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1) The Southern part of the state has pretty much generated most of the state's economy (which is not much) until recently.
2) The northern part of the state is going through a boom which is related to several factors. (Natural Gas, WVU, I-79 Tech Corridor, and proximity to Pittsburgh.)
3) The coal industry has taken on hard times due to the current administration in Washington, which has opened up the Natural Gas industry in the north.
4) Natural Gas has become a major player in state's economy, but coal can and might still be the major economic engine if November turns out right.
5) NCWV is seeing major growth from the gas industry, but the state as a whole is growing again. Cities in the south are growing again due to several factors. (New industry, better leadership, and existing facilities that support the natural gas idustry.
6) The only thing there is to argue about is sports! The End!
In conclusion, The state has seen positive signs of life in almost every corner. Beckley is growing, aswell as the Huntington/Charleston area. The Northern panhandle is growing. NCWV is booming and will be a major help to the state's economy, but not pulling the rest of the state on its back. And WVU and Marshall both are seeing growth, construction, and are impacting their regions. It is a good time to be in WV, so there really is nothing to argue about.
Chris the Southern part of the state has been declining for decades. The coal industry has been in decline for decades. This is not some new recent Obama thing. In fact the coal industry has done better over the past 4 years than it has in a long time.
Romney is not going to turn anything around, nor is Obama. The cheapest coal in WV has already been mined, and the best coal in the country is now in Wyoming. It is easier and cheaper to get to, and it burns cleaner. Coal is in the past, coal never helped to develop this state, and it never will.
I admit it is too soon to judge natural gas. It could easily become like coal, where all the benefits go out of state, and WV continues to decline, but atleast we have the ability to make sure the state benefits. With coal that bridge has long crossed.
So far it seems like the natural gas boom in the NORTH is benefitting the whole state. The increased revenue and economic activity in the North is trickling down to the south.
Chris the Southern part of the state has been declining for decades. The coal industry has been in decline for decades. This is not some new recent Obama thing. In fact the coal industry has done better over the past 4 years than it has in a long time.
Romney is not going to turn anything around, nor is Obama. The cheapest coal in WV has already been mined, and the best coal in the country is now in Wyoming. It is easier and cheaper to get to, and it burns cleaner. Coal is in the past, coal never helped to develop this state, and it never will.
I admit it is too soon to judge natural gas. It could easily become like coal, where all the benefits go out of state, and WV continues to decline, but atleast we have the ability to make sure the state benefits. With coal that bridge has long crossed.
So far it seems like the natural gas boom in the NORTH is benefitting the whole state. The increased revenue and economic activity in the North is trickling down to the south.
It is benefitting the whole state, but its not completely shutting coal out of our economy. Coal is still the largest chuck of our exports. Coal is also still in abundance here. Just because this administration hates coal, doesn't mean the next one will. I expect if Romney wins that the majority of our nation's natural recources will be utilized. I heard the other day that there is more oil in the Dakotas than in most Middle Eastern nations.
As for southern WV, only remote sections are in decline. Charleston has shown that it is back to business these past few years and industry is leading the way. Huntington has grown and Marshall has allowed a vibrant atmoshere to take place. Beckey is growing, as well as southern towns like Princeton and Lewisburg are as among the fastest growing in the state. You seem to think that the only thing that ever happens happens in Morgantown.
Natural Gas is going to be a major part of WV's success in the next decade or so, but there are other areas of our economy that are doing well.
It is benefitting the whole state, but its not completely shutting coal out of our economy. Coal is still the largest chuck of our exports. Coal is also still in abundance here. Just because this administration hates coal, doesn't mean the next one will. I expect if Romney wins that the majority of our nation's natural recources will be utilized. I heard the other day that there is more oil in the Dakotas than in most Middle Eastern nations.
As for southern WV, only remote sections are in decline. Charleston has shown that it is back to business these past few years and industry is leading the way. Huntington has grown and Marshall has allowed a vibrant atmoshere to take place. Beckey is growing, as well as southern towns like Princeton and Lewisburg are as among the fastest growing in the state. You seem to think that the only thing that ever happens happens in Morgantown.
Natural Gas is going to be a major part of WV's success in the next decade or so, but there are other areas of our economy that are doing well.
Coal is our largest export, it is the export of WV's wealth elsewhere with no wealth being imported.
Obama has nothing to do with the decline of coal. Coal was a deadend and declining before Obama, actually had a boost during the Obama years, although I would state it is unrelated to anything Obama did, and will continue to be a deadend if Obama or Romney win.
About oil, North America has enough oil to be self sufficient. There is more oil in Utah and Wyoming than all of the Middle East, even including past production. However, it is buried under a lot of rock and it is not practical to drill for yet. As technology advances it will be. America's energy future is looking bright and in another decade or 2 we will no longer have to give money to hostile governments that will use it to fund terrorism.
Charleston is doing good because it is reaping the boom from NCWV. The increased economic activity in NCWV and the Eastern panhandle is leading to new revenue for the state government which benefits Charleston. I have no problem with this Chris. In fact I have told you time and time again that as Morgantown thrives Charleston will thrive too. Perhaps now you see the need to start giving more funding to certain areas of the state, like Morgantown, because the resulting economic boom will ultimately benefit Charleston. I dont dislike Southern WV or Charleston. I dislike political policies that hurt the state as a whole by trying to slow growth in the North and EP, which in turn slow growth in all of the state. I dont believe Morgantown should focus on itself and abandon the rest of the state, like the state has constantly done with Morgantown. Instead a new order should establish itself in WV, sweep out the old politicos, and let the whole state thrive.
It's identical to the era of 1900 when the Fisks, Carnegies, Morgans, Astors, Rockefellers and others owned everything.
The little guy barely made it then and it was our american children in the sweat shops of New York City.
Locales have changed...it's the chinese school kids in the sweat shops now...poverty...misery...its still there.
There's an old adage...'The more things change...The more they stay the same.
There is one major difference between today's ruling elite and that of the Fisks and Carnegies. The former elitists were more or less altruistic in their approach. They at least considered the ordinary person to the point that they made certain his basic needs were looked after. They built libraries and museums. They established hospitals and universities. They promoted education of the middle class. The current group is unlike them in that they don't feel the same responsibilities toward their fellow citizens. In fact, they adapt to dealing with them but they do not identify with them. They are "global" citizens whose only desire is to make as much money from the rest of us as they possibly can make. Putting millions out of work in the process, or destroying entire cities matters little to them. We represent a market to them, and little else. They are not governed by the same Christian centric morals as those of previous times. They feel allegience to nobody but themselves, and would sell the rest of us out in a heartbeat if they could make a buck from it.
The only way to change that is to take control of our borders... and the movement of people, goods and services into our country. Elitists refuse to do that because they want cheap labor, and they tell the liberals they want to be "fair" and allow everyone some sort of right to pursue the American dream no matter what that does to the rest of us. They tell the conservatives they want the borders open because it promotes "free markets". It is the rest of us, the ordinary American middle class, that gets shafted in the process. We see our jobs moving to Bombay and Hong Kong, and our schools and social services being overwhelmed by an influx of people who pay little in the way of taxes but who use far more than average public services and fill up our prisons. We see our unique culture being threatened with an influx that is much faster than can be accounted for by assimilation.
Ever wonder why after you put your phone number on the Federal "no call list" you are still getting calls from all those telemarketers who barely speak English? It's because they have figured out that if the calls originate from foreign soil, the Government has no authority to regulate them. In my opinion, every one of them should be taxed.
Coal in WV is on an inevitable decline. Much of the coal left in WV is in seams less than 30 inches thick Wyoming has seams over 30 FEET think. All they have to do is scoop it up and take it away. There is no was WV can compete effectively against that.
I can't see how increasing state government revenue is better for the city of Charleston. Every time the state government buys a building to use as office space, it comes off the tax rolls, so the city loses out on revenue. This has happened with the Diamond building, the Coyle's building, City Center West, the Greenbrooke building, and many smaller ones.
Nobody has yet provided any concrete evidence that the state government favors Charleston or intentionally withholds funding anything in Morgantown. There is also no evidence that the Charleston area gets any benefits from a good economy anywhere else in the state.
I'll probably be severely criticized for these statements, but please pay attention to whether any valid objective links are included, and whether any alternate claims have any backing. Remember, when you make a claim that something exists (like favoritism, benefit to Charleston, Morgantown being ignored, etc.), you have the burden of proof. Everyone know it is impossible to prove a negative.
How in the world is the Southern part of the state holding everyone else back? Unfortunately, our leaders have made coal our golden goose and now that it's running out, we don't have an economy that's diversified enough to be strong once coal is gone. If not for the southern part of the state, we wouldn't have had the coal to rely on in the first place. I'm not saying that coal has been as beneficial to the state as it could have been, but likely things would have been much worse without it.
Also, if Charleston were stealing all of the money as so many claim, you would see the other benefits from the gas industry economically but there would be money missing from the tax revenues. You aren't seeing that. For all of the wonder that people expected from natural gas, it hasn't really had this great, positive effect on the job market. The unemployment rate for the Northern panhandle is still quite high with the exception of Marshall Co. You have Hancock Co. at 8.2%, Brooke at 8.7%, Ohio 6.4%, Marshall 7.5% and (at the base) Wetzel at 9.9%. There haven't been all of these thousands of jobs created that the gas companies claimed would come and many of the jobs that were created, they just brought their own people in with them. Maybe Charleston orchestrated that too, huh? Plus, much of the growth in natural gas is going on BECAUSE of the current administration. Coal reserves are waining but with the new environmental restrictions that make coal less attractive, it has been cheaper for most power plants to convert to from coal to natural gas, which has increased the demand for it.
Charleston isn't perfect by any means and lord knows there's corruption there but it's amazing at how quick people are to blame them when things don't pan out like they plan. Then, when obvious corruption happens in their own back yard that benefits them, they are suddenly blind to it and it is permissible.
You certainly make some valid points here. It's an interesting dynamic that we see with the booming drilling industry. Hotels and rentals are full up, restaurants are booming, but the anticipated drop in unemployment in the Panhandle is not taking place as projected. There are various reasons for this. One is they don't yet have the logical cracker plant there that would be close to the wet gas supplies being extracted, and which would afford the spin off industries associated with plastic production. With our elitist controllers interested in finding the ever present cheap foreign labor, there is also the real risk that our resources will be plundered and shipped to foreign lands (namely Canada which our government permits to manipulate the value of its currency so as to always provide cheaper labor) or the orient, which always has abundant cheap labor.
The key for Northern Panhandle prosperity will be to get a cracker plant in Marshall County and also spin offs from the new cracker being build in nearby PA near Weirton. It's not going to happen overnight, as many thought it would. But, I do believe it will happen when they have moved us far enough in the direction of being a third world country that our people will be willing to work cheaply like the Chinese.
Coal in WV is on an inevitable decline. Much of the coal left in WV is in seams less than 30 inches thick Wyoming has seams over 30 FEET think. All they have to do is scoop it up and take it away. There is no was WV can compete effectively against that.
I can't see how increasing state government revenue is better for the city of Charleston. Every time the state government buys a building to use as office space, it comes off the tax rolls, so the city loses out on revenue. This has happened with the Diamond building, the Coyle's building, City Center West, the Greenbrooke building, and many smaller ones.
Nobody has yet provided any concrete evidence that the state government favors Charleston or intentionally withholds funding anything in Morgantown. There is also no evidence that the Charleston area gets any benefits from a good economy anywhere else in the state.
I'll probably be severely criticized for these statements, but please pay attention to whether any valid objective links are included, and whether any alternate claims have any backing. Remember, when you make a claim that something exists (like favoritism, benefit to Charleston, Morgantown being ignored, etc.), you have the burden of proof. Everyone know it is impossible to prove a negative.
Southern West Virginia coal is basically done due to the very shallow seams. There is still great value in the northern West Virginia seams, which are deeper and closer to market (shipping, etc.) and often of a different type than the abundant Wyoming seams you mention. The natural gas deposits in the southern part of the state are less valuable than that in northern West Virginia too, since they are invariably of the dry gas variety with little use except for the methane content. That is not to say they won't benefit from gas developments there... they will, especially Huntington functioning in its natural and logical function as a major transportation hub. Your'e already seeing that happen with the riverfront barge facility activity.
The state is wasting money rehabilitating facilities in Charleston just to prop up the economy there. If anyone thinks they actually needed that gaudy new building for the lottery they are very misguided. Neighboring states lotteries operate in much smaller and less elaborate facilities. And, the millions they are pouring into that antiquated tech park in South Charleston where they are trying to create demand that really doesn't exist is another example. You are correct that this does not benefit the City of Charleston per se due to lost tax revenue, but since that area still has an inordinate amount of political force within the state they are getting the funding, and from their perspective it makes perfect sense. After all, those facilities would have simply gone down the drain in any event so they have nothing to lose. It's just that the rest of us are stuck paying for it.
It is benefitting the whole state, but its not completely shutting coal out of our economy. Coal is still the largest chuck of our exports. Coal is also still in abundance here. Just because this administration hates coal, doesn't mean the next one will. I expect if Romney wins that the majority of our nation's natural recources will be utilized. I heard the other day that there is more oil in the Dakotas than in most Middle Eastern nations.
As for southern WV, only remote sections are in decline. Charleston has shown that it is back to business these past few years and industry is leading the way. Huntington has grown and Marshall has allowed a vibrant atmoshere to take place. Beckey is growing, as well as southern towns like Princeton and Lewisburg are as among the fastest growing in the state. You seem to think that the only thing that ever happens happens in Morgantown.
Natural Gas is going to be a major part of WV's success in the next decade or so, but there are other areas of our economy that are doing well.
Hmmm. The statistics do not bear that out. I'm not talking about Charleston per se here, but the counties south of Charleston down to Virginia and over to Kentucky have economies that just plain suck. I would say that Charleston, and to a greater extent Huntington have stabilized but they are not really in growth mode at this time. Unemployment has declined some, but much of that decline is of the service sector type that does not pay nearly as well as the industrial production that was so much of those areas past prosperity. Call center jobs simply do not make up for closed steel mills or chemical plants.
Southern West Virginia coal is basically done due to the very shallow seams. There is still great value in the northern West Virginia seams, which are deeper and closer to market (shipping, etc.) and often of a different type than the abundant Wyoming seams you mention. The natural gas deposits in the southern part of the state are less valuable than that in northern West Virginia too, since they are invariably of the dry gas variety with little use except for the methane content. That is not to say they won't benefit from gas developments there... they will, especially Huntington functioning in its natural and logical function as a major transportation hub. Your'e already seeing that happen with the riverfront barge facility activity.
The state is wasting money rehabilitating facilities in Charleston just to prop up the economy there. If anyone thinks they actually needed that gaudy new building for the lottery they are very misguided. Neighboring states lotteries operate in much smaller and less elaborate facilities. And, the millions they are pouring into that antiquated tech park in South Charleston where they are trying to create demand that really doesn't exist is another example. You are correct that this does not benefit the City of Charleston per se due to lost tax revenue, but since that area still has an inordinate amount of political force within the state they are getting the funding, and from their perspective it makes perfect sense. After all, those facilities would have simply gone down the drain in any event so they have nothing to lose. It's just that the rest of us are stuck paying for it.
The former Secretary of Administration Robert Ferguson should be indicted for paying twice the value for that building. However, in fairness to the Lottery Commission, they are not using the entire building. Some of it is rented out and some is used by other state agencies.
"That area" must mean Kanawha County, which, by far, has the largest population among the counties, thereby getting the largest number of representatives in the legislature. I suppose we could repeal the one man, one vote idea and change how the legislature is apportioned. I suppose we could amend the state constitution requirement that government agency headquarters all be located within the capital city. As far as what would have happened to the facilities, City Center West would still be on the tax rolls and still be renting space commercially, while the tech center would have probably turned into a Superfund site when Dow abandoned it after failing to sell it off (that's just my guess what would have happened to it).
I'm sure that the state government has invested in projects similar to the tech center in many areas of the state. Most of those are boondoggles too. Did you complain when the state built the "supposed" Blennerhasset mansion restoration in Parkersburg? Was there an outcry when they funded the Hatfield-McCoy trail? How much state kickback money went to pay for those big trains at Cass? Etc., Etc., Etc.
I think we get just about the kind of government we deserve, based on the people we elect. However, I think they are far too bad at what they do to pick on any one area of the state, and they don't have enough money to fund everybody pet projects every year. Every time the legislature meets, they fail to take steps to make the government work better and to make the state better.
You certainly make some valid points here. It's an interesting dynamic that we see with the booming drilling industry. Hotels and rentals are full up, restaurants are booming, but the anticipated drop in unemployment in the Panhandle is not taking place as projected. There are various reasons for this. One is they don't yet have the logical cracker plant there that would be close to the wet gas supplies being extracted, and which would afford the spin off industries associated with plastic production. With our elitist controllers interested in finding the ever present cheap foreign labor, there is also the real risk that our resources will be plundered and shipped to foreign lands (namely Canada which our government permits to manipulate the value of its currency so as to always provide cheaper labor) or the orient, which always has abundant cheap labor.
The key for Northern Panhandle prosperity will be to get a cracker plant in Marshall County and also spin offs from the new cracker being build in nearby PA near Weirton. It's not going to happen overnight, as many thought it would. But, I do believe it will happen when they have moved us far enough in the direction of being a third world country that our people will be willing to work cheaply like the Chinese.
Ohio County where Wheeling is has a good unemployment rate but it's mostly service industry jobs that do not pay squat. The rest of the northern panhandle has a higher unemployment rate. The cracker plant is estimated to only bring in a handful of permanent jobs once it is completed. The NP deserves something like the Toyota plant. The NP has 2 casinos that has been giving the state money for who knows how long.
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Plus, much of the growth in natural gas is going on BECAUSE of the current administration. Coal reserves are waining but with the new environmental restrictions that make coal less attractive, it has been cheaper for most power plants to convert to from coal to natural gas, which has increased the demand for it.
