San Joaquin: The new Appalachia?

[davidinalameda]

http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/13985636p-14819186c.html

The San Joaquin Valley really may be the new Appalachia after all, a new congressional study suggests.

The travails sound familiar. Poverty is high, education is low, and social needs abound. But the 365-page regional report card released Wednesday, one of the most comprehensive of its kind, also leaves unanswered what may be the most enduring Capitol Hill question.

That is: What must Congress do now, given the immensity of the problem?

"By a wide range of indicators, the San Joaquin Valley is one of the most economically depressed regions of the United States," the Congressional Research Service concluded in its final version of a report begun about a year ago.

very interesting article