Have you ever looked at the definition of a food desert? The USDA tool has changed since I looked at it last, and it’s now multilayered, allowing the user to look at multiple definitions of a “food desert” but the classic definition remains:1) being “low income” — more than 20% of the population in a census tract being in poverty, or the median census tract income being less than 80% of the median income for the state or metro area (which... Read more
OK, so I’ve gotten some pushback from my modest number of readers (small gripe about the BlogSpot platform: I can’t get it to register the instruction to not track my own pageviews, so I don’t know how many real people actually read my writing — but I suppose any number, however small, is enough to keep me honest and focused on writing for an audience) about whether the state has any responsibility with respect to its citizens basic needs. But... Read more
This is, in broad outlines, the content of a recent unpublished letter to the editor, my fix for the pension crisis in Illinois: First of all, existing accrued pension benefits have already been promised — these have to be maintained, just as in the private sector. What’s more, it’s been taken as a given that future accruals, under the same pension formula, are guaranteed by the Illinois constitution. But you know what? — Last year, there was a very convoluted... Read more
OK, so I said in my last post that “the State has the ultimate responsibility to ensure that its citizens’ basic needs are met” which I guess means that I’m not a libertarian, though I would prefer, in general, that the State meet that responsibility in the most prudent manner, in the way that best meets the need while minimizing the apparatus of the State. And now I’m thinking about the different kinds of human needs and how the State meets... Read more
So what I really wanted to do with this blog is, in part at least, to work out my pet solutions and explanations on various political issues — but it’s difficult to pair that with the customary advice of “to get people to read your blog, comment on other blogs and link to a blog post of yours on the same topic.” Anyway, I’m neither a lawyer or a philosopher, but I wanted to write a bit on rights. This is... Read more
One thing that’s happening here, in the emerging narrative of Martin perceiving himself as being “stalked” that’s now developed, is a variant of the “soft bigotry of low expectations.” This is what I mean (let’s call it the “bear in the woods” analogy): If you’re hiking alone in the woods and you encounter a bear (substitute with another threatening predator, if needed to make the analogy work), and your life is threatened, you have the right to shoot to protect... Read more
Remember how the backruptcy judge split General Motors into two: Old GM, with all the bad debt, and New GM, with eveything else? My current “Big Idea” solution for Detroit involves much the same concept: “Old Detroit” and “New Detroit.” Yes, party I mean that the bad debt is hived off onto Old Detroit (good luck collecting it!). But I also mean a physical redrawing of boundaries, creating a city with the business district, the stadiums, theaters (I think there’s... Read more
1) log onto www.realtor.com. 2) look at all listings for Detroit, and play with the slider to adjust the minimum price. 3) repeat for Chicago. 4) compare and contrast, as follows: Detroit 1944 listings total 1321 below $25K 68% 623 > 25K 32% 246 > 50K 13% 106 >100K 5% 88 > 125K 4.5% 68 > 150K 3% 47 > 200K 2% 29 > 250K 1% Chicago 13237 listings total 3314 below 100K 25% 9923 > 100K 75% 5258 >... Read more
I was all set to work on my the things I want to write about marriage, and go into more depth on healthcare, and a couple other topics. But to be honest, just clicking on a few blogs and news sites has me irritated by the commentary on Detroit. Yes, of course, Detroit has been mismanaged for as long as I can remember, and the City Council is astonishingly corrupt. There’s a news item floating around about a Board of... Read more
What a mess! In the private sector, employers cannot cut back accrued pension benefits (though they can freeze and eliminate future accruals), but, the same time, should an employer go bankrupt, the PBGC — Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation — pays out the benefits based on “insurance premiums” paid into the PBGC over the life of the plan. In the public sector, there is no similar entity — there is no “insurance”-type arrangement. But to say that the city of Detroit... Read more
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