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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Young adults who experience annual income drops of 25 percent or more may be more at risk of having thinking problems and reduced brain health in middle age, according to a study published in the October 2, 2019, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
“Income volatility is at a record level since the 1980s and there is growing evidence that it may have pervasive effects on health, yet policies intending to smooth unpredictable income changes are being weakened in the United States and many other countries,” said study author Leslie Grasset, PhD, of the Inserm Research Center in Bordeaux, France. “Our exploratory study followed participants in the United States through the recession in the late 2000s when many people experienced economic instability. Our results provide evidence that higher income volatility and more income drops during peak earning years are linked to unhealthy brain aging in middle age.
” The study involved 3,287 people who were 23 to 35 years old at the start of the study and were enrolled in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, which includes a racially diverse population. Participants reported their annual pre-tax household income every three to five years for 20 years, from 1990 to 2010. Researchers examined how often income dropped as well as the percentage of change in income between 1990 and 2010 for each participant. Based on the number of income drops, participants fell into three groups: 1,780 people who did not have an income drop; 1,108 who had one drop of 25 percent or more from the previous reported income; and 399 people who had two or more such drops. Participants were given thinking and memory tests that measured how well they completed tasks and how much time it took to complete them. For one test, participants used a key that paired numbers 1 to 9 with symbols.
They were then given a list of numbers and had to write down the corresponding symbols. Researchers found that people with two or more income drops had worse performances in completing tasks than people with no income drops. On average, they scored worse by 3.74 points or 2.8 percent. “For reference, this poor performance is greater than what is normally seen due to one year in aging, which is equivalent to scoring worse by only 0.71 points on average or 0.53 percent”, said Grasset. Participants with more income drops also scored worse on how much time it took to complete some tasks. The results were the same after researchers adjusted for other factors that could affect thinking skills, such as high blood pressure, education level, physical activity and smoking. There was no difference between the groups on tests that measured verbal memory.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 09 2019, @03:13AM (2 children)
That, as usual, is up to trial and error. We set limits, then adjust if needed.
Please note, socialism as a definition is about workers being co-owners of the business. Only recently has it morphed into tax-payer funded services, which is close but not the same. Capitalism is also subverted, it is better thought of as mini-monarchies.
Currently the answers are simple, socialize healthcare and education, and provide good safety nets for the general population so you reduce homelessness and crime. Studies show repeatedly that money spent on these aspects of society generate more productivity in the long run. Even if you want to be a greedy sociopath you should agree with these platforms.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday October 09 2019, @09:51AM (1 child)
What does that have to do with a meritocracy? Does everyone have the same merit for the same service choices. Should we spend as much public funds prolonging an 80 year old's life for a few weeks as an 8 month year old's life for 80 years? Is that what socialized healthcare means?
Do I have a right to an education as a string theorist (at least for a fixed number of years), even if there's absolutely no way, even with decades of education, that I could understand string theory? And does the rich person get the same safety net payout as the poor person?
These things seem to have little to do with rejecting meritocracy. We might not call it "merit", but there will be measures by which some people will be considered more deserving of those services than others, whether it be better chance for a huge positive life outcome, better competence and ability at certain parts of education, or simply being needier for a safety net.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 09 2019, @02:26PM
Ah, useless whinging, whatever.