Don't Quit Your Day Job…

For whatever reason, my articles recently keep coming back to charitable giving and volunteering. Here I am again with another post on the BLS’s recent release of volunteering statistics. Reader Patrick of Cash Money Life wondered if the reason that married parents volunteered in such high numbers was because many have children who open up volunteer activities. On the surface, this is a very good theory; younger kids play baseball, soccer and other sports, become Boy and Girl Scouts, and generally do things which occasionally ask people to volunteer to help (like go to school!). Let’s see if we can tease out the effect this has on overall volunteering rates!

A popular topic in the blogosphere, given new life after comments by Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman, is the relative success of the United States vs. the states that make up the European Union. The European Union is a loose confederation of 27 countries in Europe, ranging from Spain to Estonia. Krugman goes so far to suggest that “[y]ou should always bear in mind that when the question is which to believe — official economic statistics or your own lying eyes — the eyes have it.”

The results are counted, and it’s an upset in Massachusetts. Republican Scott Brown because the first Republican elected in a Massachusetts Senate seat since 1972. He defeated the state Attorney General, Democratic candidate Martha Coakley, 52% to 47% (the remaining 1% went to Independent candidate Joseph Kennedy). A whopping 2,249,026 votes were cast out of a registered voter base of 4,220,488 for a very high (53.3%) special election turnout in the light snow.

From the twilight zone department: various polls put Scott Brown, Republican challenger for the special election for Ted Kennedy’s former Senate seat in Massachusetts, within striking distance of the Democratic favorite, Martha Coakley. Public Policy Polling yesterday released a poll suggesting a statistical dead heat in the race, while Rasmussen released poll results on January 4th showing Coakley with a 50% – 41% edge. The Boston Globe, however, counters with a poll showing likely voters leaning 53% to 36% towards Coakley – more in line with historical results in Massachusetts.

A recent unemployment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics introduced some light into the dreary situation in which the economy finds itself. Yes; the official U-3 unemployment numbers are in- and the headline unemployment number is now 9.4% unemployment compared to the previous 9.5%. U-6, a broader measure of unemployment (specifically the total employed, marginally attached workers and part time workers who want to work full time in the civilian labor force and marginally attached workers) ticked down from 16.5% to 16.3%. On the surface, a pretty good report. However, some signs of weakness are right below the surface.