WASHINGTON – Sonia Sotomayor won confirmation Thursday as the nation's first Hispanic Supreme Court justice, a history-making Senate vote that capped a summer-long debate heavy with ethnic politics and hints of high court fights to come.
The third woman in court history, she'll be sworn in Saturday as the 111th justice and the first nominated by a Democrat in 15 years.
The Senate vote was 68-31 to confirm Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's first Supreme Court nominee, with Democrats unanimously behind her but most Republicans lining up in a show of opposition both for her and for the president's standards for a justice.
The 55-year-old daughter of Puerto Rican parents was raised in a South Bronx housing project and educated in the Ivy League before rising to the highest legal echelons, spending the past 17 years as a federal judge. She watched the vote on TV at a federal courthouse in New York City, among friends and colleagues.
Republicans argued she'd bring personal bias and a liberal agenda to the bench. But Democrats praised Sotomayor as an extraordinarily qualified mainstream moderate and touted her elevation to the court as a milestone in the nation's journey toward greater equality and a reaffirmation of the American dream.
Obama, the nation's first black president, praised the Senate's vote as "breaking another barrier and moving us yet another step closer to a more perfect union." He planned to welcome Sotomayor at the White House next week.
Minutes before the vote, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Judiciary Committee chairman, called it one for the ages. "Years from now ... we will remember this time when we crossed paths with the quintessentially American journey of Sonia Sotomayor."
Senators took the rare step of assembling at their desks for the vote, rising from their seats to call out "aye" or "nay." The longest-serving senator, 91-year-old Robert Byrd of West Virginia who has been in frail health following a long hospitalization, was brought in in a wheelchair to vote in Sotomayor's favor. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., suffering from brain cancer, was the only senator absent.
Sotomayor replaces retiring Justice David Souter, a liberal named by a Republican president, and she is not expected to alter the court's ideological split.
Still, Republicans and Democrats were deeply at odds over confirming Sotomayor, and the battle over her nomination highlighted profound philosophical disagreements that will shape future fights over the court's makeup as Obama looks to another likely vacancy — perhaps more than one — while he's in the White House.
In the final tally, nine Republicans joined majority Democrats and the Senate's two independents to support Sotomayor's confirmation. They included the Senate's few GOP moderates and its lone Hispanic Republican, retiring Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida, as well as conservative Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the party's third-ranking leader.
GOP critics decried Obama's call for "empathy" in a justice, painting Sotomayor as the embodiment of an inappropriate standard that would let a judge bring her personal whims and prejudices to the bench.
Her writings and speeches "reflect a belief not just that impartiality is not possible, but that it's not even worth the effort," said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the minority leader. "In Judge Sotomayor's court, groups that didn't make the cut of preferred groups often found that they ended up on the short end of the empathy standard."
Democrats, for their part, hailed the vote as a breakthrough achievement for the country, on par with enactment of civil rights laws. They warned Republicans they risked a backlash from Hispanic voters in the short term and an enduring black mark on their party in history books by opposing Sotomayor's confirmation.
"Those who oppose her for fear of her unique life experience do no justice to her or our nation. Their names will be listed in our nation's annals of elected officials one step behind America's historic march forward," said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat.
Hispanic activists agreed.
"Justice Sotomayor's eminent qualifications and wise committee testimony shattered a glass ceiling today," said Thomas Saenz of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Of Republican foes, he added, "History — and the fast-growing community of Latino voters — will judge these senators harshly."
A number of GOP senators argued Sotomayor's speeches and record made her unacceptable. They pointed to rulings in which they said she showed disregard for gun rights, property rights and job discrimination claims by white employees. And they repeatedly cited comments she had made about the role that a judge's background and perspective can play, especially a 2001 speech in which she said she hoped a "wise Latina" judge would usually make better decisions than a white man.
"She has bluntly advocated a judicial philosophy where judges ground their decisions not in the objective rule of law, but in the subjective realm of personal 'opinions, sympathies and prejudices,'" said Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee.
Republicans have been particularly critical of Sotomayor's position on the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. She was part of a federal appeals court panel in New York that ruled this year that the amendment limits only the federal government — not states — a decision in keeping with previous Supreme Court precedent. Gun rights supporters said her panel shouldn't have called the issue "settled law," and they criticized her for refusing during her confirmation hearings to go beyond what the high court has said and declare that the Second Amendment applies to the states.
The National Rifle Association, which hadn't weighed in on Supreme Court nominations past, strongly opposed her and threatened to downgrade its ratings of any senator who voted to confirm Sotomayor. The warning may have influenced some Republicans who were initially considered possible supporters but later announced their opposition, citing gun rights as a key reason.
Curt Levey of the conservative Committee for Justice, asserted that "it is unlikely that a president will ever again choose a Supreme Court nominee with a record that can be characterized as hostile to the Second Amendment."
In the two most recent confirmation votes, the Senate had approved Chief Justice John Roberts by a 78-22 vote and Samuel Alito by 58-42.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Anorexia
...No laughing matter.
Anorexia is a serious problem. Every year, thousands of girls and boys (yes, boys can get it, too) are diagnosed with this serious psychological disorder.
Unfortunately, it's not as serious to some as it is to others. Many take it as a joke, calling thin people "anorexic" and not realizing what they're saying. Well, what exactly IS anorexia?
"Anorexia is an eating disorder characterized by markedly reduced appetite or total aversion to food. Anorexia is a serious psychological disorder. It is a condition that goes well beyond out-of-control dieting. The person with anorexia, most often a girl or young woman, initially begins dieting to lose weight. Over time, the weight loss becomes a sign of mastery and control. The drive to become thinner is thought to be secondary to concerns about control and fears relating to one's body. The individual continues the endless cycle of restrictive eating, often to a point close to starvation. This becomes an obsession and is similar to an addiction to a drug. Anorexia can be life-threatening. Also called anorexia nervosa." (Source: Medterms.com)
So, as you've read, it's no laughing matter. It often leaves its victims feeling helpless and alone, as if their own body has turned against them. And yet, there are those that choose to ignore these simple facts for laughter. Anorexia isn't something that happens over-night. It doesn't mean that you're skinny. It means you have a serious medical condition, one that can and will cause death if untreated.
With all of the information readily available, why do so many young girls aim to be anorexic? Has the media and America really put appearance on that big of a pedestal that every young girl has to be skinny in order to be acceptable? Most will say looks are important, and I'm not disagreeing, but at what price?
Anorexia is more damaging than being ten or fifteen pounds overweight. It's more psychologically damaging than not looking as good as the girl standing next to you.
It's real, and really dangerous.
Anorexia is a serious problem. Every year, thousands of girls and boys (yes, boys can get it, too) are diagnosed with this serious psychological disorder.
Unfortunately, it's not as serious to some as it is to others. Many take it as a joke, calling thin people "anorexic" and not realizing what they're saying. Well, what exactly IS anorexia?
"Anorexia is an eating disorder characterized by markedly reduced appetite or total aversion to food. Anorexia is a serious psychological disorder. It is a condition that goes well beyond out-of-control dieting. The person with anorexia, most often a girl or young woman, initially begins dieting to lose weight. Over time, the weight loss becomes a sign of mastery and control. The drive to become thinner is thought to be secondary to concerns about control and fears relating to one's body. The individual continues the endless cycle of restrictive eating, often to a point close to starvation. This becomes an obsession and is similar to an addiction to a drug. Anorexia can be life-threatening. Also called anorexia nervosa." (Source: Medterms.com)
So, as you've read, it's no laughing matter. It often leaves its victims feeling helpless and alone, as if their own body has turned against them. And yet, there are those that choose to ignore these simple facts for laughter. Anorexia isn't something that happens over-night. It doesn't mean that you're skinny. It means you have a serious medical condition, one that can and will cause death if untreated.
With all of the information readily available, why do so many young girls aim to be anorexic? Has the media and America really put appearance on that big of a pedestal that every young girl has to be skinny in order to be acceptable? Most will say looks are important, and I'm not disagreeing, but at what price?
Anorexia is more damaging than being ten or fifteen pounds overweight. It's more psychologically damaging than not looking as good as the girl standing next to you.
It's real, and really dangerous.
Low Self-Esteem: The Ultimate Relationship Killer
You have to love yourself before loving someone else.
I was called the b-word, the c-word and just about every other derogatory term for a woman the English language has to offer by my boyfriend of a year. Our fights were usually the result of his moodiness, I just happened to be around when he needed someone to pick on. However, I was convinced his good qualities trumped his bad ones, and he’d get around to working out his issues…eventually. The truth was, I didn’t have the guts to dump him because I didn’t think I could do any better.
“Self-esteem plays a very important role on how you behave in a relationship and if you are suffering from it, then it is more likely to be the major cause of problems,” says Manage Your Life Now. When you have low self-esteem, you are more likely to settle for less in your relationship. “People with low self-esteem are apt to feel responsible for their partner's unhappiness, and unwittingly sabotage their relationship as a result,” says Kaja Perina of Psychology Today. I always took on the blame for all of the fights between my boyfriend and I, because I assumed fighting with someone was better than being alone. What I didn’t realize was that I was only giving in to the vicious cycle of pain that low self-esteem causes in a relationship.
On the VH1 show Tool Academy, a group of unhappy girlfriends, many of whom have been cheated on and verbally abused countless times hold fast to the belief that their boyfriends can reform. One of the guys mocks his girlfriend’s weight, and nearly all of them admit to flirting shamelessly with other girls. However, the girlfriends have enabled the guys’ bad behavior by giving them countless chances that they clearly don’t deserve. Like me, they seem to believe they can’t do any better.
Many people with low self-esteem feel they’d be nothing without their partner – even one who is deceitful or abusive. But you’re never going to be 100 percent happy in a relationship if you don’t break that cycle. “You have to believe that you are in a relationship with someone who cares about you and respects you enough to not hurt you,” says Girl Shrink. “And if you do happen to get hurt, you have to believe that it is not the end of the world.” Believe in yourself first, and a harmonious relationship will follow.
I was called the b-word, the c-word and just about every other derogatory term for a woman the English language has to offer by my boyfriend of a year. Our fights were usually the result of his moodiness, I just happened to be around when he needed someone to pick on. However, I was convinced his good qualities trumped his bad ones, and he’d get around to working out his issues…eventually. The truth was, I didn’t have the guts to dump him because I didn’t think I could do any better.
“Self-esteem plays a very important role on how you behave in a relationship and if you are suffering from it, then it is more likely to be the major cause of problems,” says Manage Your Life Now. When you have low self-esteem, you are more likely to settle for less in your relationship. “People with low self-esteem are apt to feel responsible for their partner's unhappiness, and unwittingly sabotage their relationship as a result,” says Kaja Perina of Psychology Today. I always took on the blame for all of the fights between my boyfriend and I, because I assumed fighting with someone was better than being alone. What I didn’t realize was that I was only giving in to the vicious cycle of pain that low self-esteem causes in a relationship.
On the VH1 show Tool Academy, a group of unhappy girlfriends, many of whom have been cheated on and verbally abused countless times hold fast to the belief that their boyfriends can reform. One of the guys mocks his girlfriend’s weight, and nearly all of them admit to flirting shamelessly with other girls. However, the girlfriends have enabled the guys’ bad behavior by giving them countless chances that they clearly don’t deserve. Like me, they seem to believe they can’t do any better.
Many people with low self-esteem feel they’d be nothing without their partner – even one who is deceitful or abusive. But you’re never going to be 100 percent happy in a relationship if you don’t break that cycle. “You have to believe that you are in a relationship with someone who cares about you and respects you enough to not hurt you,” says Girl Shrink. “And if you do happen to get hurt, you have to believe that it is not the end of the world.” Believe in yourself first, and a harmonious relationship will follow.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
US journalists 'home and free' after NKorea pardon
BURBANK, Calif. – Two American journalists held captive in North Korea since March endured meals of rice with rocks, more than four months of isolation and the constant fear they would be sent to a gulag.
Facing sentences of 12 years hard labor, they were allowed only sporadic contact with each other, let alone the outside world. Then, suddenly this week, they were brought into a meeting with none other than Bill Clinton, who helped win their release and flew home with them for a tearful reunion with their families.
"We could feel your love all the way in North Korea," an emotional Laura Ling said. "It is what kept us going in the darkest of hours and it is what sustained our faith that we would come home."
Ling and Euna Lee sobbed and embraced their husbands and Lee's 4-year-old daughter, Hana, in the sleek hangar of a Burbank airport after a 9 1/2-hour flight from Japan. It was the last stop following their release from North Korea after an unusual diplomatic rescue mission headed by the former president.
In a voice shaking with sobs, Ling recalled how their time in captivity came to an abrupt end after she and Lee were summoned to a meeting and found the former president standing there.
"We were shocked but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end, and now we stand here, home and free," she said.
While questions swirled about the delicate negotiating dance that led to their release, Ling only talked about their gratitude to be free and their desire to quietly get reacquainted with their families.
Neither woman offered details of their treatment in North Korea, which has a reputation for a brutal government and has struggled through famine. But Ling's sister later told reporters that her sister was "a little bit weak" and it would take some time for her to gather her wits and speak about her captivity.
Family members found it challenging to hear the few details they have received, she added.
She said the captives saw each other for only a couple days after their detention.
"They actually were kept apart most of the time. ... On the day of their trial, they hugged each other and that was it," Lisa Ling said outside her sister's home in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles.
She said the family had four telephone conversations with her sister during her captivity. During one of them, Laura Ling asked them to write to Lee "and tell her that I'm thinking about her and I love her."
Lisa Ling said her sister was craving fresh food and a sushi dinner will be on the agenda soon.
"She's really, really anxious to have fresh fruit and fresh food. ... There were rocks in her rice," Lisa Ling said. "Obviously, it's a country that has a lot of economic problems."
They were held in a guest house and had not yet been sent to the labor camp because of medical concerns, the sister said. Laura Ling suffers from an ulcer, while Lee has lost 15 pounds since being detained. Ling had been seen regularly by a doctor, her sister said.
Ling, 32, and Lee, 36, are reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's San Francisco-based Current TV. They had been working on a story about the trafficking of women when they were arrested in March, and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korea. The pair were granted a pardon Tuesday, following talks between Clinton and North Korea leader Kim Jong Il.
They arrived at Bob Hope Airport at dawn aboard a Boeing jet owned by Steve Bing, a multimillion-dollar film producer, friend of Clinton's and contributor to Democratic causes.
Lee, who emerged first, wept and hugged her daughter, held her hands as she talked to her and then scooped her up. Both were crushed in an embrace from her husband, Michael Saldate.
Ling threw up her arms in joy before descending the plane's stairs and embracing her husband.
"Thirty hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea," she said in prepared remarks on behalf of both women. "We feared that any moment we could be sent to a hard labor camp."
Clinton was hugged by Gore as he stepped off the plane. He didn't speak, but his office later issued a statement saying he was happy the long ordeal was over.
"Hana's been a great girl while you were gone," Gore told Lee. "And Laura, your mom's been making your special soup for two days now."
He also thanked the State Department for its help in the release.
"It speaks well of our country that when two American citizens are in harm's way, that so many people will just put things aside and just go to work to make sure that this has had a happy ending," he said.
The release amounted to a successful diplomatic foray for the former president, who traveled as an unofficial envoy, with approval and coordination from the administration of President Barack Obama. The visit to Pyongyang came at a time of heightened tensions over North Korea's nuclear program.
The meeting appeared aimed at dispelling persistent questions about the health of the authoritarian North Korean leader, who was said to be suffering from chronic diabetes and heart disease before reportedly suffering a stroke last August. It was Kim's first meeting with a prominent Western figure since the reported stroke.
Ling's sister said her family "had a sense that the government had agreed to send President Clinton" but didn't know whether the release was predetermined before his arrival.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Clinton will brief Obama's national security team on what transpired in Pyongyang.
He reiterated that Clinton did not carry a message from Obama to Kim.
"If there wasn't a message, there certainly couldn't have been an apology," Gibbs said.
Facing sentences of 12 years hard labor, they were allowed only sporadic contact with each other, let alone the outside world. Then, suddenly this week, they were brought into a meeting with none other than Bill Clinton, who helped win their release and flew home with them for a tearful reunion with their families.
"We could feel your love all the way in North Korea," an emotional Laura Ling said. "It is what kept us going in the darkest of hours and it is what sustained our faith that we would come home."
Ling and Euna Lee sobbed and embraced their husbands and Lee's 4-year-old daughter, Hana, in the sleek hangar of a Burbank airport after a 9 1/2-hour flight from Japan. It was the last stop following their release from North Korea after an unusual diplomatic rescue mission headed by the former president.
In a voice shaking with sobs, Ling recalled how their time in captivity came to an abrupt end after she and Lee were summoned to a meeting and found the former president standing there.
"We were shocked but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end, and now we stand here, home and free," she said.
While questions swirled about the delicate negotiating dance that led to their release, Ling only talked about their gratitude to be free and their desire to quietly get reacquainted with their families.
Neither woman offered details of their treatment in North Korea, which has a reputation for a brutal government and has struggled through famine. But Ling's sister later told reporters that her sister was "a little bit weak" and it would take some time for her to gather her wits and speak about her captivity.
Family members found it challenging to hear the few details they have received, she added.
She said the captives saw each other for only a couple days after their detention.
"They actually were kept apart most of the time. ... On the day of their trial, they hugged each other and that was it," Lisa Ling said outside her sister's home in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles.
She said the family had four telephone conversations with her sister during her captivity. During one of them, Laura Ling asked them to write to Lee "and tell her that I'm thinking about her and I love her."
Lisa Ling said her sister was craving fresh food and a sushi dinner will be on the agenda soon.
"She's really, really anxious to have fresh fruit and fresh food. ... There were rocks in her rice," Lisa Ling said. "Obviously, it's a country that has a lot of economic problems."
They were held in a guest house and had not yet been sent to the labor camp because of medical concerns, the sister said. Laura Ling suffers from an ulcer, while Lee has lost 15 pounds since being detained. Ling had been seen regularly by a doctor, her sister said.
Ling, 32, and Lee, 36, are reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's San Francisco-based Current TV. They had been working on a story about the trafficking of women when they were arrested in March, and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korea. The pair were granted a pardon Tuesday, following talks between Clinton and North Korea leader Kim Jong Il.
They arrived at Bob Hope Airport at dawn aboard a Boeing jet owned by Steve Bing, a multimillion-dollar film producer, friend of Clinton's and contributor to Democratic causes.
Lee, who emerged first, wept and hugged her daughter, held her hands as she talked to her and then scooped her up. Both were crushed in an embrace from her husband, Michael Saldate.
Ling threw up her arms in joy before descending the plane's stairs and embracing her husband.
"Thirty hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea," she said in prepared remarks on behalf of both women. "We feared that any moment we could be sent to a hard labor camp."
Clinton was hugged by Gore as he stepped off the plane. He didn't speak, but his office later issued a statement saying he was happy the long ordeal was over.
"Hana's been a great girl while you were gone," Gore told Lee. "And Laura, your mom's been making your special soup for two days now."
He also thanked the State Department for its help in the release.
"It speaks well of our country that when two American citizens are in harm's way, that so many people will just put things aside and just go to work to make sure that this has had a happy ending," he said.
The release amounted to a successful diplomatic foray for the former president, who traveled as an unofficial envoy, with approval and coordination from the administration of President Barack Obama. The visit to Pyongyang came at a time of heightened tensions over North Korea's nuclear program.
The meeting appeared aimed at dispelling persistent questions about the health of the authoritarian North Korean leader, who was said to be suffering from chronic diabetes and heart disease before reportedly suffering a stroke last August. It was Kim's first meeting with a prominent Western figure since the reported stroke.
Ling's sister said her family "had a sense that the government had agreed to send President Clinton" but didn't know whether the release was predetermined before his arrival.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Clinton will brief Obama's national security team on what transpired in Pyongyang.
He reiterated that Clinton did not carry a message from Obama to Kim.
"If there wasn't a message, there certainly couldn't have been an apology," Gibbs said.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Pay-Cut Cities
It's not the best time to make a new start of it in New York state. Although the state's unemployment rate is better than much of the country's, a recent study shows that average wages are falling more rapidly in New York cities than metropolitan areas elsewhere in the country.
Six of the 10 cities where wages have fallen the fastest this year are in New York, according to a study from the Brookings Institution, released last week. From the fourth quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of 2009, average wages fell in Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, New York, Poughkeepsie and Buffalo--and the decline is wreaking havoc on the state's finances.
Everyone knows there are job losses in a recession, but curiously, it is unusual--even in the depths of recession--for wages to fall. Wages are considered "sticky": Employers generally prefer to cut jobs than to cut the salaries of their staffs. When employers ax more higher-paid jobs than lower-paid ones, average wages fall.
Wage changes vary widely from region to region, as highlighted by the Brookings Institution's MetroMonitor report, which parses economic data on the country's 100 largest metropolitan areas. The report compares the change in real average wages for the 100 regions from Q4 2008 to the Q1 2009.
Recessions always have different effects from one region to the next. The bursting of the housing bubble hit hardest in Florida, California, Arizona and Nevada, but left much of Texas unharmed. Unemployment has climbed in housing-bubble cities and manufacturing centers, but has remained relatively low in the agriculturally centered Midwest.
The data from Brookings shows wage declines in 2009 have been particularly severe in the state of New York, while wages are starting to rise in many of the cities that suffered the worst of the housing bust.
"Employers are generally reluctant to cut nominal wages," says Howard Wial, a fellow at Brookings' Metropolitan Policy Program, so regions seeing a fall in average wages are likely experiencing something other than across-the-board wage cuts. "Higher-wage people are likely being laid off to a greater degree than lower-wage people, or moderately high-wage workers are being replaced by temps or contractors who are paid less," says Wial.
That explains much of what's happening in New York and Chicago. Wages fell 1.5% in New York and 0.7% in Chicago in the first quarter of 2009 from the previous quarter. Many high-paid financial workers lost their jobs or suffered sharp drops in performance-based compensation. So even though New York's unemployment rate of 7.6% is significantly better than the national average of 9.4%, the loss of high-paid jobs means average wages fell sharply. Rather than everyone losing income, the economy's mix of workers is changing.
The picture is even worse in upstate New York, where average wages fell 2.3% in Rochester and 2.2% in Syracuse. Wial suspects that the plunge in New York City is big enough to skew wage data across an already weak state. Because of the way data are gathered for this indicator, "you're probably seeing the influence of the city throughout the state," says Wial. "I don't think there's any other state where one city would be quite as much of a factor statewide."
Falling wages have a devastating impact on the state's tax revenues, which draw heavily on high-earners. The New York State Comptroller's Office reported that, in May, personal income tax revenues plummeted 44% compared with a year earlier. In the Big Apple, the mayor's office estimates tax revenues for fiscal year 2010 will be 30% below those of 2008.
The New York governor's office did not return calls for comment, but it's clear the state is acutely aware of the problem. "The economy continues to be shaky, and state revenues continue to be below prior-year levels," said New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, in a statement accompanying the release of the state's plunging tax revenues. "The Division of the Budget projected that the first quarter of the fiscal year would be tight, so this is not a surprise. The General Fund is at historically low levels."
Although falling wages are always a sign of economic sickness, rising wages are not a surefire indication of economic health. Phoenix, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., and Fresno, Calif., where home value declines have been among the sharpest in the country, have logged a rise in average wages. Fresno's average wages rose even as unemployment spiked to 15.5% in the first quarter.
"The indication is there's a slowdown in migration to those places," explains Wial. "Workers are not perfect substitutes for one another and it may be that there is a decline in demand for lower-paid kinds of workers."
When higher-paid workers lose their jobs, it lowers average salaries. When lower-wage workers lose their jobs but people like bankruptcy lawyers and doctors all keep working, it raises average salaries. And the bottom falling out of a city's economy is not a healthy development.
But in some cities, rising wages do indicate relatively healthy economies. Average wages in Tulsa, Okla., rose 2.6% while unemployment registered a fairly benign 6%.
Wial says the data help to sharpen the picture on regional economies. "We're learning there are two sun belts and two manufacturing belts. The Sun Belt that is dependent on retirement and tourism has really suffered a lot--Florida, Nevada, much of California. The energy Sun Belt and government-military Sun Belt--Texas, Oklahoma--[has] done quite well and [is] at or near the top of our rankings."
The same trends are emerging with manufacturing, he says. "You might generally think a lot of manufacturing makes a region more vulnerable to recession, but it differs quite a bit from the auto industry to something else. The auto industry and auto suppliers--places that depend heavily on those industries have been hit very hard. But other types of manufacturing have done fairly well and sometimes quite well."
Cities Where Wages Fell the Most
No. 1: Rochester, N.Y.
Wage Decrease: -2.3%
In April, when the national unemployment rate was 8.9%, unemployment in Rochester was a relatively low 7.4%.
But the economy of the region has suffered heavily, contracting 4.4% since its peak. Many jobs have been spared; many wages have not.
No. 2: Syracuse, N.Y.
Wage Decrease: -2.2%
Syracuse, too, has a better unemployment rate than the national average--only 7.7%--but its GDP has contracted more than 5% from its peak. Those economic losses have to show up somewhere.
No. 3: Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y.
Wage Decrease: -2%
When wages fall across a state, tax revenues to the state capital plunge as well. The New York State Comptroller's Office reported that, in May, personal income tax revenues fell 44% compared with a year earlier.
No. 4: New York, N.Y. / Newark, N.J. / Edison, Pa.
Wage Decrease: -1.5%
Average wages can be disproportionately skewed by losses at the top. When a worker earning slightly above average loses his or her job, the overall average barely budges. but when financiers earning hundreds of thousands lose their jobs, it pulls down average wages quickly. Plunging salaries on Wall Street explain the fall in New York, and affect the rest of the metropolitan region as well.
No. 5: Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, N.Y.
Wage Decrease: -1.5%
Up the Hudson River, the effects of Wall Street's troubles reverberate. Poughkeepsie has only 7.2% unemployment and its economy has shrunk only an estimated 2.8%, but wages are falling.
Click here for the full list of 10 metropolitan areas where wages fell the most.
Cities Where Wages Rose the Most
No. 1: Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.
Wage Increase: 2.6%
After experiencing the worst of the housing bust--home prices have fallen more than 50% from their peak in Phoenix, according to the Case-Shiller home price index--at least wages are growing in the Phoenix area.
Is it a "green shoot" of economic growth, or just evidence that people are no longer moving to Phoenix, causing a tight labor market for high-end jobs?
No. 2: Tulsa, Okla.
Wage Increase: 2.6%
Tulsa's economy has stayed strong through the recession. Home prices have continued to rise, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and unemployment is a low 6%.
No. 3: Baltimore-Towson, Md.
Wage Increase: 2.5%
Baltimore is increasingly an extension of the nation's capital. As lower-wage industries are replaced by relatively high-wage government-supported jobs, average wages increase.
No. 4: Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.
Wage Increase: 2.3%
Unemployment in Cape Coral, a major housing-bubble city, is a painful 11.9%. But average wages are jumping. It's likely a sign that low-wage jobs created by the housing boom are being lost much more quickly than high-wage jobs. That pushes average wages higher, but it's not a positive sign for the economy.
No. 5: Tucson, Ariz.
Wage Increase: 2.2%
Tucson has managed to keep unemployment at 6.5%, two percentage points below the national average. A relatively tight job market means wages can still rise.
Six of the 10 cities where wages have fallen the fastest this year are in New York, according to a study from the Brookings Institution, released last week. From the fourth quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of 2009, average wages fell in Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, New York, Poughkeepsie and Buffalo--and the decline is wreaking havoc on the state's finances.
Everyone knows there are job losses in a recession, but curiously, it is unusual--even in the depths of recession--for wages to fall. Wages are considered "sticky": Employers generally prefer to cut jobs than to cut the salaries of their staffs. When employers ax more higher-paid jobs than lower-paid ones, average wages fall.
Wage changes vary widely from region to region, as highlighted by the Brookings Institution's MetroMonitor report, which parses economic data on the country's 100 largest metropolitan areas. The report compares the change in real average wages for the 100 regions from Q4 2008 to the Q1 2009.
Recessions always have different effects from one region to the next. The bursting of the housing bubble hit hardest in Florida, California, Arizona and Nevada, but left much of Texas unharmed. Unemployment has climbed in housing-bubble cities and manufacturing centers, but has remained relatively low in the agriculturally centered Midwest.
The data from Brookings shows wage declines in 2009 have been particularly severe in the state of New York, while wages are starting to rise in many of the cities that suffered the worst of the housing bust.
"Employers are generally reluctant to cut nominal wages," says Howard Wial, a fellow at Brookings' Metropolitan Policy Program, so regions seeing a fall in average wages are likely experiencing something other than across-the-board wage cuts. "Higher-wage people are likely being laid off to a greater degree than lower-wage people, or moderately high-wage workers are being replaced by temps or contractors who are paid less," says Wial.
That explains much of what's happening in New York and Chicago. Wages fell 1.5% in New York and 0.7% in Chicago in the first quarter of 2009 from the previous quarter. Many high-paid financial workers lost their jobs or suffered sharp drops in performance-based compensation. So even though New York's unemployment rate of 7.6% is significantly better than the national average of 9.4%, the loss of high-paid jobs means average wages fell sharply. Rather than everyone losing income, the economy's mix of workers is changing.
The picture is even worse in upstate New York, where average wages fell 2.3% in Rochester and 2.2% in Syracuse. Wial suspects that the plunge in New York City is big enough to skew wage data across an already weak state. Because of the way data are gathered for this indicator, "you're probably seeing the influence of the city throughout the state," says Wial. "I don't think there's any other state where one city would be quite as much of a factor statewide."
Falling wages have a devastating impact on the state's tax revenues, which draw heavily on high-earners. The New York State Comptroller's Office reported that, in May, personal income tax revenues plummeted 44% compared with a year earlier. In the Big Apple, the mayor's office estimates tax revenues for fiscal year 2010 will be 30% below those of 2008.
The New York governor's office did not return calls for comment, but it's clear the state is acutely aware of the problem. "The economy continues to be shaky, and state revenues continue to be below prior-year levels," said New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, in a statement accompanying the release of the state's plunging tax revenues. "The Division of the Budget projected that the first quarter of the fiscal year would be tight, so this is not a surprise. The General Fund is at historically low levels."
Although falling wages are always a sign of economic sickness, rising wages are not a surefire indication of economic health. Phoenix, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., and Fresno, Calif., where home value declines have been among the sharpest in the country, have logged a rise in average wages. Fresno's average wages rose even as unemployment spiked to 15.5% in the first quarter.
"The indication is there's a slowdown in migration to those places," explains Wial. "Workers are not perfect substitutes for one another and it may be that there is a decline in demand for lower-paid kinds of workers."
When higher-paid workers lose their jobs, it lowers average salaries. When lower-wage workers lose their jobs but people like bankruptcy lawyers and doctors all keep working, it raises average salaries. And the bottom falling out of a city's economy is not a healthy development.
But in some cities, rising wages do indicate relatively healthy economies. Average wages in Tulsa, Okla., rose 2.6% while unemployment registered a fairly benign 6%.
Wial says the data help to sharpen the picture on regional economies. "We're learning there are two sun belts and two manufacturing belts. The Sun Belt that is dependent on retirement and tourism has really suffered a lot--Florida, Nevada, much of California. The energy Sun Belt and government-military Sun Belt--Texas, Oklahoma--[has] done quite well and [is] at or near the top of our rankings."
The same trends are emerging with manufacturing, he says. "You might generally think a lot of manufacturing makes a region more vulnerable to recession, but it differs quite a bit from the auto industry to something else. The auto industry and auto suppliers--places that depend heavily on those industries have been hit very hard. But other types of manufacturing have done fairly well and sometimes quite well."
Cities Where Wages Fell the Most
No. 1: Rochester, N.Y.
Wage Decrease: -2.3%
In April, when the national unemployment rate was 8.9%, unemployment in Rochester was a relatively low 7.4%.
But the economy of the region has suffered heavily, contracting 4.4% since its peak. Many jobs have been spared; many wages have not.
No. 2: Syracuse, N.Y.
Wage Decrease: -2.2%
Syracuse, too, has a better unemployment rate than the national average--only 7.7%--but its GDP has contracted more than 5% from its peak. Those economic losses have to show up somewhere.
No. 3: Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y.
Wage Decrease: -2%
When wages fall across a state, tax revenues to the state capital plunge as well. The New York State Comptroller's Office reported that, in May, personal income tax revenues fell 44% compared with a year earlier.
No. 4: New York, N.Y. / Newark, N.J. / Edison, Pa.
Wage Decrease: -1.5%
Average wages can be disproportionately skewed by losses at the top. When a worker earning slightly above average loses his or her job, the overall average barely budges. but when financiers earning hundreds of thousands lose their jobs, it pulls down average wages quickly. Plunging salaries on Wall Street explain the fall in New York, and affect the rest of the metropolitan region as well.
No. 5: Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, N.Y.
Wage Decrease: -1.5%
Up the Hudson River, the effects of Wall Street's troubles reverberate. Poughkeepsie has only 7.2% unemployment and its economy has shrunk only an estimated 2.8%, but wages are falling.
Click here for the full list of 10 metropolitan areas where wages fell the most.
Cities Where Wages Rose the Most
No. 1: Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.
Wage Increase: 2.6%
After experiencing the worst of the housing bust--home prices have fallen more than 50% from their peak in Phoenix, according to the Case-Shiller home price index--at least wages are growing in the Phoenix area.
Is it a "green shoot" of economic growth, or just evidence that people are no longer moving to Phoenix, causing a tight labor market for high-end jobs?
No. 2: Tulsa, Okla.
Wage Increase: 2.6%
Tulsa's economy has stayed strong through the recession. Home prices have continued to rise, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and unemployment is a low 6%.
No. 3: Baltimore-Towson, Md.
Wage Increase: 2.5%
Baltimore is increasingly an extension of the nation's capital. As lower-wage industries are replaced by relatively high-wage government-supported jobs, average wages increase.
No. 4: Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.
Wage Increase: 2.3%
Unemployment in Cape Coral, a major housing-bubble city, is a painful 11.9%. But average wages are jumping. It's likely a sign that low-wage jobs created by the housing boom are being lost much more quickly than high-wage jobs. That pushes average wages higher, but it's not a positive sign for the economy.
No. 5: Tucson, Ariz.
Wage Increase: 2.2%
Tucson has managed to keep unemployment at 6.5%, two percentage points below the national average. A relatively tight job market means wages can still rise.
Where Unemployment Has Hit Hardest
The 10 cities with the highest jobless rates share one thing in common: disappearing manufacturing jobs.
What started as a housing and financial crisis has turned into a manufacturing recession.
Even as signs grow that banks are steadying up and the housing market may be stabilizing, unemployment data show just how hard the recession has hit America's manufacturing centers.
Nationwide, unemployment has jumped to 9.5% from 5.7% a year ago. But for cities focused on manufacturing, it's been worse. The 10 cities where the unemployment rate has risen the most in the past year, according to data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are all major manufacturing centers, many with ties to the automobile industry.
At the top of the list are Indiana's Kokomo and the Elkhart-Goshen metro area. Both cities have sustained double-digit percentage increases in unemployment as factories have shut down, and businesses that depend on those factories have suffered. Some 20% of the jobs in Kokomo were once at Chrysler and Delphi plants, and Elkhart-Goshen was home to recreational vehicle manufacturers whose sales have collapsed amid the recession.
Unemployment has risen dramatically in four Michigan cities--Monroe, Muskegon, Detroit, and Flint--as the auto industry has downsized. Michigan's 15.2% unemployment rate is the highest of any state, and Detroit's 17.1% rate is the highest of any metro area with more than 500,000 people.
Rounding out the cities with the highest unemployment rates are Hickory, N.C., Bend, Ore., Janesville, Wisc., and Tuscaloosa, Ala., which have all lost manufacturing jobs in the last year. Overall, of the 372 metropolitan areas tracked by the Department of Labor, 144 now have double-digit unemployment rates, or 39%. Of those, unemployment is above 12% in 62 cities.
Nationwide there are growing signs that the recession is easing or may already have ended. After three years of falling relentlessly, the Case-Shiller Home Price index, released Tuesday, suggests that home prices are stabilizing. New home sales in June rose 11%, the Census Bureau reported Monday (a positive indicator, although this was still within the report's margin of error).
And a look at unemployment by county shows many states where unemployment is not that bad and recovery will be swift. The center of the country--especially the region between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River--where agriculture and energy are dominant, still has strong employment. For the best numbers anywhere in the country, look to Bismarck, North Dakota, where unemployment is 3.8% (see "What's North Dakota's Secret?").
Banking and housing seem to be recovering, and industries like education, health care, agriculture and energy are poised to stay on track, but manufacturing may have a longer way to go. But there is hope: "Exports have been a leader out of the recession in the last two recoveries," says John Canally, an economist with LPL Financial. "We could look to exports being a leader out of recession again." It may be tricky in a global downturn, but if America's manufacturers can find markets overseas, they could join housing and banking in leading the way to recovery.
Cities Where Unemployment Has Hit Hardest
The metropolitan areas where the unemployment rate has risen the most in the past year, according to data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are all major manufacturing centers, many with ties to the automobile industry.
1. Kokomo, Ind.
Unemployment June 2008: 7.4%
Unemployment June 2009: 19.2%
Change: +11.8%
In 2008, one study found 20% of Kokomo's employment came from two employers: Delphi and Chrysler. An additional 10% of jobs come from other manufacturers, many of which have been hit hard in the downturn.
2. Elkhart-Goshen, Ind.
Unemployment June 2008: 6.8%
Unemployment June 2009: 16.8%
Change: +10%
A year ago, over a third of the jobs in the Elkhart-Goshen area were in production, the highest share of any metro area in the country. That's nearly five times as much as the national employment share for production, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Elkhart and Goshen are home to several recreational vehicle manufacturers that have been particularly devastated by recession.
3. Monroe, Mich.
Unemployment June 2008: 8.5%
Unemployment June 2009: 17.1%
Change: +8.6%
Just south of Detroit, Monroe's unemployment rate has soared as manufacturing in the region has declined. In the last year, Monroe has lost 31% of its manufacturing jobs, 18% of its professional and business services jobs and 11% of its leisure and hospitality jobs.
4. Muskegon-Norton Shores, Mich.
Unemployment June 2008: 8.6%
Unemployment June 2009: 16.8%
Change: +8.2%
The decline of manufacturing has triggered job losses in nearly every sector of Muskegon's economy. Professional and business services are down 14.7%, leisure and hospitality have lost 13.8% of their jobs. Even traditionally resilient sectors like education and health services are completely flat in Muskegon. The only sector to grow in the last year has been the government.
5. Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich.
Unemployment June 2008: 9%
Unemployment June 2009: 17.1%
Change: +8.1%
Detroit has long been a synonym for the American auto industry, and as the industry has collapsed Detroit has become synonymous with decline. As General Motors and Chrysler emerge from bankruptcy and Americans start buying cars again, there is hope of recovery on the horizon. But in June 364,000 people were unemployed in Detroit, and it will be some time before all of them can be put back to work.
What started as a housing and financial crisis has turned into a manufacturing recession.
Even as signs grow that banks are steadying up and the housing market may be stabilizing, unemployment data show just how hard the recession has hit America's manufacturing centers.
Nationwide, unemployment has jumped to 9.5% from 5.7% a year ago. But for cities focused on manufacturing, it's been worse. The 10 cities where the unemployment rate has risen the most in the past year, according to data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are all major manufacturing centers, many with ties to the automobile industry.
At the top of the list are Indiana's Kokomo and the Elkhart-Goshen metro area. Both cities have sustained double-digit percentage increases in unemployment as factories have shut down, and businesses that depend on those factories have suffered. Some 20% of the jobs in Kokomo were once at Chrysler and Delphi plants, and Elkhart-Goshen was home to recreational vehicle manufacturers whose sales have collapsed amid the recession.
Unemployment has risen dramatically in four Michigan cities--Monroe, Muskegon, Detroit, and Flint--as the auto industry has downsized. Michigan's 15.2% unemployment rate is the highest of any state, and Detroit's 17.1% rate is the highest of any metro area with more than 500,000 people.
Rounding out the cities with the highest unemployment rates are Hickory, N.C., Bend, Ore., Janesville, Wisc., and Tuscaloosa, Ala., which have all lost manufacturing jobs in the last year. Overall, of the 372 metropolitan areas tracked by the Department of Labor, 144 now have double-digit unemployment rates, or 39%. Of those, unemployment is above 12% in 62 cities.
Nationwide there are growing signs that the recession is easing or may already have ended. After three years of falling relentlessly, the Case-Shiller Home Price index, released Tuesday, suggests that home prices are stabilizing. New home sales in June rose 11%, the Census Bureau reported Monday (a positive indicator, although this was still within the report's margin of error).
And a look at unemployment by county shows many states where unemployment is not that bad and recovery will be swift. The center of the country--especially the region between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River--where agriculture and energy are dominant, still has strong employment. For the best numbers anywhere in the country, look to Bismarck, North Dakota, where unemployment is 3.8% (see "What's North Dakota's Secret?").
Banking and housing seem to be recovering, and industries like education, health care, agriculture and energy are poised to stay on track, but manufacturing may have a longer way to go. But there is hope: "Exports have been a leader out of the recession in the last two recoveries," says John Canally, an economist with LPL Financial. "We could look to exports being a leader out of recession again." It may be tricky in a global downturn, but if America's manufacturers can find markets overseas, they could join housing and banking in leading the way to recovery.
Cities Where Unemployment Has Hit Hardest
The metropolitan areas where the unemployment rate has risen the most in the past year, according to data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are all major manufacturing centers, many with ties to the automobile industry.
1. Kokomo, Ind.
Unemployment June 2008: 7.4%
Unemployment June 2009: 19.2%
Change: +11.8%
In 2008, one study found 20% of Kokomo's employment came from two employers: Delphi and Chrysler. An additional 10% of jobs come from other manufacturers, many of which have been hit hard in the downturn.
2. Elkhart-Goshen, Ind.
Unemployment June 2008: 6.8%
Unemployment June 2009: 16.8%
Change: +10%
A year ago, over a third of the jobs in the Elkhart-Goshen area were in production, the highest share of any metro area in the country. That's nearly five times as much as the national employment share for production, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Elkhart and Goshen are home to several recreational vehicle manufacturers that have been particularly devastated by recession.
3. Monroe, Mich.
Unemployment June 2008: 8.5%
Unemployment June 2009: 17.1%
Change: +8.6%
Just south of Detroit, Monroe's unemployment rate has soared as manufacturing in the region has declined. In the last year, Monroe has lost 31% of its manufacturing jobs, 18% of its professional and business services jobs and 11% of its leisure and hospitality jobs.
4. Muskegon-Norton Shores, Mich.
Unemployment June 2008: 8.6%
Unemployment June 2009: 16.8%
Change: +8.2%
The decline of manufacturing has triggered job losses in nearly every sector of Muskegon's economy. Professional and business services are down 14.7%, leisure and hospitality have lost 13.8% of their jobs. Even traditionally resilient sectors like education and health services are completely flat in Muskegon. The only sector to grow in the last year has been the government.
5. Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich.
Unemployment June 2008: 9%
Unemployment June 2009: 17.1%
Change: +8.1%
Detroit has long been a synonym for the American auto industry, and as the industry has collapsed Detroit has become synonymous with decline. As General Motors and Chrysler emerge from bankruptcy and Americans start buying cars again, there is hope of recovery on the horizon. But in June 364,000 people were unemployed in Detroit, and it will be some time before all of them can be put back to work.
New life a new year
I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But It's only me and I walk alone
I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of broken dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one and I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk a...
My shadow's only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish some one out there will find me
Til then I walk alone
Ah-ah Ah-ah Ah-ah Aaah-ah
Ah-ah Ah-ah Ah-ah
I'm walking down the line
That divides me somewhere in my mind
On the border line of the edge
And where I walk alone
Read between the lines what's
Fucked up and everything's all right
Check my vital signs to know I'm still alive
And I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk a...
My shadow's only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
Til then I walk alone
Ah-Ah Ah-Ah Ah-Ah Aaah-Ah
Ah-Ah Ah-Ah
I walk alone
I walk a...
I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of broken dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one and I walk a...
My shadow's only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
Til then I walk alone
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But It's only me and I walk alone
I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of broken dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one and I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk a...
My shadow's only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish some one out there will find me
Til then I walk alone
Ah-ah Ah-ah Ah-ah Aaah-ah
Ah-ah Ah-ah Ah-ah
I'm walking down the line
That divides me somewhere in my mind
On the border line of the edge
And where I walk alone
Read between the lines what's
Fucked up and everything's all right
Check my vital signs to know I'm still alive
And I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk a...
My shadow's only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
Til then I walk alone
Ah-Ah Ah-Ah Ah-Ah Aaah-Ah
Ah-Ah Ah-Ah
I walk alone
I walk a...
I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of broken dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I'm the only one and I walk a...
My shadow's only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
Til then I walk alone
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)