[RD] Daily Graphs and Charts

[madviking]

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/red-moochers/

This is very misleading. The lowest two states on the state are red. Not to mention that the range on red states is large. I don't think any valid conclusion can be made exclusively from the graph.

 

[Cutlass]

This is very misleading. The lowest two states on the state are red. Not to mention that the range on red states is large. I don't think any valid conclusion can be made exclusively from the graph.

The averages are telling.

 

[madviking]

The averages are telling.

What about the standard deviations?

 

[bhsup]

VL= very liberal, VC=very conservative, etc...
So it's pretty save to say that crazy cat ladies are extremely liberal and Cesar Millan is a right-wing whackadoo

 

[Cutlass]

I don't remember stats class enough to answer that But the several very highest are red as well.

 

[Lillefix]

VL= very liberal, VC=very conservative, etc...
So it's pretty save to say that crazy cat ladies are extremely liberal and Cesar Millan is a right-wing whackadoo

I don't know why, but that's funny.

 

[Integral]

"Conservative" states tend to be in the South and midwest, and tend to be poorer on average. It's not surprising that the poor states are receiving more government aid. I don't think one should be calling the red states "moochers." But then, I don't do politics.



My graph of the day:

The Fed's implicit (now explicit!) target is about 2% expected inflation. This graph shows the collapse of inflation expectations in the Great Recession. Note that expectations plummeted long before Lehman fell.

I'm measuring inflation expectations using the Fisher equation:

real interest rate = nominal rate - inflation expectations

We have nominal interest rate data (5-year Treasuries) and we have a pretty good measure of the real interest rate too (5-year Treasury inflation-protected securities, TIPS). The "TIPS spread" is the nominal rate less the real rate, a good proxy for inflation expectations.

Sadly the data only go back to about 2003.

 

[Mise]

Not sure if I've posted this before, but here's something I made when I was trying to figure out what burger to eat:

Burgers below the line are good to go. You figure out how much protein you want/need, then you get the burger that's furthest below the line.

 

[mayor]

first reaction: This is how you decide what burger you want??

second reaction: nice graph but I miss the actual burgers. I mean I see the squares but I have no idea what burger is what square.

 

[Mise]

Yeah, in excel, you can hover over a dot and sort of trace back what burger it is. I put the data on Google Docs, but its graphing feature is rather poor... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aj-alvjm02wjdExLdm1DUUV3eVJ6czNyXzZ5MlU1eUE#gid=0 <-- the table is more informative anyway.

 

[mayor]

That table is awesome

 

[Tee Kay]

The State of the World, 2010. From Gapminder:

Spoiler :

More cool charts here.

 

[luiz]

The averages are telling.

They aren't. The notion that people at those states are simultaneously voting Republican and receiving government transfers is false.

As studies have demonstrated, the difference between red states and blue states is basically how the relatively affluent vote. That is, how people that do not receive welfare vote. They tend to vote Republican on red states and Democrat on the blue ones. The vote of the poor (that, is people on welfare) is roughly identical on red and blue states.

So the notions of "red moochers" is littler more than political slander.

 

[kronic]

Industrial production in the Eurozone (2000 = 100):

Spoiler :

Dark Blue = Germany
Red = France
Purple = Italy
Orange = Spain
Green = Portugal
Light Blue = Greece

 

[Monsterzuma]

Economists' valentine cards.

http://fosslien.com/heart/

 

[Murky]

More than 68% of New European Electricity came from Wind and Solar in 2011

This shoots holes in the idea that we can't get rid of fossil fuels because there isn't enough renewable energy potential out there.

 

[Mise]

I don't understand how a chart of new capacity shoots holes in that idea...

 

[tokala]

Electricity Capacity ...

A side note to anyone confused by terms: It is always important to remember that “capacity” is the ability to do work. It is completely different than actual electricity generation. Just because 68% of new capacity was added in 2011, doesn’t mean that Europe will get 68% more electricity from renewables.

Capacity factor for PV and Wind is 10-30%

for coal, nukes, hydro 70-90%

(ballpark numbers)

 

[Murky]

I don't understand how a chart of new capacity shoots holes in that idea...

The thinking in the U.S. is that we need to expand fossil fuel production to meet growing demand. Clearly Europe has increased its Electricity capacity without relying too heavily on fossil fuels. The major difference is that there is little resistance to switching to renewable energy in places like Germany, whereas in the U.S. nearly every renewable energy project is getting push back from the fossil fuel lobby. We could've had so much more renewable energy if not for the resistance to switching by powerful fossil fuel special interests groups.

 

[Leoreth]

So the notions of "red moochers" is littler more than political slander.

I agree, but it helps to disprove the even more ubiquitous notion of "blue moochers", which was the point.