All Patchwork Nation blogs
Posted by Dante Chinni | 11.20.2009 / 9:58 AM PST
Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin officially launched her “Going Rogue” book tour Wednesday in the western Michigan city of Kentwood, and the crowd, somewhat predictably, went wild. More than 1,000 people were waiting in line before Ms. Palin even arrived, according the Detroit News.
Many commentators have already compared the aesthetics of Palin’s book tour […]
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Posted by Dante Chinni | 11.18.2009 / 8:49 AM PST
As we travel around Patchwork Nation and talk about the good news in the national economy – GDP growth, the improving Dow – we are often met with skepticism. Regardless of what headlines say, many people have yet to sense a turnaround locally.This month’s Economic Hardship Index shows how complicated the national economic picture can […]
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Posted by Dante Chinni | 11.16.2009 / 9:37 AM PST
This economic downturn looks different depending on where you are.
We’ll focus on the different ways places are hurting Wednesday in our Hardship Index. Here, we’re talking about how the recession actually “looks.”
In Eagle, Colo., a “Boom Town” that saw its population double in the last decade, the streets scenes look surprisingly normal.
There are some small […]
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Posted by James Gimpel | 11.13.2009 / 11:30 AM PST
The high turnout of older voters and the lighter turnout of the young certainly helps to explain the difference between last year’s presidential election and last week’s Republican victories in the gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey.
President Obama even had his grass-roots political organization, Organizing for America, involved in those campaigns to mobilize […]
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Posted by Kathy Heicher | 11.11.2009 / 12:59 PM PST
When my kids were young, they loved a book titled “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.” It was a cute little story, about the consequences of a single action. (If you give the mouse a cookie, it needs a glass of milk to go with it. The mouse spills the milk, so you need […]
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Posted by Dante Chinni | 11.11.2009 / 8:46 AM PST
The economy is at a tricky juncture. Things are clearly better if you look at some indicators – such as last quarter’s 3.5 percent figure for gross domestic product. But that jump has not manifested itself in a meaningful way – at least not yet.
Consider the unemployment figures for Patchwork Nation in September (the most […]
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Posted by Dante Chinni | 11.09.2009 / 10:39 AM PST
When you have deep and long-lasting economic problems, they have different effects in Patchwork Nation’s different community types.
In the 210 counties that make up “Immigration Nation,” which are primarily in the Southwest, the economy and immigration are tied closely together. Cross-border traffic is a big economic factor.
In the past two years, as America has struggled […]
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Posted by Kip Ward | 11.07.2009 / 7:25 PM PST
As I write this, lightening cracks the air and the thunder sounds like squadrons of jets making low flybys with some of them crashing… The rain is far beyond buckets pushed into frenzy by wicked Sou’wester winds. It’s now winter on the Oregon coast.
We had interesting guests this last week. Dante Chinni and a group […]
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Posted by Dante Chinni | 11.06.2009 / 9:04 AM PST
With Election Day in the rearview mirror, the Republican Party has conflicted feelings.
The gubernatorial wins in Virginia (expected) and New Jersey (a bit of a surprise) are reassuring. But New York’s 23rd Congressional District, where party infighting helped Democratic candidate Bill Owens, sits out there like a big warning sign.
To recap that race: Conservative Party […]
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Posted by Dante Chinni | 11.04.2009 / 9:00 AM PST
Over the coming weeks, one of the most discussed results from Election Day will probably be the rejection by Maine voters of a law allowing same-sex couples to marry.
After a string of electoral defeats, supporters of gay-marriage rights thought they might have a winner in Maine. The New England state has an ingrained strain of […]
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