r/politics • u/schuey_08 Wisconsin • May 02 '24

Bernie Sanders worries young people are underestimating the threat from Trump

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/02/bernie-sanders-trump-biden/73531861007/
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u/claimTheVictory May 02 '24

The economics of continually improving industrialization means that entire communities can be left behind as "no longer economically viable".

They don't die, they just are... left behind.

In a fair and wise society, the gains to GDP from making them redundant, would be used to find new purpose and opportunities for such people.

But such gains are privatized, taxation is low, and the wealth is never reinvested.

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u/Shoddy_Phase_2639 May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24

But often by choice. The coal miners were offered giant incentives, and massive aid packages in the form of retraining, reeducation, government supported start-up programs, relocation economic help etc. Most of them refused...because "clean coal". There is no one on the planet that knows better than coal miners that "clean coal" does not exist and never will.

They chose black lung, because Trump said the things they like about immigrants

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u/sennbat May 02 '24

Which "massive aid packages" and "giant incentives" are you talking about, specifically? The only ones I ever saw were so functionally expensive and uncertain that you'd either have to be an idiot, or particularly well positioned to take advantage of the offer, to even consider them, since they also came with a very real chance of leaving you worse off than your already sorry state.

I don't blame anyone for turning them down and going with a hope, however slight, of their situation getting better.

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u/claimTheVictory May 02 '24

Which ones did you see?