US Dollar Trades Increasing, Euro Decreasing

Currency trades in US dollars have increased since 2010, while the Euro has declined thanks to its consistent financial issues. China’s currency trading is minuscule, less than half that of Canada and below Mexico.

–from NPR

iPhone Sales Larger than Sales of Many Large Companies

Last year’s iPhone sales were larger than Coca-Cola and McDonald’s combined. The importance of the iPhone as a consumer product has, clearly, been very understated.

–from The Atlantic

Margin of Error on Seasonal BLS Payroll Reports Almost as High as Value

During the worst days of the recession, the margin of error for the BLS’ seasonal total nonfarm payroll report was twice the normal rate: up to 170,000, which is nearly the size of the value for a number of months. The recession caused this error of seasonality by assuming that people who lost their jobs over the recession winter were normal, seasonal job losses and perpetuated that for the past three years–the number of years’ worth of data used to track seasonality.

–from The Atlantic

Black Neighborhoods Experience Significantly More Poverty than White Ones

This chart, from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, shows that predominantly black neighborhoods are significantly poorer than white neighborhoods and have been historically. However, the number of white neighborhoods that are less than 10% poor have decreased by 13 percentage points, from 74% to 61%.

–from The Atlantic 

Reasons Americans in Poverty Don’t Work

Although the number of people who don’t work because they can’t find a job has jumped 10% since 2006, it still makes up a minority of reasons not to work. Of particular interest are disabilities, which are up substantially in absolute terms, but make up a smaller percentage than in the past.

–from The Atlantic Cities

How the Debt and Credit Cycle Works

Arctic Sea Ice Continues Summer Shrinking

Summer arctic sea ice cover has shrunk by 40% since 1980. This incredible decline has increased over the past decade and the Arctic is expected to be ice-free by next summer. This summer, the first cargo vessel sailed north from China through the recently navigable sea.

–from The Guardian

Half of the Deadliest US Mass Shootings Occurred since 2007

Half of the deadliest US mass shootings have occurred in the past six years.

–from The Rachel Maddow Show

US Median Income Below 1989 Level

The median income for an American family was down to $51,017 in 2012. This median is lower than 1989, when the median income was $51,681.

–from The Washington Post, data from the Census Bureau

America’s Soda Consumption is a Global Outlier

In general, the richer a nation, the more soda|pop it drinks. America’s consumption is extreme: more than twenty liters per person higher than then second-highest country, and more than sixty liters per person higher than Canada.

from Business Insider