Links - Society&Capital

QUOTE OF THE DAY 

No one wants to poison their own prosperity, and so the rich and powerful hold back from being too rapacious. - Aleph Blog

CHART OF THE DAY

SOCIETY AND CAPITAL

Why IQ matters more than grit,  VOX.com.  "[IQ is]  a genuinely powerful predictor of your health, prosperity, and well-being. But because IQ is partially hereditary, and resistant to change, it conflicts with a lot of modern values about self-determination." 

Wind Energy’s Rustic Years Are Over, Slate.  It used to be alternative. Now it’s corporate, middle-American, and truly ascendant. 

Solar Industry: Love it, Hate it, bankers-anonymous.com "I had fun calculating my ‘return on investment’ for a planned solar panel installation."  

Yes, a Six-Figure Income Means You’re Affluent, Justin Fox at ThinkAdvisor.  " But are these people affluent? Heck yeah! The median household income in the U.S. in 2014 was $53,657. If you’re making twice that, or more, you are doing quite well from the perspective of your fellow citizens in what happens to be one of the richest nations on earth."  

The Rich Are Different, and It Matters, Bloomberg.  "The top 1 percent, for example, includes a lot of entrepreneurs -- a feature that may explain why incomes in the group were so much more sensitive to the recession. Households in the rest of the top 10 percent consist largely of wage earners, so inequality between them and the median household is probably driven by a divergence in pay."   

The Swiss Are About To Vote ’No’ On Basic Income, http://fivethirtyeight.com.  "Voters in Switzerland will decide Sunday whether to cut themselves and all their fellow citizens checks. The Swiss are holding the first national referendum on an unconditional basic income, a simple but radical idea to streamline the welfare state by guaranteeing everyone an income."   

More Time to Unwind, Unless You're a Woman, Tyler Cowen, NYT.  

Why I Was Wrong About Liberal-Arts Majors, WSJ.  " Looking back at the tech teams that I’ve built at my companies, it’s evident that individuals with liberal arts degrees are by far the sharpest, best­-performing software developers and technology leaders. Often these modern techies have degrees in philosophy, history, and music.."  

The Value of Grey Thinking, Farnham Street. "But the fact is, reality is all grey area. All of it. There are very few black and white answers and no solutions without second-order consequences."  

Why Housing is About to Eat the US Economy, CSEN.  “Housing eating the US economy” implies that housing is going to steal your inputs. They’re coming for your workers and capital on the supply side…housing is poised to reassert itself as the main driver of the US economy."   

The Real Threat of an Aging Population, Time.  "Here’s the paradox: Prosperous nations cannot enjoy their prosperity without becoming multicultural. But if they become multicultural, they struggle to pass on the shared customs and respect for history that bind a nation together. Mid-20th century traditions like American Legion hot dog cookouts, Memorial Day parades and community sing-a-longs sound so corny today. "    

Imagine an Economy Without Wall Street, WSJ.  "Absent finance, most people can’t buy a home or start a business. Look at my family’s experience"  

BlackRock Calls For a Muni Market Strike in BudgetlessIllinois, “If you don’t have a budget, how do you come to the market and issue bonds?” 

Happiness is the Only Logical Pursuit, Mr. Money Mustache.  "…we’re all born with the desire to be happy…Suffering = Expectations – Reality."  

Silicon Valley's Basic-IncomeExperiment Is Worth Watching, Bloomberg.  "YCombinator, probably the most famous tech-company accelerator, is starting a pilot program to test the idea of universal basic income."   http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-06-08/silicon-valley-s-basic-income-experiment-is-worth-watching  Universal Basic Income Is Ahead of Its Time (to Say the Least) 

How to Get That Affluent Feeling, Justin Fox,Bloomberg.  "So $250,000 a year makes you ... what exactly? A decade ago, pundit Matt Miller offered up "lower upper class" as a label; in 2008, Fortune's Shawn Tully coined "HENRY," for high earner, not rich yet. Neither term has really caught on -- despite my best efforts -- and the "middle-class" delusion lives on."  

Home prices keep rising — mostly for the rich, MarketWatch.  "rising home prices…may be reflecting a lopsided market — where the wealthy are ensconced in cities that are mostly unaffordable to everyone else….The price disparity in housing between the high- and low ends of the housing market is as large as it’s been since World War II. So while it’s unlikely there’s another debt-fueled real estate crisis that will tank the global economy, real estate now reflects a different set of problems."  

Most People Just Want a Regular Job, Bloomberg.