From Bluegrass-State Blues by Anne Lowrey in the New York Times today. Coal country is the most disadvantaged part of the United States - - even after periodic attempts to flood persistently poor counties with federal dollars in an effort to jump start the region into higher growth rates. Geography still matters - - sometimes being poor in rural areas is because you are poor in rural areas. The global economy is all about population density and synergy. Small and spread out is a really, really bad combination in the knowledge economy - - and federal spending on the local wastewater treatment plant doesn't fix spread out or small. It doesn't fix 7.4% of the population has a college degree. It doesn't fix 11.7% receive Social Security disability payments. It doesn't fix geography - - Ph.D.s next to the nuclear weapons program in New Mexico receive more opportunities directly supported by the federal government. A tale of two counties was never going to be fair. It will never be fair.
|
Education
|
Median Household
Income
|
Jobless Rate
|
Disability Rate
|
Life Expectancy
|
Obesity Rate
|
Clay
|
7.4%
|
$22.296
|
12.7%
|
11.7%
|
71.4
|
45.5%
|
Los Alamos
|
63.2
|
106,462
|
3.5
|
0.3
|
82.4
|
22.6
|
U.S.
|
11.9
|
43,810
|
7.5
|
1.3
|
77.4
|
38.0
|
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