SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
December 3, 2020
Sullivan’s Salvos 12/8/20
In this edition:
*Happy Hanukah!
*New Clinic at Johnson County Public Health
*Farm Sizes
*Iowa’s Cities
*The One Percent
*Did You Know?
*Happy Hanukah!
Happy Hanukah to all my Jewish friends! I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday! Chag Urim Sameach!
*New Clinic at Johnson County Public Health
Health Path Clinic is now open, providing confidential, affordable, and affirming sexual and reproductive health care services to all, regardless of the ability to pay.
The clinic is funded through Federal Title X funding, which aims to promote early detection of STDs and pregnancy, promote preconception health, and reduce unintended pregnancy. Federal Title X funding helps ensure that every person – regardless of income, identity, or whether or not they have insurance, can access basic, preventive reproductive health care.
Services include: Well person visits; Birth control methods available onsite; STD testing and treatment; Urinary tract and vaginal infection testing and treatment; Pregnancy testing, counseling, and referral; Gardasil vaccinations; Preventive and reproductive health education.
All services are completely confidential, regardless of age. Clinic fees are based on income, and no one is denied services based on their ability to pay. Medicaid accepted.
We are located in the Johnson County Health and Human Services building at 855 S. Dubuque St. in Iowa City. Call or email for an appointment: 319-356-6042, or clinic@johnsoncountyiowa.gov.
*Farm Sizes
There are two competing trends going on in agriculture right now. “Conventional” commodity farms run by older men are getting much larger. In 1940, the average farm was 150 acres. Today it is almost 500 acres. There are also less and less of these farms. In 1940, there were 7 million farms in the US. Today there are just over 2 million.
These changes would be even more stark were it not for the competing trend: smaller, sustainable, diverse farms run by younger women.
This is not news to anyone who has followed the agendas of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors the past 15 years. Unfortunately, for too long we have tried to fit the square peg (small farms) into the round hole (large farms). We are doing better, but it is still very challenging.
An older man growing 1000 acres of corn and soybeans with a few CAFOs is very different from a younger woman growing 3 acres of vegetables with a few free-range chickens. But average them together, and you have a 500-acre farm.
We have an obligation to try to serve both of these types of farmers, plus their nonfarm neighbors. But it is long, hard work!
*Iowa’s Cities
I picked up these tidbits from the Iowa League of Cities:
As of 2010, Iowa had 947 incorporated cities. (The number is slightly lower now.) Over 490 of those cities are home to less than 500 people. Over 750 of those cities lost population over the past ten years!
Cities in Johnson County look much different. No cities in Johnson County are below 500 people. No cities in Johnson County lost population. Iowa City ranks as Iowa’s 5th-most populous city at 77,000 residents, while Coralville (20,200) and North Liberty (19,000) come in at numbers 24 and 25.
*The One Percent
I have friends that were very involved in the Occupy movement back in 2011. I have friends who really disliked the Occupy movement. Regardless of how you may feel about it, in my opinion, there is one fantastic idea that came from that movement: the one percent.
What do we mean when we refer to “the one percent”? We are referring to the top 1% in terms of household earning. For the US, the top 1% of incomes is right around $420,000. Each state is a bit different, of course. Iowa is a low wage state. So our top 1% starts at about $321,000. The average, however, of Iowa’s 1% is closer to $757,000. Those people can afford to pay a bit more in taxes.
We continue to see people use the 1% figure when discussing income inequality. And I think that is a great thing! Joe Biden has said he will not impose any new taxes on anyone earning under $400,000 annually. It just so happens that is really close to the top 1% of all incomes.
Part of the reason the US has had such tremendous income inequality is that people do not realize the actual numbers. When the GOP cynically tells people earning $40,000 that a Democratic administration is going to raise their taxes, some people believe them. It is much easier for candidates like Biden to say, “Do you earn over $400,000 annually? No? Then you won’t see an increase in taxes.”
Americans also typically do not realize the amount of disparity that exists. From the Pew Research Center:
“In 1989, the richest 5% of families had 114 times as much wealth as families in the second quintile (one tier above the lowest), at the median $2.3 million compared with $20,300. By 2016, the top 5% held 248 times as much wealth at the median. (The median wealth of the poorest 20% is either zero or negative in most years we examined.)”
“The richest families are also the only ones whose wealth increased in the years after the start of the Great Recession. From 2007 to 2016, the median net worth of the top 20% increased 13%, to $1.2 million. For the top 5%, it increased by 4%, to $4.8 million. In contrast, the median net worth of families in lower tiers of wealth decreased by at least 20%. Families in the second-lowest fifth experienced a 39% loss (from $32,100 in 2007 to $19,500 in 2016).”
We can do a lot of very good things, and we need only ask 1% of the people to help make it so. They can contribute more and still be very wealthy once they have paid. It is a no-brainer. Tax the 1%.
Don’t get me wrong; the real issues grow dramatically worse as you go up the income ladder. People who are in top 1/100 of 1% need to be taxed at a far greater rate than folks at 1%. And we definitely need to tax all income equally. But we need to start somewhere. And the top 1% is an easy to understand place to draw that line.
*DID YOU KNOW? Iowa’s largest city is Des Moines, with about 215,000 residents. Beaconsfield and LeRoy are tied for the honor of smallest city at 15 people each. (Source: Iowa League of Cities.)
Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.
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As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan29@gmail.com. I look forward to serving you!
---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 3:04 PM
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