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JOSH GOTTHEIMER BOX # 9
Factoids 1993
Commencements 2000
Radio Address on Salmon, 7/27/00
Agriculture Actualities, 6/15/00
Radio Actuality: Freedom to Farm
Radio Actuality: Kick Butts, 3/31/00
JDP Privacy 1, 4/17/00
JDP NIAF, 9/17/99
JDP Knox College, 9/7/00
JDP League of Conservation Voters, 10/6/99
JDP AFL-CIO, 10/11/99
JDP President's Service Award, 10/15/99
JDP AFT, 10/18/99
JDP LCV, 10/6/99
JDP: WJC B-Day, 8/19/00
JDP Electronic Privacy, 7/14/00
JDP Farm Journal, 12/6/99
ATTACHMENTS 18998
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Advertising Age, September 13, 1993
Copyright 1993 Crain Communications, Inc.
Advertising Age
September 13, 1993
SECTION: RESEARCH NEWS; Pg. 40
LENGTH: 503 words
HEADLINE: 'Leave stereotypes at home';
Survey shows senior travelers prize innovative offers
BYLINE: By Jeffery D. Zbar
BODY:
Senior travelers have tired of unfavorable stereotyping that portrays them as slow and aging, and
are ready to reward innovative and cost-conscious tour package promoters.
That is part of the findings within the first RY&P/Yankelovich Partners National Travel Monitor survey,
conducted and released jointly by Orlando agency Robinson, Yesawich & Pepperdine and Yankelovich,
a Westport, Conn., market research group.
Like the general population, seniors are cynical and distrusting of advertisers, and are eager to dump
marketers, along with car salesmen, in the "basement of consumer confidence," said Dennis
Marzella, senior VP-research and strategic planning with Robinson.
For example, only 14% of those surveyed said they have "great confidence" in the recommendations
of travel agents.
"Advertisers that want to penetrate the mature travel market need to do their homework to better
understand this market," Mr. Marzella said. " It is important for marketers to clearly understand
these interests because we are just beginning to feel their impact in the travel industry."
The findings parallel those of a study published by the Travel Industry Association of America
advising travel advertisers to avoid such terms as "gray," "withered," "senile" or "eccentric," and
instead to portray seniors in "active" roles, from business to leisure activities.
Americans 55 and older are a lucrative, growing audience: 53 million today, 59 million by 2000
and 75 million by 2010, Mr. Marzella said. In 1992, seniors spent an estimated $ 73 billion on
domestic travel, said Steve Jones, director of marketing and membership at the U.S. Travel Data
Center.
The implication of the findings on marketing to seniors is fundamental, Mr. Marzella said. If
marketers address cynical seniors with honesty -- and then deliver what was promised -- loyalty will
follow.
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"The key is what we call authentic communication," he said. "That doesn't mean it can't be
entertaining or creative. It has to be true."
Researchers found that seniors, like their younger counterparts, are increasingly fond of the
perceived value found with all-inclusive package tours, especially those that provide active outdoor
or adventure-type excursions. Half of the seniors surveyed seek packages; 30% look for outdoor
adventures, he said.
The lure of packages represents a desire to "streamline" their lives and reflects current economic
worries, he said.
Among the Travel Monitor's other findings: Seniors are more inclined than the general population to
gamble (15% vs. 12%), revisit destinations (42% vs. 38%) and visit city destinations (33% vs.
21%). While vacationing, seniors are less interested than the general population in participating in
sports like tennis (3% vs. 8%), snorkeling and scuba diving (less than 1% vs. 20%) and snow skiing
(4% vs. 18%).
The random, phone survey sampled 1,003 Americans, 270 of them 55 and older, in fourth-quarter
1992; margin of error was 3.1 percentage points.
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American Demographics, April, 1993
Copyright 1993 American Demographics, Inc.
American Demographics
April, 1993
SECTION: BUSINESS REPORTS; Attitudes & Values; Pg. 26
LENGTH: 609 words
HEADLINE: RAPID GROWTH IN RUSHIN' AMERICANS
BYLINE: Geoffrey Godbey and Alan Graefe, Department of Leisure Studies, Penn State University
BODY:
AMERICANS CONTINUE TO PACK more and more activities into the 24-hour day, leaving less and
less time for relaxation. In a 1992 National Recreation and Park Association survey, more than one in
three Americans (38 percent) said they "always felt rushed." This proportion compares with 22
percent in 1971 and 32 percent in 1985, according to surveys by the Americans' Use of Time Project
directed by John Robinson of the University of Maryland.
The most time-pressured Americans have the same characteristics as they did in 1985. They are
aged 25 to 54, full-time workers, and parents. These groups probably aren't exaggerating their stress
level, as they also report less free time in diary-based surveys. Women are more likely to feel rushed
than men (37 percent versus 33 percent), and the marrier are more likely to feel rushed than the
unmarried (41 percent versus 33 percent).
The stress gap is greatest for those who combine work, marriage, and parenthood. Almost two in
three working mothers (64 percent) report that they feel rushed, 7 points higher than working
fathers. Nearly three in four (72 percent) single mothers who work claim they are always rushed.
Although women's stress levels are affected much more than men's by the presence of children,
men's stress increases more when they get married.
Two groups appear to have calmed down somewhat since 1985. Twenty-seven percent of young
adults (aged 18 to 24) said they felt rushed in 1992, compared with 32 percent in 1985. And
unmarried people report no more stress (33 percent) than they did in 1985.
Many people believe that the pace of rural life is slower. But life in small towns leaves its residents
feeling just as rushed as life in a big city.
Feeling rushed may have more to do with one's attitudes than with one's activities. People who get
more than 15 minutes of exercise a day are only half as likely as others to feel rushed, 22 percent
versus 44 percent. Other forms of personal behavior eating well, getting medical care, avoiding
cigarette smoke, and having moderate alcohol consumption -- have little or no effect on whether
people feel rushed.
A spouse's behavior has a dramatic effect on stress levels. On average, 38 percent of Americans feel
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rushed. But if a spouse doesn't exercise regularly, it's 45 percent. If a spouse smokes, it's 47
percent; if a spouse abuses alcohol, 60 percent; and if a spouse uses tranquilizers, 75 percent.
People are more likely to feel rushed if they also say they are dissatisfied with themselves, unable to
do things as well as others, feel useless, or don't have much to be proud of. Perhaps those with low
self-esteem are more likely to feel overwhelmed, or perhaps the rushed feeling eats away at a
person's self-confidence.
The feeling of time pressure in America is growing stronger. Nearly half (48 percent) of Americans
say they have less leisure time now than they did five years ago, while only one respondent in five
(22 percent) says they have more leisure time. Those under 25 have reported the greatest losses in
leisure time, perhaps because in the last five years they have started working full-time.
Why do people feel more rushed? More than one in three (38 percent) say that both work and leisure
activities make them feel rushed; 36 percent blame it entirely on work, and 26 percent blame
leisure. Employed men are much more likely to blame work (50 percent). And people who place more
importance on work than leisure activities are more likely to report feeling rushed (47 percent),
compared with just 28 percent of those who place equal or greater importance on play.
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The New York Times, May 11, 1993
Copyright 1993 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
May 11, 1993, Tuesday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section A; Page 21; Column 2; Editorial Desk
LENGTH: 707 words
HEADLINE: Observer;
Strange Idlers
BYLINE: By RUSSELL BAKER
BODY:
Here from American Demographics magazine is a day-by-day study of how Americans use their
leisure. If, like me, you yearn to be a 100 percent typical American it is unsettling to discover that
hobbies occupy far more of the typical American's leisure than wine.
Just look at these statistics: On Monday 1 percent of the average American's leisure is devoted
to hobbies. On Tuesday it shoots up to 2.3 percent and on Wednesday to 2.4 percent before falling
back to 2 percent on Thursday, 1.1 percent on Friday, and a mere 1 percent on Saturday.
I don't have a hobby. Or to put it in terms of the survey, the amount of my leisure devoted to
hobbies is 0 percent on Monday through Saturday, as well as on Sunday when the typical American
is devoting a 1.5 percent leisure outlay to hobbies.
If I seem unduly sensitive about my un-American performance on hobbies, it is because all my life
people have been looking with disapproval after asking, "What are your hobbies?" and being told the
truth. Not having a hobby is widely regarded in this country as indicative of criminal tendencies.
To cover my shame when the confession is forced out of me, usually by official interrogators, licensed
psychologists and other authorized busybodies, I try to explain that I collected stamps when I was 10
years old, but gave it up after getting the mumps. I suspected the mumps came from a $1.98 box of
1,000 stamps, all of which had to be separated from their envelope backings and on one of which, I
believed, lurked the mumps germ that did me in.
That cured me not just of stamp collecting, but of all hobbies. Now when investigators check my
fitness for modern living, they are visibly dismayed to find my house has no ham radio in the attic,
no carpentry shop in the cellar and no antique bookbinding equipment next to the laundry tubs.
Such is my aversion to hobbies that when I find myself in a house with a ham operator in the attic,
cabinet-making tools in the basement and antique books next to the laundry tubs, I leave quickly.
This saves me the necessity to praise badly made bird houses, to talk to Argentina via shortwave and
to feign interest in techniques for preventing bleach spills on first editions.
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Here's another department that galls me: parlor sports. Are you aware that all across America the
typical American at leisure spends 1 percent of that leisure every Monday on parlor sports? On the
other six days parlor sports strike out.
What are parlor sports? Boxing, I suppose. Arm wrestling, hurdling the settee, chinning oneself on
the curtain rods, swinging from the chandelier, climbing the walls
Yes, of course I'm being silly.
People who try parlor sports at our house are asked to leave unless they are small enough to be sent
to bed.
I am particularly distressed by the figures for do-it-yourself activities, which range from 3.5 percent
on Monday to an impressive 5 percent on Saturday. I discovered long ago that if I am doing it myself
it's going to be a disaster.
Therefore, I never do it myself, but always propose that if it absolutely must be done we have
someone competent drop by and do it for me. It is astonishing how many competent people are
delighted by the chance to do it themselves for you.
I have close kin, for example, who are proud of their skills at do-it-yourself affairs. When my leisure
is threatened by a do-it-yourself project, I simply phone them a warning that I am about to do it
myself unless someone arrives in time to stop me.
What pleasure they get from proving themselves superior to their dear relation while doing it
themselves for him.
Here's something else: water skiing. Skiing on water is so closely akin to walking on water that I
believe it ought to be avoided as a human infringement on divine rights. Yet, believe it or not, 1.4
percent of American leisure on Sundays is spent water skiing. That is more than the 1.3 percent
spent swimming and 1.1 percent spent fishing, two other watery time killers in which my score is 0
percent.
What does it all mean? That question leads happily to my kind of leisure expenditure. As soon as I
finish this work, I shall open a bottle of wine and debate whether to ponder what it all means, or take
a nap.
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Chicago Tribune, July 18, 1993
Copyright 1993 Chicago Tribune Company
Chicago Tribune
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July 18, 1993, Sunday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: REAL ESTATE; Pg. 1; ZONE: S
LENGTH: 1762 words
HEADLINE: Boomers fuel demand for retreats
BYLINE: By T.J. Howard, Tribune Staff Writer.
DATELINE: MINNEAPOLIS
BODY:
Homes Sweet Homes: If real estate visionaries are correct, those cross-stitch samplers hanging
over American mantels may need a couple more letters.
For more and more people, having two houses is becoming the norm, said experts at the Urban Land
Institute's spring meeting here.
The outlook for vacation and second homes in the coming years is especially sunny, recreational real
estate brokers say, citing a number of statistics to support that forecast.
On the demographic front, the graying of the Baby Boom generation has a lot to do with the
brightening second home market. Boomers, who range from 29 to 47 right now, are entering their
peak earning years.
Even better, once they hit 50, Boomers will have more discretionary income. The golden age crowd
accounts for 80 percent of the dollars spent in the luxury travel market, say experts.
Boomers also have great expectations in the inheritance area.
"Their parents are the wealthiest generation in American history, with a net worth of $6.8 trillion,"
said M. Leanne Lachman, managing director of Schroeder Real Estate Associates in New York. During
the years 2002 to 2006, Lachman predicts a "huge transfer of dollars."
Besides having deeper pockets, Boomers also have the desire to buy second homes.
In 1993, 43.8 percent of people surveyed said they were interested in purchasing vacation property
in the next 10 years, compared to 25.5 percent in 1990, according to a survey conducted by Ragatz
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Associates, a Eugene, Ore.-based market research firm.
And a 1991 poll from the Roper Organization found that 41 percent of Americans value leisure
time over work, while 36 percent deemed work more important. This marks the first time leisure
lovers have outnumbered workaholics, said Lachman.
Still more motivation: Many two-income earners have made lifestyle and job compromises to remain
in a metropolitan area where they are both employed.
"Their reasoning," said Lachman, "is that if we're stuck here, we might as well make the most of it."
Certainly, second homes are nothing new. "People have been leaving Manhattan for years," said
Lachman.
Yet as crime, overcrowding and other urban ills increase, the evacuation pattern is spreading. People
in Ft. Wayne, Ind., are just as eager to get away from it all as those in the Big Apple.
Vacation home buyers in the '90s have a different mindset from previous generations, however. For
starters, today's buyers are users as opposed to investors, a result of tighter tax laws.
This has affected new developments. Vacation homes being built today are larger and have more
storage and communal space, reflecting families who use them on a repeated basis.
Another change: Vacation homes aren't as glitzy, say experts. Owners are more interested in
personal pursuits and family ties than in entertaining clients or impressing the boss.
Less glamor doesn't necessarily mean fewer gadgets. Fiber optics, for instance, are showing up as
builders prepare for offices in vacation homes.
"Technology has made it possible to enter new lifestyles not possible a decade ago," said Judson Ball,
vice chairman of ULI's recreational development council and chief executive of Plumwood Corp., a
Chicago commercial real estate firm.
"If developers don't think about (high tech), they're missing the boat," said Richard McElyea,
executive vice president of Economics Research Associates in San Francisco, a real estate consulting
firm.
Yet it is natural beauty that remains the main attraction when picking a vacation property.
"It's not so much what developers can create, as what God provides," said Diana Permar, president
of Permar & Ravenol, a market research firm in Kiawah Island, S.C.
Although a few Florida vacation communities may exist on golf alone, most second home projects are
anchored by waterfront or mountains.
"People are coming from hectic lives and relatively dense environments.
A vacation home has to
have a different feel from your day-to-day surroundings," Permar said.
Vacation home experts classify permanent getaways into two main camps: weekend homes, which
are located about a two-hour drive from the primary residence, and destination homes, which
generally involve a plane trip.
Some real estate players are more bullish on weekend homes. For one thing, dual-income couples
frequently have trouble coordinating their time off.
"There's clearly a trend in the market to shorter vacations, said McElyea. And that means vacations
closer to home.
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Yet for those who make weekend pilgrimages from Chicago to Lake Geneva or New Buffalo, Mich., a
two-hour drive on crowded highways can turn into a far longer trek. Which is why destination home
advocates say a plane ride may be preferable.
"The traveling is not really that big of a deal," said Charles H. Shaw, ULI president and chairman of
The Shaw Co. in Chicago, who owns a home in Snowmass, Colo., near Aspen. "I could leave Chicago
in the morning and be on the slopes by noon."
And destination getaways, especially if they are located in an attractive area, can also serve as
gathering places for families spread across the country, say experts.
Those who might gnash their teeth over visiting relatives in Dubuque, Iowa, would probably think
twice before passing up a reunion in Vail, Colo., or Hilton Head, S.C.
Destination homes "are what Grandma's house used to be," said James Chaffin, president of Spring
Island Inc., a private recreational park located off the coast of South Carolina.
If money is an object, vacation home owners may feel pressured to get the most mileage out of their
investment.
"My God, we've got it, we better use it" is the mindset of many, said Robert Lesser, head of his own
consulting firm in Los Angeles. "Instead of picking up and going to Portugal, you go back to Myrtle
Beach."
Although this may cramp the style of globetrotters, for others, familiarity breeds content. Some
vacationers like having established ties in a community - knowing, for example, that the best brats in
Manitowoc, Wis., can be had at Brey's grocery.
Indeed, for couples edging closer to retirement, a vacation home makes migration to another part of
the country a smoother transition, say experts.
But some say the market is going too upscale, especially for those eyeing planned destination
communities.
"Let's say someone wants to go to Palm Springs," said Lesser. "If you purchase a single-family house
in a golf community, even at entry level, you're talking about $150,000 to $200,000 to get your
hands on the deed."
Costs don't stop at the mortgage payment, warns Lesser. All those amenities such as security and
landscaping translate into another $200 to $500 in monthly bills.
"And that doesn't even let you play golf," Lesser said. "How many households with income under
$100,000 can afford that?"
Yet vacation home advocates are betting that the benefits of recreational property will outweigh the
financial burden.
"No matter what happens to the economy, the second market looks good," said Chaffin.
Even skeptics acknowledge there is something magical about a vacation home.
Tom Gilmore, a 50-year-old Lincolnwood resident, swore he'd never own a vacation home. His
childhood summers were filled with repairs and chores at the family's Fox Lake retreat.
Yet today, Gilmore is the proud owner of a two-bedroom vacation home in South Haven, Mich.
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Although Gilmore docks his boat in Melrose Harbor in Chicago, he never spends time on the city's
beaches; a member of the Art Institute, he has yet to eat at the restaurant.
It's a different story on the other side of Lake Michigan, where he and his wife, Edith, find plenty of
time for walks on the beach, visits to local art galleries and meandering, says Gilmore.
"In the city, people always find things to do around the house. It's like a guilt thing. You can't go out
and enjoy the city," said Gilmore. "Here (at his weekend home) you spend your time doing exactly
what you want to do."
Timesharing polishes its tarnished image
Once a dirty word, timesharing is getting a lot more respect in recreational real estate circles.
High-pressure sales tactics and gimmicks have now shifted to a softer sell. Other problems, such as
rigid scheduling and inadequate reserve funds, are likewise being resolved.
Experts credit new players such as Hilton, Marriott and Disney for brightening the tarnished image of
timesharing.
Timesharing allows vacationers to purchase a block of days at a particular development, usually in
one-week increments.
The buyer has the right to use that property during that week only, but often timeshare owners can
trade their weeks between months and even between properties.
The obvious advantage of buying timeshares over owning recreational property is the lower price
tag: The average timeshare cost is about $8,000 with about $315 in annual maintainance fees,
according to Richard Ragatz, president of Ragatz Associates, a Eugene, Ore., market research and
consulting firm.
The average timeshare buyer has an income of $57,000, whereas for a vacation home one needs an
income of more than $100,000 to be "a serious contender," said Ragatz.
Timesharing also eliminates the maintainance headaches of a second home.
"Women want a vacation too," says M. Leanne Lachman, managing director of Schroeder Real Estate
in New York.
While one-week purchases have been the standard in timesharing, new methods are emerging:
"fractional timesharing" and "undivided interests."
With a fractional interest, buyers purchase a larger block of time, generally five weeks.
The advantage is that the cost per week is usually lower, said Richard McElyea, executive vice
president at Economics Research Associates in San Francisco.
When buying one week at a time, 35 percent or more of your payment is going to pay off the
developer's marketing costs, McElyea said. By selling off bigger blocks, the developer has less to
recoup.
With undivided interests, buyers don't own a specific unit, but a certain percentage of a project -
similar to a co-op. This then entitles buyers to a certain number of days a year at the resort,
although the unit they stay in may vary.
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While timesharing is cheaper than a permanent vacation home, there's also less investment
opportunity. Whereas a second home may appreciate in value, timeshare resales have a spotty
record.
Timesharing should be viewed as "a prepaid vacation rather than an investment," McElyea said. "You
can always sell your timeshare, but the resale history is not good."
GRAPHIC: PHOTO: Baby Boomers seeking escape from stress in the cities are adding to demand for
second homes, such as this Wisconsin Log Home that is popular in America's Dairyland. Wisconsin
Log Homes Inc. photo.
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The Seattle Times, April 25, 1993
Copyright 1993 The Seattle Times Company
The Seattle Times
April 25, 1993, Sunday, Final Edition
SECTION: NORTHWEST; EMMETT WATSON; Pg. B2
LENGTH: 685 words
HEADLINE: NOW LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE DOLCE FAR NIENTE CROWD!
BYLINE: BY EMMETT WATSON
BODY:
My occasional propaganda pieces extolling the virtues of sloth go unheeded in certain areas.
While most people would like to be slothful, or lazy, this subject rings no bells among our
super-achievers - people like Lou Piniella, Bill Gates, Gretchen Mathers, Jim Ellis, Don James, Dr.
Pepper Schwartz and others well up on the success ladder.
Forget them. Let them wallow in their riches or public esteem.
No true sloth-lover would envy their 70-hour weeks, their commanding eminence, their high perches
as role models to our young.
Real sloth-hood is being confirmed on all sides.
Lately, you may have noticed, our precincts were graced by the presence of Juliet Schor, a Harvard
economist, who was here promoting her book, "The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline
of Leisure."
She reports that millions of Americans are working themselves silly. The old dream - shorter
hours, longer vacations, paid sabbaticals - is being shattered.
Even Schor herself, a recent mother, now a book-promoter, is out there on the fast track, trying to
get out of it.
More Americans working longer hours have caused a growing legion of "temps." These are part-time
workers, lucky to have any kind of low-paying, now-and-then job, straining like mad to get back, not
only on the fast track, but any track available.
"Nobody is Safe," proclaimed Time Magazine. It quoted Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, who says 90
percent of new jobs created in February "were involuntary, part-time jobs."
1
He went on to say that no fewer than one-third of American workers are in this fix. "They say they
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are suffering incredible stress."
So we have the overworked and the underworked. We are in a mell of a hess, aren't we?
Longtime followers of this slothful department, with not an energetic bone in their bodies, recognize
that we drones, we limpy, lackadaisical laggards are way ahead of the game.
For years I have argued that too much devotion to duty can lead to disaster. If Henry Kissinger had
been one of us, we would never have bombed Cambodia.
If George Bush had paid more attention to his golf cart, the world would never have heard of Gen.
Stormin' Norman, certainly not Saddam Hussein.
IBM would be a healthy species instead of a floundering mastodon if its executives slept until noon.
Make no mistake, the honorable condition of sloth is the wave of the future.
Two of my friends, Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez, live in the Ravenna district. Joe is a former stock
analyst on Wall Street. He retired at age 30.
Together they live a rich and fulfilling life, doing only those things that please them or which help
society. They teach people how to get along on less and still be fulfilled.
Not long ago they wrote a book teaching people the principles of minimalism, or anti-rampant
consumerism.
The book is called "Your Money or Your Life." It is now into its 11th printing and has sold 160,000
copies. A lot of people need something very badly.
Your correspondent does no credit to the teachings of Joe and Vicki. I have always been a consumer,
an impulse buyer, with an intimate, though not always tender relationship with credit-card
companies.
Once I bought an '84 Corvette, which I christened the White Hog. It was a wildly insane, uneconomic
desire to own something glitzy. The same for a 23-foot motorhome. On the insurance premiums
alone I could have visited Europe three times.
I own more shirts and jackets than the 7th Cavalry.
A long time ago (again on impulse) I bought a puppy for $ 150. This puppy turned out to be Tiger, a
lovable, but expensive French poodle. We have been together 13 years.
Each evening, as the upkeep (i.e., vet bills) on Tiger increase, we sit together while I read aloud
President Clinton's plans for universal health care. We search in vain for a canine version.
All of this is not to complain. Life is real, but life need not be earnest and death is not necessarily the
goal.
But all of us could do with fewer envelopes with windows in them.
Emmett Watson's column appears Sunday and Thursday in the Northwest section of The Times.
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AP Worldstream, October 07, 1993
Copyright 1993 Associated Press
AP Worldstream
October 07, 1993, Thursday 09:42 Eastern Time
SECTION: Financial pages
LENGTH: 243 words
HEADLINE: Ex-Senator Calls for Shorter Work Week, More Leisure Time
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
Former Sen. William Proxmire suggests cutting high unemployment in the United States by cutting
the 40-hour work week to spread jobs around.
Proxmire, a Democrat who formerly represented Wisconsin and now is retired in Washington, told
former colleagues on Wednesday that the United States lags behind other industrial nations in
providing workers with more leisure time.
"Including time off for holidays and vacations, the American work week in 1991 averaged 37 hours,"
he said. "In Norway, France, Denmark and West Germany, the comparable average work week was
about 30 hours. In Sweden, it was 28 1/2 hours."
Proxmire recalled that Congress reduced the work week from 72 hours to 40 hours more than 50
years ago but then "slammed the door on legislation to further reduce the 40-hour work week."
"Since then, the country has achieved the most impressive increase in economic productivity in
history," he told members of the House and Senate Labor committees and the Joint Economic
Committee in a letter released Wednesday.
Using advances in productivity to reduce the work week by one hour every third year would provide
an orderly division of the benefits between higher profits, higher wages and increased leisure, he
said.
"This would permit Americans to share the work," he contended. "It would provide a work
opportunity to millions of our fellow Americans who, otherwise, face long periods of unemployed
poverty."
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: November 18, 1993
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Capital Times (Madison, WI.), October 7, 1993
Copyright 1993 Madison Newspapers, Inc.
Capital Times (Madison, WI.)
October 7, 1993, Thursday, FIRST EDITION
SECTION: Front Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 349 words
HEADLINE: WORKAHOLIC PROXMIRE TOUTS SHORTER WORKWEEK
SOURCE: By John Patrick Hunter Associate Editor, The Capital Times
BODY:
Former Wisconsin Sen. William Proxmire, long regarded as a legendary workaholicwho still works six
days a week, suggests that trimming the 40-hour workweek could help cut unemployment by
spreading jobs around.
Proxmire, 77, said today he still shows up at his office in the Library of Congress even on Saturdays,
and he enjoys what he's doing now at a more leisurely pace.
"When I was running for office, I spent all my time working, and it was a shame as far as my wife
and kids were concerned. She did a helluva good job raising the kids, but I didn't contribute a damn
thing to it. I regret it."
Proxmire, a Democrat who represented Wisconsin for 32 years and now is retired in Washington, told
former colleagues on Wednesday the United States lags behind other industrial nations in providing
workers with more leisure time.
"Including time off for holidays and vacations, the American workweek in 1991 averaged 37 hours,"
he said. "In Norway, France, Denmark and west Germany, the comparable average workweek was
about 30 hours. In Sweden, it was 28 1/2 hours."
Proxmire recalled that Congress reduced the workweek from 72 hours to 40 hours more than 50
years ago but then "slammed the door on legislation to further reduce the 40-hour workweek."
"Since then, the country has achieved the most impressive increase in economic productivity in
history," he told members of the House and Senate Labor committees and the Joint Economic
Committee in a letter released Wednesday.
Using advances in productivity to reduce the workweek by one hour every third year would provide
an orderly division of the benefits among higher profits, higher wages and increased leisure, he said.
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"This would permit Americans to share the work," he contended. "It would provide a work
opportunity to millions of our fellow Americans who, otherwise, face long periods of unemployed
poverty."
Proxmire said he's happy in retirement even though he works six days a week. "I enjoy it. It is not
really work. I am writing books, and I'm doing things that I enjoy very much."
NOTES:
The Associated Press contributed to this report. A shorter version ran on
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The Boston Globe, November 29, 1993
Copyright 1993 Globe Newspaper Company
The Boston Globe
View Related Topics
November 29, 1993, Monday, City Edition
SECTION: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY; Pg. 21
LENGTH: 1336 words
HEADLINE: For many, retirement is a reward they'd rather skip;
Aging / JUDY FOREMAN
BYLINE: By Judy Foreman, Globe Staff
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS
BODY:
In 1986, Days Inns of America, the country's third-largest hotel chain, was in a jam. It was unable
to recruit enough younger people to work its 24-hour reservations hotline, which handles nearly
24,000 calls a day, and employee turnover was running nearly 100 percent.
In desperation, the company began looking for workers over age 50, who promptly turned
expectations upside down.
Not only did they master the computer software as fast as younger people, they stayed in their jobs
three times as long, were absent less, and, although they spent more time on each phone call, they
booked more reservations, researchers said at a conference here last week.
Almost the same thing happened in Great Britain, where a chain of British home supply stores also
faced 100 percent turnover. As at Days Inns, managers at B&Q took a gamble. In 1989, they began
hiring only workers 50 or over at their store in Macclesfield, near Manchester, and then compared its
performance to five other B&Q stores'. The results were stunning.
The Macclesfield store was 18 percent more profitable. Turnover was one-sixth that at the other
stores; absenteeism, 39 percent lower. And "leakage," or theft, was half that of the other stores,
perhaps because the older workers kept a more watchful eye on customers.
Many people, of course, spend their lives dreaming of the day they will reach a magic birthday,
collect a gold watch, wave goodbye to the boss and head off to golf and grandchildren in perpetuity.
Indeed, half of all Americans over 55 - about 26.4 million people - are retired and want to keep it
that way.
But many older Americans - in fact, one in 10 - want nothing of the kind, and these numbers are
expected to increase as workaholic Baby Boomers bump up against subtle and not-so-subtle
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pressures from employers to step aside.
Two large studies, one released in June and the other last week at a Gerontological Society of
America conference here, show that millions of older Americans want to work and cannot - often
because employers won't allow flexible hours or part-time work, or because the financial incentives
of certain pension plans seduce them into early retirement.
The latest report, from the private, nonprofit Commonwealth Fund in New York, found that 5.4
million Americans aged 55 or over - or one in seven of older Americans already out of the workforce -
want to work but cannot. Half want to work for financial reasons, the other half for personal
gratification.
And more than half of those aged 50 to 64 who planned to retire said they would stay for years more
if employers offered more flexible work, said the report, titled "The Untapped Resource."
The Commonwealth Fund, a philanthropic group, has spent $ 4.3 million over five years on several
projects to understand the aspirations of America's 55-plus age group, including commissioning two
surveys by pollster Louis Harris of about 3,000 people each.
A separate government-funded survey of nearly 13,000 people aged 51 to 61, analyzed by economist
F. Thomas Juster of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, reported in June
that three-quarters of Americans approaching retirement age want to phase down to part-time work.
However, most fear their bosses will not let them switch to less-demanding, lower-paying work.
Although economic pressures underlie some of the desire to stay in or return to the workforce later in
life, there are other motives as well, particularly the desire to do something important and feel
involved.
Indeed, we are undergoing "a revolution in the way we conceive work and leisure, with many people
seeking significant roles throughout the life course. What people are looking for is meaning and
purpose," says Scott A. Bass, director of the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts
at Boston.
Many people - 26 percent of those 55 and over - find meaning in volunteer work, contributing $ 14
billion a year in unpaid labor. But millions of others want to get their sense of purpose - and a
paycheck - by working, says Bass, adding, "we need to remove barriers so they can contribute to
society and to its economic growth."
Where employers envision problems in keeping older workers on the job, workers themselves often
see solutions, the data suggest.
At the British B&Q store, for instance, managers were concerned about how older workers would lift
heavy sacks. The workers simply paired up to hoist the bags, said Michael C. Barth, a senior vice
president at ICF Inc., which supported the Commonwealth Fund research.
Furthermore, Barth told the gerontology meeting, older workers are willing to work under conditions
others might find objectionable:
Thirty-seven percent said they would work evenings and weekends; 41 percent said they would work
even if it meant standing all day; 72 percent were willing to work alone, and 60 percent to accept a
pay cut.
It is the "inflexible workplace," he said, that is "the most serious impediment" for older workers
seeking to remain in or get back into the paid workforce.
To remedy this, the fund urged employers to offer older workers some of the flexible-hours programs
developed to help working parents. It also urged job-sharing and at-home work, training of older
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workers to keep up with new technologies and loans for workers who want to set up their own
businesses as consultants or vendors with companies where they have worked.
Another solution, the fund suggested, is to follow the lead of the Travelers Corp., which in 1981 set
up a job bank for retirees at its headquarters in Hartford. The job bank now lists 700 retirees who fill
temporary vacancies throughout the company. According to the fund's analysis, the job bank saved
the firm nearly $ 900,000 in 1989.
Many people who are on the fence about retiring are tipped toward retirement by "defined benefit"
pension plans that stack the deck against staying in a career job.
Boston College economist Joseph Quinn says such plans are often set up "so that the longer you stay
in your career job, that is, the longer you delay retirement, the lower the total value of your
benefits."
Suppose you are 65, earn $ 50,000 a year and are eligible for pension benefits of $ 10,000 a year,
he says. And suppose the total value of those benefits over the years what economists call the
"present discounted value" - is $ 80,000.
If, instead of retiring at 65, you work one more year, until 66, you give up the $ 10,000 in benefits
for that year. It's true that if you wait until you are 66, your benefits each year will be a bit higher,
perhaps $ 10,500, but because you forfeited your first $ 10,000, your total lifetime benefits would be
smaller, perhaps $ 73,000 instead of $ 80,000.
"This is essentially an incentive to retire early," Quinn says.
In recent years, he adds, mandatory retirement has been outlawed by the government, and Social
Security benefits are being changed, albeit slowly, so that by 2010, to eliminate disincentives to
work.
"All that's left is the defined benefit pension disincentives," said Quinn. Some argue that they, too,
should be wiped out.
"If firms really want to keep older people on the job, it's easy," he says. "Just eliminate the work
disincentives and show some flexibility with respect to hours and working conditions."
Willing and flexible
A 1992 survey by Louis Harris and Associates, Inc. of 3,000 Americans age 55 and older who are
willing and able to work found that they many would accept a wide range of working conditions.
Working Condition Percent willing Part-time (2-3 days a week) year-round 84 Working alone 72
Seasonal 68 For less pay than last job 60 With commute of 1/2 hour each way 58 Standing most of
the day 41 Evenings and weekends 37 Source: The Untapped Resource: The Final Report of the
Americans Over 55 at Work Program.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO CHART, GLOBE STAFF PHOTO/FRANK O'BRIEN / Boston College economist Joseph
Quinn says "defined benefit" pension plans stack the deck in favor of retirement.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: December 1, 1993
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Los Angeles Times, April 11, 1993
Copyright 1993 The Times Mirror Company
Los Angeles Times
View Related Topics
April 11, 1993, Sunday, Home Edition
SECTION: Part A; Page 1; Column 1; National Desk
LENGTH: 3447 words
HEADLINE: COLUMN ONE;
LIFE IN U.S., GRADED ON THE CURVE;
COMPARED TO OTHER NATIONS, AMERICA SCORES HIGH IN AREAS SUCH AS HOME CONVENIENCES
AND NATIONAL WEALTH. BUT IT TRAILS MANY WHEN RATED ON PERSONAL POVERTY AND LEISURE
TIME.
BYLINE: By JONATHAN PETERSON, TIMES STAFF WRITER
BODY:
If the success of a society is in putting a roof over everyone's head -- even if it is made of palm
fronds -- then the United States can learn a lot from ancient tribes in the Amazon.
"Everybody has a place to put their hammock," said John H. Bodley, an anthropologist at Washington
State University, speaking of the Yanomamo people in Brazil and Venezuela.
Then again, most people in the 1990s have a different vision of the good life. The typical wish list,
say, might feature a handful of modern conveniences, a secure job, a cozy home and a reasonable
shot at getting ahead.
How does America's standard of living stack up in the world these days? Better than you might
expect by some gauges, and perhaps worse by others. In comparison to other societies, the United
States emerges as a hodgepodge of contradictions, bests, worsts and in-betweens -- all coexisting in
uneasy proximity.
It ranks first in billionaires but first also "in children living in poverty among the 19 major industrial
nations," declares author Andrew L. Shapiro in "We're Number One," a 1992 book of global rankings.
"We're No. 1 in health care spending and we're No. 1 in infant mortality
"The United States is wealthy and poor," Shapiro said, "medically advanced and chronically ill, highly
educated and highly uninformed."
The question of the nation's economic well-being has become a monumental issue, shaking people's
confidence in the future, even prompting voters to toss out an incumbent President. More than half of
Americans say they believe that the nation remains mired in recession, even though the experts say
the slump officially ended almost two years ago.
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President Clinton is gambling his presidency on a plan to improve conditions for the long run. In the
process, he has fueled a heated national debate on taxes, spending cuts and the need for personal
sacrifice.
But as the nation struggles to come to terms with its ailments, the ensuing debate often has gaping
holes. Statistics are incomplete, short-term and interpreted differently. Abstract concepts like
productivity are tossed about with little clear link to people's daily lives.
Rarely does the rhetoric get to the heart of people's experience of their economy, the trade-offs they
must make for a modicum of security, a measure of serenity, a chance to enjoy the things that they
have.
The success of an economy, after all, is more than just a measure of its gross domestic product or
the trend in its unemployment rate.
Milton Friedman, the Nobel laureate economist, recalls that when he was a Columbia University
graduate student during the Depression, America suffered painful economic woes. But "the subways
were clean. They cost a nickel. Nobody was afraid (of street crime)
Is New York a more livable
place or less livable place than it was then?"
Clearly, there are hazards in trying to compare today's standard of living to that of different times or
places. Cultural values clash or, at the very least, evolve. Statistics often are not comparable. Any
single comparison provides at best just a meager fragment of the truth.
How can we explain that Denmark, widely admired for its affluence, generous social safety net and
democratic tradition, also has one of the world's highest suicide rates?
Similarly, it is not accurate to point out that the Yanomamo enjoy far greater income equality than
modern-day Americans without also noting that they have traditionally made do without electric
power, indoor plumbing and clothes.
For all the pitfalls, however, comparing the United States to other countries is an exercise in
shattering myths. No single detail gives the full picture. But taken together the different categories
create a more subtly shaded portrait of the U.S. standard of living than emerges from routine
statistics.
Think of it as a report card:
THINGS PEOPLE HAVE: A
Americans have reason to worry about the economy, but they are still pampered compared to most
of the world. U.S. households rank near the top in purchases of microwave ovens, food processors,
consumer electronics and most other modern luxuries.
In 1990, 84% of U.S. households owned a microwave oven, 69% owned a VCR and 27% had a home
computer. By contrast, in affluent western Germany, just 36% owned microwaves, 37% owned VCRs
and 16% had a home computer.
Even in Japan, wealth only partially trickles down to average working people. By a slight margin,
fewer Japanese households owned VCRs (66.8%) than their U.S. counterparts, and slightly less than
70% had microwaves.
A 1991 survey by the Union Bank of Switzerland found that on average, workers in 12 typical
occupations around the world, such as bus driver and schoolteacher, had to work 26 minutes to earn
enough for a Big Mac and large order of French fries.
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In Los Angeles and Zurich, it took just 20 minutes, whereas it took almost four hours in Mexico City.
NATIONAL WEALTH: A
True or False? In terms of their size, Japan and Germany have surpassed the United States in
national riches. Answer: False.
When the size of each national economy is divided by the country's population, Americans on
average still hold the largest slice of the pie among major industrial powers.
The share of wealth for Germans and Canadians each was about 13% smaller than for Americans in
1991. The Japanese were about 1 percentage point down the ladder. By other calculations,
Switzerland and Luxembourg are almost at the U.S. level, but not quite.
In 1990, U.S. manufacturing employees remained the world's highest paid, just ahead of Germany,
according to the Economic Policy Institute. The reason: U.S. productivity remains tops in the world,
although gains have bogged down since the 1970s.
On the negative side, free -- some would say profligate -- spending has helped fuel all that U.S.
buying. Americans' low savings rates are one of the reasons U.S. households consume so much more
-- 30% -- than those in Japan or Germany, said Robert E. Lipsey, an economist at New York
University.
Government debt also has helped prop up the United States. U.S. red ink, relative to the size of the
economy, is more than six times the share of government debt in Japan, for example.
But for all its magnitude, government debt remains a smaller share of the giant U.S. economy than
in Canada or the Netherlands. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an
international organization that promotes economic development, classified the United States as a
"medium debt" nation.
SATISFACTION: B-plus
Microwaves may not bring happiness, but they don't hurt either. Material well-being is linked to
national measures of satisfaction, and the United States ranks in the middle of the affluent pack.
"There is a strong tendency for richer countries to have more satisfied and happy populations," said
Ronald F. Inglehart, a political scientist at the University of Michigan. On Inglehart's "subjective
well-being index" of 39 countries, people in poor countries, including Russia and India, ranked near
the bottom. Iceland was the big winner, whereas the United States scored eighth. Japan was the real
"underachiever," however, coming in just 21st.
A smaller, separate study comparing the lives of production workers in the United States, Germany,
Britain and Japan ranked the United States somewhere in the middle.
The survey, which was conducted by Yoshio Yoshida, a visiting Japanese scholar at Memphis State
University, queried workers on everything from their daily commutes to the length of time they
worked each week.
Yoshida rated Germany tops in quality of work and personal life, followed by Britain, the United
States and Japan -- which suffers from the "absence of a margin of comfort" in daily life, he said.
CLIMBING THE LADDER: B
If the United States is the fabled land of opportunity, many of its have-nots never see the payoff.
Many others succeed, however a complex reality that continues to stir debate over social policy.
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An Urban Institute analysis of 4,829 working-age adults found that slightly fewer than half who were
on the bottom fifth of the income ladder in the late 1970s managed to climb out by the mid-1980s;
just about half of those on the top fifth slipped downward.
For the bottom fifth overall, average income jumped 77% in that period. Incomes of the top fifth
overall grew by 5%.
Nonetheless, to the disappointment of some researchers, the pace of upward mobility appears no
faster than it was in the 1970s, said analysts Isabel V. Sawhill and Mark Condon at the Urban
Institute, a Washington think tank.
Stagnant mobility trends, combined with downward pressure on wages for the unskilled, relates
directly to the rich-poor gulf in the United States and suggests that "lifetime incomes are becoming
more unequal," the researchers found.
America's up escalator appears to be moving at about the same speed as in other advanced nations,
some studies suggest. One analysis found that households in the bottom 10% of income had about
an equal chance of rising up the income ladder in the United States as in France and the
Netherlands.
The poor in Canada and Ireland did better, but have-nots in Sweden did worse, said Greg J. Duncan,
a program director at the University of Michigan's survey research center.
HEALTH: C-plus
When it comes to health, America merits average grades for a rich nation. But it sure spends a lot in
the health-care stampede -- 13.4% of its entire economy, according to the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development. That's by far the largest share in the advanced world.
Japan, with a longer life expectancy than the United States, devotes less than half as great a share
of its economy to health spending -- just 6.6%.
What do Americans get for all their money? A jumble of contradictions. U.S. haves rank high by
many measures of well-being; have-nots are statistically similar to impoverished residents of the
Third World.
With 7% of its infants having low birth weights, the United States performs worse than 34 other
countries, according to UNICEF, the U.N. children's fund. But the rate for U.S. blacks was almost
twice as high, comparable to struggling Third World nations such as Zaire. U.S. Latinos had a slightly
better-than-average incidence of low-birth-weight babies, at 6.1%.
America's infant mortality rate (9.1 deaths per 1,000 live births) was nothing to brag about, falling
behind 19 other countries. But the 17.9 rate for U.S. blacks was in another category altogether
worse than much of Eastern Europe and parts of the Caribbean. U.S. Latinos had a 7.8 infant
mortality rate, slightly better than the U.S. average.
Overall, the U.S. life expectancy of slightly more than 76 years is undistinguished in the advanced
world.
HOUSING: C
Myth: Americans are more likely to own their homes than people in other countries. In fact, the
American desire for homeownership is a dream realized by millions throughout the world.
The U.S. homeownership rate -- more than 60% of households -- places it slightly higher than Japan,
but below Norway, Britain and other countries, according to a recent analysis by the Economist
magazine.
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But it is hard to draw conclusions. Out of 18 countries, one of the poorest Ireland -- was the
leader, and wealthy Switzerland stood last. One reason: "People in rural areas are more likely to own
their homes than those in cities," the magazine said.
Overall, U.S. home affordability seems to compare well, according to a spot check by the Arthur
Andersen Real Estate Services Group, even though residents of high-cost regions have a tough time.
(Just 32% of Los Angeles households can afford a typical home, according to the California Assn. of
Realtors. That is hardly more than half the U.S. rate of 57%.)
Americans last year paid about four years' worth of income to buy a typical house, according to an
informal review by the firm.
For Australians and the British, the price of a median home was closer to five years of income. And
the Japanese, it appears, paid more than six years' worth of income.
JOBS FOR EVERYONE: C
A decent, full-time job -- the surest life raft in any successful economy -- is tantalizingly out of reach
for millions of Americans. Forget the unemployment rate -- it does not even count those who have
given up the job search.
Economists have a better way to tally the number of working-age adults who are marooned outside
the workplace. It's called the "inactivity rate."
By this gauge, the United States comes out a bit below average among advanced countries. U.S.
males ages 25 to 54 had an inactivity rate of 6.9% in the 1980s, according to the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development.
The average for 16 countries was a bit lower -- 5.9%. In hard-working Japan, just 3.1% were not
active in the work force. At the other extreme, Italy measured 8.3%.
It is also revealing to look at the ranks of workers saddled in part-time jobs who wish they could find
full-time work. Today, 6.2 million employees -- about one in every 20 workers -- share that
predicament.
That is up a surprising 3.1% since the national recession officially ended in 1991; if the economy had
followed the path of the last five recoveries, the ranks of involuntary part-timers would have shrunk
15.7% by now, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The pressure is global: Analysts say
they believe that similar trends may be under way in Europe.
POVERTY: C-minus
U.S. statistics are shabby compared to other advanced nations, but there is a twist. The U.S. poverty
rate is similar to many other countries' possibly better before welfare and other government aid
reach people's households.
But once public assistance enters the picture, the rankings shift dramatically. Other countries lift a
much larger share of their poor out of poverty than does the United States. U.S. poverty rates are
more than double those of many other advanced nations. Statistics on children are even worse.
In France, for example, 21% of children were counted as poor in the mid-1980s before they received
public aid. But once help from the French government kicked in, the figure fell dramatically to 5%. In
the United States, a similar 22% of children were initially counted as poor but U.S. government
aid only improved the figure to 20%.
International comparisons can be tricky, however.
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Low-income Americans are more likely than poor Germans, Swedes or French to have a complete
bathroom or fully equipped kitchen, said Susan E. Mayer, a sociologist at the University of Chicago.
America's poor are also more likely to have a car than those in Sweden, Canada and France.
Scholars are not sure why U.S. have-nots have more of those things than other countries' have-nots,
but America's overall wealth may be one of the reasons, Mayer said.
SHARING RICHES: C-minus
That infamous gulf between the rich and poor that you have heard so much about is not just a U.S.
problem. It is worse here, though.
Throughout the advanced world, new technologies seem to have pushed up pay for workers
sophisticated enough to handle them. Similarly, the value of a college education has gone up most
everywhere. Wages, meanwhile, have been pressured downward for the least-skilled.
Researchers have observed the trend in much of Western Europe, although it was most pronounced
in Britain and the United States, where anti-poverty policies are often criticized. "They all have the
same disease," said Peter Gottschalk, an economist at Boston College.
The Congressional Budget Office calculated that more than half of the after-tax income gains of the
1980s went to the richest 1% of American households, while the bottom 40% actually lost income.
Overall, U.S. household incomes were less equal than in Britain, western Germany and a handful of
other advanced countries in the late 1980s, according to an index developed by the late Italian
scholar Corrado Gini. But U.S. incomes were a bit more equal than those in France or Italy, and
much more equal than those in many less-developed nations, said Denny Braun, a sociologist at
Mankato State University in Minnesota.
Executives in major U.S. corporations are a special elite: Findings vary, but one study concluded that
American chief executives take home 160 times the pay and benefits of average workers -- a gulf
that is 10 times larger than in Japan.
LEISURE TIME: D
Time to smell the roses, wrestle with the kids, stare glassy-eyed at a personal computer or
whatever you do off the job -- is becoming an endangered commodity. Only the Japanese, it
appears, stick around at work longer than Americans do. (A Japanese supermarket attendant died in
1990 after toiling 360 days in a row.)
Some workers in Western European countries now enjoy more than 40 paid days off a year.
Americans get roughly half that, said Juliet B. Schor, a Harvard University economist who notes that
the U.S. trend toward more working hours is an about-face from the post-World War II pattern.
Explanations vary, but some suggest that the rush of women into the workplace in recent years,
meager wage gains, America's traditional work ethic, employee benefit policies and a weak labor
movement have all played a role.
What's more, U.S. women face a particular time squeeze. Women in Spain, Ireland, Italy and the
Netherlands were much less likely to hold outside jobs than their U.S. counterparts. Women in
Scandinavia may participate in the work force in greater numbers, but the jobs are more likely to be
part-time.
When you throw it all together adding up work inside and outside the home "American women
have the highest total working time," said Schor, author of "The Overworked American."
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U.S. vs. the World: How Life in America Measures Up
We are rich, we are poor, we are healthy, we are sick. The United States in 1993 is a hodgepodge of
contradictions. Here's how we stack up against selected countries in the rest of the Western world on
our "standard of life."
WHAT PEOPLE HAVE
Percentage of households with each item in 1991:
Home
Answering
Food
VCR
computer
Microwave
machine
CD player
processor
U.S.
69%
27%
84%
35%
22%
49%
Japan
67
27
70
10*
34
na
W. Germany
42
16
36
na
24
49
France
35
14
25
na
23
56
*1992 figure
na=not available
SATISFACTION
Life Satisfaction
Happiness
Overall
Index
Iceland
82
95
89
Sweden
80
92
86
Netherlands
82
88
85
Denmark
81
88
85
N. Ireland
78
86
82
Norway
74
88
81
Ireland
74
86
80
United States
73
80
77
Belgium
72
82
77
Finland
71
80
76
HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
Health care spending as percentage of economy, 1991:
U.S.: 13.4%
Canada: 10.0
France: 9.1
Finland: 8.9
Sweden: 8.6
Australia: 8.6
Germany: 8.5
Austria: 8.4
Iceland: 8.4
Italy: 8.3
Netherlands: 8.3
INFANT MORTALITY
Deaths per 1,000 live births, 1990:
Japan: 5
Finland: 6
Sweden: 6
Canada: 7
Germany: 7
Hong Kong: 7
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Netherlands: 7
Switzerland:: 7
Australia: 8
Austria: 8
Belgium: 8
Denmark: 8
France: 8
Ireland: 8
Norway: 8
Singapore: 8
Spain: 8
Britain: 8
Italy: 9
United States: 9
LIFE EXPECTANCY
Calculated from birth, selected countries (most recent estimates)
Japan: 78.8
Iceland: 78.0
Switzerland: 78.0
Sweden: 77.6
Canada: 77.4
Netherlands: 77.1
France: 76.8
Australia: 76.7
Germany: 76.2
United States: 76.0
WEALTH
Standard of living rated among the seven major industrial democracies (gross domestic product per
capita, 1991):
U.S.: 100.0
Germany: 87.2
Canada: 87.1
Japan: 85.8
France: 82.7
Italy: 76.4
Britain: 72.5
LEISURE TIME
Paid holidays in each nation:
Germany: 40
Belgium: 38.5
Austria: 38
Spain: 38
Luxembourg: 37
France: 36.5
Sweden: 36
Greece: 35
Italy: 33.5
U.S.: 20
SHARING THE RICHES
Share of income for each fifth of U.S. families, 1950 to 1990:
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Lowest
Highest
fifth
second
third
fourth
fifth
1950
4.5%
12.0%
17.4%
23.4%
42.7%
1960
4.8
12.2
17.8
24.0
41.3
1970
5.5
12.2
17.6
23.8
40.9
1980
5.2
11.5
17.5
24.3
41.5
1990
4.6
10.8
16.6
23.8
44.3
Sources: UNICEF, Children's Defense Fund; Appliance magazine; Electronic Industries Assn.;
Euromonitor; Electronic Industries Assn. of Japan; 1990-1991 World Values Survey, University of
Michigan political scientist Ronald F. Inglehart; Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development; The World Bank; Council on Competitiveness; U.S. Department of Commerce
GRAPHIC: Photo, Seven percent of U.S. babies have low birth weights, worse than 34 other nations,
UNICEF says. Rate for blacks was almost twice that. LACY ATKINS / Los Angeles Times; Chart, U.S.
vs. the World: How Life in America Measures Up; JULIET B. SCHOR / Los Angeles Times; Table, U.S.
vs. the World: How Life in America Measures Up; JULIET B. SCHOR / Los Angeles Times
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