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Saturday, April 20, 2019

Where America Is Not Great -- USA Today -- April 20, 2019

This is a great, great example of a story with no context, no analysis. From USA Today, "counties where the American dream may already be dead."

Disclaimer: in a long list like this there will be typographical and factual errors. If this information is important to you, go to the source.

Fifty counties across the US were cited as poverty-stricken.
  • South Dakota: Dewey County, Todd County (#2 on the list), Oglala Lakota County (#1 on the list)
  • North Dakota: Rolette County (#47 on the list), Sioux City County (#3 on the list),
  • Montana: Big Horn County, Glacier County,  
  • Mississippi: Quitman County, Grenada County, Washington County, Oktibbeha County, Bolivar County, Sunflower County, Tallahatchie County, Hinds County, Leflore County, Claiborne County, Tunica County, Humphreys County, Coahoma County,
  • Georgia: Early County, Spalding County, Baldwin County, Terrell County, Sumter County, Hancock County, Clarke County,
  • North Carolina: Hoke County, Guilford County, Robeson County, Scotland County, Forsyth County,
  • Louisiana: East Baton Rouge Parish, East Carroll Parish, Orleans County 
  • Alabama: Macon County, Greene County
  • South Carolina: Fairfield County, Allendale County
  • Virginia: Roanoke City, Richmond City
  • Alaska: Nome Census Area, Kusilvak Census Area, 
  • New Jersey: Atlantic County
  • Arkansas: Crittenden County
  • Florida: Gadsden County
  • Missouri: St Louis City
  • Michigan: Genesee County
  • Wisconsin: Menominee County
  • New Mexico: McKinley County
The two counties in North Dakota are pretty much federal plantations. I can't speak for the other counties and parishes on the list but I bet much of the same. It is interesting that not one county in the former "Indian Territory" made the list.

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Too Much Money

Earlier this week, we spotted a brand new bright yellow BMW i3.

An EV.

$45,000, list price.

Range: 153 miles on a full charge.

Re-charging: one hour for 23 miles.

Acceleration: 0 - 60, eight seconds.
From wiki: Present performance cars are capable of going from 0 to 60 mph in under 6 seconds, while exotic cars can do 0 to 60 mph in between 3 and 4 seconds, whereas motorcycles have been able to achieve these figures with sub-500cc since the 1990s.
The fastest automobile in 2015 was the Porsche 918 Spyder, which is a hybrid vehicle taking 2.2 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph.
Some car manufacturers and magazines in the United States use a "1 feet (sic) rollout", which means that the timer is only started once the car has traveled 11.5 inches, reducing the measured time by up to 0.3 second.
  • Honda Civic, 2011: 9.5 seconds, 0 - 60.
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Too Much Money

From Bloomberg: a $255 billion EV debate is raging among the world's biggest automakers.
A $255 billion debate is raging among the world’s biggest automakers. Some think electric cars made by companies besides Tesla Inc. stand the chance to be hits, while others think they’ll fail to really sell.
Toyota Motor Corp. may have kicked off the green-car movement with its Prius hybrid more than 20 years ago, but the company is not nearly as bullish as rivals about the American consumer embracing EVs. Bob Carter, executive vice president of sales for Toyota Motor North America, said at a conference affiliated with this week’s New York auto show that batteries are still too expensive and place plug-in cars out of reach for many buyers.
“On electrification, we see an opportunity in North America, but it’s much further down the road,” Carter said Tuesday at a forum co-hosted by the National Automobile Dealers Association.
“The average vehicle today costs $34,000 and for many EVs, the battery costs $34,000. The economics are not there.”

2 comments:

  1. would question the criteria used for the study. In Montana, Glacier Cty has the Blackfoot Reservation on it and vast majority of county is Glacier Nat'l park. Approx 23% of adult pop live below poverty line.
    Big Horn County has the Crow Reservation and part of the Northern Cheyenne Res. The county income is mostly ag with some mining. Approx 25% live below poverty line.
    Not sure of their term "poverty stricken"
    Although life in Res land is a struggle, most of todays issues are self imposed by bad local management/choices made by the tribes.
    Like most things in Fed Gov't an umbrella "poverty line standard"doesn't fit because cost of living vastly different in Montana.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agree completely. Both counties listed in North Dakota were reservations -- pretty sad state of federal affairs. And I assume that's true with many of the other counties. Cost of living was one of many things I thought about, also.

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