Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Until 1998!
Dennis Raphael
================Electronic Edition========================
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RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH WEEKLY #578
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. ---December 25, 1997---
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. HEADLINES:
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. 1997 SNAPSHOTS, PART 1
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1997 SNAPSHOTS, PART 1
Executive salaries in the U.S. increased much faster than
corporate revenues and corporate profits during the period
1980-1995, according to tax data reported by the NEW YORK
TIMES.[1] In inflation-adjusted dollars, corporate revenues
rose 129.5% during the 15-year period, while taxable
corporate profits rose 127%. Executive pay during the
period rose 182%. "They have all this diaphanous
[insubstantial, vague] language about performance and all
these committee reports on how pay was determined, but the
simple truth is that executives are setting their own pay,"
says Robert Monks of Lens, Inc., an investment fund.
Actually, tax data understate both the actual rise in
executive pay, and the higher rate at which it has risen
compared to corporate revenues, profits, and taxes, the
TIMES reported. This occurs because most executives are
given "deferred stock options" as part of their annual pay,
and these deferred options are not taxable until the
executive "exercises" the option, which may occur years or
decades later (usually after retirement). Thus
today's tax records do not accurately reflect today's
executive compensation.
For example, Roberto C. Goizueta, chief executive of
Coca-Cola (who died recently), had more than $1 billion in
deferred accounts, according to the federal Securities and
Exchange Commission, which he received as compensation over
the past 17 years, thus averaging $58.8 million in deferred
compensation each year for 17 years. (To add perspective
here: Mr. Goizueta's $1 billion could have served a
different purpose --it could have provided 1500 good jobs,
each paying $39,200 per year for 17 years.)
* * *
In the U.S., between 1972 and 1995, real wages for a
full-time worker declined 19% in inflation-adjusted
dollars.[2] In 1996, income for men with full-time jobs
fell another 0.9%.[3]
* * *
Occupational illnesses killed an estimated 60,300 workers
and made 862,200 workers sick in the U.S. in 1992 (the
latest year for which figures are available), according to a
study published in ARCHIVES OF INTERNAL MEDICINE in July.[4]
On-the-job accidents killed 6,500 workers and injured 13.2
million others that year. There is no reason to believe
that 1992 was an unusual year.
Occupational injuries cost $145 billion, and job-related
illnesses cost an estimated $26 billion for a grand total of
$171 billion in 1992. These cost estimates are likely to be
low because they do not include costs of pain and suffering,
or costs of in-home care provided by family members.
Furthermore, the researchers conducting the study believe
they undercounted the actual numbers of workers injured,
made sick, and killed by their jobs.
This was the first study that had ever tried to tally the
costs of on-the-job injuries, illnesses and deaths.
By this reckoning, the costs of job-related harms greatly
exceed those of AIDS or Alzheimer's disease, and are
comparable (or even somewhat exceed) the costs of the
better-known major killers, heart disease and cancer. The
main difference between occupational harms and the
better-known major killers is that the public has been made
aware of cancer and heart disease by media and government
attention, whereas occupational illnesses, injuries, and
deaths remain underreported, poorly studied, and largely
ignored by governments, corporations, and the public.
* * *
A new psychological disorder called "road rage" is partly
responsible for 28,000 highway deaths each year in the U.S.,
according to Ricardo Martinez, a former emergency room
surgeon who now heads the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration.[5] About 42,000 people are killed each year
in highway accidents in the U.S., so "road rage" plays a
role in 2 out of every 3 such deaths. Road rage includes
all forms of aggressive driving such as tailgating, weaving
through busy lanes, passing on the righthand side, honking,
gesturing, or screaming at other drivers, and occasionally
shooting a gun.
Dr. Martinez says the problem has two sources: a 35%
increase in traffic during the past decade with only a 1%
increase in new roads; and an increase in the "me first"
philosophy among Americans during the past decade.
According to a study by the American Automobile Association
Foundation for Traffic Safety, "violent aggressive driving"
increased 7% each year during the period 1990 to 1996.
* * *
Crime rates have dropped each year for the past five years
in the U.S., but the prison and jail populations have
increased 7% each year since 1990, reaching a
record-breaking total of 1.7 million in 1996.[6] The cost
of prisons and jails is $30 billion per year, or $17,650 per
prisoner per year.
How can crimes go down and inmate populations rise? "The
change in the number of inmates tells us more about our
feelings about crime and criminals" and about changes in
sentencing laws, than it does about crime rates, says
Franklin Zimrung, director of the Earl Warren Legal
Institute at University of California at Berkeley.
For example, North and South Dakota are similar in their
social, economic and racial characteristics and they have
similar crime rates. However, North Dakota incarcerates 90
of every 100,000 citizens while South Dakota imprisons 279
per 100,000.)
Federal crime statistics do not include drug offenses
because there is assumed to be no victim, and drug offenses
are not expected to be reported to the police.
Nevertheless, drug offenses are putting enormous numbers of
people in prison --those arrested for drugs jumped 27%
between 1990 and 1995. More than half the increase in
inmates during the past 15 years is accounted for by drug
offenses. At least 25% of new inmates today have never
committed another crime besides a drug offense.
But not just anyone is going to jail. Users of crack
cocaine make up the bulk of those imprisoned for drug use.
Crack is a poor person's drug; powder cocaine is a
recreation of the rich. Congress and 14 states have passed
laws making penalties for crack up to 100 times as great as
penalties for powder cocaine. As a result, African-Americans
are much more likely to go to jail, and for longer periods,
than whites. In 1993 African-Americans were seven times as
likely to be incarcerated as whites. An estimated 1471
African-Americans per 100,000 African-American citizens vs.
207 whites per 100,000 white citizens were imprisoned at the
end of 1993.[7]
California is setting the pace for the nation in imprisoning
its citizens. Like Florida, California now spends more, in
total, on prisons than it does on higher education. The
California college system was once hailed as the world's
best public university system, but in the last 20 years,
California has built only one new college. Instead, it has
built 21 new prisons. The state now spends $6,000 per year
for each college student, but $34,000 per year for each
prison inmate. In recent years, the California college
system has lost 10,000 employees, including many faculty,
while 10,000 new prison guards have been hired.[6]
* * *
Only one percent of American children between the ages of 2
and 19 eat a diet that includes proper amounts of all the
food groups recommended by the federal government, according
to a telephone survey of the diets of 3307 children
conducted during 1989-1991. Even the diet of the top 1%
exceeds federal recommendations for fat content. The
results appeared in PEDIATRICS in September.[8]
Federal guidelines say children should eat each day: 6 to 11
servings of grain; 3 to 5 servings of vegetables; 2 to 4
servings of fruit; 2 to 3 servings of dairy products; and 5
to 7 ounces of meat.
Sixteen percent of children eat diets that do not meet any
of the federal guidelines.
Only 30% of children meet federal recommendations for
fruits, grains, meat, and dairy; 36% meet the
recommendations for vegetables.
Federal guidelines say no more than 10% of a child's
calories should come from fat and sugar. According to the
survey, the average American child receives 40% of calories
from fat and sugar.
White children came closer to meeting the federal guidelines
than did African-American or Hispanic children.
* * *
Pharmaceutical companies have discovered a new market for
antidepressant drugs: children.[9] In 1996, nearly 600,000
children in the U.S. took antidepressant prescription drugs
(Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft). Prozac prescriptions for
children aged 13 to 18 increased 47% in 1996. The NEW YORK
TIMES reports that the adult market for such drugs is
"saturated" --Prozac sales to adults fell 5% in 1996 and
2.5% in 1995. As the TIMES put it succinctly, "Companies
are looking for customers." The drugs are not authorized
for use in children (and their use in children has been
studied little), but neither are they specifically
prohibited, so it is legal for physicians to
prescribe them. An estimated 4 million American children
--or 5% --suffer from depression. The teenage suicide rate
has been rising for a decade and now equals that of adults.
* * *
Surely these facts and trends are all connected. It is the
job of all of us, as citizens of a self-governing republic,
to see the connections, discern the common root causes,
create comprehensive visions of a brighter future for
everyone, then work like hell to make them real. Organize,
organize! Happy New Year.
--Peter Montague
(National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981/AFL-CIO)
===============
[1] David Cay Johnston, "Executive Pay Increases at a Much
Faster Rate Than Corporate Revenues and Profits," NEW YORK
TIMES September 2, 1997, pg. D4.
[2] Ravi Batra, THE GREAT AMERICAN DECEPTION (New York:
Wiley, 1996 [ISBN 0-471-16556-5]), Table 2.1, pg. 10, citing
ECONOMIC REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT (Washington, D.C.: The
Council of Economic Advisors, 1996), pg. 330.
[3] Steven A. Holmes, "New Reports Say Minorities Benefit in
Fiscal Recovery," NEW YORK TIMES September 30, 1997, pgs.
A1, A24.
[4] J.P. Leigh and others, "Occupational Injury and Illness
in the United States. Estimates of Costs, Morbidity and
Mortality," ARCHIVES OF INTERNAL MEDICINE Vol. 157, No. 14
(July 28, 1997), pgs. 1557-1568. And see Associated Press,
"Job-Related Illness Cost Put at $171 Billion in '92," NEW
YORK TIMES July 28, 1997, pg. A9.
[5] Matthew L. Wald, "Temper Cited as Cause of 28,000 Road
Deaths a Year," NEW YORK TIMES July 18, 1997, pg. A14. And
see: Lesley Hazleton, "Fear Is Increasing on the Roads, But
That May Not Be a Bad Thing," NEW YORK TIMES October 16,
1997, pg. G2.
[6] Fox Butterfield, "Crime Keeps On Falling, but Prisons
Keep On Filling," NEW YORK TIMES September 28, 1997, Section
4, pgs. 1, 4. And see: Associated Press, "In 90's, Prison
Building by States and U.S. Government Surged," NEW YORK
TIMES August 8, 1997, pg. A16.
[7] Allen J. Beck and Darrell K. Gilliard, "Prisoners in
1994," BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS BULLETIN [NCJ-151654],
August, 1995, pgs. 1-13.
[8] K.A. Munoz and others, "Food intakes of U.S. children
and adolescents compared with recommendations," PEDIATRICS
Vol. 100, No. 3, Part 1 (September 1997), pgs. 323-329. And
see Associated Press, "Few Young People Eat Wisely, Study
Shows," NEW YORK TIMES September 3, 1997, pg. A12.
[9] Barbara Strauch, "Use of Antidepression Medicine For
Young Patients Has Soared," NEW YORK TIMES August 10, 1997,
pgs. A1, A24.
Descriptor terms: wages; executive pay; occupational safety
and health; road rage; aggressive behavior; crime; prisons;
crack cocaine; california; higher education; diet; children;
pharmaceutical corporations; antidepressant drugs; prozac;
paxil; zoloft; suicide;
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NOTICE
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***************************************************
From new transmitters came the old stupidities.
Wisdom was passed on from mouth to mouth.
-Bertolt Brecht
***************************************************
Dennis Raphael, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Acting Director,
Masters of Health Science Program in Health Promotion
Department of Public Health Sciences
Graduate Department of Community Health
University of Toronto
McMurrich Building, Room 101
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M5S 1A8
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