Divisions within the 99%

Income inequality in a number of Nebraska counties is increasing, and it is increasing in the counties with the highest and fastest growing incomes.  The counties with the fewest college graduates and the lowest income levels also have the most income equality.  I learned this from a report by David J. Peters in the Fall 2011 issue of Great Plains Research.  

I’m grossly oversimplifying a sophisticated scientific study, but Mr. Peters notes that the inequality tends to worsen when a county develops the high-end service sector (think computer techs) and low end service jobs (think Wal-Mart).  Counties that have low inequality are rural and somewhat stagnant, which means almost everyone is at the low end of the income scale.

Couple those findings with a study cited in today’s Allentown Morning Call.  Martha Bailey, an assistant economic professor from the University of Michigan, found that 54% of students from wealthy families obtained college degrees, but only 9% of low income students received their diplomas.  She defined wealthy as students from households bringing in at least $87,000 annually; low income as less than $26,000.  Since a college degree is a ticket to higher mobility, the poor are falling further behind. 

What both of these studies suggest to me is that the U.S. is evolving into a three-tier society.  First, we have the extremely rich--the 1% who rake in gobs of money and do not pay their fair share of taxes.  Secondly, we have the comfortable segment whose kids get college degrees, who have low unemployment, and who, if not super-rich, are not exactly hurting.  They probably identify upward.  The last tier includes the people who are not making it, who are working dead end jobs if they can find employment, and who are not really part of the political system.

Political philosophers from Aristotle to Ben Franklin to Franklin Roosevelt have noted that a community is strongest when most of the citizenry are firmly middle class.  A society with wealthy people confronting poor people is in trouble.  I think we better start a dialogue on this topic.  Perhaps it will be discussed at the next Republican debate, the same day pigs fly.

Pennsylvania Gerrymandering, cont.

In an earlier post I printed the address of the Legislative Reapportionment Commission.  I also said it wouldn’t do any good to write.  I did anyway--call it an existential gesture.  Here’s a copy of my letter.

Legislative Reapportionment Commission

North Office Building, Room 104

Harrisburg, PA 17120

Dear Commission members:

On November 17 the Morning Call printed a map of the preliminary reapportionment plan.  One look at the plan and it is obvious that the tradition of gerrymandering continues in Pennsylvania.  In Carbon County, for example, an integral part of the County’s tradition and culture, the borough of Summit Hill, is neatly excised.  New legislative districts wander across county lines, squiggle here and there, and are obviously drawn for partisan advantage.

Citizens grow more cynical with each election cycle.  Money controls elections, incumbents are almost impossible to defeat, and democracy is mocked.  I know you are doing what you are paid to do, but it is not what America stands for, and I think you should be ashamed of your work.  It is not too late to do the right thing, but I have little hope that that will happen.

By the way, Governor Cuomo in New York said he will veto any plan drawn up by the legislature that he regards as gerrymandering.  He has asked that the boundaries be drawn by an independent commission.  That is the difference between having a governor who believes in fairness and one like Corbett, who will do anything to advance his partisan cause.

Note:  I am taking a vacation day for Thanksgiving.  See you back here on Friday.

Corbett breaks campaign promise, supports new taxes

As a candidate Governor Corbett promised Grover Norquist, the anti-tax guru who controls the Republican Party, that he would never to raise taxes.  Now he supports a tax on the job creating natural gas drilling and fracking industry of up to $40,000 per well.  

Governor Corbett says this is not a tax but rather an “impact fee.”  Grover Norquist knows better.  This is a tax.  What next, Governor Corbett?  Attacks on the free market?

Support for “Obamacare”?  Calls for sex education for home schoolers?

Can we ever trust this man again?  He’s a damn socialist.

Sandy Pope defeated

Sandy Pope was the first woman ever to run for the President of the Teamsters’ Union.  She was a UPS driver who thought the current Teamster leadership gave too much away to companies like UPS.  She only received 17% of the vote; another candidate running against the current leadership received 23%.  That means that the incumbent, a member of the Hoffa family, was reelected with 60%.

As a former Teamster (Oakland, CA, Warehousemen’s local), I hoped Ms. Pope would win, but the Hoffa name is hard to overcome.  By the way, approximately 20% of the Teamsters bothered to vote.

Reapportionment revisited

A few days ago I noted the partisan gerrymanders in Pennsylvania and praised states like California and Arizona that had non-partisan commissions drawing the lines.  Evidently the Governor of Arizona was not as impressed as I was, and she tried to fire the Arizona commission’s chairwoman for “gross misconduct” because she thought the new lines hurt Republicans.  The Arizona Supreme Court has vacated the Governor’s order.  Sometimes Republicans have a hard time accepting fairness.

Veterans' Day, redux

Dear Readers,
     I was reviewing recent posts and noticed that my entry for Nov. 10 had never made it into print.  I have no idea why, but I did write it and I want you to read it.  It was entitled "Veterans' Day," and here it is in its entirety.

In the Strohl’s Valley one-room school where I attended fourth, fifth, and sixth grades, our tiny library contained a book by the World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle entitled Brave Men.  It was an odd choice for an elementary school, but I loved that book.  Pyle’s columns did not glorify war or talk about the nobility of combat.  Instead, they reported on the average American fighting man and detailed his tribulations and his quiet dedication.  Pyle was killed in the Pacific theater just a few weeks before the war ended.

About fifteen years ago Linda and I were driving on Route 36 in western Indiana and noticed that the small town of Dana had a museum dedicated to Ernie Pyle.  We drove north to the town, toured the museum, and bought a publication featuring some of Pyle’s writings.  As we drove west we took turns reading the columns, still incredibly moving some 50 years after the end of World War II.  

We noticed that all of the other visitors were older than we were.  They were vets, paying homage to a man who wrote about infantrymen living and dying in rain and mud.  We wondered who would visit that museum when the vets died off. 

Today an article in the New York Times reported that the state of Indiana took Pyle’s typewriter and some of his artifacts and then closed the museum.  It was too far from a major urban area and had too few visitors.  Volunteers in the town are trying to keep it open on a part-time basis with donations.  I hope they succeed.

A note on mandatory voting

Janette from Belgium sent me an email commenting on the recent post supporting mandatory voting.  Here’s what she wrote:  “We have mandatory voting in Belgium, so everyone stays home for the weekend.  The word is, don’t go early or you will be recruited to work.  Other than that, as everyone is in town, it is always a good weekend to plan something with friends without people having to arrange mutually agreeable dates week in advance due to conflicting activities.   Yeah, people here are getting as busy as they are in the states.”

Bella has a baby

My great niece (who really is great in both meanings) has prevailed upon Linda and me to see the midnight showings of all three “Twilight” films.  That is the series in which a teenage girl falls in love with both a vampire and a werewolf.  I think the odds are slim that she would fall in love with a boy from either of those categories.  What are chances on both at once?

These movies are a cultural phenomenon.  This last one raked in over 30 million dollars before dawn broke on Friday.  The Mahoning theater was filled with young girls and their mothers, and the film was playing in all theaters.  While I didn’t see every patron, I’m fairly sure I was the oldest person there.

I once taught a class in political films, and my definition of a political film was broad, including both “Selena” and “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”  In the case of the films in the Twilight series, however, I can’t see any political implications whatsoever, although a picture ID requirement might be a problem if the wolf wants to vote.  Maybe he can request an absentee ballot.

I must confess that I never see the complete films. I fall asleep. In this last one I missed the wedding dress, the honeymoon, and most of the pregnancy.  

Here’s another thing.  When Lon Chaney, Jr., became a werewolf, his pants and shirt stayed on.  When Jacob becomes a wolf, what happens to his pants?

Savings Bonds

I’m reasonably sure the Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Public Debt, needs money.  That is the agency that issues government savings bonds.  Today I picked up savings bond purchase forms from my bank in Kresgeville.  I give them to family members for Christmas presents.  It also makes me feel patriotic.

As of December 31 I can no longer do that.  The only way to purchase savings bonds after that date will be online.  This is one of those policy changes that is both thoughtless and counterproductive.  First of all, about one-third of Americans do not have internet access.  People who are connected assume that everyone else is, but millions are not.  Old people are among the demographic groups who lack internet access.  Who do you think buys savings bonds?  The term itself is redolent of World War II and Liberty Bond drives.

The second problem is the credit card issue. Millions of people do not have credit cards.  I have never bought anything over the internet because I don’t have a credit card.  How am I supposed to purchase my savings bonds next Christmas? 

You would think that the Bureau of Public Debt would be looking for ways to increase savings bonds purchases.  Evidently not. 

Tomorrow:  My adventures at the midnight showing of that new vampire/werewolf movie “Breaking Wind, Part I.”  I think that was the title.