When Pedestrians Have to Rush

Cars Should Respect the Right of Way

I will be the first to admit that it is downright annoying when pedestrians run across multi-lane roads during heavy traffic when they could wait for walk-signals. But frequently, pedestrians have the right of way, either because they are crossing a crosswalk or because they have a walk signal. During these times, many walkers still feel the need to rush across the street and for good reason! Impatient cars may honk or rev at people on foot trying to cross! This is simply wrong.

Yesterday I was driving along and I stopped at a stop sign where there was also a crosswalk. A woman approached and stepped into the crosswalk and I smiled at her. She graciously waved at me for letting her cross and then quickly scurried across the short intersection. I was baffled. The woman, pleasant as she was, seemed to thank me for stopping, which I was legally obligated to do, and then proceeded to hurry anyways so as not to frustrate me. This seems absurd.

Since when have we lived in a world where humans are supposed to try to please impatient cars and their drivers? If you ask me it should be the drivers who thank the walkers for allowing them to drive down the streets. But alas cars are heavier and much more dangerous than pedestrians, so they have aggressively taken over crosswalks an intersections. I believe that we should make changes to our cities so that pedestrians do not feel as though they need to live in fear of cars! 

More Airlines Means Lower Prices

How Airline Competition Helps Consumers

Imagine that you happen to have a ton of vacation time and are planning a trip. You want to fly somewhere cheap, but where should you go? Well, according to a new study, air routes that are served by the highest number of carriers also tend to be the cheapest. So when trying to book your vacation, it may make the most sense to fly between large airports that are served by several carriers. Here is the chart that explains how the number of airlines effects prices per mile.

A Travelers Dilemna

While this chart is great news for someone living in say New York, what does it mean for people from smaller cities? Typically we think that larger cities like New York, Chicago and Boston have high costs, but when it comes to air travel the opposite tends to be true. If you are a frequent traveler, you may actually spend much more money if you live in Burlington, Vermont than if you live in Boston. For domestic flights, small airports with few routes can be almost five times as expensive for flights from large airports! 

In theory, this would suggest that we should, as a society, build large airports or no airports at all. Rather than trying to serve all small metropolitan areas with airports, we should theoretically consolidate power into mega-airports in order to further reduce prices. The only problem with this is that it would shut many people out of the market. If for example we did shut down the airport in Burlington, Vermont, people who lived here would be stuck. The closest large airport would be nearly 5 hours away in New York City. That's no good, at least not for now.

A Transportation Solution

The issue comes down to a matter of travel efficiency. For long trips, say more than 500 miles, it makes sense to travel by plane because it saves the most time. But say you need to travel only 250 miles. The optimal trip in this case it to take a high-speed train because the time that you would save from not passing through security at an airport would make train travel faster. So in our theoretical model of small airports, Burlington should shut down it's airport and those wishing to travel a long distance should take a high-speed train to New York and then fly to their destination. 

So in reality, the issue is that there are not enough trains in America. Unless you are traveling between Boston, New York and D.C., nobody wants to travel by train because there are no trains. If however, we were willing to invest in reasonable public transportation by means of train, we could save travelers tons of money by not forcing anyone to fly out of small airports for "convenience." 

Why Americans Are Bad With Money

Americans Are Not Taught To Care About Money

Every once and a while, our economy goes through a period of contraction or recession. Many of the repercussions of these natural economic shifts are out of our control; some people lose their jobs, others see the values of their homes decline. But all too often, Americans fail to acknowledge what they can do differently to help manage financial stress. Unfortunately, as a society, we do not teach children to value financial literacy, which can contribute to irresponsible financial choices later in life.

An Education Problem

Children tend to learn about money from their parents. In America, most public schools do not offer personal finance classes and so children have to learn through observation. Parents do not always teach their children about the importance of budgeting and saving, perhaps because they themselves are not aware. As a result, many children enter the "real world" unprepared for how to make life decisions about money.

In high school, many students take loans for colleges in the tens of thousands of dollars, not really understanding what it will take to pay that money back. Upon graduation, many of these students are stuck with payments that are upwards of $400 or $500 per month and the graduates are in many cases unprepared to deal with this type of stress. By their early or mid 20s, many people have made important financial choices without fully understanding the consequences of their decisions. We need to start educating people younger.

In America, about $17 billion is spent per year marketing financial products such as credit cards and mortgages to consumers, but only $670 million is spent educating people about financial management. This leads to a huge imbalance in information. As a society, we need to do more to make sure that we teach young people how to manage money so that they can manage the ups and downs of the economy more readily. 

 

Somerville: America's Happiest City

Somerville Becomes First City to Track Happiness

Everyday when we wake up the first thing that we notice is how we feel. Regardless of whether it's a Tuesday and we are headed to work or whether we are vacationing in the Caribbean, we get a feeling to start off our day; some feel happy, some feel sad and others are anxious about something. We feel things everyday and it is our feelings that determine our levels of satisfaction in life. But all too often we focus on the things around us as a measure of happiness, instead of the way that we feel. Somerville, MA recently became the first city to take note of this. Instead of asking residents to talk about their surroundings, the city surveyed residents about how happy they are.

Letting Feelings Shape Policies

Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone is largely credited with transforming the city from a place that was better to avoid into a place where people wanted to live. It is also consistently ranked among the best managed cities in the country. In shaping the city, Curtatone decided to ask residents how they felt about life, how they felt about Somerville and how they felt about specific policies enacted by the city. 

The survey yielded some interesting results, some surprising and others unsurprising. They mayor's office found that trees and bike lanes contributed to residents happiness as did income up to $75,000. But surprisingly, the city learned that zero sort recycling was also a huge plus for residents. Before the survey part of the city had zero sort recycling while the rest had to sort recyclables. After the happiness survey, Somerville moved the entire city to a zero sort model.

Somerville is definitely onto something. What good is a building, road or policy in a city if it doesn't actually make us happy? Hopefully many more cities will follow in Somerville's footsteps. 

The Mismatch of Federal Funds Among States

Some Are Givers, Others Are Takers

I have always assumed that in our federal system, money was generally allocated in a way that could be perceived as fair. I assumed that on a state by state level, what we pay in taxes was approximately equal to what we receive in federal funds. As it turns out, there are a few states that receive far more than their fair share, while others do not get enough! It's surprising to me that despite the disparity, not a lot of people seem to notice. The chart below shows the federal payback for every one dollar spent.

Whoa South Carolina!

For every dollar spent in taxes, South Carolina receives about $8 while Massachusetts receives less than $1. This seems crazy, but it is actually rather simple to explain. For decades in the 20th century, the south was run by Democrats and many Democrats in Congress gained seniority from decades long tenures and were able to earmark huge sums for their states. As a result, states like South Carolina and Louisiana receive tons of federal funds.

One caveat to this is that some federal funds are distributed unevenly because they have to be. Programs such as SNAP go to low-income families, and southern red states tend to have the most people in poverty and so they receive the most aid. But this only explains a part of the difference. 

Interestingly enough, Republican states that argue for shrinking the government and cutting spending actually receive the bulk of federal funds. Look back at the chart and notice that some of the most conservative states appear near the top but many of the most progressive states are near the bottom. So despite the fact that red states depict blue states as "takers," the reverse is actually true. 

Seattle to Raise Minimum Wage to $15

Seattle Sets Country's Highest Minimum Wage

Seattle mayor Ed Murray announced a plan Thursday to increase the minimum wage in Seattle to at least $15 per hour. The wage increase would be gradual, but all employees would be paid at least $15 per hour by 2021; large businesses would be required to pay $15 per hour by 2017. Once all employees reach a wage of $15 per hour, the minimum wage will rise at the rate of inflation.

Lifting Workers Out of Poverty

The federal poverty level for a family of four in the United States is $23,850 and $11,670 for an individual. At the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, full time employees make around $15,000 per year, which is below the poverty line for the aveage four person household. Seattle's new wage will pay minimum wage employees approximately $30,000 per year, which is enough to keep a family out of poverty. This is huge.

 

Low-wage earners across America are often disheartened by the fact that despite their efforts they cannot afford basic necessities. $15 per hour is much more reasonable than $7.25 and should empower workers in Seattle to live decent lives.

 

When Car Is The Only Option

Surviving Without a Car in Worcester

I tend to write a lot about public transportation and why America needs more of it; however, I also tend to putter around in my car everyday. I live in Worcester, MA, a relatively large city of about 200,000, but unfortunately there are not a lot of good public transportation options here. But this week I ran into a huge mess: my car died three times and there is no fix in sight. I have been without a vehicle for about a week and have been forced to test my own theories about public transportation. I am not happy with the results.

Can't Walk

I live in a part of the city with lots of single family homes and little else. Despite the fact that Worcester has nearly 200,000 residents, many live spread out in low-density housing. That means that it is very difficult to walk anywhere. For example, I tend to start off my morning routine with Starbucks. Normally I jump in the car and drive 5 minutes. But according to Google Maps, it would take me 31 minutes to walk to the nearest Starbucks. Looks like I won't be getting a coffee.

Can't Bike

Okay so walking is off the table, how about I take my bike? Well I would love to except for two issues: Worcester is covered in hills and has almost no safe bike lanes. There are a few bike lanes throughout the city, but they tend to begin and end abruptly, which makes them impractical for anyone who actually wants to get anywhere. Take a look at some of the "bike lanes." Granted the city is building more bike lanes, but as of right now it is largely impractical to travel by bike.

Can't Take the Bus

So my third idea was to take the bus to where I wanted to go. Until I realized that the bus also is unbelievably confusing and serves only very specific areas. Basically all of the buses meet at one central location that serves as an interchange between routes. As a result it is again largely unrealistic to travel by bus. I learned that the 3 mile trip to Target would take me 51 minutes by bus. That seems like a waste of time. 

As a country we need to build better networks of public transportation. If I were a lower or middle class worker and I had trouble getting to work, this could be a huge problem. Lots of people have car trouble all the time, but if there is not a good alternative, it could have huge consequences for individuals. 

How Changing Prices Effect Poverty and Social Mobility

Toys are Cheaper, Essentials Cost More

Due to a variety of market forces, prices for goods and services are always changing. Some things seem to become more expensive over time, while other things tend to get cheaper. But, these prices changes actually tend to occur in broad categories and as a result, they have an effect on poverty and social mobility. Take a look at this graphic, which shows the relative price change in a variety of categories since 2005. You'll notice that the most important goods and services: college tuition, healthcare, childcare and food, have all gotten more expensive, while fun items, such as TVs and computers have gotten much cheaper.

The Effect on Poverty

Now that prices have changed so much, poverty has changed as well. As the adage goes "poverty now comes with a color TV." But ironically, even as the poorest among us have more purchasing power to afford fun items like TVs, they are actually less capable of purchasing the goods and services that lead to a way out of poverty. It has become more and more expensive to finance college and this has turn many low-income kids away. At the same time, it becomes increasingly expensive to afford the cost of daycare, which creates an incentive for low-income parents not to work.

Interestingly enough, the things which have declined in price also tend to be those products which have seen their manufacturing bases outsourced. The cost of labor is much lower in other countries, so as jobs have left American manufacturing, so have prices on these products dropped. 

Obama to Allow Interstate Tolls

Driving May Become More Expensive

Other than a few stretches across the country, interstate highways are by and large toll free, at least for now. The Highway Trust Fund that manages road maintenance and construction is close to running out of money and so the White House has lifted a moratorium on placing tolls on interstates. This is actually a good thing.

Fixing a Broken System

The Highway Trust Fund is funded entirely by the Federal Gas Tax, which has stood at 18.4 cents per gallon since 1993. For the last 21 years, cars have become more efficient, requiring less fuel. At the same time, the gas tax has become less valuable because it has not been adjusted at all for inflation. Imagine not getting a raise for 21 years! 

The reason that interstate tolls become necessary is that a simple raising of the gas tax is extremely politically unpopular. The public hears more taxes and says "no way," but if roads are not taxed more, they will fall even deeper into states of disrepair. So rather than raising the unpopular gas tax, the White House has decided to allow interstates to collect tolls. 

In a way, this is brilliant. The Highway Trust Fund pays for federal roads, but everybody pays the gas tax, regardless of whether they drive on those roads. Now, interstate tolls will only be paid by those who actually drive on the federal interstates. It will raise the needed revenue to pay for road repairs while not taxing those who do not use those specific roads. Additionally, if we bring the cost of driving more in line with what it actually costs society to maintain roads, more people may make the choice to use public transportation instead!