Vast Stretches Of Impoverished Appalachia Look Like They Have Been Through A War

The Economic Collapse blog ^ | January 15, 2014 | Michael Snyder

[2ndDivisionVet]

Wow.

[PastorBooks]

Ditto on your “Wow.”

I’ve seen it, not in Kentucky and West Virginia, but in rural Arkansas where I just moved from.

There is one little town in Arkansas that I know of, population in the mid-800s. The town is full of hard drugs. The good kids in the high school are having to drop out just to protect themselves from the drugged out kids. This town is an hour’s drive from the nearest decent-sized city.

In my experience in that particular area, the hopelessness grows as the distance from the city with available jobs grow. The farther out you get, the worse things get.

I haved wondered if this phenomenon is a regional thing peculiar to rural Arkansas. Reading this article I have to wonder if this is nation-wide.

Any thoughts?

[2ndDivisionVet]

Don’t see much of that here, but we’re one of the few places with a (relatively) good economy and jobs.

[GraceG]

Any thoughts?

I am sure the liberals in New York and just dripping with compassion over these folks....

(that was sarcastic)

[AlmaKing]

Those areas have been like that since they were settled some 200 years ago. I stopped at the first line of the article. The premise that all of America is heading into this deep poverty based on current observations of life in Appalachia is false.

[James C. Bennett]

I’ve seen similar in Stirling City, CA - rural, high unemployment, rampant drug use even among children, and so on, although California has vibrant, thriving areas relatively close to the dying ones, so it’s not too hard to escape.

[Titan Magroyne]

Holy crap, that and the articles he recommended within are deeply depressing.

[HiTech RedNeck]

This sounds like what happens when welfare displaces charity. Not that “hillbilly” life is particularly easy, but it used to have more dignity.

[Little Pig]

How’s that “war on coal” working out for ya, Dems?

Granted, things have never been that great in that region. An acquaintance of mine told of teaching in that area back in the 70s; you’d drive up a road, and every mailbox on one side would have one last name, and every box on the other side would have one other last name. Not a lot of education in the hollows there.

But the EPA, the greens, and now President Selfie have made life exponentially worse, because they’ve done all they can to kill the main source of jobs in the region; the coal industry. The topography means there aren’t going to be any more major highways run through the area (check the WV map sometime; damn hard to get from one side of the state to the other), so there’s not a lot of incentive for high-volume business like shipping or manufacturing, and the lack of education means no high-tech (which in turn means even less pressure to add more education).

On the other hand, assuming you can manage to get accepted by your neighbors (a long shot), land is cheap there and the FedGov is rarely welcome.

[Popman]

Bm

[cva66snipe]

Reminds me of some of the New Deal FDR Propaganda used to form TVA. Poverty exist anywhere always has always will. I'm old enough to remember the Company Coal Towns in northern Tennessee and in Kentucky. You'd see a shanty built on land Coal Company owned mineral rights too and likely the property itself. Long about the late 1960’s they started to disappear. The homes looked like they were fixing to fall in and outside the home was a nice car or pick up. This was before Food Stamps and welfare etc.

[kalee]

Placemarker

[SeminoleCounty]

The joys of Free Trade Communism...

Free Trade does not work. That is fact. Instead of paychecks, you give Americans government checks

Supporters of Free Trade agree with Barack Hussein Obama...Obama is a Free Trader. Free Traders support Obama. Socialists and Communists love Free Trade. That is Fact

Free Trade will end eventually...either thru competitive tariffs, or, executing Free Traders for treason and stupidity. There is not enough Socialism to keep Free Trade going. The EU is already seeing this

[SeminoleCounty]

Not correct.

There are many areas of the US that are now experiencing similar problems like Appalachia. There are towns all over Florida and the SE like mentioned in the article

[Dubh_Ghlase]

Been like this in the Adirondack mountains for years. Blue-state Flu...

[The_Media_never_lie]

Just, wow!

[Timber Rattler]

I”m from Appalachia, and this article is full of crap. Yeah, like everywhere, there are poor people there, but they’re not the Beverly Hillbillies.

[Timber Rattler]

And it goes without saying that the chronic unemployment there is primarily caused by Obama’s war on coal, shutting down coal-fired power plants and closing mines, throwing thousands out of work.

[KoRn]

From someone that lives in such an area, I’d say this article is dead-on accurate. Except the more enterprising among us have reverted back to making whiskey and growing pot fields to service those rich folks in the city. I’m sure it’s a great cash supplement to the monthly check from .gov.

There used to be many more jobs here in manufacturing and textiles, but all of those jobs left during the 90s. I remember when I was young, everyone that wanted a job could get one and welfare was heavily frowned upon. Now, you would have a difficult time finding someone that isn’t getting it in one form or another. It has gotten so bad, my wife and I avoid going to stores during the first few days of the month.

[caver]

These are nothing more than your low information Obama voters. They will vote for anyone just to stay on the government teat. This is the half of the country that don’t realize that they are killing the golden goose.