> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
> Behalf Of John Garcia
[snip]
> As for the Great Society, I call your attention to the Head Start
> Program,
> which is one of the most successful government programs in American
> history, and its outlays are minuscule in proportion to its returns.
Speaking of such matters... Yesterday, at the Silicon Valley Joint Venture
breakfast where they announced their 2002 index (a set of statistics
measuring various characteristics of Santa Clara County), one of the
speakers mentioned that companies who are in the business of building
prisons have found that the most reliable long-term predictor of the need
for prisons is third-grade reading test scores. That rather strongly
suggests that early intervention in reading, at least, is vitally important
to society.
The most depressing stats, by the way, were on the same page. One showed
that at the 20th income percentile, inflation-adjusted income has risen 1
percent since 1993, while the cost of living rose 20 percent. I was
irritated that the headline for this chart reads "Standard of Living for
Low-Income Households is Not Rising." Not rising? That's like saying that
Enron is failing to make a profit.
Below that one was a chart showing that the cost of child care has risen
five times faster than household income since 1995.
To me, this screams that it is become harder and harder for poor people with
children to better themselves.
A few months ago, I had suggested to the rest of the board at Plugged In
(www.pluggedin.org) that we add child care to our services, so that those
with the greatest obstacles, especially young, poor, single mothers, can
participate in our programs. After seeing these numbers, I decided to make
that, or something like it, a condition for my support of the building
project we are beginning.
Nick
