Click to enlarge.
The chart above shows the circular area your job must be in if you are earning minimum wage and are "only" willing to spend one hour of your wages getting to and from work. It also assumes that the path to your job is a straight line. No turns allowed!
I'm using the I.R.S. business mileage deduction to calculate the total cost per mile. In theory, it factors in all the costs associated with using a vehicle (not just gasoline).
As of 2012, your job must be within 6.5 miles of your home (134 square miles). This is down from the 8.2 mile peak set in 1999 (212 square miles).
This compares somewhat unfavorably to what Jamie Dimon's $23.1 million pay package can do for him. His effective job search area is 201 million square miles (assuming 52 weeks x 50 hour workweeks).
The surface area of the earth is 197 million square miles. Surprising as it might seem, he does not appear to be constrained by rising transportation costs. Perhaps that explains some of his overwhelming optimism.
May 8, 2012
U.S. economy has a 'royal straight flush' - Jamie Dimon
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was overwhelmingly optimistic Monday -- but was quick to say things would be even better were it not for government policies.
Royal flush or royally f**ked? You make the call. Sigh.
Source Data:
DOL: History of Federal Minimum Wage Rates
Business Mileage Reimbursement Rate
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was overwhelmingly optimistic Monday -- but was quick to say things would be even better were it not for government policies.
ReplyDeleteCounting dividends and splits, JPM's stock has risen 18% since January 2, 2000. Unfortunately, the consumer price index has risen twice as much (36%).
As for those meddling government policies...
September 14, 2012
Money-Laundering Inquiry Is Said to Aim at U.S. Banks
Regulators, led by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, are close to taking action against JPMorgan Chase for insufficient safeguards, the officials said.
...
Last year, JPMorgan agreed to pay $88.3 million to the Treasury Department, which had accused the bank of thwarting United States sanctions by processing roughly $178.5 million for Cubans in 2005 and 2006. Even after bank officials spotted the questionable transactions in 2005, the Treasury said, they failed to report the problem to federal authorities. JPMorgan also made an improper $2.9 million loan in 2009 to a bank tied to Iran’s government-owned shipping line, according to the Treasury Department.
I don't know about you, but I can't wait to read about all the JPM employees that are sure to get multi-million dollar whistleblower rewards from the Gov't. Most can't win, banksters can't lose. It all balances out in the end....sort of.
ReplyDeleteThose damn Gov't policies. Also, good thing the Federal Reserve isn't a Gov't entity! And good thing the bailouts weren't Gov't policies.
sigh
Mark,
ReplyDeleteglad to see you yesterday on CR. Re your remarks on retail employees and their failing prospects, the indifference expressed by a number of posters is very telling, even on the CR board. These workers, many of them women and older men forced out of the corporate job market, are being dismissed in Darwinian fashion as non-competitive workers best left behind. No recognition that they are still citizens who will need transfer payments to survive in some fashion if work, even minimum wage retail work, is not available. Whether you support Obama or not, the idea of a "winner take all" social structure is truly taking hold...with minimal concern for the cost of unproductive lives on the social fabric. Fewer and fewer folks are able to gather round the FIRE to support themselves. I don't want to weep for my country, I feel like screaming.
mab,
ReplyDeleteIf I didn't know better I'd say your comment was packed with sarcasm. Good thing I know better! ;)
fried,
ReplyDeleteI was glad to see you yesterday on CR as well. I don't post there nearly as often as I once did.
Generally speaking, I will post a link. I will hang around 10 minutes to see if anyone wants to discuss it, nobody does, and then I :nytol:.
I figured people were either growing indifferent to what I had to say or were just becoming desensitized.
Like you, I thought yesterday was telling. It seemingly takes increasingly shocking data to get the same level of reaction.
I'm tempted to call it complacency. Sigh.
fried,
ReplyDeleteThat "Who cares..." comment nearly got a full blown rant from me by the way. I toned it down when I realized the person really might not understand why they should care.
In hindsight, I'm glad I toned it down. I think that was indeed the case. I half expected to be debating that point for hours though. I was very thankful that it wasn't required of me.
Troy,
ReplyDelete...but man the "landlord" thing is just like waving a red cape in front of me, LOL.
Had I been drinking as I read that, some of it would have come out my nose, lol. Seriously.
The red cape is an illusion that bulls chase! This whole economy is a bull fight! It all makes sense now!! ;)
Troy,
ReplyDeleteGrowing income inequality was a driving force for convincing me to become permabearish.
September 25, 2007
Automation and Inequality
Note that I mentioned Romney. Go figure.
If the 1% made their money from trading among themselves, there wouldn't be a problem.
ReplyDeleteBut the 1%'s immense flow comes from the 99%.
It's an interesting study to determine how things get recirculated as it is.
I think I've said this before, but the physiocrat school was founded by a physiologist looking to model the French economy on the human circulatory system (which was just beginning to be understood too).
Economy needs money, but when the money leaves the bottom, and DC doesn't want to forcefully restore the balance, it's left to Bernanke.
gah
Troy,
ReplyDeleteBut the 1%'s immense flow comes from the 99%.
Got tweezers?
Tick
In general, the best way to remove adult tick is mechanically. To facilitate prompt removal, fine-tipped tweezers can be used...