Class #9 9/21/11

Today in class we talked a lot about american society and how much we have progressed from earlier centuries. In 1790 a typical family spent 90% of their income on necessities. This number decreased to 72% in 1900 and in 2005 was as low as 36%. There was a income increase by a factor of 7 since 1900. We have twice as much money to spend on other things today than in 1900. There is also a better quality of food today that we get for a much cheaper price. If our food costs 75% of our income today, life would be completely different for every one. The only reason that we can spend 17% of our income on GDP is that we don't have to spend 50% on food. The goal of society is to have 99% of income spent on leisure activities.

The typical American family spends 9% of income on food. 7% of GDP is spent on education and 17.6% is on healthcare. Ever dollar that we get, we use by funding luxuries.

The government is the worlds largest employer. 1 in 20 people work for the government. The amount of money that we spend on the military would make us the 12th largest country in the world.

In 1900 banks needed a bail out and America wouldn't bail them out. in 1907, J.P. Morgan lent the government a few billion dollars. Federal spending as a share of the economy has increased 10x since 1900.

Malawi(poorest country) lives like we did in 1900 but today. 20% of the work effort of people today is collecting money. Basic tasks for Americans is much easier today than in previous generations. Peoples income understates the extent magnitude of economic growth that we have gone through in the last few decades. The ability to get goods is much easier today since everything is easier to make/grow/ship than before. Same amount of people have cell phones today than those that have access to clean toilets.

A fun statistic is that no kids die from poisoned candy on Halloween. Also homicide rates and the amount of  accidental deaths are down from previous years. This is from better living conditions and a safer environment than the past. It is better to be a kid today than in the past.