What We Read Today 18 September 2014

Econintersect: Every day our editors collect the most interesting things they find from around the internet and present a summary “reading list” which will include very brief summaries (and sometimes longer ones) of why each item has gotten our attention. Suggestions from readers for “reading list” items are gratefully reviewed, although sometimes space limits the number included.

Billionaire’s house arrest sends stocks crashing (Nataliya Vasilyeva, Associated Press, MSN News) Russia appears to be moving further along a path of nationalization of major industries with the arrest of the head of the a conglomerate which owns the largest oil company still in private hands.

Can you pass the U.S. Citizenship Civics Test? Seven states may soon require it to graduate from high school. (Reid Wilson, The Washington Post) Is there a problem? Econintersect would suggest there is: A 2011 survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center found just 15 percent of Americans could correctly identify the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, while 27 percent knew Randy Jackson was a judge on American Idol. Only 13 percent knew the Constitution was signed in 1787. And just 38 percent were able to name all three branches of government. See next article.

Guardian of Democracy: The Civic Mission of Schools (1911 Study Report) Education level and voting participation are highly correlated.

Retirement Rich List: 314 Have IRAs Averaging $258 Million Each, GAO Estimates (Janet Novack, Forbes) Tax deferred savings plans were introduced to help Joe Sixpack save for a better retirement. It turns out that Joseph Cognac has made a pretty go of such savings plans. The CBO has estimated that just 314 individuals now have a total of $81 billion in such plans, an average of $258 million each. This number is up more than 3-fold from the estimate made just three years ago. For how Joe Sixpack is doing see the just published article at GEI News: Retirement Savings: Nearly 75% of Potential Wasted.