If you were POTUS, how would you fix the Rust Belt?

[Anonymous]

1. you need extremely tough anti-trust laws enforced and also new ones written.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/10/how-democrats-killed-their-populist-soul/504710/

http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/novemberdecember-2016/how-to-make-conservatism-great-again/

http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/maraprmay-2016/the-real-reason-middle-america-should-be-angry/

http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/novdec-2015/bloom-and-bust/

http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/marchapril-2010/who-broke-americas-jobs-machine-3/

Consolidation of business due to the power of mobile capital destroyed the relative 'losers' and allowed for immense concentrations of wealth to pop up.

2. Flyover states have low population growth - you need a revamped immigration system that allows people in on a pts system but tells them if they come in, they have to live in certain 'zones' - i.e. flyover country

3. huge infrastructure investments to better connect flyover country to other parts of the country

4. move most '2nd tier' federal agencies out of DC. This happens as infrastructure investments improve and people telecommute more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First thing I would re-brand it by removing the liberal stink of calling part of our country the "rust belt" or "flyover country." After that I would relocate most government agencies to the middle of the country to establish jobs with current federal workers willing to move and train locals for government jobs and the associated jobs that come with large employment centers

Big shippers like Amazon would be stripped of local and state tax incentives that rob localities of much needed tax base to rebuild infrastructure and train locals for jobs

Get rid of teacher unions which cripple schools and expand teacher training programs so that smart people would return to the field and children would again learn math and reading

Provide incentives for people to marry (any one the want wherever they want) to stem the damage to children who do not have a parent in the house

Re institute the draft so that all 18-19 year old men and women would be in the military or do community service fir one year. Yes the Israeli model. Young men especially need the structure and service as a maturing process

Human beings want to be treated as humans

She who dreams the absurd achieves the impossible

Rebrand? Are you really serious? And then spend billions relocating and retraining administrators with essential institutional knowledge? And how would the federal government take away state and local tax autonomy? As for teacher unions, I'm pretty sure that Michelle Rhee demonstrated that problems go much deeper than some collective bargaining issues. How very simplistically Trumpian!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. you need extremely tough anti-trust laws enforced and also new ones written.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/10/how-democrats-killed-their-populist-soul/504710/

http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/novemberdecember-2016/how-to-make-conservatism-great-again/

http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/maraprmay-2016/the-real-reason-middle-america-should-be-angry/

http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/novdec-2015/bloom-and-bust/

http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/marchapril-2010/who-broke-americas-jobs-machine-3/

Consolidation of business due to the power of mobile capital destroyed the relative 'losers' and allowed for immense concentrations of wealth to pop up.

2. Flyover states have low population growth - you need a revamped immigration system that allows people in on a pts system but tells them if they come in, they have to live in certain 'zones' - i.e. flyover country

3. huge infrastructure investments to better connect flyover country to other parts of the country

4. move most '2nd tier' federal agencies out of DC. This happens as infrastructure investments improve and people telecommute more.

Great suggestions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think there is a solution. I think if you look at the family trees of people trapped in the Rust Belt you'll find 200-plus years of uneducated poor people. The brief period of good income was an anomaly.

Such a stupid post.

To follow up, the PP knows nothing about the Rust Belt. There are plenty of educated people who are doing very well, some prohably way better than you. And anyway, most of the Rust Belt is doing fine without the help of DC psuedo saviors like you who truly don't give a shit but want the moral authority points from loudly pretending they do.

Denial is clearly just a river in Egypt to some.

Look up job and population trends, and public school rankings. Outside of some pop because of shale, the middle of the country is hollowed out. All the money is concentrated on the coasts, Texas and Florida. Minnesota is doing decent I guess.

Shale? You truly are an idiot.

Ad hominem attacks make you look like the idiot.

Yeah, great comeback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Liberal pro-Hilary highly educated white collar working living in the rust belt, after some time all over east coast (and lots of international travel)....this thread is so clueless. The stereotyping is insane. Also, this isn't 'rust belt' versus east coast, it is urban v. rural....take a look at a blue/red map.

And what do I think it will take to fix this problem? We have a problem with wealth accumulation in this country. We need to invest in our working class, our poor and our middle class. The hollowing out isn't of the rust belt, it is off the middle class period. We need to re-invest in what has been abandon.

Sadly, the Republicans are the least likely to do this.

+1. Finally someone who makes some sense and has some idea what they are talking about (in stark contrast to the "shale" poster).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. you need extremely tough anti-trust laws enforced and also new ones written.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/10/how-democrats-killed-their-populist-soul/504710/

http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/novemberdecember-2016/how-to-make-conservatism-great-again/

http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/maraprmay-2016/the-real-reason-middle-america-should-be-angry/

http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/novdec-2015/bloom-and-bust/

http://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/marchapril-2010/who-broke-americas-jobs-machine-3/

Consolidation of business due to the power of mobile capital destroyed the relative 'losers' and allowed for immense concentrations of wealth to pop up.

2. Flyover states have low population growth - you need a revamped immigration system that allows people in on a pts system but tells them if they come in, they have to live in certain 'zones' - i.e. flyover country

3. huge infrastructure investments to better connect flyover country to other parts of the country

4. move most '2nd tier' federal agencies out of DC. This happens as infrastructure investments improve and people telecommute more.

Great suggestions.

i would urge all - especially the left the take an hour or two to read the artciles i posted above. a lot of the loosening of anti-trust laws was precipitated by us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Liberal pro-Hilary highly educated white collar working living in the rust belt, after some time all over east coast (and lots of international travel)....this thread is so clueless. The stereotyping is insane. Also, this isn't 'rust belt' versus east coast, it is urban v. rural....take a look at a blue/red map.

And what do I think it will take to fix this problem? We have a problem with wealth accumulation in this country. We need to invest in our working class, our poor and our middle class. The hollowing out isn't of the rust belt, it is off the middle class period. We need to re-invest in what has been abandon.

Sadly, the Republicans are the least likely to do this.

+1. Finally someone who makes some sense and has some idea what they are talking about (in stark contrast to the "shale" poster).

Yet they keep voting for Republicans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:... I would relocate most government agencies to the middle of the country to establish jobs with current federal workers willing to move and train locals for government jobs and the associated jobs that come with large employment centers.

Novel idea. There's no way the Founding Fathers ever wanted DC to become such a vulgar concentration of wealth. 7 of the top 10 richest counties!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think there is a solution. I think if you look at the family trees of people trapped in the Rust Belt you'll find 200-plus years of uneducated poor people. The brief period of good income was an anomaly.

Such a stupid post.

To follow up, the PP knows nothing about the Rust Belt. There are plenty of educated people who are doing very well, some prohably way better than you. And anyway, most of the Rust Belt is doing fine without the help of DC psuedo saviors like you who truly don't give a shit but want the moral authority points from loudly pretending they do.

Denial is clearly just a river in Egypt to some.

Look up job and population trends, and public school rankings. Outside of some pop because of shale, the middle of the country is hollowed out. All the money is concentrated on the coasts, Texas and Florida. Minnesota is doing decent I guess.

Shale? You truly are an idiot.

Ad hominem attacks make you look like the idiot.

Yeah, great comeback.

Still didn't hear anything sensible from you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:... I would relocate most government agencies to the middle of the country to establish jobs with current federal workers willing to move and train locals for government jobs and the associated jobs that come with large employment centers.

Novel idea. There's no way the Founding Fathers ever wanted DC to become such a vulgar concentration of wealth. 7 of the top 10 richest counties!

More invented "facts."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Liberal pro-Hilary highly educated white collar working living in the rust belt, after some time all over east coast (and lots of international travel)....this thread is so clueless. The stereotyping is insane. Also, this isn't 'rust belt' versus east coast, it is urban v. rural....take a look at a blue/red map.

And what do I think it will take to fix this problem? We have a problem with wealth accumulation in this country. We need to invest in our working class, our poor and our middle class. The hollowing out isn't of the rust belt, it is off the middle class period. We need to re-invest in what has been abandon.

Sadly, the Republicans are the least likely to do this.

+1. Finally someone who makes some sense and has some idea what they are talking about (in stark contrast to the "shale" poster).

+1. Or, as Warren Buffet said, "You don't need 4% GDP growth, you can do much better with better distribution of 2% GDP growth." The US as a whole needs fewer third- fourth- fifth-rate colleges, and more of a well-designed, adaptable vocational training program, country-wide. Support the creating of a high-skilled middle class (that doesn't mean hedge fund analysts).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:... I would relocate most government agencies to the middle of the country to establish jobs with current federal workers willing to move and train locals for government jobs and the associated jobs that come with large employment centers.

Novel idea. There's no way the Founding Fathers ever wanted DC to become such a vulgar concentration of wealth. 7 of the top 10 richest counties!

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:... I would relocate most government agencies to the middle of the country to establish jobs with current federal workers willing to move and train locals for government jobs and the associated jobs that come with large employment centers.

Novel idea. There's no way the Founding Fathers ever wanted DC to become such a vulgar concentration of wealth. 7 of the top 10 richest counties!

+1.

Please identify the counties and metric used.

[Anonymous]

FWIW Hamilton was pretty much okay with NYC being the seat of both finance and government.

[Anonymous]

Tell the unemployed to move to farm country to take the jobs of all the illegal immigrants Trump will be kicking out.