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First, I am not doing a "paper". I dont know where that accusation is coming
from.
Secondly, I NEVER mentioned anything about crime in my original post. Im sure you are a fine, nice, law obeying citizen.
I am just very interested in learning about all the rural, remote parts of
America.
Poverty is a state of mind rather than an economic certainty. I am near all the places you listed and am in one of those "horrible conditions" type places you mentioned. By the way, it is Welch rather than Welsh. I guess you were obeying the rules of your spell checker.
In dollars and cents, we have nothing to brag about. We lack the funds to apply new siding to our homes, new roofs above our heads and equipment to give our lawns that manicured, Beverly Hills look. But in body and mind, we are rich beyond your wildest imagination. Our children attend schools where the teachers actually care about the students rather than getting their names in the paper. A lowly garden hose provides laughter and fun for half the neighborhood. We share the cost of a newspaper and then share it with two or three of our neighbors.
We talk about the weather, politics and speed traps, just like any other place. And you know what else? Most of us are well educated, involved with the community goings-on and are involved with our church, local missions and food drives. We are rich beyond your wildest imagination because we have each other, an accepting attitude toward our fellow man and his or her personal circumstances. We understand that not all people are alike nor hold the same values as everyone else. As for those horrible conditions, well, we happen to treasure them because they mean we have deep roots and history here.
Well said, apparently you all down there are not as poor as people think since you do have a computer and internet
You do seem to be rather content if not down right happy. Good Life to you
Actually, the states with the most wealthy people... Connecticut, California, New York, also have the most poverty and the biggest disparity between the haves and have nots. West Virginia is more egalitarian in character and in contrast to the stereotypes, there is actually less poverty there. There are also fewer wealthy people which leads to the low income comparisons, but overall West Virginians do as well as any other place.
I NEVER painted with a broad brush of the entire state of WV! I was ONLY
inquiring about one single county in southern WV. You are being way too
sensitive about this.
Again, NO offense was meant.
Being in and from West Virginia is a wonderful delusion.
This verdant land..
This pristine clear water...
This mountain majesty...
This meadow glen...
This sublime morning air...
This unfettered nature abounding around us...
This people..this people, free..
To be fair, there has been a lot of outward migration and loss of population from those coal counties. As my ex-coal miner dad says: Ever since the unions came in, mining companies have been trying to employ less miners."
There was great prosperity down there at one time. I have a very interesting late-1940s or early-1950s history of McDowell County, and it looked like a thriving place at that time. The civic leaders and other people in the photos obviously took a lot of pride in their towns, schools, and hospitals. After coal declined, and railroads left, there were not many great jobs to stick around for. Lots of men and women from McDowell, Lincoln, Mingo, and other counties down there relocated to Charleston for better opportunities and careers in say, the chemical industry, or Columbia Gas, or C&P Telephone, back in the day. That hilly terrain is difficult to build roads through, and lots of those small towns lost their real lifelines when the trains quit running.
But there are lots of towns everywhere in the USA that are seeing their fortunes and employment base decline. NW PA and NE Ohio (where I'm sorry I moved back to, hehe) are not much better, really. WV people get all bristly whenever poverty is mentioned, lol, but in postindustrial USA there is lots of poverty and decay and decline practically everywhere. This area of PA and OH used to be a mecca for jobs of above-average pay, but it joined the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Actually, the states with the most wealthy people... Connecticut, California, New York, also have the most poverty and the biggest disparity between the haves and have nots. West Virginia is more egalitarian in character and in contrast to the stereotypes, there is actually less poverty there. There are also fewer wealthy people which leads to the low income comparisons, but overall West Virginians do as well as any other place.
Very true, theres alot of rural poor in most of upstate NY, most of our states wealth is where most of our population is , in the the lower end of the state.
To be fair, there has been a lot of outward migration and loss of population from those coal counties. As my ex-coal miner dad says: Ever since the unions came in, mining companies have been trying to employ less miners."
There was great prosperity down there at one time. I have a very interesting late-1940s or early-1950s history of McDowell County, and it looked like a thriving place at that time. The civic leaders and other people in the photos obviously took a lot of pride in their towns, schools, and hospitals. After coal declined, and railroads left, there were not many great jobs to stick around for. Lots of men and women from McDowell, Lincoln, Mingo, and other counties down there relocated to Charleston for better opportunities and careers in say, the chemical industry, or Columbia Gas, or C&P Telephone, back in the day. That hilly terrain is difficult to build roads through, and lots of those small towns lost their real lifelines when the trains quit running.
But there are lots of towns everywhere in the USA that are seeing their fortunes and employment base decline. NW PA and NE Ohio (where I'm sorry I moved back to, hehe) are not much better, really. WV people get all bristly whenever poverty is mentioned, lol, but in postindustrial USA there is lots of poverty and decay and decline practically everywhere. This area of PA and OH used to be a mecca for jobs of above-average pay, but it joined the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Agreed. The national economy has moved on. Areas of the country that previously only “got” by are now economic powerhouses. Air-conditioning has allowed areas with difficulty hot climatic conditions to prosper such as Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and most of Florida. While the sunbelt cities have prospered the rust belt with Detroit as the capital and WV on its periphery, the inner prairie Midwest of ND, SD, and IA have eroded and declined. The number of nearly vacant towns that dot western Iowa are testament to this.
Change can be difficult and hard to understand. The machinations that have created this situation are complex, convoluted, and multifaceted. International economic competition, corporate greed, and technological advancements have eroded the number of high pay industrial jobs. In their place a two tier service sector has come to dominate our national economy. One tier represents an elite highly specialized, highly incentivized and trained work force, while the other represents menial, entry level low pay. Many justifiably feel squeezed.
I for one truly do not have a solution to this ever changing situation. I believe that many of the forces at work that negatively affect areas such as WV are unmovable. Additionally even if one found a way to manipulate one of the forces who is to say what the exact result would be. Such action could conceivably cause the entire house of cards to fall. The only solution I could suggest would be to embrace the change and adapt.
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