What Matters Most?

Grown-ups love figures. When you tell them that you have made a new friend, they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you, "What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies? Instead, they demand: "How old is he? How many brothers has he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make?" Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him.

—The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Richard Howard

America Sleep Deprived

Today, NPR reports that the typical high school senior gets less than 7 hours of sleep each school night, instead of the recommended 9.25 hours. That means most students face a 10-hour "sleep deficit" by the weekend.

Worst still: Sleeping in on Saturday and Sunday only makes matters worse, as it encourages kids' natural nocturnal ways when they're faced with 7:30 or 8 a.m. morning start times for schools. (Previously, NPR reported that letting teens sleep in could help them avoid morning car accidents.)

Of course, their parents are necessarily better off: A 12-state phone survey of roughly 75,000 people found that more than 33 percent of them had slept less than 7 hours the night, and 38 percent said they had fallen asleep without meaning to during at least one day in the previous month.

Sources: NPR, CDC

Considering the Gap Between Rich and Poor

Take a look at the graph to the right: As the countries on the left show, the incomes of rich households rose at faster rate than the incomes of poor households.

As the Economist puts it:

American society is more unequal than those in most other OECD countries, and growth in inequality there has been relatively large. But with very few exceptions, the rich have done better over the past 30 years, even in highly egalitarian places like Scandinavia.

Why? The report points to three possible answers: lower trade barriers combined with technology advancements, rich people marrying other rich people, and fluid job markets.

The chart shows the countries that comprise the EU as discrete enties. To compare the United States with the EU, consider the CIA World Factbook, which estimates its 2009 Gini index at 30.4.