Live free or die

A not-so-bad proxy (not to say very rough proxy) for "quality of life", attempting to measure inequality by states, and then try to infer something about the efficiency of the "trickle down economy" (aka growth and/or profit maximization).

MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME
Year: 2007
Category: Economic
Source: Census
Def: Two-Year-Average1 Median Household Income by State: 2007 dollars

Lining up everybody from lowest income to highest income, the Median is the income of the guy in the middle.

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POVERTY RATE
Year: 2007
Economic
Source: Census
Def: Percentage of People in Poverty by State Using 2- and 3-Year Averages: 2004-2005 and 2006-2007

The poverty rate is the % of people below the poverty line (Threshold). This is extreme povert or very poor (under 10k a year one person), yet the thresholds depend on total income and total persons in household. For more clarity see --> http://bit.ly/cdvBzn

This is the txt table
Persons in Family Unit || 48 Contiguous States and D.C. || Alaska || Hawaii
1 $10,830 $13,530 $12,460
2 $14,570 $18,210 $16,760
3 $18,310 $22,890 $21,060
4 $22,050 $27,570 $25,360
5 $25,790 $32,250 $29,660
6 $29,530 $36,930 $33,960
7 $33,270 $41,610 $38,260
8 $37,010 $46,290 $42,560
For each additional person, add $3,740 $4,680 $4,300

No matter how the numbers are twisted and calculations refined (eg adjusting median income with prices, using poverty rates with 2 decimal places and/or adjusting the poverty rate with prices as well), New Hampshire remains always rated as the best state (according to this rough proxy). There is no choice then... the only choice is to live free or die... note that Maryland & Connecticut also remain robustly on the "elite estates".

piolon

ps:
It seems that America is "happy", or better said, it has settled for a steady persistent 13% poverty national rate (talking about an optimal social contract). This means that America thinks it is "ok" that 40 million people remain poor. I think it would be nice to bail-out all these guys once and for all, changing perhaps progressively some key parts in the design of the system. Switching some incentives, and eliminating, of course, those that are considered widely (universally) morally and naturally "perverse incentives". This way, probably only this way, and only naturally (and not with brute force) perhaps some other countries will try to mimic the American Model (aka the American Dream). Many around the world, reasonably, may plausibly believe that it is not perfect yet to be emulated.

ps2: Economic Growth, clearly an awkward measure to have as the main target, is not working (if we assume people are important, of course). The only thing that puts people out of poverty is jobs, more jobs, not growth more growth. (some evidence of it can be found in these links: http://bit.ly/daDp59 http://bit.ly/c15EmH)