4 minutes ago, marceline said:

 

The opiate crisis is tearing Ohio apart too. As someone who remembers what the crack 90s were like, it's interesting to see Republicans suddenly decide drug addiction is a public health issue instead of a criminal one.

 

I told someone a month or so ago, if only Republicans and Democrats opted for treatment instead of locking everyone away, there would have been a successful template for preventing or at least successfully treating addiction today and perhaps we'd have avoided this latest drug crisis.

There were more deaths than births in West Virginia in the last few years, so that is one area that really is not going to recover. The reality is that some places are just finished permanently, yet some people ignore that.

1 hour ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Wait until West Virginians discover that coal cannot be resurrected into the economic engine it once was, despite Trump's lofty promises. They will really be angry then.

 

Also, parts of West Virginia are being ravaged by the prescription drug and crystal meth crisis. It has rendered entire segments of the population incapacitated.  Young men and women who might otherwise have been contributing to their communities and creating jobs are in the depths of addiction and despair.

These problems are an outflow of generations of unsolved problems in education and job training gaps and a lack of solutions through decades. The best and brightest who might be the future entrepreneurs, have left for better opportunities, thus adding to the 'brain drain' and cutting off the potential for alternatlive economic engines.

It's similar to some of the New England towns in states like Maine that never emerged with ways to cope from a loss of industry 30-40 years ago and have been diminished and struggling ever since.

I said it throughout the election.  These states that are waiting for Coal and Steel to be resurrected need to face the fact that it's not coming back.  Have they not seen the increase in solar panels since the late 1970's...the increase in hybrid and electric cars?  The increase in wind turbines for energy?  It sucks to have to re-invent yourselves but that's what you're going to have to do.  Or, you can listen to someone lie to you and tell you it's going to come back...when it's not.  They prefer someone to lie to them.  The guy that outsourced all of that stuff because it's cheaper....because he's a business person, and he did it to make money...and you wanted a CEO as President and now you got one who will do nothing for you. 

1 hour ago, ReddFoxx said:

There were more deaths than births in West Virginia in the last few years, so that is one area that really is not going to recover. The reality is that some places are just finished permanently, yet some people ignore that.

If they wanted, they could try to build up a tourism industry, like Arkansas has, but some of those people in that video just astound even me, and I've seen a lot of hillbillies. One has to ask, does the country owe a job at a living wage to someone who has not even bothered to learn to read? The thing I've noticed about all these people, is they are uneducated, and simply had "jobs", none of them really had a CAREER, just mindless, repetative factory or mine jobs, it seems like these areas never developed a well rounded economy, it was just "settlers" depending on a couple of industrioes, and when technology moved on, they couldn't.

Edited November 21, 20169 yr by alphanguy74

Young Turks post this interesting video a few hours ago: 

 

 

So misogynistic that all these men have hidden emails they don't want uncovered, but Hillary got raked over the coals for it. 

44 minutes ago, alphanguy74 said:

If they wanted, they could try to build up a tourism industry, like Arkansas has, but some of those people in that video just astound even me, and I've seen a lot of hillbillies. One has to ask, does the country owe a job at a living wage to someone who has not even bothered to learn to read? The thing I've noticed about all these people, is they are uneducated, and simply had "jobs", none of them really had a CAREER, just mindless, repetative factory or mine jobs, it seems like these areas never developed a well rounded economy, it was just "settlers" depending on a couple of industrioes, and when technology moved on, they couldn't.

All of this is exactly on the mark. Basically all the people there have done is live on whatever they could get from menial jobs and now cannot adjust to how things have changed.

I have been reading up on the proposed infrastructure bill and what a load of BS. And this is the thing democrats want to goto bat on? It basically is privatizing everything and outsourcing through bonds, providing tax credit to the bond purchasers, and allowing the bond purchasers to get their money back through the privatization aspect(ie; bridges would be tolled, roads tolled, etc). Also indicating things like community sewage and water rebuilding would never get done. And forget the rural areas, because the only way the projects are profitable is if you do them in areas where there is lots of spending available. So much for all those infrastructure jobs in places like rural WV and Kentucky.

 

That's certainly not all of it, but it pisses me off that the democrats might be willing to sellout on this. Thanks to Bernie(I will work with Trump on a $10 minimum wage, versus blasting Hillary for a $12 min wage increase) and Chuck Schumer.

 

19 minutes ago, JaneAusten said:

I have been reading up on the proposed infrastructure bill and what a load of BS. And this is the thing democrats want to goto bat on? It basically is privatizing everything and outsourcing through bonds, providing tax credit to the bond purchasers, and allowing the bond purchasers to get their money back through the privatization aspect(ie; bridges would be tolled, roads tolled, etc). Also indicating things like community sewage and water rebuilding would never get done. And forget the rural areas, because the only way the projects are profitable is if you do them in areas where there is lots of spending available. So much for all those infrastructure jobs in places like rural WV and Kentucky.

 

That's certainly not all of it, but it pisses me off that the democrats might be willing to sellout on this. Thanks to Bernie(I will work with Trump on a $10 minimum wage, versus blasting Hillary for a $12 min wage increase) and Chuck Schumer.

Yeah, I saw the infrastructure bill will likely be a scam to pay private companies to do what they were always going to do. I can't even pretend to be surprised.

 

Bernie is willing to work with Trump for a $10 minimum wage because that's what losing is. It's harsh, but when you lose this badly you take the scraps and are glad to get them. Honestly, we'll be lucky if they don't try to do away with the minimum wage all together, which some Republicans are itching to do. I don't believe that could really happen, but $12 is pie in the sky now. Hell, $10 probably is too. How sad is that?

1 hour ago, JaneAusten said:

I have been reading up on the proposed infrastructure bill and what a load of BS. And this is the thing democrats want to goto bat on? It basically is privatizing everything and outsourcing through bonds, providing tax credit to the bond purchasers, and allowing the bond purchasers to get their money back through the privatization aspect(ie; bridges would be tolled, roads tolled, etc). Also indicating things like community sewage and water rebuilding would never get done. And forget the rural areas, because the only way the projects are profitable is if you do them in areas where there is lots of spending available. So much for all those infrastructure jobs in places like rural WV and Kentucky.

 

That's certainly not all of it, but it pisses me off that the democrats might be willing to sellout on this. Thanks to Bernie(I will work with Trump on a $10 minimum wage, versus blasting Hillary for a $12 min wage increase) and Chuck Schumer.

Real infrastructure spending is unfortunately not on the table, even though it is sorely needed. This bill is just a way for Trump to try and acquire inventory for his companies. It's nothing but a scam.

I am heartened by the fact that I saw on the news this week - not just the regular students, but Georgetown Prep, Good Counsel, students marching. These are not the poor by the numbers, they are the ones who have parents who have money. They were approached by older people, who didn't like that they were marching - citizens who said - ACCEPT he is PRESIDENT. YOU CAN'T VOTE! You have NO VOICE! And that girl looked at that man and said, you're right. We couldn't vote. But in 4 years we will vote. And we will remember that you are saying this. We will remember. You do not know this generation and we are not the Millennials. We see how stupid you are." THAT GAVE ME HOPE! :-)

I felt like - My God - they're our children. I'm GenX. I don't have kids but that sounds like me. Maybe we can get it right!

32 minutes ago, Fevuh said:

I am heartened by the fact that I saw on the news this week - not just the regular students, but Georgetown Prep, Good Counsel, students marching. These are not the poor by the numbers, they are the ones who have parents who have money. They were approached by older people, who didn't like that they were marching - citizens who said - ACCEPT he is PRESIDENT. YOU CAN'T VOTE! You have NO VOICE! And that girl looked at that man and said, you're right. We couldn't vote. But in 4 years we will vote. And we will remember that you are saying this. We will remember. You do not know this generation and we are not the Millennials. We see how stupid you are." THAT GAVE ME HOPE! :-)

I felt like - My God - they're our children. I'm GenX. I don't have kids but that sounds like me. Maybe we can get it right!

 

One of the main things for people to work on is to make sure they even have the right to vote. In Wisconsin this year, I believe, Republicans openly spoke of how they shut down polling places near colleges because they didn't want Democrats to win. 

Sick and sad.

1 hour ago, Vee said:

Sick and sad.

 

That's what has me so despondent that we can fix this. The complete loss of fact and truth from the discussion.

Trump is going to make Nixon, Warren Harding and Bush look good in comparison.  Apparently, Trump registered eight companies in Saudi Arabia during the presidential campaign.

 

A scramble to assess the dangers of President-elect Donald Trump’s global business empire