Slumdog Governor

Louisiana Republican governor Bobby Jindal has been a dismal failure so far, with little progress on Louisiana's serious poverty problems. With a 19.2% poverty rate, Louisiana ranks as having the second worst rate of poverty in the entire nation. And with few labor unions thanks to Louisiana's right to work laws, family wages in the state lag far behind the national average as well.

The median average family income in Louisiana is just $35,523, which is far below a state like New Hampshire with a median average family income of $57,352. The national average for all the states is $44.473.

Now comes word that Governor Jindal plans to not allow his unemployed and poverty stricken citizens to have their fair share of the extension of unemployment benefits included in the recently passed federal economic stimulus bill. Jindal will allow the federal highway funds to be used. But tens of thousands of families with no work and a shortage of jobs in many communities will be forced to rely on food banks to feed their children as their unemployment benefits end thanks to Jindal. What in heck is this guy thinking?

Ironically, the nation's first Republican conservative Indian-American governor is keeping many of his own citizens in poverty conditions more similar to Mumbai, India than anything.