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The american economy has been in serious trouble for quite a while. Job security has been going extinct since the 70's, along with bennies, perks, pensions, healthcare... all of it. National deficit is FUBAR, trade deficit increases with every dollar raised in the price of oil, our govt is lying (to itself or just us?). WV has been insulated from many of the highs and lows, just a steady plodding along without fanfare. It's a blessing and a curse. Please acknowledge them both equally.
Narcotics are also an american problem. Drugs are making their way from other states here, and the imported drug culture becomes a means of an income for youth. I saw more of a problem happening in tazewell cty along the border of WV because they were playing jurisdictions against one another.
Outsiders attracted by low cost of living come with gifts and trojan horses- its a mixed bag. I can assure you that 200 yrs + of WV economy that predated narcotic use AND any notion of welfare programs has its roots elsewhere. Whenever anyone is willing to have that conversation, I'm more than willing to participate & use brainpower to come up with meaningful solutions. To chase after the small potatoes is akin to being aggressive about treating a runny nose when an internal infection is going on throughout the body. The nose just seems most obvious to you when the news fixates on noses everyday in every media outlet for decades Sex, scandal, and money are how they grab your attention formulaically.
Ask yourself how willing you are to blame the horse, the cart, or the DRIVER. The driver would be welfare recipients/transient drugs? Think about it.
It is mind control, propaganda, and manipulation to deflect, obfuscate, and deliberately misdirect attention AWAY from the driver and get people to attack the bottom classes of america, who in reality control nothing, but passively ride the waves coming by them for better or worse. I ask you to question the source of information that encouraged hateful attitudes, because they don't mean to fix anything. They mean to distract you from seeing the root causes of problems and further their own agenda (which isn't in anyones best interest but their own).
Squeak away, by all means- whatever is broken needs fixing, and lets focus on the true root causes, roll up our sleeves in earnest to get it done as a community, as a true democracy. I won't participate in delusions grasping for scapegoats, however. Anyone willing to stand up and lead by example in their own yard has my support. Anyone too invested in blaming others (while being guilty of participating in same sickness they accuse) does not.
Our economy is governed by many factors such as the system of production and distribution and consumption along with the efficient use of resources, and is helped along with the frugality in the expenditure of money or resources. also to find out the economy of a given area one would have to explore the area first to find out what is there to provide a stable economy. Once that has been established it should give you some idea about job security because one depends upon the other.
IMO mind control, propaganda, and manipulation are only crutches for the weak!!!
West Virginia has never followed the USA trends...when the county is up,Wv has been down...and vice versa...what is really begining to carry Wv is Exported Coal...
Coal too dirty to burn here and low in btu's can be shipped to China for almost $100 per ton...now that's the way to make the money...mine the coal, burn it overseas and keep America dependant on crazy, unproductive ways to produce electricity..almost sounds like the oil market...
Wonder if all those billions of tons of oil shale in the Rocky Mountains will be exported too...refined overseas and then sent back to us? just have that feeling in my mind.
And a sidebar comment:
After watching this economy fiasco...staged by the Dem's for the election...and now on a world scale...and out of control...shows me that Congress and ANY President is powerless to do anything about it...I like Obama's plan, stick your head in the sand and pretend its not there...call it a Recession? call it anything...What is he going to do in he first 100 days to correct it...afterall, they (the Dem's) got this thing started when they forced the business community into a fake recession in February. Then the oil prices compounded it and made it real...Manipulation...GHWB did it to Clinton, Clinton did it to GWB...Economy was fine until just months befor the election.
Last edited by David Kennedy; 07-13-2008 at 12:03 PM..
This recession has been YEARS in the making. I'm talking since Reagan. Blaming it on the Dems in congress isn't fair to all of the other idiots who contributed.
WV's economy has been decades in the making... Instead of talking about national politics, more should be focused right here at home.
We are in the black only because of coal and gambling (and tight purse strings at Manchin's mansion). Gambling revenue goes to unfunded items such as senior health care, social programs (as I understand it).
Fleeting money invested in an aging population is politically popular, but does little to promote economic stimulus (sans nurses). Fleeting money should be invested in other arena's, to attract stable, long term revenues. The only way an aging population is taken care of is by their progeny- and as it stands most leave the state.
WV is going gangbusters promoting 'Come back home to WV'- targeted to empty nesters. These are folks that yes can contribute for a short while, but soon will be needing. Why aren't they focusing on bringing back the 20-somethings? Makes zero sense.
Maybe more should be dealt with the facts than what is politically popular. And to hell with national politics- it does nothing for us here in West By God.
To answer both questions...gambling money gives a token small percentage to the senior programs and education...this was the selling point to get the votes and then amounts were cut back significantly...most of the gambling money goes into the General Fund and therefore the addiction goes straight to the legislature..they require that revenue to make the state budget inflate every year...all of it is fleeting money and will be reduced as the Pa. Casino Complex comes on line at the Meadows Race Track...
Ohio will be forced to do something likewise for Youngstown and the Cleveland area..all big crime hotspots btw...
Why doesn't Wv retain the 20's crowd? No money here...nada.
And the quality of living in a Charlotte,a Raliegh-Durham, a Ft. Lauderdale or Key West is too lucrative and enticing...you have lived in the EP...what goes on there with the teachers...same old same old, if they were paid a comparable wage, the other Union brothers and sisters would have a grievance...mpo, I think teachers should enter the market at about $50,000...that's not out of line and workable to repay the debt load for the education...
The state run businesses (colleges) have taken the future teachers money for 5 years...then they kick them in the face with a welfare wage...
The legislature is behind this...consider the interm WVU Pres salary...300k...a stark pittance for our school...they are cheap...cheap...word gets around the campuses...few will apply for the Pres job because of low salary and someone from the cronie group will be selected when they think the fire has died down...these people are just like jackals, laughing in the dark and returning to feast on the rotten kill.
$50,000 would be a good wage. However locality pay would work just as well. It's done in other states and counties all over the place. And I didn't realize the legislature pulled back the funding on the senior programs.. Typical.
No money here for attracting 20-somethings? The way to make it attractive is to create good schools, infrastructure and a promote a helathier business environment (not slapping a slogan on a billboard, lol).
Gambling revenues for education and infrastructure. The rest takes political action. A wholesale unraveling. Guys like Jonathan Miller, a politcal newbie recently elected to the House. He came by our house on Halloween a few years ago. (And we lived 2 miles back on a dead end gravel road). At first I was like " A politician on Halloween!! Horror of horrors!!"
But we sat on the porch and had a very nice chat. Idealistic, wants to make a positive change and improve the climate of the state.
But since he's a junior, and a republican, he'll get chewed up.
I laughed when I went to the polls here in Harrison county. Democrats lined out through the door. I walked in, saw no line for the 'other' registered party. Heck- not even electronic balloting on that side, just punch paper. I said, out loud, "One good thing about being not being a registered democrat in this state, you don't have to wait to vote! "
That one got a loud chuckle from about everyone in the place.
Very good point on the narcotics issue x1x...I know that a horrible drug problem exists in the underground coal mines where men are forced into 80+ hour work weeks, a token effort is done to random test but this issue is transparent and not spoken of...much of the amphedamine and pain killer abuse is by supervisory personell who carry a heavier task load than the regular workers...
At one time, until the 1980's, this industry was like many other jobs with regular shifts and regular time off to rest and rekindle...not so anymore, coal must never stop...from the working face, to the trains being loaded on the outside or the power plants thirsty for a constant supply of black explosive dust...as it is ground to a powder and injected into the blast furnaces.
When the workers retire, it is because they have been used up prematurely...and the drug usage that helps them do their jobs..take a toll on their longevity.
Very sad...getting out the truth about Wv is a begining to understanding...problems can be faced and solved if the people know what they face.
The entire country has gotten sidetracked away from truth...it's been a media process...and interpretation of opinion...instead of the statement of actual fact...
In a word...propaganda...just listen to any of the talking heads, anywhere...what they say to you is opinion...any statement of fact is given 2 seconds...followed by 10 seconds of opinion sound-bite to help you understand their propaganda.
As the great Paul Lynde once said, "What's the matter with kids today??" (1959 ?)
When I was young, I didn't want to work for short money and no respect, either. I later found out that I had little to offer that would earn me one or the other. My only option was to work and change that situation to my favor. I don't know what it is with the younger people now, they seem to have other options, like staying with the parents; there are huge alternative economies now, selling drugs of course, but other things, tech/online stuff, whatever the reason, they don't appear interested in jobs that are dirty or not fun. Maybe we do need to bring in mexican workers, in an organized, controlled system. Mexicans are no better or worse than people around the world. If you hire illegals, they work hard and are well behaved, but when they become the majority, they tend to form subcultures and informal communities within the company, and can get fussy and demanding, so you end up wishing you had your high school kids back. And further, you might benefit personally by hiring illegals, but in doing so, impact the community in yet more negative ways. I would prefer to focus on ways to prepare legal citizens for available jobs, and provide everyone a "liveable wage", which doesn't mean union wages, which over-paid a small few workers and ignored the rest. This is America, can't we do better than this ?? Dayum....
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A politician on Halloween!! Horror of horrors!!"
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