March 2008 No. 11Table of Contents |
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Since the 1970s, HarrisInteractive has measured the level of confidence that we in the USA have about the leaders of a wide-ranging set of groups. They then developed an index that they think captures our mood—assured, or not. Here’s what our confidence level scorecard looks like for the past 4 decades.
08 REP |
08 DEM |
TOTAL 2008 |
2000 |
1990 |
1980 |
1971 |
|
| Leaders in... | % |
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
% |
| Military | 76 |
37 |
51 |
48 |
43 |
28 |
27 |
| Small business | 58 |
40 |
47 |
X |
X |
X |
X |
| Higher ed institutions | 25 |
39 |
32 |
37 |
35 |
36 |
37 |
| Medicine | 38 |
24 |
28 |
39 |
35 |
34 |
61 |
| Organized religion | 35 |
21 |
25 |
26 |
20 |
22 |
27 |
| US Supreme Court | 37 |
21 |
25 |
34 |
32 |
27 |
23 |
| Public schools | 20 |
19 |
20 |
X |
X |
X |
X |
| Courts/justice system | 17 |
18 |
16 |
X |
X |
X |
X |
| Television news | 13 |
22 |
16 |
20 |
27 |
29 |
X |
| White House | 30 |
7 |
15 |
21 |
14 |
18 |
X |
| Major companies | 21 |
12 |
14 |
29 |
9 |
16 |
27 |
| Wall Street | 15 |
9 |
11 |
30 |
21 |
12 |
X |
| Organized labor | 6 |
17 |
11 |
15 |
18 |
14 |
27 |
| Law firms | 7 |
11 |
10 |
12 |
X |
13 |
X |
| Federal administration | X |
X |
X |
18 |
14 |
17 |
23 |
| Congress | 6 |
11 |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
| Harris Confidence Index | NA |
NA |
55 |
59 |
50 |
49 |
58 |
Harris notes that confidence levels rise and fall because of two forces—specific events (or public perception of events) and the “halo” effect from the general mood of the country, “when things seem to be going well” or not. Yet, it’s still very educated guesswork that can’t always explain things, like the recent sharp decline in confidence in leaders of small business or medicine.
Why does these confidence ratings matter? “Legislators and regulators are probably more likely to take a tougher line with unpopular institutions than with popular ones,” Harris responds. For example, the influence of corporate America probably gets hurt by news about major companies but helped by the high standing of small business. “In a democracy, popularity and unpopularity often make a difference,” they conclude. Check out the detailed report at www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=876.
Andre Carson (D) got 54% of the votes to fill the remainder of his deceased grandmother’s term in Congress. That will be his new job through 2008, but he faces stiff competition for the right to stay there for another two years. Democratic party leaders selected him to run in the March 11 special election, but a state senator, former state health commissioner, and several others are lined up for the May 6 primary when regular voters decide who’s the candidate for the November regular election.
In 2007, Indiana spent $649 Million on keeping people convicted of crimes imprisoned—26,249 all together. Though that was 5.3% of Indiana’s general fund, it was less than the 6.8% national average. Indiana’s correctional workforce accounts for 8.3% of state employees, compared to 11% nationally.
Yet, that means Indiana spends 40¢ on corrections for every $1 it spends on higher education, though that’s lower than the 60¢ national average. Over the last two decades, spending on corrections grew 127% as higher ed spending rose only 21%.
The USA has the highest inmate count per general population than any European nation (750 per 100,000), with Russia second at 628/100k. Denmark was lowest with 67/100k. In fact, there are 403,000 more Americans in prison than all Europe combined.
But that is still 1+% of Americans behind bars—not just awaiting trial, but convicted. That’s 1 in 106 white men, 1 in 54 Hispanic men, and 1 in 15 black men, all aged 18+years. It’s 1 in 355 white women, 1 in 297 Hispanic women, and 1 in 100 black women, all age 35-39 years.
Tougher sentencing from the mid-1980s is behind the national growth in incarcerated criminals. But the US Supreme Court has been giving judges more leeway under newer mandatory sentencing laws, and some states are opting for alternatives. For details on this report and other studies regarding Indiana, see www.pewcenteronthestates.org.
Governing magazine gave Indiana eight “strength” marks (green dots on chart) in its annual “Grading the States” 2008 report. The one red “weakness” grade came in “Performance Auditing & Evaluation,” which however got positive comments about Gov. Daniels’ new PROBE assessment tool that “informs funding and management decisions” with “a snapshot of program performance.”
See www.governing.com/
gpp/2008/index.htm and click the map for Indiana’s complete grade card.
After 13 years atop the Forbes annual list of billionaires, Microsoft’s Bill Gates dropped to #3 this year. Why? Wealth is spreading across the globe. Though $2 Billion richer than last year—$58B—Gates saw the man whose fortune in philanthropy was dedicated to the Gates’ foundation for the cumbersome job of grantmaking—Warren Buffett—rise to #1 because his largesse grew 19% to $62B. And the second richest now is Mexico’s telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Helú, whose fortune doubled over the past 12 months.
Yes, Hoosiers Cook, Simon, and White are still there, but the big story is that the USA’s share of billionaires shrunk from half to a quarter of the total. It’s not that there are fewer in America; it’s that there are more elsewhere. For instance, of the 1,125 on Forbes list, 87 are in Russia—40% of them new to the list—overtaking Germany to be home of the second largest group. And the first black Africans debuted this year. There are now 50 billionaires under age 40. The world’s a-changing!
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