Category: Demographics
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Infographic of the Day: Working Class Communities
In the mid-20th century, the “working class” — workers engaged in manufacturing, construction, transportation and maintenance — comprised half the nation’s workforce. Today, the number is down to one fifth. Of the country’s Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Elkhard-Goshen, Indiana, has the highest percentage working-class population, 46.0%. The highest in Virginia is Harrisonburg, ranked 17th in the…
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Virginia’s Slipping “Best To Do Business” Rating
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in Business and Economy, Demographics, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Infrastructure, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Property rights, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, TransportationBy Peter Galuszka Old Dominion politicians and economic boosters love to tout the state’s typically high ranking in various surveys of the “best states to do business.” But the latest such ranking, by CNBC, shows Virginia dropping from first place to third. One reason is roads. “Infrastructure – specifically the state’s perpetually clogged highways –…
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Population Growth Shifting to Cities
And the evidence just keeps pouring in… Growth and development in metropolitan regions is shifting from the periphery to the core. I’ve made that point previously by pointing out that property values tend to be rising in metro cores and falling in the periphery. Now comes Census Bureau data that population growth in “cities” (presumably…
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Finally, Good News on Immigration
By Peter Galuszka Long-simmering immigration issues are starting to bubble over now that the U.S. Supreme Court has given a partial victory in opposing Arizona’s racist law. The ruling follows a bold action by President Barack Obama to allow law-abiding young people who happen to be undocumented aliens to stay in this country. The court…
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UNDERCLASS LOVER
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in Business and Economy, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Gun rights, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, LGBQT, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, Transportation, Uncategorized, Water-waste waterI want to be an underclass lover Lay it down like a big ole’ brother No mind who gets stuck With the leftover I get my F&%# Without too much workover Don’t care about the deficit Don’t give a damn about the debt ’cause when it comes to lov’in You ain’t seen noth’ yet Ya…
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Blacks in Virginia: By the Numbers
Michele P. Claibourn with the Weldon Cooper Demographics & Workforce Group has accomplished something remarkable in her new paper, “Blacks in Virginia: Demographic Trends in Historical Context“: She has brought fresh insights and perspectives to a well-worn topic. In this chart, Claibourn shows the changing percentage of the African-American population in Virginia. During Reconstruction, the…
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How Far Will Private School Tax Breaks Go?
By Peter Galuszka Hunter Country Day School is slated to open this fall for kindergarten through fifth-grade pupils at a quaint, red-brick outbuilding of the Dover Baptist Church on a leafy Goochland County road a few miles west of the Richmond Country Club. Its founder is Ann McLean, who has an art history doctorate…
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No Big Gulp For You, Fatboy!
By Peter Galuszka Here’s something that Objectivists, Randians, Utopians and Tempermentals can all get a Big Slurp from: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is banning Big Gulps. No kidding! It’s a Libertarian nightmare. Big Apple is telling you that you can’t have that Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew or Sprite you want a 16-ounce cup…
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Bring Back Stigma
Treat men like Desmond Hatchett, father of 30 welfare children, as the creeps they are. by James A. Bacon Desmond Hatchett, of Knoxville, Tenn., has petitioned the state of Tennessee for relief of his child-support obligations. It seems that the 33-year-old minimum-wage earner has to divide 50 percent of his earnings with the 11 women…
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Are We Going Back to Selma?
By Peter Galuszka Imagine it is Alabama in early 1965. The Southern state, like Virginia, has for decades deployed a number of ruses such as poll taxes and literacy tests to prevent U.S. citizens and state residents from voting. These people otherwise would have been qualified voters but also happened to be African-Americans whom the…
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Moscow Memories
By Peter Galuszka It is a cruelly damp and cold day in the autumn of 1986. I am sitting in the lobby of Vnhestorgbank in the Mezhdyunarodnaya Complex, one of the few modern-looking buildings in Moscow at the time. The “Mezh”, also known as the “International Center” or the “Armand Hammer Center” after the U.S.…
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ALEC, the Tea Party and the Feral GOP
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in Business and Economy, Children and Families, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Energy, Environment, Government Finance, Gun rights, Immigration, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, LGBQT, Media, Money in politics, Politics, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, TransportationBy Peter Galuszka Virginia’s conservatives have gone through a spasm of controversy as they struggle to find their message. They desperately need to balance their ideas of fiscal discipline and limited government with a wide spectrum of unrelated hard-right social issues. The clearest evidence yet of the quandary for their soul involves the American Legislative…
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Fairfax County’s Incredible Shrinking Growth Forecast
More great analysis from Terry Maynard! In a memorandum to fellow members of the Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force, he tracks the incredible deflating population growth projections for Fairfax County and explores what it means for transportation and land use planning. As recently as 2008, the sky was the limit. As the federal…
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Corey Stewart’s Racist Baggage
By Peter Galuszka Corey A. Stewart, the scourge of “illegal” immigrants and standard-holder of good old fashioned American values, is now running for lieutenant governor on the Republican ticket in 2013. News reports of his recent announcement were predictably bland – comments in the right-wing blogosphere even more so – despite the fact that Stewart…
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Dulles Rail: “Good Night, John Boy”
By Peter Galuszka The convoluted schemes of Virginia state politicians to avoid paying for rail service to Dulles International Airport are as frustrating as they are self-defeating and unfair. Just a few days ago, it seemed that the General Assembly would consider adding $300 million to extend Metrorail to Dulles on the Silver Line when…