Wall Street Journal (August 18)
“A fraying electric grid is a nationwide problem,” with estimates suggesting over $700 billion “will need to be spent to replace aging transmission lines and maintain grid reliability” as 60% of “U.S. distribution lines have surpassed their 50-year life expectancy” and the “average age of large power transformers is 40 years, twice their planned life span.” Meanwhile, “grid upgrades to achieve the net-zero promised land” are estimated to “cost another $2.5 trillion by 2050.”
Tags: $2.5 trillion, 2050, Aging, Electric grid, Fraying, Grid reliability, Life expectancy, Nationwide problem, Net-zero, Power transformers, Transmission lines, U.S., Upgrades
Minneapolis Star Tribune (July 22)
The 1.5 year decline in U.S. life expectancy “is the largest seen in a single year since World War II” and “reflects the pandemic’s sustained toll on Americans, particularly the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color,” where life expectancy fell nearly 3 years for blacks and Latinos.
Tags: Blacks, COVID-19, Decline, Disproportionate, Impact, Life expectancy, Pandemic, U.S., WWII
Time (June 23)
“Life expectancy across the country plummeted by nearly two years from 2018 to 2020, the largest decline since 1943, when American troops were dying in World War II.” While life expectancy also dropped in many countries during the same period, “the average loss of life expectancy in the U.S. was nearly nine times greater than the average in 16 other developed nations, whose residents can now expect to live 4.7 years longer than Americans.”
Tags: Decline, Developed nations, Dying, Life expectancy, Plummeted, U.S., WWII
USA Today (February 18)
“The U.S. lost a whole year of life expectancy – and for Black people, it’s nearly 3 times worse.” These preliminary results are based on only the first half of the year. Full year figures for 2020 will almost inevitably paint an even grimmer picture as they will include “the fall and winter surges that led to record COVID-19 deaths.”
Tags: 2020, Black people, COVID-19, Fall, Grimmer, Life expectancy, Surges, U.S., Winter
Straits Times (October 9)
According to the World Economic Forum, “Singapore is the world’s most competitive economy,” scoring “84.8 out of a possible 100, beating the United States to the top spot in the ranking of 141 economies.” Of the 12 assessment pillars, Singapore ranked first in infrastructure, healthy life expectancy and labor markets. Overall, the U.S. ranked second and Japan placed sixth, just behind Switzerland.
Tags: Economy, Infrastructure, Japan, Labor markets, Life expectancy, Most competitive, Singapore, U.S., WEF
Wall Street Journal (March 11)
Japan may be at the leading edge, but population graying is a truly global phenomenon requiring new approaches. “As the over-60 population grows much faster than the younger working-age cohorts, while life expectancy increases, the 20th-century model of work and retirement becomes increasingly unsuitable for economic growth. The key will be finding new solutions to engage older Americans in the workforce.”
Tags: Economic growth, Engage, Graying, Japan, Life expectancy, Over-60, Population, Retirement, Solutions, U.S., Unsuitable, Work, Workforce, Working-age
Los Angeles Times (July 8)Los Angeles Times (July 8)
“Life expectancy is 5.5 years lower in northern China than in the south because of heavy air pollution, a study examining 20 years of data concludes…. The specificity of the study published Monday may provide a jolt to policymakers and the public as debate intensifies over how much China has sacrificed to achieve rapid economic growth.” Due to a tradition of coal burning, suspended particulate matter north of the Huai River was on average 55% higher than in the south, lowering life expectancy for those in the north where the researches estimate that in the 1990s alone, the half billion residents “collectively lost 2.5 billion years from their lives.”“Life expectancy is 5.5 years lower in northern China than in the south because of heavy air pollution, a study examining 20 years of data concludes…. The specificity of the study published Monday may provide a jolt to policymakers and the public as debate intensifies over how much China has sacrificed to achieve rapid economic growth.” Due to a tradition of coal burning, suspended particulate matter north of the Huai River was on average 55% higher than in the south, lowering life expectancy for those in the north where the researches estimate that in the 1990s alone, the half billion residents “collectively lost 2.5 billion years from their lives.”
Tags: China, Coal burning, Economic growth, Huai River, Life expectancy, Particulate matter, Policymakers, Pollution, Sacrificed
New York Times (June 10)
“Those who see Japan’s performance over the last decades as an unmitigated failure have too narrow a conception of economic success. Along many dimensions—greater income equality, longer life expectancy, lower unemployment, greater investments in children’s education and health, and even greater productivity relative to the size of the labor force—Japan has done better than the United States. It may have quite a lot to teach us. If Abenomics is even half as successful as its advocates hope, it will have still more to teach us.”
Tags: Abenomics, Children, Economic success, Income equality, Investment, Japan, Labor force, Life expectancy, Productivity, U.S., Unemployment
Washington Post (January 15)
“America is dangerous to your health. A recent international commission reported that U.S. men rank last in life expectancy for the 17 industrial nations in the study; U.S. women rank next to last. When it comes to health, the United States is exceptional — exceptionally bad.” The U.S. needs to quit worrying about fiscal cliffs and focus on matters of life and death.
Tags: Death, Fiscal cliffs, Health, Industrial nations, Life expectancy, U.S.
