New View Askew: Pictures Worth a Thousand Words

If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words . . .

. . . How Many for 14 Charts?

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This was going to be my post last month but I thought it was important to instead swap in that rather dark, gloomy view of America today (Although a little less gloomy after the recent election?) I'm sure you found it either frightening, unbelievable or irritating. Perhaps all three. In any event, hopefully you will find this one light, entertaining yet informative. Or at least one of the three.

Don't be like Rat, read View Askew

If you can’t decide how things are going in the world . . . you’re not the only one. To help with that I chose these 14 charts (all but one) from a series curated and shared by a journalist and podcaster named Derek Thompson. Hopefully you will find some of this information helpful, some surprising and some will confirm your suspicions. Perhaps some are all the above.

First up is one that probably won’t surprise you.

1) Reading was one of mankind's greatest inventions - right up with there with booze - but I suppose this shouldn't be a surprise. (At least we're not short changing the kids - yet.)

2) Therefore, this makes sense. Which 50% are you in?

3) Depending on how you think about drinking this is either great or depressing. 50% of 35 and older folks now think drinking is bad; 66% of younger folks think so too. Sell your booze stocks!

4) Not sure what this has to do with anything but it is interesting. Perhaps this confirms something we’ve all heard about with the younger generations - rightly or wrongly. On the other hand, it looks like lot of us are heading in the wrong direction (except us real geezers!)

5) Now this is a head scratcher - at least for an old babyboomer. No wonder we have a demographic problem. Something in the water? (And apparently not alcohol.)

6) Perhaps more info than you might have expected but I can’t help but note where drinking and relaxing are on this chart. Hmmm

(For the chart impaired items above 1x line are more time alone in those activities)

7) You may have read that divorces of people that have been married a long time - "gray divorce" - are on the rise. Apparently true but hopefully it’s looking better for the more recently wedded. Experts claim it is because people now are marrying later therefore are higher educated and have higher incomes. The path of love is never smooth - but is apparently helped along by $$$.

8) I know you will believe this – and I really hope none of YOUR money is on the right hand side this chart.

9) This probably shouldn't be a big surprise either and is something I have long suspected. In case you're wondering if you are in the top 10%, you are if your family income is between $160-250,000/year. (If so it probably still doesn't feel like it.)

Clearly the rest of us 90 percenters (actually bottom 70%) are not holding up their end of the deal - and with good reason I guess.

10) And perhaps this chart is related to the last one - or vice versa? (In any event, not hard to understand why younger generations might be be pissed off.)

This chart courtesy of Barry Ritholtz

11) This explains a lot. Note it's not just the young people that are heading downhill.
Chart courtesy of Barry Ritholtz

12) . . . And here's another one that you will recognize. We really are becoming a country of dummies. (Related, I follow another blog that had a post titled "Are Westerners Turning Back into Medieval Peasants?" Sadly, a lot evidence to support that claim.)

13) This might be hard to believe but is apparently true and another fine mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. Kids may live in a car but are getting chubby? So perhaps the administration was actually trying to solve this in the US - in a backhanded sort of way - by cutting EBT (food stamps) funds for less fortunate chubby people. Plan foiled by those damned Democrats!

14) Let’s finish on a positive note. Things are always better than we think they are – but also can always be better.

With any luck this info doesn't occupy brain cells better used on something else. It is also a good idea to keep in mind what Mark Twain said (and was actually quoting British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli): "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

But Dear Leader would never lie to you.

In closing . . .