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Shower thoughts: Jail population has increased 350 percent?
Apr 18, 2018, 10:52 AM | Updated: 12:34 pm
It’s Wednesday, time to jump in the shower for Shower Thoughts™.
American income
Yesterday, we told you about former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s passion project called USAFacts.org. It’s a fascinating website. I spent some time clicking around the families and individuals income section. Believe it or not, there are over 27 million Americans with an income of $9,000 or less. Wow, that’s a lot of people. For a reference point, the entire population of Washington state is 7.4 million. If you want to be a part of the top 1 percent you need to bring in $702,000. To crack the top 20 percent, that starts at $116,000.
I hate cancer
I know that many people have said it better than I can, but cancer sucks. I have several people in my life that are battling right now. I’m sending positive thoughts your way. Make every moment count.
Kudos to Kendrick
I’m not an expert on hip hop, but I do enjoy a lot of it. I’m super impressed that Kendrick Lamar won the Pulitzer Prize in music. He’s the first non-classical or jazz musician to win the award. Even if rap isn’t your thing, at least go and read some of his lyrics. He’s a legit genius. The fact that he emerged from the streets of Compton makes his accomplishments even more impressive to me.
Dogs
I’ve kinda been thinking about getting a dog.
RELATED: Why you should not take your pet on vacation with you
Prison population
One more thing from USAFacts.org to think about. In 1980, there were 1.8 million people in the Correctional population. In 2015, that number was over 6.7 million people. The overall population of the U.S. increased by 45 percent over that time span, but the number of people in the correctional population went up by over 350 percent. Something doesn’t seem right there.
Go Mariners
It’s only been 15 games, but the Mariners are three games over .500. Keep that pace up and it could be an interesting year.
And finally, if there are any big construction companies reading, I would like to do a ride along in one of the big cranes if that’s a thing.
That’s it, time to dry off.
You can hear “What are we talking about here?” everyday at 4:45 p.m. on 97.3 FM.
