Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Household Incomes stagnant

Statistics released this month by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics (DGBAS) show why the public is angry at "graft" in the Chen Administration. The President is the object of inchoate public ire because household incomes have remained stagnant over the last decade at least, and the gap between rich and poor is widening, though it has not yet reached US or Chinese proportions.

According to the report, average annual household income in 2005 was US$33,190, which represented a 0.7-percent increase over 2004. At 58.1 percent, the majority of family earnings derived from wages, with other significant sources including transfer receipts, business activities and property incomes.

The DGBAS statistics also revealed that average disposable household income amounted to US$ 27,453 in 2005, representing a year-on-year increase of 0.4 percent. When divided into five subgroups, the data showed that the top 20 percent, with an average of US$55,123, have incomes 6.04 times greater than the US$9,141-average of the bottom 20 percent, which represents a slight increase over the equivalent 2004 figure of 6.03.

This widening gap between rich and poor is in line with economic changes in countries around the world, said DGBAS Minister Hsu Jan-yau at a press briefing. Nevertheless, Hsu claimed the figures showed that government welfare policies--such as those targeting low-income households, the elderly, farmers, the sick, and victims of accidents and emergencies--had helped reduce the gap which, otherwise, could have been as high as 7.45 fold.

With regard to annual household expenses, the average figure of US$27,270 represents a growth of 1.4 percent. Consumption costs accounted for US$21,503, while non-consumption costs, such as payments for interest, taxes, fines, donations, weddings and funerals, totaled US$5,777, year-on-year increases of 1.2 and 2.3 percent, respectively.


One need only juxtapose the two sentences:
With regard to annual household expenses, the average figure of US$27,270 represents a growth of 1.4 percent.

The DGBAS statistics also revealed that average disposable household income amounted to US$ 27,453 in 2005, representing a year-on-year increase of 0.4 percent.
Cost grow 1.4%, while income lurches up a mere 0.4%, which is probably within the margin of error for the calculations. Stagnant income + rising expenses = political turmoil, simple as that.

4 comments:

Mobolocity said...

Really like the new "headers" you've added lately. KIU. Can you
point me in the direction for doing
this?
Regards
Jim/Sarasota, Fl.

Mobolocity said...

Nice new headers. How to DIY? Can
you point me in the direction?
Regards
Jim Teague/Sarasota, Fl.

Michael Turton said...

Sure. in the "header" and "blog title" section of your template there will be commands for padding and for a .gif file that shapes it. Replace those with a pic file and increased padded. Here's mine:

______________
#header {
background:#456 url("http://users2.ev1.net/~turton/view3.jpg") no-repeat left top;
margin:0 0 0;
padding:8px 0 0;
color:#ffffff;
}
#header div {
background:url("http://users2.ev1.net/~turton/Blogpix/corners_cap_bot1.gif") no-repeat left bottom;
padding:0 15px 8px;
}
#blog-title {
margin:0;
padding:114px 30px 5px;
font-size:200%;
line-height:1.2em;
_______

I changed the width so I had to change all the pictures that control the shape of my blog body and header, the _cap_top.gif and others. The "..../view3.jpg" is the picture of the men fishing. If you scan down to the padding section of the Blog Title, you'll see:

padding:114px 30px 5px;

I changed the original total there to 114px to accommodate the larger pic properly. You'll have to tinker with the values to get them right. One way to do that is to open a test blog with the same template as your real blog. Then you can tinker and see the results quickly. My blog is large and when I change the template or preview it takes a while to compile the new blog! Also if you screw up and want it back, it doesn't happen on your real blog....

The commands will be different for different templates, so tinker away!

Michael

Mobolocity said...

Thanks so much. Will try it out.