kiplinger:

The U.S. suffers from staggering economic inequality — as staggering, in some places, as Nigeria, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic. Richard Florida ran the numbers and compared cities in the U.S. to highly unequal foreign countries. That colorful map might look pretty, but its implications for U.S. income inequality are not. 

(via sunfoundation)

recall-all-republicans-2012:

stfuconservatives:

A fun visual representation of how unbelievably pointless and wasteful Florida’s drug testing law is. Not pictured: the fact that that $178 million dollars went to a company owned by the governor’s wife.

-Jess

The Republican governor’s wife.

(via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)

saturniinae:

le-kif-kif:

sexartandpolitics:

To test scientist’s reactions to men and women with precisely equal qualifications, the researchers did a randomized double-blind study in which academic scientists were given application materials from a student applying for a lab manager position. The substance of the applications were all identical, but sometimes a male name was attached, and sometimes a female name. Results: female applicants were rated lower than men on the measured scales of competence, hireability, and mentoring (whether the scientist would be willing to mentor this student).

(via Scientists, Your Gender Bias Is Showing | Cosmic Variance | Discover Magazine)

BUT SCIENCE ! (TM)

oh god, the comments

(via feistyfeminist)

theatlantic:

The Most Misleading Part of ‘The 47%’: Total U.S. Taxes Are Barely Progressive

Mitt Romney is worried that half of make the wealth and half of us take the wealth. So is his running mate Paul Ryan. If this sounds like something out of a dystopian novel, that’s because it is. The world we live in is far different from the world Ayn Rand imagined. Just take a look at total taxes.

The chart above, from the Citizens for Tax Justice, looks at how much households earn and how much they pay in all taxes. In other words, it compares what percent of overall income they make and what percent of overall taxes the government takes from them. It’s not exactly a picture of moochers waging war on heroic entrepreneurs.

Read more. [Image: Citizens for Tax Justice]

azmatzahra:

I dug into the numbers for some shocking perspective: More civilians died in Syria in August than the bloodiest months for civilians in the recent Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as well as the recent uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Bahrain. 

But these numbers, as stark as they are, can’t fully illustrate the escalating war playing out on the ground. Learn more here, and please watch FRONTLINE’s two-part special, The Battle for Syria, this Tuesday.

(via thepoliticalnotebook)

arielnietzsche:

Unemployment Rate Would Be Near 7% Without Cuts to Government Spending

As we have shown HERE - cuts in government spending have cost 1.7 million jobs.  There has been a significant departure from prior year government spending under the Obama administration; since the federal government won’t help states cover their temporary shortfalls unlike in years past.  In fact – president Reagan saw an increase in government spending that was significantly more than under the Obama administration (source).  And if the Republican party wouldn’t be holding up assistance to state budgets – then the unemployment rate would be around 7%.  That’s the difference.

Talking Points memo explains:

Obama’s been hobbled by public-sector layoffs during this crisis in a way his predecessor George W. Bush never was back in 2001. Where the federal government stepped up to prevent states and municipalities from laying off teachers and other government workers in previous recessions, it’s fallen on its face under Obama.

More broadly, government spending at all levels rose steadily under Presidents Reagan and both Bushes, but was mostly flat under Clinton and has gone negative under Obama.

How does this phenomenon contribute to current economic woes? It’s impossible to know for sure. But if like the Wall Street Journal you imagine that the massive government job losses in Obama’s first term had never happened, then, all else equal, the unemployment rate right now would be down near 7 percent, a full percentage point below where it actually is.

(via stfuconservatives)

ilovecharts:

motherjones:

Hey you guys! Slate’s Farhad Manjoo says MoJo should have won a Pulitzer for our charts. If they gave Pulitzers for that kind of thing. #humblebrag

We concur with Manjoo.