Links, 2-1-12

As predicted, Romney cruised to victory in the Florida primary, making him once again the prohibitive favorite to win the Republican nomination.  The primary was, according to one measure, the most negative campaign ever recorded -- 92% of TV commercials were negative.  Here are the exit polls.

Here's a chart comparing the 4th quarter fundraising filings for all the Presidential candidates.  As of December 31, Romney had far more money than the rest of the candidates combined.

A study of compensation of federal workers found that, controlling for other factors, those without college degrees are paid significantly more when employed by the federal government while those with graduate degrees are paid significantly less.

A new study finds that segregation in cities has been reduced, though the article notes that  “the average black resident still lives in a neighborhood that is 45 percent black and 36 percent white" and the "average white lives in a neighborhood that is 78 percent white and 7 percent black."

A study that stirred up some press finds physiological differences between conservatives and liberals

Nashville has offered buyouts to hundreds of residents whose homes were badly damaged in the flood, with the goal of reverting some areas back to greenspace to serve as floodplains.  But 30% of residents have refused the buyouts and rebuilt instead.

Conservative columnist David Brooks writes about the widening social differences between the haves and have-nots.  Comparing what he deems the "upper tribe" (20 percent of Americans) to the "lower tribe" (30 percent of Americans," a new book notes that

 Roughly 7 percent of the white kids in the upper tribe are born out of wedlock, compared with roughly 45 percent of the kids in the lower tribe. In the upper tribe, nearly every man aged 30 to 49 is in the labor force. In the lower tribe, men in their prime working ages have been steadily dropping out of the labor force, in good times and bad.
 People in the lower tribe are much less likely to get married, less likely to go to church, less likely to be active in their communities, more likely to watch TV excessively, more likely to be obese.

Brooks argues that this is counter to the narratives offered by both Conservatives and Liberals and a National Service Program would force members of the two tribes to live and "work together to spread out the values, practices and institutions that lead to achievement"

Liberal columnist Paul Krugman writes that the austerity programs (cutting spending) implemented in a number of countries are only hindering economic recovery.  He notes that Britain and Italy have recovered less quickly from the Great Recession than they did from the Great Depression and argues that we should avoid repeating these country's mistakes by implementing the drastic spending cuts many in Congress advocate.  He concludes by writing that

The infuriating thing about this tragedy is that it was completely unnecessary. Half a century ago, any economist — or for that matter any undergraduate who had read Paul Samuelson’s textbook “Economics” — could have told you that austerity in the face of depression was a very bad idea. But policy makers, pundits and, I’m sorry to say, many economists decided, largely for political reasons, to forget what they used to know. And millions of workers are paying the price for their willful amnesia.