Health Perspectives : A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association and the American Diabetes Association.
Video of Skydive from Space
The complete trip is to be found courtesy of The Guardian. The man who fell to Earth reached a speed in excess of 800 mph, transiting the 24 miles in a little over 4 minutes.
Congressman Frank J. Guarini Library Blog 