The Image and the Reality

The image is, Chicago is a violent place.  The reality is, Chicago's homicide rate continues to decline.

The image is, guns are magic, pull the trigger and your target goes down.  The reality, as shown in a video from Toledo, is that most bullets don't hit anything alive (I heard 17 bullets found in the bar, no casualties).  The same is true in war--in Iraq II our troops were using thousands of rounds to kill one person.

Is Michael Moore a Tea Partier?

We saw Michael Moore's Capitalism this week.  I didn't like it much, although he had some good laughs, particularly when accosting the Wall Street firms over their receipt of TARP funds.  But the whole thing seemed rather disjointed and without a theory to link together his attacks.  The gist seemed to be the unionized General Motors of the 1950's and 60's of Moore's youth was the good life, and everything since has gone to hell.  But the best he can do to explain how the capitalism of the 60's, changed to the capitalism of 2000 is to blame deregulation.  Moore also gets himself caught in illogic--Obama's campaign is represented as the people rebelling against Wall Stteet but Obama's Treasury Secretary is depicted as a complete and utter failure (for his part in the bailouts).

Given the prominence of the bailouts in his movie, I was struck by the emphasis in this article on the role TARP played in angering the tea partiers. It's not unusual in American history to find both right and left wing radicals feeding off the same populist temper.

FSA IT Report Required

From the Agriculture appropriations bill (now passed and sent to the President):

Given the complexity and scale of FSA's information technology (IT) improvement initiative, the conferees seek to ensure that FSA successfully and cost-effectively delivers the modernized systems relevant to the Department's submission under Section 300 of OMB Circular A-11. Moreover, the conferees recognize that achieving FSA's IT modernization goals depends on coordination and integration with other IT initiatives across the Department that are beyond FSA's control.
Accordingly, the conferees direct the Department to submit to the Committees a description of how the Department will coordinate and oversee the interdependent planning and implementation of FSA's IT modernization initiative with all other related Department IT modernization initiatives.
Furthermore, the conferees direct the Department to submit to the Committees an expenditure plan for all past-and current-year funds allocated for FSA IT systems modernization and stabilization activities since fiscal year 2008 that describes:
1. The FSA IT projects funded;
2. The expected performance capabilities and mission benefits of each of these projects;
3. The estimated and completed project cost, schedule, and system operation milestones with target dates;
4. The estimated and actual costs associated with attaining these milestones;
5. A comparison of the project cost, schedule, and milestones to those provided in fiscal year 2008; and
6. The processes, tools, contracts, and human capital in place or planned to accomplish effective management and oversight of the projects.
After the initial expenditure plan, the Department is to provide reports by April 1, 2010, and by August 1, 2010, that provide updates on the cost, schedule, and system operation milestones. To the extent milestones are missed, the report is to provide a summary of the reasons why and plans for corrective actions.
The conferees recommend that funds be allocated to implement the National Agriculture Imagery Program, with images collected nationally on an annual basis, in order to provide the maximum benefit for USDA programs and other users of these images. The conferees encourage the Secretary to utilize all appropriate imagery sources to meet programmatic requirements.

A Look Back at Clinton

I've started reading the Taylor Branch book, The Clinton Tapes. One thing I didn't remember was the assassination attempt (I guess you'd call it that), when the right wing nut (mentally ill) sprayed the White House with bullets.  How soon we forget, so we think today is always unique and worse.

USDA Data Collections--EEO Data

From a USDA submission to OMB for information collection:

Data will be collected through a questionnaire to determine the race, ethnicity and gender of farmers and ranchers who apply for and who participate in USDA programs and services. The data is also necessary to provide USDA and its agencies with sound data on the demographics of its constituents. The data will enable USDA to (a) develop a baseline on its applicants and participants, (b) assist in planning for and implementing appropriate responses to the needs of its constituents, and (c) in the conduct of oversight and evaluation of civil rights compliance. The information will be used by the Office of Advocacy and Outreach and the agencies' outreach offices to determine if socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers are being equitably served by USDA programs. Failure to collect this information will have a negative impact on USDA's outreach activities and could result in an inability of the agencies to equitably deliver programs and services to applicant and producers.

 Comments will follow.

Transparency Works, in the Long Run

Much discussion over the results of study of the effect in NYC of posting the calories in restaurant foods.  In short, no significant impact on the food chosen.  Kevin Drum and Ezra Klein aslo link to it.

I'd caution people to relax and think long term.  I remember when the health warning was added to cigarette packs. It took a long time, but that was one step in establishing a social consensus against smoking.  That, the consensus, is what is effective in changing behavior.

Feminism--1930 and Now

From 1930 Blog:

Higher education suspected of discouraging marriage in women students. Of living graduates of Wellesley College, less than 1/3 are married at the present time; of 400 women just graduated from Northwestern, only 23 stated in a final poll that “matrimony was their preferred career.”

From today, over 50 percent of college chemistry graduates are female.

The Perverse Effects of Emigration to America

As seen from the House of Commons in the 1870's:

There is another point to be considered. Lately, the emigration from Ireland has very considerably diminished in comparison with former years, and in place of that we have returning to Ireland people of whom I fear it must be said that during their residence in America they have acquired a good many Western vices and forgotten a good many Irish virtues.

The context is a debate over the need for continuance of special laws (curfew, control over arms, etc.) with regards to parts of Ireland, given the agrarian "outrages".

Slick Misinformation on Agriculture

Cato has a site (hattip Federal Eye) on where government could be cut.  (No surprise, they'd cut USDA by 90 percent or so.) But there's an interesting presentation with a timeline which is a format I haven't seen before on the Net.  Unfortunately the material on the evolution of USDA and farm programs is both biased and wrong.  But as a failed historian, I appreciate the timeline.

Organic REport

This is from the summary of an ERS report on organic farming:

The number and variety of consumers of organic products has increased, but those consumers are not easily categorized. The one factor that consistently influences the likelihood of a consumer’s buying organic products is education. Consumers of all ages, races, and ethic groups who have higher levels of education are more likely to buy organic products than less-educated consumers. Other factors, such as race, presence of children in the household, and income do not have a consistent effect on the likelihood of buying organic products.

Retailing of organic products has evolved since 1997, when natural foods stores were the main outlet. By the late 2000s, nearly half of all organic foods were purchased in conventional supermarkets, club stores, and big-box stores. Although produce remained the top-selling organic category, sales of dairy products, beverages, packaged and prepared foods, and breads and grains had reached significant levels.

On the wholesale level, by 2007, the share of organic handlers’ sales to conventional retailers and club stores increased, while the share of sales to wholesalers and other distributors declined. Organic handlers are firms that buy organic products from farmers and other suppliers, process or repack the goods, and then sell the value-added resulting products to retailers, institutions, and other handlers, or directly to consumers or restaurants. Because of the competition for organic ingredients, handlers in recent years have relied on contracts versus spot-market sales to procure needed inputs.

While organic farmland acreage increased from 1997 to 2005, growth was not swift enough to prevent periodic shortages of some organic products. Certified organic farmland designated for raising grains and soybeans grew slowly, placing pressure on sectors such as dairy and meat sectors that depend on these inputs. The 2002 USDA National Organic Standards regulation in most cases requires farmland to be dedicated to organic farming for 3 years before that
farm’s products can be labeled as organic. This creates a lag between increases in retail demand and supply from farms.