Sunday, June 29, 2014

A Tale of Two Counties


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

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.