(H/t: Coloribus.)

Prospect has a post by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett who co-wrote the book The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger titled “In defence of equality.” Here is an excerpt:

What The Spirit Level shows is that more equal societies enjoy better physical and mental health, lower homicide rates, fewer drug problems, fewer teenage births, higher maths and literacy scores, higher standards of child wellbeing, less bullying in schools, lower obesity rates, and fewer people in prison. Furthermore, that more equal societies also have a stronger community life and are more cohesive. Over the years a large number of research papers have shown that one or other of these problems are more common in more unequal societies. Of course we could simply have picked out the most dramatic examples from other people’s work to show in our book. However, in order to show the remarkably consistent tendency for problems associated with relative deprivation to be more common in more unequal societies, we wanted to show that this pattern occurs in one problem after another, even when we use exactly the same group of countries and the same measures of inequality.

The NYT has an article by Stephanie Rosenbloom titled “But Will It Make You Happy?” Here is an excerpt:

According to retailers and analysts, consumers have gravitated more toward experiences than possessions over the last couple of years, opting to use their extra cash for nights at home with family, watching movies and playing games — or for “staycations” in the backyard. Many retailing professionals think this is not a fad, but rather “the new normal.”

RealtyTrac has a post titled “1.65 Million Properties Receive Foreclosure Filings in First Half of 2010.” Here is an excerpt:

Foreclosure filings were reported on 895,521 U.S. properties during the second quarter, a decrease of nearly 4 percent from the previous quarter and an increase of less than 1 percent from the second quarter of 2009. Default and auction notices were down on a quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year basis in the second quarter, but bank repossessions (REOs) increased 5 percent from the previous quarter and 38 percent from Q2 2009 to 269,962 — a new quarterly high for the report.

“The second quarter was a tale of two trends,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “The pace of properties entering foreclosure slowed as lenders pre-empted or delayed foreclosure proceedings on delinquent properties with more aggressive short sale and loan modification initiatives. Meanwhile the pace of properties completing the foreclosure process through bank repossession quickened as lenders cleared out a backlog of distressed inventory delayed by foreclosure prevention efforts in 2009.

“The midyear numbers put us on pace to exceed 3 million properties with foreclosure filings by the end of the year, and more than 1 million bank repossessions,” Saccacio continued. “The roller coaster pattern of foreclosure activity over the past 12 months demonstrates that while the foreclosure problem is being managed on the surface, a massive number of distressed properties and underwater loans continues to sit just below the surface, threatening the fragile stability of the housing market.”

(Find the photo above by Andrew Ciscel in the Jacques Vallee post at boingboing titled “Stating the Obvious: If you don’t have a house you don’t need no sofa.”)

(The Young and the Connected.)

The most audacious advertiser-funded programme ever. The first daytime soap to show the realities of how young people live today. Its storylines focus on the drama that social networking adds to life in our modern connected world.

(H/t: copyranter.)

The NYT Opinionator has a must read post by Todd May titled “Friendship in an Age of Economics.” Here is an excerpt:

Our age, what we might call the age of economics, is in thrall to two types of relationships which reflect the lives we are encouraged to lead. There are consumer relationships, those that we participate in for the pleasure they bring us. And there are entrepreneurial relationships, those that we invest in hoping they will bring us some return. In a time in which the discourse of economics seeks to hold us in its grip, this should come as no surprise.

The encouragement toward relationships of consumption is nowhere more prominently on display than in reality television. Jon and Kate, the cast of “Real World,” the Kardashians, and their kin across the spectrum conduct their lives for our entertainment. It is available to us in turn to respond in a minor key by displaying our own relationships on YouTube. Or, barring that, we can collect friends like shoes or baseball cards on Facebook.

(Lily Allen.)

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