Somali-Americans may soon find it harder to provide economic support to their homeland: One of the last banks to facilitate cash transfers to Somalia is getting out of the business.
As the East African country faces a potential drought and famine this summer, those cash transfers might grow even more important. That's why the Somali-American community in Minnesota — the largest in the U.S. — is lobbying Washington to find a way to keep the cash lifeline intact.
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We tend to think of income groups such as the "top 1 percent" as being relatively stable collectives, particularly in nations like the U.S. that, despite popular rhetoric, enjoy rather low levels of social mobility.
But the truth is more complicated, and more volatile. The average American's chances of attaining the American dream, at least in terms of a high income, are greater than you might think, but so are the odds of waking up from that dream.
By the time they turn 60 years old, 21 percent of U.S. adults have enjoyed an annual household income of above $250,000 for at least one year of their working lives, according to an analysis reported in the new book Chasing the American Dream. And the number of people who temporarily join the ranks of what amounts to the top 2 percent of earners has more than doubled since 1979.
The authors of the study, Mark Robert Rank, Thomas A. Hirschl and Kirk A. Foster, used longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a representative sample of U.S. families and individuals dating back to 1968, to examine social mobility trends in America. The researchers argue that "even when looking at shorter periods of time, affluence is a relatively common event" in America, but one that is also typically short-lived given the "sizable amount of turnover and movement within the top levels of the income distribution."
The phenomenon also extends further down the income spectrum to a group that marketers and money managers refer to as the "mass affluent" — the roughly 25 million households with an annual income of at least $75,000 who are responsible for about 40 percent of U.S. consumer spending. Incredibly, more than three-quarters (77 percent) of working Americans, primarily older professionals, educated singles and working married couples, have for at least one year enjoyed an annual household income greater than $100,000.
For many, however, the experience is fleeting. Even if more than one-fifth of working Americans will ascend to the top 2 percent for at least a year, only 4.6 percent will do so for five or more years.
The short-lived affluence of the impermanent rich is often driven by a specific event — a new job or promotion, a yearly bonus, a spouse entering the labor market — that is either temporary by nature or subsequently undermined by a job loss, medical problem or family break-up.
Still, those who briefly enter America's top income brackets often settle into the tier of the mass-affluent over time and their somewhat illusory gains appear to have a very real impact on everything from their consumption patterns to their politics.
"For many in this group, the American dream is not dead," says Mark Rank, the lead researcher and a professor at Washington University in St. Louis. "They have reached affluence for parts of their lives and see it as very attainable, even if the dream has become more elusive for everyone else."
According to a recent analysis by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, this group of "new rich" Americans tend to rely on income and not wealth to preserve their social status and tend to be more socially liberal but fiscally conservative than lower income groups. They're generally in favor of gay marriage and abortion, for example, but largely opposed to programs like food stamps that target the disadvantaged and to government attempts to combat inequality.
Can either major U.S. political party tap into this emerging group of fiscally conservative social liberals? If the group's view on opportunity in America is any indication, then the GOP may have the inside track. The AP also cites a Gallup poll from last October finding that 60 percent of those Americans who bring home more than $90,000 per year feel that the average American has "plenty of opportunity" to succeed — a sentiment shared by 67 percent of Republicans, but only 38 percent of Democrats.
Of course there's much more to the American dream than a six-figure income, but it certainly doesn't hurt when it comes to the rising cost of everything from health care to food to a college education. And even if you agree with the late comedian George Carlin that "it's called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it," it's clear that for the growing number of temporarily affluent among us, the American dream has evolved into a very convincing power nap.
SINGAPORE (AP) — A children's book inspired by a real-life story of two male penguins raising a baby chick in New York's zoo has been deemed inappropriate by state-run Singapore libraries, and the conservative city-state's information minister said he supports the decision to destroy all copies alongside two other titles.
The National Library Board, which runs 26 public libraries in Singapore, pulled from the shelves and said it would "pulp" the copies of three titles, citing complaints their content goes against Singapore's family values.
The books are "And Tango Makes Three," about a male-male penguin couple in the Central Park Zoo; "The White Swan Express: A Story About Adoption," which involves a lesbian couple; and "Who's In My Family: All About Our Families."
"The prevailing norms, which the overwhelming majority of Singaporeans accept, support teaching children about conventional families, but not about alternative, non-traditional families, which is what the books in question are about," Minister of Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim said Friday.
He added: "Societies are never static, and will change over time. But NLB's approach is to reflect existing social norms, and not to challenge or seek to change them."
It was not clear how and when the books will be destroyed.
The decision triggered an online petition and an open letter to spare the books with thousands of signatures collected. Some are calling for a boycott of the libraries and their events.
Donald Low, author of "Hard Choices: Challenging the Singapore Consensus," a book recommending policy reforms in the tightly-controlled Southeast Asian state, said he had pulled out of the Singapore Writers' Festival in November to protest the decision.
"I see no evidence of a significant segment of Singapore society objecting to these books being in our public libraries, even if the majority of Singaporeans are conservative," Low said.
He objected to Yaacob's comments, saying that "attitudes are more complex and nuanced than the reductionist view the minister has taken."
"I've always believed that Singapore society is generally tolerant, open and relaxed about people whose sexual orientations are different from ours — even if we don't agree with them," Low said.
In recent months, religious conservatives in the wealthy, multi-cultural city-state of 5.4 million people have become more vocal in opposing gay rights. On paper, gay sex remains a criminal offense in Singapore, although authorities rarely enforce the British colonial-era legislation.
Last month, Singapore witnessed its largest gay-rights rally with 26,000 in attendance.
In Colorado, where President Obama's approval rating is low and the Senate race is tight, Democratic incumbent Mark Udall largely bowed out of the spotlight of the president's visit Wednesday.
But as Obama made the rounds speaking about the economy and raising money for Democratic congressional candidates, he also spoke about the women's issues that could be key to Udall's electoral success.
At a morning outdoor rally in Denver's Cheesman Park, Obama emphasized just how much is on the line in the midterms.
"So far this year, Republicans have blocked or voted down every serious idea to strengthen the middle class," he said. "They said no to raising the minimum wage. They said no to fair pay legislation so women are getting the same pay as men for doing the same work."
President Obama was introduced at the rally by Alex Dooley, who works at an upholstery company in Colorado. She'd written to Obama to thank him for urging employers to boost their workers' pay in his State of the Union address.
"After his speech, my pay was increased to $10.10 an hour," she said, eliciting the audience's applause. "Right. I thought that was pretty cool, too."
Obama frequently notes that women make up a disproportionate share of low-wage workers in this country, and political consultant Craig Hughes said women also carry extra weight at the state's ballot box.
"Winning that women's vote and winning it decisively is without question the key to winning here in Colorado," he said.
Four years ago, when Hughes managed Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet's re-election campaign, a double-digit advantage with women helped Bennet win a squeaker during a tough year for Democrats.
This year, Udall is hoping to repeat that play, and Hughes noted he may have gotten a boost from last week's Supreme Court ruling in the Hobby Lobby case.
"The issue of choice and a woman's ability to make her own medical decisions is not new to Colorado and it is something that has been without question a very important voting issue," he said.
Udall argues the Supreme Court got it wrong when it ruled that Hobby Lobby and other companies with religious objections don't have to include contraceptive coverage in their workplace health policies.
He wrote an op-ed for the Denver Post saying birth control should not be your boss's business — and he underscored that point in an interview with Denver's Fox 31 TV station.
"Women ought to make decisions based on their beliefs, not the beliefs of their employers. It's that simple," he said.
Two years ago, Obama's re-election campaign also highlighted birth control in Colorado, and the president carried the state with 60 percent of the unmarried women's vote.
In 2014, though, polls show most Coloradans disapprove of the president's job performance, and Republicans see an opening to pick up a Senate seat here if Udall's challenger, GOP Rep. Cory Gardner, can avoid alienating women voters.
Gardner has backed away from his earlier endorsement of "personhood" proposals here in Colorado, which could restrict some forms of birth control. And when Fox 31 asked Gardner about the Hobby Lobby decision, he qualified his support.
"I think for people who want to stand up for religious freedom and want to stand up for First Amendment rights, I think it's a step in the right direction," he said. "But I also think that's why we've come forward with solutions on the issue of birth control."
Gardner wrote his own op-ed for the Denver Post, arguing birth control pills should be available without a prescription. He noted that over-the-counter drugs are often cheaper than insurance company co-pays, though under Obamacare, most insurance policies are required to cover birth control with no co-pay.
For now at least, Obamacare's birth control provisions seem to be a bigger political asset than the president who pushed for them. Even as he champions the health care law's protections, Udall opted not to appear alongside Obama at his public speech today in Colorado.