Carried to Ohio by a swarm

Ok, so that's a song, but tomorrow is Election Day. I know we’re all really tired of the horserace, and with any luck Obama will win. I’m from Cleveland so I’m pretty used to be disappointed even when it looks like a sure thing.

Just remember by the end of the week, no one will be talking about Ohio for another four years.

Cleveland’s unemployment rate is 6.5% (seasonally adjusted) as of September. 

Ohio has a 7.0% unemployment rate (seasonally adjusted). Don’t worry though because we use a ridiculous metric for calculating unemployment in the US the real number in Ohio, the actual number is estimated around 14.7, which includes the total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force.

Finally according to the 2010 Census, the 2011 estimates for Ohio look like this:

Median household income: $45,749

Mean household income: $61,204

Poverty rate for all families: 12.0%

Poverty rate among families with female householder and no husband: 35.4%

Vacant Housing: 11.4%

Estimate without a high school diploma: 15.7%

Finally according to the 2010 Census, the 2011 estimates for Cuyahoga County look like this:

Median household income: $41,530

Mean household income: $59,602

Poverty rate for all families: 14.3%

Poverty rate among families with female householder and no husband: 34.8%

Vacant Housing: 14.2%

Estimate without a high school diploma: 18.7%

So go out and vote, and then promptly forget all about Ohio, that silly place that really has no influence except every four years when everyone cares and are trying to guess what those uneducated, poor, dependent jerks are going to do.

Ohio proudly cut welfare in 2012, about 15.5% between 2011 and 2012. The numbers declined from 421,423 Ohioans receiving cash assistance to 356,167, but Ohio doesn’t monitor what happens to the people who leave, so we have no idea the rate of return or who have been kicked off for time limits. Food assistance is still rising going from 2,330,187 to 2,392,880 between 2011 and 2012, an increase of 2.7%. Ohio is spending $389,177,325 on Ohio Works First Cash Assistance (which is cash), and $166,734,785 for Food Programs. That works out to $1,092 in cash per year for each recipient, which I know is skewed because of kids and the like, but damn son. Ohio unlike Maryland has not regularly adjusted for inflation. Click here if you want to read what I do to have nightmares.

I think if Obama wins well forget about Ohio by Friday when finally the talking heads stop. Except Fox, who will complain for months to come about poor black people voting by race alone or women, they ruin everything. If by some act of God (proving his existence and liberation theology wrong), Mittens wins then everyone else will complain about voter suppression, and Fox will be gleeful about how Ohio represents the nation. But still no one will talk Ohio after November 16^th or when we get the Supreme Court decision on the legal side of this shit show.