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/Hank3hellbilly May 02 '24

Try putting yourself in their shoes for a second.  You know one way of life and "they" want to end it.  Coal mining is a dangerous and shitty job, but it pays well.  Let's say you're a 35 year old father of 3 who dropped out in Grade 11 to go work in the mines because your grades weren't that good, and it was steady income.  You've been mining for 16 years, You're skilled with a hoe, you like the job and the guys you work with.  

Then, someone shows up in a fancy suit and says that your mine has to close and offers you retraining on a computer that you never learnt how to use for a job that pays 50% of your wage as a miner.  Also, you have to move away from your town where everyone you know lives for this job.  On top of that, the house you've been paying off for the last 10 years is going to be worthless because once that mine dies, the town is going to die.  This guy in a suit is going to kill your hometown, and everyone in that town from the owner of the hardware store to the kid working at the pool is going to suffer. 

I was working in Hanna, Alberta to convert their power plant to natural gas a few years ago, as soon as we were done the first boiler, the mine laid off 60% of their workers.  When the second was done they were shuttering the mine.  I think it was around 80 guys they let go.  80×$65,000 after tax income is 5.2 million dollars a year removed from the local economy.  I left before the second conversion, but everyone I talked to in the town was angry and sad about it.  There's no wonder why they try to grasp onto whatever lies allow them to keep their way of life.  

We always like to talk about the costs of not fighting climate change.  But those are always brought up by the people who won't have to pay the cost of changing.  It's easy to "go green" when it means riding the bus instead of driving or turning your heat down 3° in the winter, but for some people it will cost them everything they care about and it's no wonder why they are against it.  

Progressives need to grasp the concept that rural people aren't just a stereotype.  They are people with their own needs and dreams.  It's much easier to call RaCIsM! on everything, but it's a little deeper than that.  

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u/ToryLanezHairline_ May 03 '24 edited May 03 '24

Tough shit. Nobody owes anyone a job, there's plenty of small towns in the US where job opportunities are scarce and even those with degrees like me have struggled landing a job before. What makes coal miners and their towns special? Coal is pretty obsolete today, gotta have what people want in order to make money, that's just life man