Serf And Turf

Americas 10 Poorest Counties in Appalachia, Deep South or on Indian Reservations
Friday, December 17, 2010 By Dan Joseph (CNSNews.com) - America’s 10 poorest counties, both in terms of the percentage of those living below the Poverty level and median household income, lie either on Indian Reservations, are in the Deep South or are found in the Coal Mining areas of eastern Kentucky.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Small Area Poverty and Income Estimates for 2009, the 10 U.S. counties with the highest percentages of their population living in Poverty are: 1. Z

In U.S., New Low of 44.8% Get Healthcare From Employer
Government healthcare up, employer-based care down in 2010 vs. 2009 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A new low of 44.8% of American adults report getting their Health Insurance through an employer in November, down from 50% in January 2008, when Gallup began tracking it. The percentage of Americans with government-based healthcare remains elevated, with the 26% who report having it last month similar to the high of 26.3% found in September. Half of Americans reported having employer-based health coverage in ...

O'Malley won't join McDonnell in calling for quick review of federal health law
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) has rebuffed an offer by Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) to join him in requesting an expedited Supreme Court review of this week's ruling by a Federal Judge in Virginia that part of the nation's massive new health law is Unconstitutional. "As you acknowledged on the phone, we have a difference of opinion on the underlying issue -- I believe that affordable healthcare for all Americans regardless of Pre-existing Conditions will strengthen our nation and ma...

Necessary and Proper
Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli speaks about the recent ruling that found the Individual Mandate Unconstitutional (AP Photo/Alexa Welch Edlund) When Federal Judge Henry E. Hudson ruled the Individual Mandate Unconstitutional earlier this week, Conservatives hailed the ruling as a desperately needed check on federal power. "At its core, this dispute is not simply about the business of Insurance, or crafting the scheme of universal health Insurance Coverage," Judge Hudson wrote, "i...

It's a Penalty . . . It's a Tax . . . No, It's SUPERMANDATE!
So the latest talking point I'm seeing is that the Individual Mandate is no Big Deal--just a tax dodge like we've always had. The government is raising taxes, and then giving a deduction of equal size to those who buy Health Insurance. Why the fuss? Well, for starters, this is not what they wrote in the law. They called it a penalty. Now they're worried that maybe their commerce clause powers aren't quite as great as they thought, suddenly it's a tax. Judge Hudson argues that in fact Supreme Cou...

Scrap the foreign language requirement
Jim Sollisch argues that the Foreign Language requirement that so many colleges have is anachronistic. As a former French and Russian teacher, I totally agree. I totally support Students choosing to study a foreign language, but it should be their choice. Personally, I'd reduce most of the overall requirements that colleges impose on students. I'd prefer that requirements flow from the student's major rather than some sort of general education requirements that serve only to give Students a smat...

In the bleak midwinter
OVER the past two years M.I.A.McKamey has had to adjust to a very different way of life. She lost her job in November 2008, one of 8,000 workers fired from an air-freight hub in Wilmington, Ohio. The departure of DHL, a delivery company, was quick and devastating; as if a tornado had ripped through Main Street. A few weeks after Mrs McKamey was sacked she and her husband, Randy, spoke to The Economist in their small farmhouse. Perched on a chair near her Christmas Tree, Mrs McKamey could not hel...

Economic apartheid... with MAPS!
Digby writes about the NYT Census/Google map and what it helps reveal about the Versailles elite and the rest of us: Click on the two maps and you will see that Average Americans are living very differently than the beltway celebrity Millionaires and realistically are as likely to just "go out and get some of that wealth" (as Roger Simon says they should do) as they are to become an Olympic swimmer or a ballerina. Sure, it's possible, but unless you are a really, really great athlete, constru...

More D.C. area commuters leaving the driving to others, census data show
Network News X Profile View More Activity READ MORE Traffic & Roads See the latest alerts, a construction calendar, traffic cams and more to help you get around Washington. >> Dr. Gridlock is here to help >> Get transit tips | Traffic By the numbers DataPost Looking for research help, deeper understanding of the day's news, or do you just like numbers? Here's are some of the most interesting, searchable databases developed by The Washington Post and other local and national organizations ...

Washington area is wealthiest and most educated region in the nation, census data show
The Washington area's affluence and education levels make it the wealthiest and most educated region in the nation, according to Census data released Tuesday that reflect five years of relative prosperity compared with the rest of the country. This Story More D.C. area commuters leaving the driving to others, Census data show Commuters data Poll: Have you changed your commute? Washington area is wealthiest and most educated region in the nation, Census data show U.S. Census Bureau: American C...

Latest Indicators: Jobless Claims Dip; Trade Gap Grows; Housing Starts Up
What is this? The number of people filing first-time claims for jobless benefits decreased by 3,000 last week, to 420,000, the Employment and Training Administration says. Bloomberg News says that signals "a labor market that is on the mend" in part because the slight decline was unexpected and in part because claims have now dipped in three of the past four weeks. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Economic Analysis says the nation's Deficit "on trade in goods and services" widened to $127.2 billion in t...

Latest Indicators: Jobless Claims Dip; Trade Gap Grows; Housing Starts Up
What is this? The number of people filing first-time claims for jobless benefits decreased by 3,000 last week, to 420,000, the Employment and Training Administration says. Bloomberg News says that signals "a labor market that is on the mend" in part because the slight decline was unexpected and in part because claims have now dipped in three of the past four weeks. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Economic Analysis says the nation's Deficit "on trade in goods and services" widened to $127.2 billion in t...

Census Data Show Immigrants Making Path to Suburbs
WASHINGTON — Immigrants fanned out across the United States in the last decade, settling in greater numbers in small towns and suburbs rather than in the cities where they typically moved when they first came to this country, new Census data show. Following jobs to rural and suburban areas, in industries like construction and the food business, immigrant populations rose more than 60 percent in places where immigrants made up fewer than 5 percent of the population in 2000. In areas that h...

What's good for CEOs is good for the USA?
What Good For CEOs ... by digby "I want to dispel any notion we want to inhibit your success,” President Obama told 20 CEOs this morning, according to a source in the room. “We want to be boosters because when you do well, America does well."Really?Wall Street banks are on pace to pay out some $143 billion in compensation for 2010, just shy of their record year of 2007. But given the widespread layoffs of mid-level employees as a result of the Financial Crisis, average compensation set a ...

Ethnic melting pot stretches to suburbs
EVERETT — Ottavio’s barber shop, with its owner’s accent still tinged with traces of his native Sicily, bustles a few doors down from a Haitian Grocery Store and across the road from a kiosk where immigrants can wire money to Brazil. Welcome to Main Street in Everett, where the percentage of immigrants has tripled since 1990 to 33 percent, one of the biggest increases in the state, according to US Census Bureau estimates released yesterday. It is a shift repeated across the st...

Black segregation falls, but Latino and Asian separation up
California's relatively small and slow-growing black population is experiencing far less residential segregation that it did in years past, but its rapidly growing Latino and Asian American populations are experiencing more, a new nationwide study of housing patterns indicates. The study, "Racial and Ethnic Separation in the Neighborhoods: Progress at a Standstill," was written by John R. Logan of Brown University and Brian J. Stults of Florida State University, was based on data from decennia...

Housing Starts and Vacant Units
by CalculatedRisk on 12/17/2010 01:36:00 PM Here is an update to a graph showing total Housing Starts and the percent vacant housing units (owner and rental) in the U.S. Over a year ago, I used this chart to argue that there would be no "V shaped" recovery, and that Housing Starts wouldn't rebound rapidly. See: Housing Starts and Vacant Units: No "V" Shaped Recovery. In that earlier post, I also argued that the Unemployment Rate would remain high throughout 2010. Hey, housing matters! Note: Ho...

American Community Survey Maps
The Census Bureau has released new county-level maps based on the 2005-2009 ACS 5-year estimates . All of the topics also have Census 2000 maps and data to determine statistical significance. ...

Census: Rich Areas Richer, Poor Get Poorer
The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, at least judging by the most extreme neighborhoods for median household income in the latest Census Bureau data. More Video ...

Census Bureau Data: Richest Counties Get Richer, Poorest Get Poorer
Source: ABC News Kentucky Has County With Lowest Median Household Income; Richest 3 in Virginia The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, at least judging by the most extreme neighborhoods for median household income in the latest Census Bureau data. The Census' American Community Survey, released this week, provides detailed neighborhood data, including languages spoken in a home, commute time and income levels. The poorest county, Owsley County, Ky., had the lowest median household income o...

Housing Starts and New Permits Remain Weak in November
As the Housing Market continues to sputter, new construction has been very slow. Although Housing Starts rose 3.9% in November to 555,000, they didn't nearly overcome the 13.0% decline experienced over the two months prior. The Census Bureau also reports that new permits, which are more of a leading indicator, fell by 4.0% last month. The new home construction market remains relatively lifeless. While it might seem that there could be reason to hope for a new trend here, given the small rise in...

Black segregation in US drops to lowest in century (AP)
WASHINGTON – America's neighborhoods took large strides toward racial integration in the last decade as blacks and whites chose to live near each other at the highest levels in a century. Still, segregation in many parts of the U.S. persisted, with Hispanics in particular turning away from whites. A broad range of 2009 Census data released Tuesday also found a mixed economic picture, with the Poverty rate swinging wildly among counties from 4 percent to more than 40 percent as the nation...

The Contributions of the Kennedy Family to People with Mental Illness
The NY Times has quite appropriately taken note of a major change in Washington. For the first time in more than 60 years, there will be no Kennedys in Congress or the White House. When I look at the Kennedy family through the lens of my profession, nothing stands out more than their service to people with Mental Illness. Rosemary Kennedy (JFK’s sister) was developmentally disabled and spent 60 years in an institution after being lobotomized. This heartbreaking situation galvanized the fam...

Lost in the White House
Over the past thirty years, there's been a savage increase in inequality in the United States. In September, new Census figures showed that the income gap between America's Richest and poorest was the widest on record: "The top-earning 20 percent of Americans - those making more than $100,000 each year - received 49.4 percent of all income generated in the U.S., compared with the 3.4 percent earned by those below the Poverty line [15 percent]." It's a manifestation of what Senator Bernie Sande...

"Government Takeover" of Health Care Called "Lie of the Year"
The Health Care bill, passed in March, was surrounded by public claims that it would be a "government takeover" of the Health Care system. PolitiFact.com has found this to be the biggest "lie of the year." (Credit: AP) The claim that the Health Care overhaul bill reflects a "government takeover of healthcare" has won the "lie of the year" award from the fact-checking website Politifact.com. The Pulitzer Prize winning website, which is associated with the St. Petersburg Times, ...