In State Status for Children of Illegals?

With the ever-increasing rise of the Hispanic population in the South, Southern leaders are facing new challenges. One of the policies being debated in North Carolina is whether or not to allow children of illegal immigrants in-state status for state colleges and universities.

In some states, such as Texas, in-state tuition is offered to a number of categories of students who wouldn’t otherwise qualify.

“There’s a whole bunch of different categories of people that would qualify for this,” said Ray Grasshoff, a spokesman for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. “Undocumented students are just a part of this.”

These debates are relatively new to Southeastern states, but must be addressed in the near future. Many Hispanic students would be assets to any southern state, but currently cannot afford out-of-state rates.

Southern cities weigh effects of smoking ban

In Louisville, Kentucky, citizens are grappling with conflicting opinions over a ban on smoking in some bars and restaurants. Louisville is just one of several southern cities debating smoking bans in bars and restaurants in an effort to protect employees from secondhand smoke.
Small business owner:

...There are compelling reasons to go smoke free. No one, is making the argument that smoking isn't dangerous to health.

Last year Kentucky--formerly where one out of six American cigarettes were made--raised cigarette taxes in an effort to raise revenue and in the long run, save public dollars that would have gone to pay medical expenses for the state with the highest rate of lung cancer in the nation.

In Doing Better: Progressive Tax Reform for the American South, more reasons are laid out that explain the advantages of raising cigarette taxes.

Richmond tackles affordable housing

Over the past few days, the Richmond Times-Dispatch has published a series of columns about the upcoming town-hall meetings hosted by the Times-Dispatch as a part of the paper's "Public Square" series.

For most Americans, housing ranks as the second-largest drain on their bank accounts after taxes... Housing affordability affects the ability of a household to rent or purchase housing at a reasonable price in a community of choice.

Since the 1970s, the median income has risen slowly but steadily, while housing prices have skyrocketed.

In 2004, 40.2 percent of all new single-family mortgages in Virginia were interest-only loans -- a clear sign that homeowners are stretched to their limit.

As housing prices rise, the ability for low and middle income renters and owners to have a discretionary income becomes more and more difficult. Currently a bill is being heard before the state legislature that calls for support of Affordable Dwelling Unit ordinances to encourage the building of mixed-income communities in Virginia's cities.

We can do nothing, or we can recognize the critical role housing plays in a strong community, and make sure that in our community there is a place for everyone... Affordable housing an issue that does not avail itself of bumper-sticker slogans.

South at top and bottom in unemployment

The U.S. Beaureau of Labor Statistics released August 2006 unemployment figures Wednesday, with West Virginia, South Carolina, and Mississippi ranked 47, 48 and, 50 respectively, while Virginia and Florida are ranked 2 and 5. Mississippi has 7.1 percent unemployment, S.C. 6.5, and W.V. 5.9.
The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier reports that South Carolina is adopting a set of agressive programs seeking to target the one-third of South Carolinians who lack the skills necessary to maintain a well-paying job.

As of April, fewer than 1,000 South Carolinians were enrolled in a successful "registered apprenticeship" program, regulated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor, that included 15,000 in North Carolina and 12,000 in Florida.

These new initiatives follow a study by the Palmetto Institute that lays out what is needed to significantly lower unemployment rates in South Carolina.

Southern Forests Preserved

One of the BetterSouth issues involves ‘rethinking land use.’ With a ruling by a federal judge in northwest California, some of the South’s most pristine land is once-again protected.

A federal judge Wednesday reinstated Clinton-era forest protections, overturning the Bush administration's proposal to open one-third of the United States' national forests to logging.

In North Carolina, the decision would impact 174,000 acres of roadless land in the state's Pisgah, Nantahala and Croatan national forests - about 15 percent of the state's national forest land.

Most of the Southern lands protected are in western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee. In 2005 Bush opened previously protected land to logging and mining interests. The law allowed for individual states to petition for protection. North Carolina Governor Mike Easley was one of the first leaders to petition the federal government for protection.

"North Carolina's wild forests are once again safe from logging and road-building," Margaret Hartzell, field associate for Environment North Carolina said in a statement. "These pristine areas can be enjoyed by generations of future North Carolinians."

Report says tax exemptions cost Georgians

Church bells, stud bulls, pinball, sod grass, shrimper bait and Bibles are among the many items exempt from Georgia's state sales tax, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A new Georgia State University report says if the tax exemptions were removed, the state could cut its tax from 4 cents to 1.33 cents.

Hmmm. Sounds like an argument made earlier this year in a book by the Center for a Better South. More: Doing Better: Progressive Tax Reform for the American South.

Released Wednesday, the new Georgia report says sales tax exemptions save Georgians and businesses almost $10 billion a year but make the tax system less fair by selectively doling out tax breaks. And the breaks cost state government coffers $10 billion, a considerable sum compared to the state's $18.6 billion annual budget.

Leadership by contrarianism

Center for a Better South co-founder John Simpkins writes today in The (Columbia, S.C.) State newspaper that U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has shown real leadership by supporting American legal values in the face of threats over "enemy combatants" by the Bush Administration.

"No one disputes that we are at war. Despite assertions in our political discourse to the contrary, those who oppose the administration do not want to see America succumb to those who seek to destroy her. Contrarians such as Sen. Graham understand the consequences of compromising American values at the very moment they are being tested. An uncivilized victory in what is allegedly a clash of civilizations would be hollow indeed. Following the command of our conscience only when it suits us calls into question the very beliefs we profess to defend.

"By abandoning the principles of our Founders whenever we find ourselves in crisis, we give credence to those who would claim that America values nothing more than the ringing of the cash register and the next bright, shiny new object. The rule of law is the cornerstone of American democracy. When we turn away from it or bend it for the sake of expediency — as we did in the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II — we eventually see the error of departing from our values and ultimately come to regret our inhumane diversions."

A dozen traps for progressives to avoid

Progressive idea guru George Lakoff and the Rockridge Institute have a new book that highlights a dozen things progressives should avoid to make their case to America.

Among the highlights of Thinking Points: Communicating Our American Values and Vision, A Progressive's Handbook:

• Issues: "We hear it said all the time: Progressives won't unite behind any set of ideas. We all have different ideas and care about different issues. The truth is that progressives do agree at the level of values and that there is a real basis for progressive unity. Progressive values cut across issues. So do principles and forms of argument. Conservatives argue conservatism, no matter what the issue. Progressives should argue progressivism. We need to get out of issue silos that isolate arguments and keep us from the values and principles that define an overall progressive vision."
  
  
• Policies: Progressives regularly mistake policies with values, which are ethical ideas like empathy, responsibility, fairness, freedom, justice, and so on. Policies are not themselves values, though they are, or should be, based on values. Thus, Social Security and universal health insurance are not values; they are policies meant to reflect and codify the values of human dignity, the common good, fairness, and equality."
  
  
• Spin: "Some progressives believe that winning elections or getting public support is a matter of clever spin and catchy slogans--what we call "surface framing." Surface framing is meaningless without deep framing--our deepest moral convictions and political principles. "

SC grocery tax cut to take effect Oct. 1

From Saturday's Charleston Post and Courier:
Effective October 1, South Carolina sales tax on unprepared foods such as milk, bread, and produce will be cut from 5 cents to 3 cents. Typically, about half of the items in most grocery stores will be eligible for the tax break.

The average family of three spends slightly less than $3,700 a year on food purchases, according to the Census Bureau. If all of that was eligible for the lower tax rate, the family would save $74 annually.

The cut comes as part of a property tax relief bill that will be effective in late 2007. To make up for the difference, statewide sales tax on other purchases will be increased from 5 cents to 6 cents. All groceries will still be subject to county sales taxes which vary across the state. Senior citizens will still receive a one percent sales tax break in addition to the reduced tax on unprepared food.

Supporters speculate that the tax cut is beneficial to consumers, while others say the rise in statewide sales tax will do little to help the buying power of the low-income consumers who will be hit hardest by the rise in statewide sales tax.

When the state sales tax increases in June, it will hit the poor harder than the rich, said Sue Berkowitz, director of the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center, a Columbia-based advocacy group for the poor. That's because sales taxes are 'regressive,' she said, meaning that on a percentage basis they eat up a larger portion of low-income families' budgets

Grocers do not expect much change in their operations as a result of the tax cut.

Small Businesses in Rural NC

One-third of all small businesses in rural North Carolina have doubled their sales and/or employment over a five-year period, according to a new report sponsored by the North Carolina Rural Center and the University of North Carolina’s Small Business and Technology Development Center.

Based on a survey of 1,145 rural businesses with between five and 250 employees, the study is a first attempt to understand the characteristics of rural entrepreneurs with special consideration of rapidly growing small, rural enterprises.

The study found that restaurants and retail establishments account for a quarter of all small rural businesses. The entrepreneurs behind such firms tend to be disproportionately white, male, middle-aged, well-educated and firmly rooted in rural communities. Rural firms struggle with issues related to distance from major metropolitan markets, the small size of rural markets, access to capital and – most importantly to the survey’s respondents – a shortage of skilled workers.

High-growth rural firms, meanwhile, tend to be connected to manufacturing and construction sectors and led by younger, more optimistic owners. High-growth firms not only tend to emphasize clear business objectives and sound finances, but also are quite sensitive to workforce issues.

While the report paints a positive picture of small rural businesses, it makes no mention of job quality. A sizable portion of the rural businesses documented in the report are connected to sectors, like retail, that tend to pay low-wages. Additionally, small employers, especially those with fewer than 100 employees, are less likely than larger firms to offer employee benefits like health care and retirement or provide advancement opportunities. Lastly, many of the high-growth firms discussed in the study are located near metropolitan areas – a fact that raises questions about how “rural” such firms really are and the ability of such firms to spark widespread economic growth in rural North Carolina.

Charlotte and the Environment: On the Right Track, Room for Progress

Today's Charlotte Observer covers a report by the Sierra Club which praises Charlotte for taking steps to reduced environmental degradation. Such praise was cautioned with the need for improvement in many areas, including sprawl and poor air quality.

The article lauded Charlotte's commitment to light rail, redevelopment of
contaminated industrial sites and growing network of greenways. It also noted
spreading suburban sprawl, bad air and traffic congestion.

Charlotte, as well as other Southern cities, are beginning to realize the benefits (including economic ones) of enviromentally-conscious policies. Hopefully, these cities will be receptive to the environmental policies and initiatives that Center for a Better South will outline next year.

North Carolina debates Earned Income Tax Credit

Yesterday, the Charlotte Observer ran a letter from NC State Senator Eddie Goodall (R-Mecklenburg) in response to Lt. Governor Beverly Perdue’s letter in the Observer last week where Perdue endorsed a “Rewarding Work Tax Credit,” comparable to the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. Perdue lauds the program as appropriate relief for poorer families while Goodall contends that the program is neither “tax relief” or for “working families.”
Perdue-

The federal EITC returns about $1.2 billion to 766,000 working families in our state that claim the federal credit. Creating this state tax credit would put even more money in the hands of our state's low- and moderate-income working families.

Goodall-

If the lieutenant governor's proposal follows SB 514, the state's expense would amount to 10 percent of the $1.2 billion federal benefit to North Carolinians, or $120 million.

An Earned Income Tax Credit is commonly described as a work incentive, reducing or eliminating income taxes for poor and near-poor families and individuals. Currently 19 states and the District of Columbia have enacted state earned income tax credits.
Perdue-

North Carolina should join the [19] states that now provide this anti-poverty tax credit for working families. Ronald Reagan liked it. Bill Clinton liked it. North Carolina needs it.

Goodall-

I agree that taxpayers do need a break...I'll be happy to join the lieutenant governor in support of a $120 million tax break for 2007 -- but only for our workers who are actually paying tax.

For more information on state Earned Income Tax Credits, see Idea 4 of Doing Better: Progressive Tax Reform for the American South.

Two New Books Revisit Southern History

Two new books on different aspects of Southern history are featured in the current issue of The New York Times Book Review (9/10/06).

The first book, entitled Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War, is a popular history of Reconstruction centered on Mississippi. Written by Nicholas Lemann of Columbia University, the book focuses on Adelbert Ames, a transplanted Northerner who served as Mississippi's Reconstruction governor. A reformer interested in improving the well-being of the freedmen, Ames encountered increasingly violent white resistance -- a resistance that eventually forced him from office and paved the way for legalized segregation in Mississippi.

The second book, called There Goes My Everything: White Southerners in the Age of Civil Rights, was written by Jason Sokol, a professor at Cornell University. Sokol's book focuses on the reactions of ordinary white Southerners to the Civil Rights movement. While many whites supported the defiant positions taken by leaders like George Wallace, many others felt deeply ambivalent about the events surrounding them. Sokol attempts to marshal the different voices to show the complexity of white reactions during the Civil Rights era.

North Carolina Leader Addresses Resegregation of Public Schools

The Raleigh News and Observer reported today on North Carolina NAACP leader Rev. William Barber’s call for state education officials to discourage local school districts from allowing schools to resegregate.

"Segregation is a barrier to equal education opportunities," Barber said. "Segregation is a barrier to a sound basic education."

Barber noted that nearly all of the state's 44 lowest-performing high schools have predominantly minority enrollments and cope with numerous educational disadvantages, including fewer fully licensed teachers, fewer teachers with graduate degrees or national certification, and higher rates of teacher turnover.

Resegregation is a problem across the South, resulting from waning focus on the issue of racial diversity in public schools.

He cited Winston-Salem, Charlotte, Greensboro and Goldsboro, where schools have resegregated in recent years as local school leaders have moved away from student assignment policies that helped maintain diversity.

"Within these large, wealthy districts," he said, "the best teachers and the students who are graduating and going on to college and planning to lead the world are in predominantly white, predominantly affluent schools."

Barber has asked that the Attorney general’s office step into the matter. Historically, larger, central government has fomented change on issues of race. Public schools are still predominantly controlled by local governments.

He also urged the board to ask the state Attorney General's Office to file a friend-of-the-court brief in a U.S. Supreme Court case that will reconsider the use of race in school assignments.
"We don't want the Supreme Court to overturn the 1954 Brown decision," Barber said.

Board Chairman Howard Lee said that the board would consider Barber's request but that he would not favor overstepping the authority of local school boards.

New Revelations Highlight Complex History of America's First Slaves

Sunday's Washington Post featured a fascinating story about the origins of the original slaves who came to the American colonies in the early 17th century. Long shrouded in mystery, the evolving developments demonstrate that much of what schoolchildren were taught about those first African-Americans was essentially myth. According to the article,

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The slaves were herded onto a Portuguese slave ship in Angola, in Southwest Africa. The ship was seized by British pirates on the high seas — not brought to Virginia after a period of time in the Caribbean. The slaves represented one ethnic group, not many, as historians first believed.”
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The history that is being revealed demonstrates the international reach and cultural complexity of the slave trade, one of original flatteners of the Earth’s economic and political systems. The Africans defied the typical caricature of uneducated savages,

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And they most likely had been baptized as Christians, because the kingdom of Ndongo converted to Christianity in 1490. Many were literate. This background may be one reason some of Virginia’s first Africans won their freedom after years as indentured servants, the historians said.”
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With Virginia approaching its 400th anniversary, and efforts afoot to finish the national slavery museum, this new wrinkle presents another opportunity for all Americans, and especially black and white Southerners, to reexamine fundamental racial assumptions. For African-Americans, it will hopefully fill another missing link in a truly vibrant history that is all too often defined by victimization.

Hispanic Buying Power Growing Quickly in South

An article this week in the Charlotte Observer highlights the growing economic power of Hispanics in the United States and South.

Hispanic buying power is growing at a faster clip than that of any other ethnic group in the nation and is about to eclipse that of African Americans, according to a report to be released today by the University of Georgia's Selig Center for Economic Growth.

It is notable that the states with the fastest growth rate are in the South.

In North Carolina, the pace at which Hispanic buying power -- personal income after taxes -- is growing is the second fastest of any state, according to the report. At an estimated $10 billion this year, the state's Hispanic buying power has risen 1,042 percent since 1990. That's second to Arkansas where it increased 1,174 percent to $2 billion over that same period. South Carolina ranked ninth with growth of 626 percent.

While Southern states are seeing the fastest growth rate in Hispanic spending, manifesting itself in bilingual advertising and store signs, it has yet to approach that of African Americans.

Humphreys noted that in North Carolina it is especially important for businesses to go after both markets. After all, African American buying power in North Carolina this year is projected to be $36 billion, or $26 billion greater than that of Hispanics. In fact, that's the third-largest gap between black and Hispanic buying power in the nation, after Georgia ($42 billion) and Maryland ($39 billion).
"It is going to be a long time before Hispanic buying power equals African Americans in North Carolina," Humphreys said. "But the growth rate for (Hispanic) buying power is extremely compelling in North Carolina.