On Nov 28, 2009, at 9:03 PM, SA wrote:
> So, the NYT has a big story about the rise in food stamp use in the
> recession. It focuses on localities where food stamp use is
> particularly high, and mentions Owsley County, Kentucky, where half
> of the 4600 residents receive food stamps. I decided to find out how
> Owsley County voted in the last election.
>
> As I was searching, I discovered that Owsley is actually part of a
> large cluster of extremely poor Eastern Kentucky counties. In fact,
> according to Wikipedia, of the 100 poorest counties in the US by
> median household income, 16 are in this region of Eastern Kentucky.
> So I looked at the 2008 voting returns in those 16 counties.
> Remember, these are counties where probably around half of the
> residents depend for survival on food stamp appropriations (not to
> mention Medicaid, TANF, etc.).
So why d'ya think?