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We live in the Pioneer Valley - rural enough that two bears were mating 30 feet from my window a week ago.....and here there are massive opportunities for young people. Not to say it is Boston or NYC, but the large number of colleges have spawned many businesses and I belong to various mentor groups which help these young people start new companies.
Sure - if you are the "top of the pack" - like a leading brain surgeon, you want to be in Boston, but for most others that combination of lower cost living, nature and everything close by (including the support of the vast educational systems) is win-win.
Little towns like Easthampton are booming. One guy started a little bagel place and I would guess he's into the millions of dollars per year already. Another college grad started a Burrito place...same thing.
Plenty of high tech, health care, social science, food science, pot (ha ha) and other jobs and opportunities.
IMHO, this type of a place - might be called the Exurbs other then we don't have those vast subdivisions - is idea for those looking for some balance.
You are close enough to Boston to not be true rural. Im in exurban NJ, we have bears too. MYC metro goes past me and into the Poconos in PA.
Nowhere WV and East Banjo MS are hurting because they are nowhere near anything.
Corporate capitalism + property taxes force people out. To pay taxes one must be a modestly paid cog in the corporate machine which is located mostly in metropolitan areas. To get transfers of money one must be a cog in the machine. Life without money outside the machine is hard but mostly impossible since you earn the right to occupy space by acquring money the flow of which corporate machine controls. Corporatism is like cancer, it kills rural areas to grow metropolitan tumors. There is little or no free choice here.
Corporate capitalism + property taxes forces people out. To pay taxes one must be a modestly paid cog in the corporate machine which is located mostly in metropolitan areas. Corporatism is like cancer it kills rural areas to grow metropolitan cancers.
Those “metropolitan cancers” like NYC, Chicago, Boston, SF, etc. are what make the US the economic powerhouse that it is.
I’ve visited many third-world countries, and they all have rural areas filled with beautiful scenery, wildlife, agriculture and hard-working farmers.
What those third-world countries don’t have are Fortune Global 500 HQs, World-class universities, Media companies that influence culture around the world, etc.
Guess where those are located? People act like the cities are dragging the country down, when in reality the cities have been pulling the country forward since the beginning.
Those “metropolitan cancers” like NYC, Chicago, Boston, SF, etc. are what make the US the economic powerhouse that it is.
I’ve visited many third-world countries, and they all have rural areas filled with beautiful scenery, wildlife, agriculture and hard-working farmers.
What those third-world countries don’t have are Fortune Global 500 HQs, World-class universities, Media companies that influence culture around the world, etc.
Guess where those are located?
You're ignoring the fact that many people reside in rural or suburban areas but work in metro areas. People get the best of both words when they work in urban metro areas but live in rural areas where they have space to breath and very little of the negative aspects that come with urban living.
Whites aren’t the only rural Americans. African Americans are just as rural.
Gawd...rural Oklahoma is an INCREDIBLE tragedy. Some of those towns look like hell.
I do storm chasing sometimes.. Some of the "towns" in areas of Southern Oklahoma are a real tragedy.. There's also a town in Northeast Oklahoma that is literally abandoned called Picher Oklahoma. It was abandoned and left for ruins due to excessive mining and toxic issues all over the soils and waters..
This is a nutshell is why many rural areas are struggling and Oklahoma and West Virginia are 2 of the most Republican red states that exist.. You really want to model the entire country after these? I'd take the good with the bad in states like New York and California over this.. I come from Kansas too.. I see the issues with the urban-rural divide
You're ignoring the fact that many people reside in rural or suburban areas but work in metro areas. People get the best of both words when they work in urban metro areas but live in rural areas where they have space to breath and very little of the negative aspects that come with urban living.
Yes, but the cities are still the engine driving the economy. Even if you’re not living in the heart of downtown, you’re still living off of the city’s economic productivity.
Actually the suburbs around cities are growing, not the cities themselves. It is about EMPLOYMENT. Most jobs are located in and around cities.
Yes, the cities have a LOT of problems. There are nice sections and downtown CBD's, but they are often surrounded by ghettos, poverty, and crime. Sad, but it is what Democrats do best. Ruin things.
I don't know what the 2018 to 2019 figures are, nor the individual yearly figures from 2010 to 2018, but 47 out of the 50 largest cities in the country gained population between 2010 and 2018. The only exceptions were Detroit, Milwaukee, and Baltimore.
Of the 13 largest cities in the country, six of those grew by a double digit percentage between 2010 and 2018, and five of the six are in Texas (Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Fort Worth, and Dallas). The sixth is Phoenix.
This is a nutshell is why many rural areas are struggling and Oklahoma and West Virginia are 2 of the most Republican red states that exist.. You really want to model the entire country after these? I'd take the good with the bad in states like New York and California over this.. I come from Kansas too.. I see the issues with the urban-rural divide
I agree with this. It seems like instead of fixing places like Oklahoma and West Virginia, Republicans want to turn the entire country into them.
Oklahoma is so Republican though not because of economic plight, but because of cultural issues. It's very much about God, guns, and gays around here. Democrats are widely seen as out of touch with traditional American values and are less popular than ever around here. Meanwhile, Republicans offer no solutions to the real problems facing the state like a failing education system at all levels and a severe budget crisis. As long as the politicians wave a gun and a Bible and say "God bless America," the sheeple will fall in line.
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