subject: Does Money Make Our Heads Bigger? [print this page] The U.S. city with the highest cost of living is New York City. According to the 2012 index of 306 cities by the Council for Community and Economic Research, the cost of living in Manhattan is 128% higher than the national average. Brooklyn, New York was second followed by San Francisco, California; Honolulu, Hawaii; and San Jose, California. The index is based on 60 consumer goods and services in 6 categories: housing, groceries, utilities, transportation, health care and miscellaneous. Housing is weighted heaviest in the index. However, mortgages have made so much housing "under water", houseboats may be the only solution.
The CEO of a typical U.S. public company made $9.6 million in 2011. According to an Associated Press analysis, that was up 6% from 2010. The good news is companies cut back on cash bonuses and gave more stock awards. However, that's good news only if stock awards are tied to company performance. It's bad news if stock awards are automatically payable on a certain date or the performance goals are so low they will undoubtedly be met. In 2011 shareholders got the right to vote on CEO's pay, but the vote is nonbinding. It can't prevent CEOs from "stockpiling".
The gender pay gap in the U.S. increases as women age. Until now much of the pay discrepancy was attributed to women choosing lower-paying jobs, such as human resources and nursing. However, 2012 research using national government data compared men and women with the same jobs. Among full-time workers one year out of college, women earned 20% less than men. Ten years later they earned 31% less. According to the dictionary, gap year means a period of time taken off by students between secondary school and college. However, after college "gap year" means something very different to women's pay.
Although money could give people "big heads", the heads of all white Americans have gotten bigger over the past 150 years. According to researchers at the University of Tennessee's Forensic Anthropology Center, the height of male skulls has increased by 8 millimeters and the overall size by 200 cubic centimeters. For women skull height has increased by 7 millimeters and overall size by 180 cubic centimeters. Bigger heads typically mean bigger brains and brains could be bigger because of excess calories. The Center didn't have enough black and Hispanic heads for similar studies, but they are "headed" in that direction.
