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Numbers to consider

Posted on August 14, 2008August 14, 2008 by Staff

Chris Fitzsimon

The summer is winding down and Labor Day is just around the corner, the day that traditionally marks the real beginning of the fall campaign season, when political commercials are on television around the clock.

If past campaigns are any indication, the ads won’t shed much light on how candidates want to address the most important issues in people’s lives, including in what may be the most important race for the state’s future, the battle for governor between Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and Charlotte Mayor Pay McCrory.

Most of the news about the race so far has been about the candidates’ reactions to poll results and PAC contributions. There are far more important numbers that McCrory and Perdue need to address and that you need to ask them about when they come to your town looking for votes.

Here are a few:

1,200: the number of people discharged from state mental hospitals who ended up in homeless shelters in 2007, according to a report by a working group for the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS Secretary Dempsey Benton said recently the numbers haven’t changed much so far in 2008.

29,000: the number of children on the waiting list for a child-care subsidy. Helping single mothers with child care was a central part of the 1996 welfare reform efforts. The subsidy makes it possible for the mothers to take a low-wage job to gain employment experience or go back to school to acquire the skills and training to enter the workforce.

14.9: percentage of people in North Carolina who live in poverty, according the U.S Census Bureau

10: percentage of white North Carolina residents who live in poverty

26: percentage of African-American residents who live in poverty

26: percentage of Latino residents who live in poverty

23: percentage of children in North Carolina under five who live in poverty

47: percentage of children in Robeson County who live in poverty

49: percentage of black males in the 9th grade who earn a high school diploma four years later

21.7: percentage of North Carolina population that is African-American

58: percentage of North Carolina prison population that is African-American

1.4 million: number of people in North Carolina with no health care coverage

10.7: percentage of income consumed in state and local taxes by the lowest-earning 20 percent of state taxpayers

7.1: percentage of income paid in state and local taxes by the wealthiest percent of state taxpayers

Many of these numbers can be found on “Fast Facts About Human Needs and Inequality in North Carolina,” which is available as a PDF file at ncjustice.org.

It is likely that Perdue and McCrory disagree about the cause of these numbers and what to do about them, but it is hard to imagine they don’t both believe the state must do better. And there are plenty more equally troubling statistics about inequality and discrimination in our state.

Perdue and McCrory both want to run North Carolina. That means they should tell us how they want to address the state’s problems. Ask them.

Chris Fitzsimon is director of N.C. Policy Watch.

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