Statistics Often Say a Lot About the Economy, Education and More

Sometimes a statistic can tell you more about an issue than a 200-page thesis.

From climate change to charter schools, here are a few numbers to get you thinking:

The economy and jobs

— U.S. economy grew 1.6 percent in 2016. GDP grew 2.9 percent in 2018.

— Manufacturing jobs decreased by 303,000 from 2009-2016. They increased by 327,000 from 2017 to 2018.

Crime

According to Heather Mac Donald, author of "The War on Cops":

— Boys without fathers are 20 times more likely to end up in prison, 9 times more likely to drop out, and 5 times more likely to be in poverty and commit crime.

— NYC had a 92 percent reduction in police shootings since 1971.

— Blacks are stopped 20-30 percent less than whites in stop and frisk based on percentage of crimes they commit.

— NYC had 2,245 murders in 1990, 290 in 2017.

Climate and Energy

— Climate change could put an extra 24 million people at risk of hunger. But a global carbon tax would increase food prices and push 78 million more people into risk of hunger.

— California has an aggressive carbon reduction goal. Its electricity prices run 60 percent above the U.S. average.

— So does Germany. Their residential customers now have some of the highest-priced electricity in Europe: about $0.37 per kilowatt-hour. That’s nearly three times the price of residential electricity in the U.S.

— Global emissions have increased by 21 percent since 2005, while U.S. emissions declined 14 percent due in large part to increased harvesting of natural gas.

Disability Fraud

— 640 percent: Increase in the number of people on disability from 1959 to 2011
— 10 million: Number of individuals collecting Social Security Disability in 2016
— 98 percent: The percent of Long Island Railroad employees who received retroactive disability pensions.

Youth and Education

— 41 percent of people 18 to 34 on Long Island lived with their parents in 2017. (LI index)

— Twenty years ago, more than half of teens ages 16 to 19 worked. Now only a third do, according to Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta.

— In 2014, young college grads age 23 on Long Island earned only 80 percent of a 23-year-old grad in 2000.

— In 2005, over 50 percent of 25 to 34-year-olds lived independently in 35 states... by 2015, that was the case in only six states.

— Over the last 20 years, private college tuition increased 168 percent and in-state public college tuition increased 243 percent. Meanwhile, inflation grew 50 percent.

Charter Schools

— Black students in New York City’s charter schools outperform black students in the rest of the state by more than 26 percentage points in English. In math, 59 percent of black students in the city’s charter schools score at proficient or above, compared to only 25 percent of black students in all other schools in the state.

— Hispanic students in the city’s charters show similar advantages, outscoring Hispanics in the rest of the state by more than 20 points in English and 26 points in math.

Cost of Socialism

— AOC’s 70 percent tax hike on the rich would raise, at most, $720 billion over 10 years, according to Mark Mazur, a former Treasury Department official. It is estimated that the cost of the progressive agenda will exceed $42.5 trillion.

— Nearly 700 million people rose out of poverty over last twenty years due to worldwide capitalistic gains.

Welfare

$57,000 is the equivalent in salary a resident in Pennsylvania would have to earn to equal the amount of benefits available to a non-working resident through Medicaid, food stamps, Section 8 housing, and other assistance. (Gary Alexander, Pennsylvania’s secretary of Public Welfare).

Steve Levy, former New York state assemblyman, Suffolk County executive, and candidate for governor, is now a distinguished political pundit. Levy's commentary has been published in such media outlets as Washington Times, Washington Examiner, New York Post, Albany Times, Long Island Business News, and City & State Magazine. He hosted “The Steve Levy Radio Show" on Long Island News Radio, and is a frequent guest on high profile television and radio outlets. Few on the political scene possess Levy’s diverse background. He’s been both a legislator and executive, and served on both the state and local levels — as both a Democrat and Republican. Levy published Bias in the Media, an analysis of his own experience, after switching parties, with the media's leftward slant. Levy is currently Executive Director of the Center for Cost Effective Government, a fiscally conservative think tank. He is also President of Common Sense Strategies, a political consulting firm. To learn more about his past work and upcoming appearances, visit www.stevelevy.info. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.