Big Lies

[Bob Butler 54]

(02-19-2017, 10:49 AM)David Horn Wrote:

(02-18-2017, 03:55 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: Appalachia? I don't live in Appalachia (Hill Billy territory). I live near a couple of big stinky, hazy and more polluted  blue cities that's loaded with people who believe that they are more important than those who live around them. Big city liberals/rural liberals  don't seem to give a shit about those in Appalachia based on the liberal  views of the people who currently  live there and those who  still view the region  as their home and their negative views of the region, the use of it's primary resource (coal) and all the American industries (American companies, American products and American jobs associated with all of them) that are closely  related to them  in general. Did you see the environmental  mess that the so-called environmentalist groups  left behind for others to clean up in North Dakota?

Well, I live near, if not in, Appalachia, and the people there sound a lot like you.  The only difference: there is no other economy to keep the places vital.  Minnesota has everything from the Mayo Clinic to several major corproations, 3M being the most obviously attached to the state.  It's not accidental that states like Minnesota incubate or attract economic engines.  States less concerned about taxes and more concerned about infrastructure and quality of life tend to attract the people that big companies need to flourish.  So thank your blue state for a large part of your own personal success.  Without the higher paid workforce, you wouldn't be doing much business.

And on your point about caring: Robert Kennedy went to Appalchia and tried his damnedest to light a fire there.  LBJ actually dumped money into the area duering the entire Guns Ns Butter period.  But in the end, it's the people who live there that matter, and the people in most parts of Appalachia seem hellbent on staying where they are and as they are.  No one can change that from the outside.  The best anyone can do is be there when the lightbulb finally comes on.  Your side decided to tell them to piss-off.  We'll see if that works in the long term.

I'd again recommend Hillbilly Eulogy for those who want an understanding of Hillbilly / Rust Belt culture.

A while back, in the time of burning lots of coal and people intensive manufacturing, there were lots of hard work repetitive jobs in the Appalachia and Rust Belt areas.  Let it not be said that the Hillbilly culture hasn't its strengths and didn't fit in quite well in the past, thank you.  The economy is changing, though.  Less coal being dug.  Fewer humans are manning the assembly lines.  The new economy tends to require more education.

To some degree, those flexible and bright enough to adapt have already left the Appalachia / Rust Belt area.

I don't think the well educated flexible person should consider himself so superior to the guy who isn't afraid of a little hard work.  One trait is useless without the other.  A good employee ought to have some of both.  Still, given the changing economy and technology, leaning more towards the educated side will make it easier to get a job.  Those sitting around waiting for coal and manual manufacturing jobs to reappear are apt to be sitting around for quite a while.

And, yes, blue urban areas with good education infrastructure are doing reasonably well.  Many who have chosen to ride that bandwagon are in better shape than some others.  And, yes, those who haven't changed bandwagons can get sullen and resentful.  They will whine and pout.  That's fine, but how does that help them?

The question is what might be done to help things.  Can one force a company that requires well educated workers to locate where such workers are hard to find?  Can the government sponsor education, or spend money to create jobs?  Is it the red states or the blue who are apt to be working to educate desirable workers, or to attract them?  Is it not the red mantra that everything the government does is futile and counter productive, thus the red areas are conceding the new economy to the blue areas?