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Aug
31
So youngin’s don’t want to stay here or move here because of poor job prospects? Well, according to this article in Fortune, not even one of the top 50 employers for people over 50 is located in Ohio. No Eaton, no Procter & Gamble, no Key Corp, no Sherwin-Williams, no energy companies. Not a one. Nada. Zilch. Zippo. (Lots of healthcare employers on the list, but, despite making the grade nationally for the healthcare services they provide, neither the Cleveland Clinic nor University Hospitals is in the top employers of people over 50.)
Okay – so, if, like, 20 and 30 somethings can’t find jobs here, and, like, none of the employers that are here treat people over 50 very well, and those of us in our 40s are in mid-life crises, who exactly is working and happy in Ohio?
Oh – wait – I forgot. We have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. Not as many people proportionately speaking are even working in Ohio to begin with. Silly me.
I sure hope someone can Turnaround Ohio.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:23 pm August 31st, 2006 in Politics | 12 Comments
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Aug
31
AP writer fails to provide balanced picture of small schools story
Filed Under Politics | 5 Comments
Okay. I’m biased here, but let me re-cap:
1. I covered Euclid’s small schools reform effort for more than two years.
2. I was a big and well-known complainer about some of the most horrific problems raised by this reform effort.
3. I saw a lot of hard work among the ruins that gave birth to some serious successes.
4. Gates spent $1 BILLION in, I believe, 20 states, tens of millions in Ohio, spread out over more than 50 small schools in numerous districts.
So, Julia Silverman, AP writer lady – if you’re going to write a story about small schools and let the headline writers conclude enough from your work that they title it, “Backlash Builds Against Small Schools,” don’t you think you might have wanted to balance your story with something like, say, THIS?
Or, maybe you could have mentioned the numerical investment Gates’ has made – the number of kids affected, the number of teachers and administrators involved, the amount of money, the number of years, what’s being done now. And, how about, what those schools were like, objectively by numbers, before the effort began?
I promise you – I’m all too happy – especially now that I’m not under contract to KnowledgeWorks anymore, to discuss the major problems with the effort. And it’s okay to have a newstory focus on the problems. But, as a reader who just happens to know a few things about the small schools effort, I also know that there could have easily have been a paragraph in there that nodded to the successes.
Know what I mean?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:07 pm August 31st, 2006 in Politics | 5 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
31
So youngin’s don’t want to stay here or move here because of poor job prospects? Well, according to this article in Fortune, not even one of the top 50 employers for people over 50 is located in Ohio. No Eaton, no Procter & Gamble, no Key Corp, no Sherwin-Williams, no energy companies. Not a one. Nada. Zilch. Zippo. (Lots of healthcare employers on the list, but, despite making the grade nationally for the healthcare services they provide, neither the Cleveland Clinic nor University Hospitals is in the top employers of people over 50.)
Okay – so, if, like, 20 and 30 somethings can’t find jobs here, and, like, none of the employers that are here treat people over 50 very well, and those of us in our 40s are in mid-life crises, who exactly is working and happy in Ohio?
Oh – wait – I forgot. We have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. Not as many people proportionately speaking are even working in Ohio to begin with. Silly me.
I sure hope someone can Turnaround Ohio.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:23 pm August 31st, 2006 in Politics | 12 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
31
AP writer fails to provide balanced picture of small schools story
Filed Under Politics | 5 Comments
Okay. I’m biased here, but let me re-cap:
1. I covered Euclid’s small schools reform effort for more than two years.
2. I was a big and well-known complainer about some of the most horrific problems raised by this reform effort.
3. I saw a lot of hard work among the ruins that gave birth to some serious successes.
4. Gates spent $1 BILLION in, I believe, 20 states, tens of millions in Ohio, spread out over more than 50 small schools in numerous districts.
So, Julia Silverman, AP writer lady – if you’re going to write a story about small schools and let the headline writers conclude enough from your work that they title it, “Backlash Builds Against Small Schools,” don’t you think you might have wanted to balance your story with something like, say, THIS?
Or, maybe you could have mentioned the numerical investment Gates’ has made – the number of kids affected, the number of teachers and administrators involved, the amount of money, the number of years, what’s being done now. And, how about, what those schools were like, objectively by numbers, before the effort began?
I promise you – I’m all too happy – especially now that I’m not under contract to KnowledgeWorks anymore, to discuss the major problems with the effort. And it’s okay to have a newstory focus on the problems. But, as a reader who just happens to know a few things about the small schools effort, I also know that there could have easily have been a paragraph in there that nodded to the successes.
Know what I mean?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:07 pm August 31st, 2006 in Politics | 5 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
31
So youngin’s don’t want to stay here or move here because of poor job prospects? Well, according to this article in Fortune, not even one of the top 50 employers for people over 50 is located in Ohio. No Eaton, no Procter & Gamble, no Key Corp, no Sherwin-Williams, no energy companies. Not a one. Nada. Zilch. Zippo. (Lots of healthcare employers on the list, but, despite making the grade nationally for the healthcare services they provide, neither the Cleveland Clinic nor University Hospitals is in the top employers of people over 50.)
Okay – so, if, like, 20 and 30 somethings can’t find jobs here, and, like, none of the employers that are here treat people over 50 very well, and those of us in our 40s are in mid-life crises, who exactly is working and happy in Ohio?
Oh – wait – I forgot. We have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. Not as many people proportionately speaking are even working in Ohio to begin with. Silly me.
I sure hope someone can Turnaround Ohio.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:23 pm August 31st, 2006 in Politics | Please comment
Print This Post
Aug
31
Roger Goudy (opponent is Josh Mandel) to Meet the Bloggers this evening
Filed Under Politics | 4 Comments
I’m holding Lance Mason and Judge O’Neill over my head before I get to Sherrod Brown. Talk about albatross.
Oh – not them – the Meet the Blogger notes I have for all three. But I’m as hopeful as ever (and hey, Lance’s is still not finished) so that’s a good thing and maybe even enough to get it done today.
Many updates I want to provide to older stories (Synenberg, using multiple names when you run as a candidate, Israel) plus lots of notes on new ones (how can someone of the human race wrap a three year old child in a blanket, bind their arms and leave them in a closet to die, Forbes.com retracts statements about men needing to avoid marrying career women and yesterday’s brouhaha over Nathan Estruth, whose last name still pains me to type because of its irony in the situation).
In the meantime, please, consider attending the Meet the Bloggers with Roger Goudy, this evening at 6:30 at the Mustard Seed Market in Solon. Yes, it’s in my neck of the woods but I’m deep into superduper uber mother mode and have a series of open houses over the next several days. I know where I need to be. You? All you need to do is show up. You don’t need to be a blogger or even live in the district.
Goudy is the Democratic candidate running to be State Rep. for Ohio House District 17. His opponent is Josh Mandel who is indeed a Republican even though you’ll not find that information on his website or even the business card he hands out (he knows I have a problem with that; if you’re proud of your affiliation, you should list it; if you’re not, then you need to change your affiliation – simple creed).
Check out Roger and let us know what you find out. And if you can’t make it, download the podcasts like I’ll be doing.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:40 pm August 31st, 2006 in Politics | 4 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
31
AP writer fails to provide balanced picture of small schools story
Filed Under Politics | Leave a Comment
Okay. I’m biased here, but let me re-cap:
1. I covered Euclid’s small schools reform effort for more than two years.
2. I was a big and well-known complainer about some of the most horrific problems raised by this reform effort.
3. I saw a lot of hard work among the ruins that gave birth to some serious successes.
4. Gates spent $1 BILLION in, I believe, 20 states, tens of millions in Ohio, spread out over more than 50 small schools in numerous districts.
So, Julia Silverman, AP writer lady – if you’re going to write a story about small schools and let the headline writers conclude enough from your work that they title it, “Backlash Builds Against Small Schools,” don’t you think you might have wanted to balance your story with something like, say, THIS?
Or, maybe you could have mentioned the numerical investment Gates’ has made – the number of kids affected, the number of teachers and administrators involved, the amount of money, the number of years, what’s being done now. And, how about, what those schools were like, objectively by numbers, before the effort began?
I promise you – I’m all too happy – especially now that I’m not under contract to KnowledgeWorks anymore, to discuss the major problems with the effort. And it’s okay to have a newstory focus on the problems. But, as a reader who just happens to know a few things about the small schools effort, I also know that there could have easily have been a paragraph in there that nodded to the successes.
Know what I mean?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:07 pm August 31st, 2006 in Politics | Please comment
Print This Post
Aug
31
Roger Goudy (opponent is Josh Mandel) to Meet the Bloggers this evening
Filed Under Politics | 4 Comments
I’m holding Lance Mason and Judge O’Neill over my head before I get to Sherrod Brown. Talk about albatross.
Oh – not them – the Meet the Blogger notes I have for all three. But I’m as hopeful as ever (and hey, Lance’s is still not finished) so that’s a good thing and maybe even enough to get it done today.
Many updates I want to provide to older stories (Synenberg, using multiple names when you run as a candidate, Israel) plus lots of notes on new ones (how can someone of the human race wrap a three year old child in a blanket, bind their arms and leave them in a closet to die, Forbes.com retracts statements about men needing to avoid marrying career women and yesterday’s brouhaha over Nathan Estruth, whose last name still pains me to type because of its irony in the situation).
In the meantime, please, consider attending the Meet the Bloggers with Roger Goudy, this evening at 6:30 at the Mustard Seed Market in Solon. Yes, it’s in my neck of the woods but I’m deep into superduper uber mother mode and have a series of open houses over the next several days. I know where I need to be. You? All you need to do is show up. You don’t need to be a blogger or even live in the district.
Goudy is the Democratic candidate running to be State Rep. for Ohio House District 17. His opponent is Josh Mandel who is indeed a Republican even though you’ll not find that information on his website or even the business card he hands out (he knows I have a problem with that; if you’re proud of your affiliation, you should list it; if you’re not, then you need to change your affiliation – simple creed).
Check out Roger and let us know what you find out. And if you can’t make it, download the podcasts like I’ll be doing.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:40 am August 31st, 2006 in Politics | 4 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
31
Roger Goudy (opponent is Josh Mandel) to Meet the Bloggers this evening
Filed Under Politics | Leave a Comment
I’m holding Lance Mason and Judge O’Neill over my head before I get to Sherrod Brown. Talk about albatross.
Oh – not them – the Meet the Blogger notes I have for all three. But I’m as hopeful as ever (and hey, Lance’s is still not finished) so that’s a good thing and maybe even enough to get it done today.
Many updates I want to provide to older stories (Synenberg, using multiple names when you run as a candidate, Israel) plus lots of notes on new ones (how can someone of the human race wrap a three year old child in a blanket, bind their arms and leave them in a closet to die, Forbes.com retracts statements about men needing to avoid marrying career women and yesterday’s brouhaha over Nathan Estruth, whose last name still pains me to type because of its irony in the situation).
In the meantime, please, consider attending the Meet the Bloggers with Roger Goudy, this evening at 6:30 at the Mustard Seed Market in Solon. Yes, it’s in my neck of the woods but I’m deep into superduper uber mother mode and have a series of open houses over the next several days. I know where I need to be. You? All you need to do is show up. You don’t need to be a blogger or even live in the district.
Goudy is the Democratic candidate running to be State Rep. for Ohio House District 17. His opponent is Josh Mandel who is indeed a Republican even though you’ll not find that information on his website or even the business card he hands out (he knows I have a problem with that; if you’re proud of your affiliation, you should list it; if you’re not, then you need to change your affiliation – simple creed).
Check out Roger and let us know what you find out. And if you can’t make it, download the podcasts like I’ll be doing.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:40 am August 31st, 2006 in Politics | Please comment
Print This Post
Aug
30
What do others think (careful; if you bother to look at the link, I’d advise reading through it all)? A search at the Plain Dealer website turned up nada on the story this morning but it appears to have happened when it was around 6 or 7pm here.
More from SFGate.com here and the San Francisco Chronicle here.
Really, just a tragedy for everyone touched by it, pun intended.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:02 pm August 30th, 2006 in Politics | 2 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
30
What do others think (careful; if you bother to look at the link, I’d advise reading through it all)? A search at the Plain Dealer website turned up nada on the story this morning but it appears to have happened when it was around 6 or 7pm here.
More from SFGate.com here and the San Francisco Chronicle here.
Really, just a tragedy for everyone touched by it, pun intended.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:02 am August 30th, 2006 in Politics | 2 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
30
What do others think (careful; if you bother to look at the link, I’d advise reading through it all)? A search at the Plain Dealer website turned up nada on the story this morning but it appears to have happened when it was around 6 or 7pm here.
More from SFGate.com here and the San Francisco Chronicle here.
Really, just a tragedy for everyone touched by it, pun intended.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:02 am August 30th, 2006 in Politics | Please comment
Print This Post
Aug
29
The KnowledgeWorks publication looks beautiful. You can read excerpts here or order your own (free) copy here or read the pdf here. My piece starts on page 27.
And it goes a little somethin’ like this:
As five Euclid Business and Communications School juniors climb the school’s switchback stairs, their angry voices echo upwards.
“No one ever deserves to go!” says D’Angela, known as DD. She jumps onto another step.
“Nobody helped raise money.” She lands with another stomp.
“Only a few kids help raise money all year – the same every time,” another student joins in, slapping a hand down onto the railing for emphasis.
“We don’t have the money because people don’t want to help. I’ve asked and asked and I don’t get no response,” DD says. All the while, she continues to jaunt up the steps, her feet landing in cadence with her words.
The five students – DD, Ashley, Pam, Cameron and Henri – have just emerged from a meeting of their school’s Student Leadership Team (SLT) and they are more frustrated than at any time since the group began two years before. Along with other members of the SLT, they’ve learned that they may not be able to deliver on a promise they made at the beginning of the school year when they publicized that all seniors and all students who did not receive disciplinary referrals would be eligible for an all-paid day at the Cedar Point amusement park.
That decision is why the teenagers are venting their aggravation in the stairwell. Yet this challenge is no different than hundreds of others they have faced since they started helping run their school. As ninth graders, they entered Euclid High School in its last year as a unified facility, which was also a year of planning.
They were sophomores when the campus opened as six separate small schools in August 2004. Since then, through every-other-week Student Leadership Team meetings, these five, along with five students from each of the other three grades, have managed everything from dress code conflicts and lanyard colors to discipline and teacher apathy. One agenda item at a time, they’ve pushed, pulled and celebrated the steps they’ve taken as one small school.
Now, as they reach the landing before the last flight of stairs, what is perhaps their most tangible accomplishment comes into view: the beginnings of a football field length mural of New York’s financial district. From the first days of the Business and Communications School, they envisioned the painting as a dramatic symbol of their focus, but they had to overcome teacher and student apathy to get the project under way.
Like the mural, the five students’ work and hopes for their school remain unfinished. Whether they’ll be able to complete what they’ve begun is yet to be seen.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:11 pm August 29th, 2006 in Politics | 2 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
29
The KnowledgeWorks publication looks beautiful. You can read excerpts here or order your own (free) copy here or read the pdf here. My piece starts on page 27.
And it goes a little somethin’ like this:
As five Euclid Business and Communications School juniors climb the school’s switchback stairs, their angry voices echo upwards.
“No one ever deserves to go!” says D’Angela, known as DD. She jumps onto another step.
“Nobody helped raise money.” She lands with another stomp.
“Only a few kids help raise money all year – the same every time,” another student joins in, slapping a hand down onto the railing for emphasis.
“We don’t have the money because people don’t want to help. I’ve asked and asked and I don’t get no response,” DD says. All the while, she continues to jaunt up the steps, her feet landing in cadence with her words.
The five students – DD, Ashley, Pam, Cameron and Henri – have just emerged from a meeting of their school’s Student Leadership Team (SLT) and they are more frustrated than at any time since the group began two years before. Along with other members of the SLT, they’ve learned that they may not be able to deliver on a promise they made at the beginning of the school year when they publicized that all seniors and all students who did not receive disciplinary referrals would be eligible for an all-paid day at the Cedar Point amusement park.
That decision is why the teenagers are venting their aggravation in the stairwell. Yet this challenge is no different than hundreds of others they have faced since they started helping run their school. As ninth graders, they entered Euclid High School in its last year as a unified facility, which was also a year of planning.
They were sophomores when the campus opened as six separate small schools in August 2004. Since then, through every-other-week Student Leadership Team meetings, these five, along with five students from each of the other three grades, have managed everything from dress code conflicts and lanyard colors to discipline and teacher apathy. One agenda item at a time, they’ve pushed, pulled and celebrated the steps they’ve taken as one small school.
Now, as they reach the landing before the last flight of stairs, what is perhaps their most tangible accomplishment comes into view: the beginnings of a football field length mural of New York’s financial district. From the first days of the Business and Communications School, they envisioned the painting as a dramatic symbol of their focus, but they had to overcome teacher and student apathy to get the project under way.
Like the mural, the five students’ work and hopes for their school remain unfinished. Whether they’ll be able to complete what they’ve begun is yet to be seen.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:11 pm August 29th, 2006 in Politics | 2 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
29
Great news for this community, whose small schools reform effort I followed for hundreds of hours over the last two years. From the Plain Dealer’s story:
Lincoln Electric will spend as much as $40 million to expand and improve the global corporation’s flagship plant, a sign to Euclid officials that the struggling inner-ring suburb’s largest employer will stick around for a long time.
Lincoln, based in Euclid, has signed a letter of intent to buy the neighboring Euclid-Hitachi Heavy Equipment plant at East 222nd Street and St. Clair Avenue and base a growing robotic-welding unit there, company spokesman Roy Morrow said.
Euclid officials said Lincoln pondered moving the unit to China, Atlanta or Chicago but opted to keep the operations in Euclid, which offered tax breaks and other incentives.
Now here’s the part where I get lost because I’m not an economist (nor do I, typically, think like one). The article states, “Losing the workers [a third of the 2400 workforce] would have cost the city almost 5 percent of its annual income taxes, or about $1.1 million. The public schools, which receive a portion of the income taxes, would have lost $216,000.”
Okay – so, now, how do you evaluate what the city provided in incentives to keep the company there for the long-term in conjunction with the “losses” cited in the above statement? I’d like to assume that the city folks know what they are doing. And, based on what I learned about Euclid, a commitment by a large corporation to stay means as much symbolically as it might quantitatively.
But, just to know, what does it mean, exactly, quantitatively?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:48 pm August 29th, 2006 in Politics | 4 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
29
The KnowledgeWorks publication looks beautiful. You can read excerpts here or order your own (free) copy here or read the pdf here. My piece starts on page 27.
And it goes a little somethin’ like this:
As five Euclid Business and Communications School juniors climb the school’s switchback stairs, their angry voices echo upwards.
“No one ever deserves to go!” says D’Angela, known as DD. She jumps onto another step.
“Nobody helped raise money.” She lands with another stomp.
“Only a few kids help raise money all year – the same every time,” another student joins in, slapping a hand down onto the railing for emphasis.
“We don’t have the money because people don’t want to help. I’ve asked and asked and I don’t get no response,” DD says. All the while, she continues to jaunt up the steps, her feet landing in cadence with her words.
The five students – DD, Ashley, Pam, Cameron and Henri – have just emerged from a meeting of their school’s Student Leadership Team (SLT) and they are more frustrated than at any time since the group began two years before. Along with other members of the SLT, they’ve learned that they may not be able to deliver on a promise they made at the beginning of the school year when they publicized that all seniors and all students who did not receive disciplinary referrals would be eligible for an all-paid day at the Cedar Point amusement park.
That decision is why the teenagers are venting their aggravation in the stairwell. Yet this challenge is no different than hundreds of others they have faced since they started helping run their school. As ninth graders, they entered Euclid High School in its last year as a unified facility, which was also a year of planning.
They were sophomores when the campus opened as six separate small schools in August 2004. Since then, through every-other-week Student Leadership Team meetings, these five, along with five students from each of the other three grades, have managed everything from dress code conflicts and lanyard colors to discipline and teacher apathy. One agenda item at a time, they’ve pushed, pulled and celebrated the steps they’ve taken as one small school.
Now, as they reach the landing before the last flight of stairs, what is perhaps their most tangible accomplishment comes into view: the beginnings of a football field length mural of New York’s financial district. From the first days of the Business and Communications School, they envisioned the painting as a dramatic symbol of their focus, but they had to overcome teacher and student apathy to get the project under way.
Like the mural, the five students’ work and hopes for their school remain unfinished. Whether they’ll be able to complete what they’ve begun is yet to be seen.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:11 pm August 29th, 2006 in Politics | Please comment
Print This Post
Aug
29
[Update: Cleveland tops in poverty] Confidence in jobs, income, overall conditions plummets
Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments
I’ve not yet found a break-out for Ohio’s region (“East North Central” region, with IN, IL, MI and WI), but here’s the overall take:
“Consumer confidence lost significant ground in August and is now at its lowest level this year,” says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. “Less favorable business conditions coupled with a less favorable job scenario have resulted in the largest one month decline in confidence since Hurricane Katrina last year. Looking ahead, the glass remains half empty as consumers are growing increasingly more pessimistic about the short-term outlook.”
Consumers’ overall assessment of current conditions was significantly less favorable in August. Those claiming conditions are “good” decreased to 26.1 percent from 27.3 percent. Those claiming conditions are “bad” increased to 16.7 percent from 15.0 percent. Labor market conditions were also less favorable. Consumers saying jobs are “plentiful” decreased to 24.4 percent from 28.6 percent, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” increased to 21.1 percent from 19.6 in July.
Consumers’ outlook for the next six months turned more negative in August. Those anticipating business conditions to worsen increased to 12.9 percent from 10.9 percent. Those expecting business conditions to improve edged down to 15.9 percent from 16.1 percent.
The outlook for the labor market was also less favorable. Those expecting more jobs to become available in the coming months decreased to 14.0 percent from 14.3 percent in July. Those expecting fewer jobs increased to 18.3 percent from 16.5 percent. The proportion of consumers anticipating their incomes to increase in the months ahead declined to 17.7 percent from 18.3 percent.
Read the report summary here.
Ohio gubernatorial candidates, what say you?
UPDATE: Cleveland #1 in poverty. Thirty-two percent of Clevelanders live in poverty and that doesn’t cover those nearly in poverty. Cincy #8.
The link between education and poverty, employment and socioeconomic mobility.
Mrs. Blackwell, care to comment? Eugene Sanders gets a break since he just started but if he hasn’t read that series of reports, he should too.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:45 pm August 29th, 2006 in Politics | 2 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
29
Great news for this community, whose small schools reform effort I followed for hundreds of hours over the last two years. From the Plain Dealer’s story:
Lincoln Electric will spend as much as $40 million to expand and improve the global corporation’s flagship plant, a sign to Euclid officials that the struggling inner-ring suburb’s largest employer will stick around for a long time.
Lincoln, based in Euclid, has signed a letter of intent to buy the neighboring Euclid-Hitachi Heavy Equipment plant at East 222nd Street and St. Clair Avenue and base a growing robotic-welding unit there, company spokesman Roy Morrow said.
Euclid officials said Lincoln pondered moving the unit to China, Atlanta or Chicago but opted to keep the operations in Euclid, which offered tax breaks and other incentives.
Now here’s the part where I get lost because I’m not an economist (nor do I, typically, think like one). The article states, “Losing the workers [a third of the 2400 workforce] would have cost the city almost 5 percent of its annual income taxes, or about $1.1 million. The public schools, which receive a portion of the income taxes, would have lost $216,000.”
Okay – so, now, how do you evaluate what the city provided in incentives to keep the company there for the long-term in conjunction with the “losses” cited in the above statement? I’d like to assume that the city folks know what they are doing. And, based on what I learned about Euclid, a commitment by a large corporation to stay means as much symbolically as it might quantitatively.
But, just to know, what does it mean, exactly, quantitatively?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:48 am August 29th, 2006 in Politics | 4 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
29
[Update: Cleveland tops in poverty] Confidence in jobs, income, overall conditions plummets
Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments
I’ve not yet found a break-out for Ohio’s region (“East North Central” region, with IN, IL, MI and WI), but here’s the overall take:
“Consumer confidence lost significant ground in August and is now at its lowest level this year,” says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. “Less favorable business conditions coupled with a less favorable job scenario have resulted in the largest one month decline in confidence since Hurricane Katrina last year. Looking ahead, the glass remains half empty as consumers are growing increasingly more pessimistic about the short-term outlook.”
Consumers’ overall assessment of current conditions was significantly less favorable in August. Those claiming conditions are “good” decreased to 26.1 percent from 27.3 percent. Those claiming conditions are “bad” increased to 16.7 percent from 15.0 percent. Labor market conditions were also less favorable. Consumers saying jobs are “plentiful” decreased to 24.4 percent from 28.6 percent, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” increased to 21.1 percent from 19.6 in July.
Consumers’ outlook for the next six months turned more negative in August. Those anticipating business conditions to worsen increased to 12.9 percent from 10.9 percent. Those expecting business conditions to improve edged down to 15.9 percent from 16.1 percent.
The outlook for the labor market was also less favorable. Those expecting more jobs to become available in the coming months decreased to 14.0 percent from 14.3 percent in July. Those expecting fewer jobs increased to 18.3 percent from 16.5 percent. The proportion of consumers anticipating their incomes to increase in the months ahead declined to 17.7 percent from 18.3 percent.
Read the report summary here.
Ohio gubernatorial candidates, what say you?
UPDATE: Cleveland #1 in poverty. Thirty-two percent of Clevelanders live in poverty and that doesn’t cover those nearly in poverty. Cincy #8.
The link between education and poverty, employment and socioeconomic mobility.
Mrs. Blackwell, care to comment? Eugene Sanders gets a break since he just started but if he hasn’t read that series of reports, he should too.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:45 am August 29th, 2006 in Politics | 2 Comments
Print This Post
Aug
29
Great news for this community, whose small schools reform effort I followed for hundreds of hours over the last two years. From the Plain Dealer’s story:
Lincoln Electric will spend as much as $40 million to expand and improve the global corporation’s flagship plant, a sign to Euclid officials that the struggling inner-ring suburb’s largest employer will stick around for a long time.
Lincoln, based in Euclid, has signed a letter of intent to buy the neighboring Euclid-Hitachi Heavy Equipment plant at East 222nd Street and St. Clair Avenue and base a growing robotic-welding unit there, company spokesman Roy Morrow said.
Euclid officials said Lincoln pondered moving the unit to China, Atlanta or Chicago but opted to keep the operations in Euclid, which offered tax breaks and other incentives.
Now here’s the part where I get lost because I’m not an economist (nor do I, typically, think like one). The article states, “Losing the workers [a third of the 2400 workforce] would have cost the city almost 5 percent of its annual income taxes, or about $1.1 million. The public schools, which receive a portion of the income taxes, would have lost $216,000.”
Okay – so, now, how do you evaluate what the city provided in incentives to keep the company there for the long-term in conjunction with the “losses” cited in the above statement? I’d like to assume that the city folks know what they are doing. And, based on what I learned about Euclid, a commitment by a large corporation to stay means as much symbolically as it might quantitatively.
But, just to know, what does it mean, exactly, quantitatively?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:48 am August 29th, 2006 in Politics | Please comment
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