San Joaquin: The new Appalachia?

http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/13985636p-14819186c.html

The San Joaquin Valley really may be the new Appalachia after all, a new congressional study suggests.

The travails sound familiar. Poverty is high, education is low, and social needs abound. But the 365-page regional report card released Wednesday, one of the most comprehensive of its kind, also leaves unanswered what may be the most enduring Capitol Hill question.

That is: What must Congress do now, given the immensity of the problem?

"By a wide range of indicators, the San Joaquin Valley is one of the most economically depressed regions of the United States," the Congressional Research Service concluded in its final version of a report begun about a year ago.

very interesting article

What's the Matter with Kansas? (2004) is a book written by American journalist and historian Thomas Frank, which explores the rise of conservative populism in the United States through the lens of his native state of Kansas, which was once a hotbed of the left-wing Populist movement of the late nineteenth century, but has become overwhelming conservative and Republican in recent decades.

well heeled Republicans who do.

SoCalifornians should not be smug.After all,Santa Ana has made it to the top of the list of "Worst cities in the US". Sorry, no link, but true nonetheless.

santa ana:(....that's my hometown, and the county seat! sad to say, i agree now. didn't use to be that way tho. santa ana has changed enormously since i graduated hs in the early 70's.

where many people in the San Joaquin Valley came from and when they came there: Where: the Dustbowl; When: the Depression. Think the Joads in Steinbeck. Their children and grandchildren grew up in similar poverty. Add in the legal and illegal Hispanic migrant workers and of course, it looks dreadful. But the area has never been generally wealthy. Neither of the great valleys of California (with the exception of Sacramento area) are areas of great wealth. There are a few very rich growers and professionals. The rest of the population are ag workers or in retail.

but some of us are nurses, social workers and other such educated professionals. I agree though Dems don't show up and I have heard from some of the old timers here in Fresno that only about 20 years ago Fresno was blue in registration and voting trends.

n/t

It was in the best interests of the farmers, canners, and packers to maintain an desperate and ignorant work force. "Keep them doped up, stupid and on unemployment benefits for six months a year and they'll keep coming back to work for crumbs." Many of the truly gifted and driven children, grandchildren and great grand children of the original ethnic minorities imported to work in the Valley have moved up and out of the fields, canneries and packing sheds into other well paying and prosperous professions OUT OF THE VALLEY. But, the average and below average members of these communities that stay behind in the valley suffer without the benefit of a social system that has little respect for them, much less a willingness to support, educate, and offer opportunities for advancement in the workforce. Even the above average poor disadvantaged kid without patronage is way behind in the social, educational and technical competencies needed to become a fork lift driver, nurse, fireman, teacher, correctional officer, or cop. Without access to social, educational, and economic patronage the disadvantaged kid is left to his/her own devices for survival. Because of the rising cost of housing many of the poor who used to get by hustling goods, and dope to supplement their meager incomes are now forced by the current economic system to radically alter and change in ways that they or their children may be unable to achieve. So, without access to well paid positions in the work force because they are too "ghetto or trailer park" they may steal more, sell more, put the kids to work on the streets, and/or crowd another family in the house to survive.