Incomes in the San Francisco Bay Area rose broadly in 2006 over 2005 with the City and County of San Francisco showing the steepest rise. The single median income rose 6.7% to $41,801 and joint median income rose 8.8% to $71,529. Marin Country remain the wealthiest county with single median income reaching $51,720, a 5.9% rise over 2005. Joint median income in Marin rose 8.1% to $111,626 placing Marin in the 10 richest counties in the United States. Santa Clara, which encompasses tech-rich Silicon Valley, posted a more modest 4.5% increase lifting the single median income to $47,283. Joint median income rose faster at a 6.5% clip to $95,457. San Mateo County saw single median income rise 4.6% to $48,117 and joint median income 6.4% to $95,394.

The East Bay counties of Alameda (Oakland) and Contra Costa posted the smallest gains. In Alameda, single median income rose 4.3% to $42,360 and joint median income was up 6.0% to $83,996. Single median income in Contra Costa County rose just 3.2% to $45,748 while joint median income climbed $4.6% to $87,475. The Bay Area counties far out-paced growth in other California counties. Statewide single median income rose 3.7% to $35,390 and joint median income rose 5.1% to $66,810.

Source: San Francisco Daily News.

After taking a step towards establishing himself as an articulate voice on PBS’ Journal with Bill Moyers on Friday, the Reverend Wright today decided to step off a cliff and perhaps take the candidacy of Barack Obama with him. His address to the National Press Club and the question and answer session that followed is now all the rage about Wright’s rage. Here are some of the reviews:

Wright Calls Criticism of Sermons ‘Attack on Black Church’
Wright Could Spell Doom for Obama
New Problems for Obama?
Wright: I’ve Been Crucified by the Media
In DC Appearance, Jeremiah Wright Remains Controversial

The money quote:

Should it become necessary in the months from now to identify the moment that doomed Obama’s presidential aspirations, attention is likely to focus on the hour between nine and ten this morning at the National Press Club. It was then that Wright, Obama’s longtime pastor, reignited a controversy about race from which Obama had only recently recovered - and added lighter fuel.

Speaking before an audience that included Marion Barry, Cornel West, Malik Zulu Shabazz of the New Black Panther Party and Nation of Islam official Jamil Muhammad, Wright praised Louis Farrakhan, defended the view that Zionism is racism, accused the United States of terrorism, repeated his view that the government created the AIDS virus to cause the genocide of racial minorities, stood by other past remarks (”God damn America”) and held himself out as a spokesman for the black church in America.

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

I love living in San Francisco. This morning is foggy and crispy cool after yesterday’s scorching sun but it is I admit a travail to live amongst so many Obama supporters though not on my block in the Castro, the gay vote here is pretty solidly Clinton’s. But in other parts of town say the trendy parts of the Mission or in the Haight not to mention billionaires row over in Pacific Heights, this is Obama country through and through.

It thus comes as no surprise to read this article by Paul Hogart today in Beyond Chron, San Francisco’s alternative daily. Here are the lowlights:

Hillary Clinton’s single-digit victory in the Keystone State was not enough to change the math, but now that she has “momentum” the race has moved to North Carolina and Indiana on May 6th. Obama is well ahead in North Carolina, and the media should define his victory in the largest state left as resolving the contest. Instead, pundits are focusing on the smaller Hoosier State, arguing that Obama must win to “prove” he can secure the votes of white working-class voters.

It is not the pundits who are defining Indiana as make or break, but rather Obama who called Indiana “the tiebreaker”. The media is just holding him to it.

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The cover story on Newsweek this week is entitled Obama’s Bubba Gap. The article highlights Obama’s major problem in connecting so called blue collar voters. True in Pennsylvania, Obama won but one socio-economic group, those earning more than $150,000 a year. Obama was won but two demographic groups: African-American votes by his largest margin yet an astounding 92% and voters under 30 by a narrow margin of 53% to 47%. Newsweek ask well just how important is this given that blue collar voters are a small percentage of the voting population. The article notes:

The catch is that blue-collar workers make up a much smaller percentage of the population than in the heyday of the New Deal Democrats. Since 1940, white-collar workers have grown from 32 percent to 60 percent, according to a Brookings Institution study. In 1940, three quarters of adults older than 25 were high-school dropouts or never went to high school at all. By 1960, 59 percent still lacked a high-school education. By last year the figure was down to 14 percent.

My response is that it is not just blue collar voters. It is voters who earn less than $60,000 dollars where Obama is encountering a serious disconnect. The median income in the United States is approximately $40,000. But Obama’s problems begin in socio-economic groups earning much higher than that. In Pennsylvania, Obama lost to Clinton among voters earning less than $50,000 a year by 8 points, 54% to 46% and while that is an improvement over his 57% to 43% margin in Ohio that improvement only reflects that he won more African-American voters in Pennsylvania (Obama only took 88% of the black vote in Ohio) so the margin gains by digging deeper into his largest base. The limits of that are, ipso facto, limited to the numbers of African-American voters. Take away his gains among African-Americans and his gap in Pennsylvania are in line with the results in Ohio.

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Here is Monday’s edition of interesting reads from around the world.

Zimbabwe’s Opposition to Press its Case at the United Nations
The Johannesburg Mail & Guardian reports that Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change will take its claim of victory in last month’s election over President Robert Mugabe to the United Nations Security Council this week. Meanwhile, the New York Times highlights the rising levels of violence in Zimbabwe.

The Philippine Government May Cut its Rice Subsidies
With the world price for rice soaring and exporting countries like Indonesia and Cambodia cutting back on exports, rice-importing countries like the Philippines have been feeling the pinch. Singapore’s The Straits Times reports the Filipino government may have to cut its rice support as its fiscal woes grow.

Gordon Brown Resisting Pleas to Intervene in North Sea Oil Strike
British PM Gordon Brown is resisting industry pleas to intervene directly to halt the industrial action by 1,200 workers at the Grangemouth refinery near Edinburgh. The two-day strike, the first to close a British refinery in more than 70 years, has already caused sporadic fuel shortages throughout Scotland and northern England. Here is more on the story from The Financial Times and the European Tribune.

Coal on the Campaign Trail
With the primary race headed to West Virginia and Kentucky soon, the discussion of coal, energy policy and climate change should heat up. The Columbia Journalism Review explores the big coal question.

Latam Economies Continue to Boom
Having turned away from the destructive policies of Freidmanism and unfettered neo-liberalism, the economies of Latin America continue to grow at a fairly strong clip. The Panamanian, Argentine, Cuban and Peruvian economies are projected to grow over 7% in 2008. The story from Business with Latin America.