Thought Garage

I had long believed that Capitalism and particularly the Private Sector is a key to a country’s growth and economic well being.  But looking at what Private Sector has done to US, I started having second thoughts on the whole idea. Read the following excerpt from TIME magazine that reveals Private sector failed to create any new jobs in US while still reaping profits and expanding its markets. Myth No. 3: The private sector will make it all better There is a fundamental disconnect between the fortunes of American companies, which are doing quite well, and American workers, most of whom are earning a lower hourly wage now than they did during the recession. The thing is, companies make plenty of money; they just don't spend it on workers here. Half of Americans say they couldn't come up with $2,000 in 30 days without selling some of their possessions. Meanwhile, companies are flush: American firms generated $1.68 trillion in profit in the last quarter of 2010 alone. But many...

Many say wealth can’t make you healthy. Wealthy people aren’t necessarily happy people around the world. But you will be totally blown away by what real numbers have to say. Watch this 4 minute video where a history of 200 years of 200 countries crunched into 4 minutes to show how wealth and health are totally related and complimented. Instead of studying history for one year at the university, you can watch this video for less than five minutes.Income per person (GDP per capita) is adjusted for inflation and for differences in costs of living (purchasing power) across countries. You can play with the data yourself in Gapminder World . This is a short clip from the longer film The Joy of Stats ©Wingspan Productions for BBC, 2010.