We are used to hearing about the richest person in the world or the 50 richest in the US. We are not used to seeing where we fit in on a worldwide basis.
You can now get a pretty interesting perspective on this at the Global Rich List. You should probably use your household income divided by the number of folks in your household since they use total world population to calculate where you fit in.
Let’s say you are a relatively new school teacher, married, single income, no children making about $32,000/year you will find out that your per capita income of $16,000 puts you in the top 10% on a world wide basis.
Yea, I know that the standard of living can dramatically affect the utility of your income but it is still pretty sobering.
Via The Fifty Minute Hour.

Looking for better gas prices? Take a look at Gas Buddy. I quickly found a reasonably convenient station at $.20/gallon less then my local station.

Discussion of the minimum wage will be alive and well during the next election year. Give yourself some time to read and think about the minimum wage and Earned Income Tax Credits. Here is your assigned reading (make sure to read the comment threads as well):

Illinois Raises Minimum Wage
Minimum Wage
Why Minimum Wage Beats EITC
Popularity of Raising Min Wage to $8/hr
YOU SAY POTATO, I SAY TOMATO

You’ll probably want to read some of this a second time and then do a little more research before you make up your mind and load your pen.

Last week a French health official resigned:

Lucien Abenhaim, France’s director general of health, stepped down Monday amid calls for the resignation of his boss, Health Minister Jean-Francois Mattei, who said the death toll from the heat could be as high as 5,000.

The large number of deaths is startling to an American but I am a little puzzled as to what he or any other government functionary might have done differently:

1. Turned down the regions thermostat sooner?
2. Imported ice from the Arctic?
3. Quickly sent ambulances collect everyone who might die and transport them…where?
4. Installed new airconditioning systems the day before the heatwave?
5. Told everyone that its not as hot as it seems.

Steve Verdon indirectly suggests that the deaths are the result of long term policy and that the current government probably could have done little to help beyond, perhaps, beginning the debate to change policy.
i don’t, though, completely accept his argument that the US does not experience the same problem because cheap power has lead to wholesale air conditioning installations. Sure, cheap power has facilitated installations especially in areas with regular seasonal high heat. However, there are many areas of the US where air conditioning is the exception even though power has been cheap historically.
For instance, in the Seattle area many live just fine without air conditioning in normal conditions and below a certain price point (maybe in the $350-400 range new houses are not built with AC in this area. Like in France normally it just doesn’tget that hot for very long. But if the Seattle area experience a heat wave similar to France00 there would be quite a few folks having trouble coping and maybe dieing while in eastern Washington people routinely live in 100+ weather.