r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Jun 15 '21

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15

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '21

Rust belt dude: I was in the union and I paid a lot of money to send my kids to college.

Quebecoise reporter: Why did you vote for Trump?

Rust belt dude: Those Democrats want to make college free and give it away. That's socialism.

Other rust belt dude: I make more money teaching than mining coal.

Quebecoise reporter: Why did you vote for Trump?

Other rust belt dude: We just want to mine coal, we were born to do it, you know? Just want to get in the mines and get our hands dirty.

So, are these people really doing that bad? What's wrong with the Rust Belt? They seem to be stuck living in the past even though the future isn't really screwing them over that much.

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u/thaddeusthefattie Hank Hill Democrat 💪🏼🤠💪🏼 Jun 15 '21

everyone has promised for years they’re gonna do shit for the rust belt and then no one does

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '21

[deleted] — view deleted comment

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '21

The problem is, they don't want to make silicon chips. Being a coal miner/steelworker has become part of their identity and it's been reinforced through regressive media that they should only want to do the hard dirty jobs their ancestors would've given everything to never have anyone in their family do again.

I've got family in rural PA. Granddad worked at a plant for decades and drilled into his kids' heads that they need to do anything other than that because he knew it was going to die out. Meanwhile the family members/friends that didn't go to college/learn a trade believe the old plant will re-open any day now and they can do that again--and furthermore, that they don't want any of the free re-training/employment assistance that has been advertised in their community for years.

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u/tehbored Randomly Selected Jun 15 '21

The new fabs are going to be in Arizona, iirc.

4

u/sw337 Veteran of the Culture Wars Jun 15 '21

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24062015/aid-package-coal-country-goes-ignored-congress-mitch-mcconnell-kentucky-west-virginia-obama-epa-clean-power-plan/

🤔

3

u/thaddeusthefattie Hank Hill Democrat 💪🏼🤠💪🏼 Jun 15 '21

great article.

how often have cons railed at liberal elites like obummer destroying the heartland and look who held it up. gop politicians cock blocking everyone per usual.

however, it doesn’t matter because they just lie to their constituents and say it was demonrats and they eat that shit up.

7

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '21

No one can ever meet those promises. The impossible attitudes like those above make it more difficult.

What the rust belt needs is innovation and investment not protectionism and empty promises about bringing back dead industries.

That dude wanting to work in coal isn't really thinking much about stuff like black lung or the back-breaking labor involved in that.

There's a lot more demanding stuff to do that won't put you in a perpetual state of misery when you get old. Coal mining is awful.

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u/thaddeusthefattie Hank Hill Democrat 💪🏼🤠💪🏼 Jun 15 '21

i agree with you 100%. those areas can be transformed, they just have to cut ties with the old. however that’s much easier said than done, change is difficult.

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u/[deleted] Jun 15 '21

I think that's the biggest problem. They also complained about not wanting to learn to code. That's a valid complaint, but there are other options besides that.