The Whitewater Common Council met briefly last night, 10.20.20. The agenda for the meeting is available, and a recording of the session appears above. Two different topics are worth noting (for different reasons): autumn leaf collection and a building rehabilitation project. A few remarks — 1. Leaf collection. The city has many homes & apartments, the homes…
Poverty
Federal Government, Housing, Poverty
Frontline: Poverty, Politics and Profit (Full Film)
by JOHN ADAMS •
FRONTLINE and NPR investigate the billions spent on affordable housing, and why so few get the help they need. In a nine-month investigation that takes FRONTLINE and NPR from Dallas to Miami, NPR’s Laura Sullivan and FRONTLINE’s Rick Young find that just one in four households eligible for Section 8 assistance are getting it, and…
Economy, Employment, Poverty, Recession
That’s Not a Recovery: Millions Slip into Poverty & Unemployment Claims Rise
by JOHN ADAMS •
That a rush to re-open would lead to an economic rebound was always doubtful (no economic fix without a pandemic fix), but the data are clear that America is experiencing no national ‘recovery.’ Jason DeParle reports 8 Million Have Slipped Into Poverty Since May as Federal Aid Has Dried Up: After an ambitious expansion of…
Charity and Mercy, City, Poverty
Waiting for Whitewater’s Dorothy Day
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater has many needs, but fulfilling them requires setting aside the city’s longstanding addiction to press releases, public relations, ‘messaging,’ etc. That approach is both ineffectual and proud (where pride is a sin). Worse still is the irreparably conflicted role of politician and reporter, a government intrusion into civil society, a bad habit of Old…
Coronavirus, Documentary, Poverty
Frontline: Growing Up Poor in America (Full Film)
by JOHN ADAMS •
?? The documentary, “Growing Up Poor in America,” follows three children and their families in the battleground state of Ohio as the COVID-19 pandemic amplifies their struggle to stay afloat. In early 2020, it was estimated that almost 12 million children in America were living in poverty — a burden disproportionately borne by Black and…
CDA, City, Economy, Local Government, Poverty, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Walworth County, WEDC, Wisconsin
Whitewater & Walworth County’s Working Poor, 2020 ALICE® Report
by JOHN ADAMS •
The 2020 ALICE® report, on those who are “asset limited, income constrained [yet] employed” is now available. These latest data were collected before the recent recession – one can be sadly confident that hardship reaches farther now. For Wisconsin, 11% of households were below the poverty level, and 34% (including those below the poverty level) were…
CDA, Charity and Mercy, City, Economy, Local Government, Poverty, Recession
A Key Difference Between Bristol, New Hampshire and Whitewater, Wisconsin
by JOHN ADAMS •
A sad story from April about Bristol, N.H. (population 3,300) reveals key differences between that town and Whitewater. While this new recession affects both communities, the economic hardship will be different. See David Gelles, ‘This Is Going to Kill Small-Town America.’ Bristol depends on one major, private manufacturer: By the end of March, with just…
Advertising, Babbittry, Bad Ideas, Boosterism, Culture, Economics, Economy, History, Poverty
Boosterism, ’30s Style
by JOHN ADAMS •
Although the Roosevelt Administration was (whatever its other mistakes) candid about the economic conditions it faced, there was in the ’30s, as there has been over the 2010s in Wisconsin, a delusional impulse to happy talk – regardless of economic conditions – among some politicians and some business groups. Margaret Bourke-White‘s Kentucky Flood depicts the…
Business, CDA, Coronavirus, Economy, Local Government, Poverty, Public Health, Wisconsin
The Reopening Debate Will Turn on Consumer Demand
by JOHN ADAMS •
The push to reopen Wisconsin will only effectively benefit retail businesses if consumer demand returns to pre-pandemic levels. Consumer demand will only return to pre-pandemic levels if consumers feel safe. Some retail demand will return as soon as shops and restaurants open; the marketplace question is whether consumer demand returns to something like pre-pandemic levels.…
Ethics, Grifters, Kushner, Poverty
Jared Kushner, Slumlord Millionaire, Wants the Rent ‘ASAP’
by JOHN ADAMS •
AJ Vicens reports As the Coronavirus Hit, Jared Kushner’s Company Told Renters to Take Action to Pay “ASAP”: On Thursday, March 19, Westminster Management—which is owned by the Kushner Companies and boasts of holdingmore than 20,000 apartments across six states—sent residents in at least one property a notice about rent collection—but it wasn’t about giving them…
Coronavirus, Meals, Poverty, Public Health, School District
Assistance Takes Time
by JOHN ADAMS •
So one hears that an effort toward assistance for children’s breakfast & lunch meals received a lower initial response than some expected. Perhaps, but responses take time – especially in a community where large numbers of children live in poor families that almost certainly do not have conventional broadband access. Initial responses are not indicative…
Babbittry, Boosterism, CDA, City, Development, Economics, Economy, Free Markets, Local Government, Poverty, School District, WEDC, Wisconsin
Local Public Policy as if Charitable Assistance
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater’s policymakers, and those of other small, rural cities, should – in these times of economic stagnation, a lingering opioid crisis, failed business welfare, and an approaching recession – view their principal obligation as if it were charitable outreach. (It’s not charity, of course, but that’s how policymakers should view it: as both palliative and…
Bad Ideas, Boosterism, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economy, Planning, Poverty, WEDC
Declines, Recessions, and Rhetoric
by JOHN ADAMS •
While yesterday was a bad day for the financial markets, it’s the underlying – and troubling – fundamental condition of the economy that matters far more. Places like Whitewater, that adopted business special interests’ “if-you-build-it-they-will-come” approach despite increasing poverty and stagnation in household and individual incomes, are especially vulnerable to a downturn. Market Declines. Steven…
Business, Economy, Poverty, Technology
Cashierless (and so Cashless)
by JOHN ADAMS •
One reads that Amazon has opened its first cashless, full-size grocery store in Seattle. See Amazon is opening its first full-size, cashierless grocery store. Here’s a first look inside. A few remarks: This is a technological achievement, and other companies are working along similar lines. No cashier means, definitionally, no cash transactions. That’s convenient for…