Is Texas reshifting to the right again? (New Deal: fit in, taxes)

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by EDS_

Raw poverty rates aren't very helpful. However, poverty adjusted by local cost of living metrics is orders of magnitude more useful.


You aren't going to like this.

https://www.businessinsider.com/cali...-bureau-2021-9


__________________________


ETA - His thesis points may or may not be correct currently but a few years ago I attended a set of lectures by the hyper-left but brilliant (Nobel Prize etc.) economist Amartya Sen at UT Austin. Sen is South Asian Indian and all about income and poverty. Anyway he asked the questions who is richer the median income earner in NY (state) or the same in Alabama? Or NY County New York (Manhattan) vs. Zapata County Texas? Anyway after ten minutes at the chalkboard he showed Alabama and Zapata Co. median income earners were richer.

Point being failure to adjust for local COL metrics renders many econometric data points almost useless.

"Youre not going to like this"? You may be blindly loyal to your set, but Im not.

Both parties are full of it. My point of posting that was to refute the claim the previous poster made. Why people vote the way they is complex. Saying people shouldnt vote blue because big cities have higher murder rates is like saying people shouldnt vote red because poverty is more rampant in red areas. Not good points either.

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

I dont understand why rural places vote red. This is one reason they should not:

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-sta...rates?slide=11

See how ridiculous that line of reasoning is?

I’d rather be poor in a rural area than dead in the big city

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

I'm personally tired of both parties and think we need a full clean up starting from the top.

You are correct, but the average voter is too geared to the current two parties in spite of all the known corruption.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

I’d rather be poor in a rural area than dead in the big city

I agree with ABSA on this. To your “dead” point, I know Americans only care about “facts” when it reflects their cult party. But rural areas can be much more violent than urban areas. Why doesn’t Rayne, LA (for example) appear in the murder rate rankings? Because those “genius data driven” charts that Republicans die hards love to meme about only reflect places that are 100K or so + in population.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

"Youre not going to like this"? You may be blindly loyal to your set, but Im not.

Both parties are full of it. My point of posting that was to refute the claim the previous poster made. Why people vote the way they is complex. Saying people shouldnt vote blue because big cities have higher murder rates is like saying people shouldnt vote red because poverty is more rampant in red areas. Not good points either.

Your post didn't read and does not re-read as anything but validation of the previous point.

ETA - I just read it again and still don't see your follow up claim. If I'm missing something help me.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

To be fair there probably is some truth in this but then you also have those extremely high median income earners in the bay area who despite the extraordinarily high CoL out there, do have more buying power than most Americans.. ..although.. this may be a bit skewed as the bay area is largely forcing anyone who 'doesn't' make that median income out of its vicinity due to affordability.. ..likewise you have Atlanta which has a much less noticable homeless situation than SFO but also has a much higher poverty rate .. I'm guessing, you could say the metrics are skewed because folks who are not in the six figure territory could not even dream of living near San Francisco thus pushing the median income far higher.

Everything you mentioned is baked into the supplemental poverty numbers. In fact the supplemental numbers have become very popular among economists, sociologists etc. because it is entirely possible to live better in NW Arkansas on $30,000 than SF on $100K.


The idea is take wherever the national poverty incomes thresholds are and adjust each to local buying power metrics.

ETA - I can't find the list offhand but there is a relative dollar value per state chart that outlines this stuff well and it's just shocking. The average dollar value across The US is worth ~$0.65 at medicine income buying power in New York state FE.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

You are correct, but the average voter is too geared to the current two parties in spite of all the known corruption.

I don't buy it.

The dominant two party system looks terrible until you compare it to long term coalition party systems. I vote to keep what we have.

[done working]

Poverty rates are high for a simple fact. Minorities for decades have not emphasized that eduction and assimilation into society has not been a priority. Added to the number of broken homes has not helped either. Homework, attendance and simple learning techniques are not held high in the vast majortiyes of those house holds. Throwing more money at schools wont help if the students and parents are not interested in learning basic skills required to get a job first and then excel in that job.

I blame the parents and our elected leaders needs to grow a set and speak out loudly on this issue.

We have decades for car washes and hamburgers and gardeners in the making. How is he** do you expect tax to be paid with all these minimum wage workers.

Same on you parents that dont want your kids to have a better life than maybe you and you are responsible for this mess not Abbott or another elected official.

Parents wants to be friends first instead of teaching them the hard facts of life and making sure they have the tools is succeed.

I suggest you ask each these officials running for office how they would address this and vote for them in either party.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

I agree with ABSA on this. To your “dead” point, I know Americans only care about “facts” when it reflects their cult party. But rural areas can be much more violent than urban areas. Why doesn’t Rayne, LA (for example) appear in the murder rate rankings? Because those “genius data driven” charts that Republicans die hards love to meme about only reflect places that are 100K or so + in population.

Nice rant.

The data is there for towns way smaller that 100K. The broad FBI data contains many dozens (hundreds?) of towns with fewer than 100K.

[Ice_Major]

Let me add my perspective to the conversation, as a person who grew up in rural/small town and has lived in cities my entire adult life. Poverty is different in each. Rural poverty is often overlooked or ignored. Maybe it’s because media is concentrated in coastal urban areas. This disconnect leads to people being surprised about rural crime levels or drug issues. In contrast city poverty is highly publicized. Regarding which one is it better for the poor, I would say the city. While I agree with other posters that cities are overall more dangerous, they offer more opportunity to lift oneself out of poverty. Let’s face it their economies work better. So good in fact that they prop up the rural/small town/small cities. Robinhood anyone. With more opportunity comes hope. Many of the folks I know in the small towns have basically given up. The cities folks, even the ones not doing so well, still have a belief they can improve their life at any point by simply meeting the right person or getting the right degree, or landing the right job. This mentality doesn’t exist in in the small town/rural areas at least not to the same extent. Upwardly mobile young people get the out as soon as they get chance.

From a political perspective, Republicans sale these people culture (guns, religion, heritage) protection. Which from a political perspective it's a gold mine. Unlike democrats who sale a form of economic prosperity, culture protection is easier to deliver on. You just pass some meaningless law that makes them feel good without actually changing their economic condition.