Our Changing Globe

Archive for the ‘distressed properties’ Category

Top political books of 2011 – The Arena | POLITICO.COM

www.politico.com11/24/11

… of obesity, incarceration, homicide, mental illness, drug addiction, infant mortality, teenage pregnancy, illiteracy, and low rates of social mobility, trust and life expectancy. The U.S., tragically, has some of the highest rates of …

Obesity, Drug Abuse Biggest Problems in US Youth

www.inquisitr.com8/16/11

“The perception of drug abuse as a big problem matches recent national data showing increasing use of marijuana and other drugs by US teens. Meanwhile, although obesity remains atop the list of child health concerns for …

I just came across the following map and stats, and whilst I found the whole thing interesting, I wondered if it was really accurate.

So I just spent a couple of hours checking out the sources, and as far as I could see, everything is 100% accurate.

The majority of the stats were taken from either:

America’s Health Rankings

or The US Census Bureau

And if they weren’t, then an alternative source is quoted.

So Here They Are

1. Alabama: highest rate of stroke (3.8 percent) (tied with Oklahoma).

2. Alaska: highest suicide rate (23.6 suicides per 100,000 people in 2004).

3. Arizona: highest rate of alcoholism.

4. Arkansas: worst average credit score (636) – TalkBusiness

5. California: most air pollution (15.2 micrograms per cubic meter).

6. Colorado: highest rate of cocaine use per capita (3.9 percent total population).

7. Connecticut: highest rate of breast cancer – State Health Facts

8. Delaware: highest abortion rate (27 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44).

9. Florida: highest rate of identity theft (122.3 reports per 100,000 people).

10. Georgia: sickly based on highest rate of influenza.

11. Hawaii –highest cost of living (tied with California) CNBC States With The Highest Cost Of Living

12. Idaho – lowest level of Congressional clout – NewWest

13. Illinois: highest rate of robbery (284.7 incidences per 100,000 people).

14. Indiana: rated the most environmentally unfriendly by NMI solutions – Environmental Leader

15. Iowa: highest percentage of people age 85 and older (1.8 percent) (tied with three other states) StateMaster

16. Kansas: poorest health based on highest average number of limited activity days per month (3.5 days) StateMaster

17. Kentucky: most cancer deaths (227 per 100,000 people), and Kentucky also has the highest rate of tobacco smokers – 25.6 percent).

18. Louisiana: highest rate of gonorrhea (264.4 reported cases per 100,000 people) StateMaster

19. Maine: dumbest state claim based on lowest average SAT score (1389) Commonwealth Foundation

20. Maryland: highest rate of AIDS diagnosis (27.6 people per 100,000 people) Avert.org

21. Massachusetts: worst drivers claim based on highest rate of auto accidents The Auto Channel

22. Michigan: highest unemployment rate (13.6 percent).

23. Minnesota: highest number of reported tornadoes (123 in 2010) Woodbury kstp

24. Mississippi: highest rate of obesity (35.3 percent of total population).

* Mississippi ranks last in the most number of categories.

Including the highest rate of child poverty (31.9 percent), highest rate of infant mortality (10.3 percent).

Lowest median household income ($35,078).

Highest teen birth rate (71.9 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19).

And highest overall rate of STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases).

25. Missouri: highest rate of bankruptcy (700 out of every 100,000 people) BSC Alliance

26. Montana: highest rate of drunk driving deaths (1.12 deaths per 100 million miles driven) HelenAir

27. Nebraska: highest rate of women murdered annually.

28. Nevada: highest rate violent crime (702.2 offenses per 100,000 people)and Nevada also has the highest rate of foreclosure (one in 99 houses).

29. New Hampshire: highest rate of corporate taxes New Hampshire Watchdog

: the link went dead. So what’s NH bottom at? Email me!

30. New Jersey: highest rate of citizen taxation (11.8 percent) The Retirement Living Information Center

31. New Mexico: antisocial claim based on lowest ranking in social heath policies Los Alimos Study Group

32. New York: longest average daily commute (30.6 minutes) StateMaster

33. North Carolina: lowest average teacher salary Facing South

34. North Dakota: ranked last in ugliest residents report as chosen by The Daily Beast

35. Ohio: nerdiest state claim based on highest number of library visits per capita (6.9) StateMaster

36. Oklahoma: highest rate of female incarceration.

37. Oregon: highest rate of long-term homeless people.

38. Pennsylvania: highest rate of arson deaths (55.56 annually) StateMaster

39. Rhode Island: highest rate of illicit drug use (12.5 percent of population) EconomicMix

40. South Carolina: highest percentage of mobile homes (18.8 percent) StateMaster

41. South Dakota: highest rate of forcible rape 76.5 per 100,000.

42. Tennessee: chosen most corrupt state by The Daily Beast

43. Texas: lowest high school graduation rate (78.3 percent) Statemaster

44. Utah: highest rate of of on-line porn subscriptions Desert News

45. Vermont: infertility claim based on lowest birth rate of any state (10.6 births per 1,000) (tied with Maine) StateMaster

46. Virginia: highest number of alcohol-related motorcycle deaths The Virginia Biker

47. Washington: most cases of bestiality (4 reported in 2010) Pet-Abuse

48. West Virginia: highest rate of heart attack (6.5 percent of population).

49. Wisconsin: highest rate of binge drinking (23.2 percent of population).

50. Wyoming: highest rate of deadly car crashes (24.6 deaths per 100,000) AutoInsuranceQuotealer

The bottom line is, if you do find any errors then please let me know and I’ll make the updates.

The Obama Plan to Redistribute Housing | Libertarian Party

www.lp.org10/29/11

First Obama tried to redistribute wealth before he was President, by leading the charge to force banks to make loans to lower income Americans who could not afford to own homes (through the Community Reinvestment Act). …

Applying Obama's “redistribution of wealth” to school grades …

usamericanfreedom.com11/19/11

That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan”. …

Obama and the liberals could perhaps have achieved both growth and redistribution, but they chose only the latter, and they will pay heavily for their error on Tuesday!

Will Obama change direction after the elections?

No He won’t!

During his election campaign Obama said:

“What people really want is fairness”.

“They want people paying their fair share of taxes”.

“They want that money allocated fairly”.

Redistribution Of Wealth

People thought it sounded good and they voted for him, but they didn’t know that he would immediately attempt redistribution of wealth, and he went for it full throttle in spite of the recession.

What the vast majority of Americans believe in however is economic growth, and they understand full well that the threat of having more and more money taken away as you get richer and richer is simply a demotivator.

The result, motivation went down, small businesses stopped hiring and unemployment went up and stayed up; and in some states it’s still getting worse.

Then Came ObamaCare

With motivation down, the Obama administration then committed another horrendous error of judgment – they rammed ObamaCare down a mostly unwilling nation’s throat.

Obamcare essentially subsidizes health insurance for low and middle-income groups and attempts to recover the cost by taxing high-earners even more, which in turn lowers motivation and causes people to hunker down instead of trying to grow their businesses.

And what makes it even worse is that low and moderate-income workers now feel no need to earn money because they can now maintain the same standard of living with even less effort.

Obama’s Response?

Seeing popularity wane both for him personally and for his policies Obama set out a stand and tried to sell the public his unwanted wares.

Expanding health care coverage was somehow going to somehow drive down costs.

Handouts to state and local governments became a stimulus package.

Climate change legislation became a “green jobs” bill, and so on.

When the voters didn’t buy his arguments his response was to tell them that, “They are confused and not thinking clearly” and that one statement will cost him dearly.

You don’t tell people that you want to vote for you that they are basically stupid if they don’t understand you, do you?

Harry Reid just said something equally stupid and it might cost him re-election in Nevada, “He saved the world economy!”.

Doesn’t he know that Oblamer is the One?!

Could Obama Have Played It Differently And Maybe Won?

Yes, he could have!

Obama could have embraced at least two policies that would have enhanced both equity and economic performance simultaneously, and some of them might well have bridged the ideological divide.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Loan guarantees should not have been provided for Fannie and Freddie because they shifted risk from participants in real estate transactions to taxpayers, and the caused capital to flow into the industry under very favorable terms.

Creating the guarantees allowed mortgage lenders, realtors, homebuilders, developers, securities traders and others to reap enormous gains during the boom, only to later dump their losses on taxpayers during the ensuing bust.

Cutting off all federal support for Fannie and Freddie would have sent a completely different message.

It would not only have greatly enhanced equity, but would also have helped steer investment away from ever more conspicuous McMansions and into productive endeavors like building newer, more-efficient factories, all of which would have stimulated economic growth.

* “McMansion” is an originally pejorative term used to describe a large house, particularly in the United States, that is constructed using modern labor-saving techniques and materials

The Tax Code

Another area that was ripe for reform would have been the loophole-ridden tax code.

Today, the proliferation of carve-outs means that only around 40% of personal income is taxed!

The loopholes should have been removed as much as was possible and the tax base broadened, after which the Obama administration could have slashed rates, enhanced equity, and provided a huge stimulus to the economy.

Instead, the administration did exactly the opposite; it added even more loopholes and promised to raise rates!

Right now we have a situation where similarly situated families often face vastly different tax burdens depending on their ability to game the system, and it also means that investment is steered away from companies that are adept at building better products, to those with the knack for lobbying.

Will Obama Move The Goal Posts?

Obama was a member of the New Party (communist) just 13 years ago, and he was no teen.

Michelle is a Black separatist of the worst kind as her Princeton thesis shows.

Obama is on record as saying that he’d rather be a great one term President than an ineffectual two termer, so we can sadly expect him and Michelle to continue to try and force their socialist/communist on America!