Author: Charles Hayslett
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One government program’s 30-year metamorphosis from well-intentioned economic development initiative to bloated tax giveaway
Recently I learned the General Assembly had established a joint House-Senate study committee to evaluate the various tax credits the state offers as economic development incentives. As it happens, […]
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For the 2023 House Rural Development Council, a quick primer on the sad state of Georgia’s rural economy
The Georgia House Rural Development Council begins its seventh year of deliberations on August 29th in Macon. Created in 2017 by the late House Speaker David Ralston, the group […]
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The making of a political earthquake that tipped the U.S. Senate
If football is a game of inches, politics is one of fractions — a glacial shift in demographics, incremental growth in voter registration, tiny changes in voter turnout. In […]
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George Berry’s ‘crescent of poverty’ now an economic and political conundrum for Georgia Republicans
In the summer of 1969, a Hawkinsville, Ga., state legislator named John Henry Anderson opined to his hometown newspaper that rural Georgia was subsidizing the City of Atlanta, the […]
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Introducing the New TIGC
Welcome to the new and improved Trouble in God’s Country. TIGC was first set up as a simple blog about a dozen years ago. I decided months ago that it was long overdue for a facelift and a technological overhaul. What you’re looking at now is the result. Visually, I hope it’s more appealing and…
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New NAEP documents Covid-19’s staggering impact on K-12 students, but begs a question: How much worse was damage in rural areas?
One of the stories I was working on late last year, when my wife’s illness forced me to take a hiatus from TIGC, was a deeper dive into the […]
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Mapping the rise and fall of Georgia per capita income performance
In my last piece, I summarized some of my recent research into the per capita income (PCI) “cold case” I’ve been noodling over for the past year or so […]
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More TIGC lessons from the 2022 governor’s race
Further notes from a deep (and continuing) dive into the results of Georgia’s 2020 General Election: Georgia is as divided politically as it is economically, educationally, and health-wise — […]
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Early TIGC lessons from Tuesday’s gubernatorial election
Yesterday’s gubernatorial election showed us at least a couple of things, neither of which was particularly surprising. The first is that there is no apparent reason for Democratic candidates […]
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A first look at some new educational attainment data for Georgia’s counties (it ain’t pretty)
Lately I’ve been wallowing around in about a dozen different datasets and working on at least as many posts without getting any of them finished. I can’t believe I’m […]