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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Media household income:

1 Loudoun County Virginia
$117,876
2 Fairfax County Virginia
$112,436
3 Howard County Maryland
$108,844
4 Hunterdon County New Jersey
$105,186
5 Arlington County Virginia
$100,474
6 Stafford County Virginia
$97,606
7 Putnam County New York
$96,223
8 Somerset County New Jersey
$95,825
9 Douglas County Colorado
$95,324
10 Morris County New Jersey
$95,294
11 Montgomery County Maryland
$94,965
12 Prince William County Virginia
$93,744

It is truly disguising to see the wealth accumulation that is a direct result of the Federal Government's concentration in DC. Many agencies could be moved to areas that require revitalization. Wages for many lower level government jobs would undoubtedly drop. Would be a great PR move for Trump to break up the swamp and "create" new jobs in the Rust Belt. Downsizing could be accomplished at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Media household income:

1 Loudoun County Virginia
$117,876
2 Fairfax County Virginia
$112,436
3 Howard County Maryland
$108,844
4 Hunterdon County New Jersey
$105,186
5 Arlington County Virginia
$100,474
6 Stafford County Virginia
$97,606
7 Putnam County New York
$96,223
8 Somerset County New Jersey
$95,825
9 Douglas County Colorado
$95,324
10 Morris County New Jersey
$95,294
11 Montgomery County Maryland
$94,965
12 Prince William County Virginia
$93,744

It is truly disguising to see the wealth accumulation that is a direct result of the Federal Government's concentration in DC. Many agencies could be moved to areas that require revitalization. Wages for many lower level government jobs would undoubtedly drop. Would be a great PR move for Trump to break up the swamp and "create" new jobs in the Rust Belt. Downsizing could be accomplished at the same time.

Good idea, but then all of the poor little rich DC elites would have to sell their shitshacks for less than 1.3 million because the bubble would finally burst. Aww!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Media household income:

1 Loudoun County Virginia
$117,876
2 Fairfax County Virginia
$112,436
3 Howard County Maryland
$108,844
4 Hunterdon County New Jersey
$105,186
5 Arlington County Virginia
$100,474
6 Stafford County Virginia
$97,606
7 Putnam County New York
$96,223
8 Somerset County New Jersey
$95,825
9 Douglas County Colorado
$95,324
10 Morris County New Jersey
$95,294
11 Montgomery County Maryland
$94,965
12 Prince William County Virginia
$93,744

It is truly disguising to see the wealth accumulation that is a direct result of the Federal Government's concentration in DC. Many agencies could be moved to areas that require revitalization. Wages for many lower level government jobs would undoubtedly drop. Would be a great PR move for Trump to break up the swamp and "create" new jobs in the Rust Belt. Downsizing could be accomplished at the same time.

Good idea, but then all of the poor little rich DC elites would have to sell their shitshacks for less than 1.3 million because the bubble would finally burst. Aww!

But think about how much house they could buy in the Detroit suburbs. Win Win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Flyover country represents capitalism; used up and spit out. It doesn't serve a purpose anymore. Nobody should live there. The strong moved away, which has been happening for decades. The weak will still be there in 20 30 40 years waiting for things to return to the heydays (they heard pa talk about).

I left the Midwest b/c I was a wrong side of the tracks girl who wanted to get ahead. Am a lifelong Dem as were my parents. My DCs love to visit Midwest. I don't think the "weak" necessarily stay there because they lack options. They want to be near their parents, want their kids to be raised there, want to stay in their social networks. There is nothing wrong or weak about this. Nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flyover country represents capitalism; used up and spit out. It doesn't serve a purpose anymore. Nobody should live there. The strong moved away, which has been happening for decades. The weak will still be there in 20 30 40 years waiting for things to return to the heydays (they heard pa talk about).

I left the Midwest b/c I was a wrong side of the tracks girl who wanted to get ahead. Am a lifelong Dem as were my parents. My DCs love to visit Midwest. I don't think the "weak" necessarily stay there because they lack options. They want to be near their parents, want their kids to be raised there, want to stay in their social networks. There is nothing wrong or weak about this. Nothing.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flyover country represents capitalism; used up and spit out. It doesn't serve a purpose anymore. Nobody should live there. The strong moved away, which has been happening for decades. The weak will still be there in 20 30 40 years waiting for things to return to the heydays (they heard pa talk about).

I left the Midwest b/c I was a wrong side of the tracks girl who wanted to get ahead. Am a lifelong Dem as were my parents. My DCs love to visit Midwest. I don't think the "weak" necessarily stay there because they lack options. They want to be near their parents, want their kids to be raised there, want to stay in their social networks. There is nothing wrong or weak about this. Nothing.

I am from the same type of place. On this site, unfortunately, there apparently is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flyover country represents capitalism; used up and spit out. It doesn't serve a purpose anymore. Nobody should live there. The strong moved away, which has been happening for decades. The weak will still be there in 20 30 40 years waiting for things to return to the heydays (they heard pa talk about).

I left the Midwest b/c I was a wrong side of the tracks girl who wanted to get ahead. Am a lifelong Dem as were my parents. My DCs love to visit Midwest. I don't think the "weak" necessarily stay there because they lack options. They want to be near their parents, want their kids to be raised there, want to stay in their social networks. There is nothing wrong or weak about this. Nothing.

I am from the same type of place. On this site, unfortunately, there apparently is.

Don't worry about it, if they were so satisfied with their cool highbrow DC lives, then they wouldn't feel the need to denigrate other people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flyover country represents capitalism; used up and spit out. It doesn't serve a purpose anymore. Nobody should live there. The strong moved away, which has been happening for decades. The weak will still be there in 20 30 40 years waiting for things to return to the heydays (they heard pa talk about).

I left the Midwest b/c I was a wrong side of the tracks girl who wanted to get ahead. Am a lifelong Dem as were my parents. My DCs love to visit Midwest. I don't think the "weak" necessarily stay there because they lack options. They want to be near their parents, want their kids to be raised there, want to stay in their social networks. There is nothing wrong or weak about this. Nothing.

I am from the same type of place. On this site, unfortunately, there apparently is.

Don't worry about it, if they were so satisfied with their cool highbrow DC lives, then they wouldn't feel the need to denigrate other people.

I think most of it is because "those people" didn't tow the democrat line like they had in so many prior elections. Now instead of being nice people down on their luck who voted to have big government take care of them, they are idiots who will never amount to anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flyover country represents capitalism; used up and spit out. It doesn't serve a purpose anymore. Nobody should live there. The strong moved away, which has been happening for decades. The weak will still be there in 20 30 40 years waiting for things to return to the heydays (they heard pa talk about).

I left the Midwest b/c I was a wrong side of the tracks girl who wanted to get ahead. Am a lifelong Dem as were my parents. My DCs love to visit Midwest. I don't think the "weak" necessarily stay there because they lack options. They want to be near their parents, want their kids to be raised there, want to stay in their social networks. There is nothing wrong or weak about this. Nothing.

I am from the same type of place. On this site, unfortunately, there apparently is.

Don't worry about it, if they were so satisfied with their cool highbrow DC lives, then they wouldn't feel the need to denigrate other people.

I think most of it is because "those people" didn't tow the democrat line like they had in so many prior elections. Now instead of being nice people down on their luck who voted to have big government take care of them, they are idiots who will never amount to anything.

Nailed it.

[Anonymous]

Sorry to say, but the honest answer is "nothing". Thanks to Mr. Carrier and his fancy air conditioning, people would rather live in the Sunbelt than the Rustbelt. Same with companies; why deal with folks used to fancy union wages when people Down South will do the same job for $15 an hour and for $5 an hour a bit further south than that?

LOL to the posters who pointed out the disparity in concern when the economic "hollowing out" hit the black communities in Newark, Detroit, Cleveland, etc. last generation. What happened to "personal responsibility" and "bootstraps"? They are exactly right.

Chicago, Minneapolis and other nice cities will do fine, but large swaths of that area truly serve no economic purpose.

Also, a universal basic income will be needed in this country before long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flyover country represents capitalism; used up and spit out. It doesn't serve a purpose anymore. Nobody should live there. The strong moved away, which has been happening for decades. The weak will still be there in 20 30 40 years waiting for things to return to the heydays (they heard pa talk about).

I left the Midwest b/c I was a wrong side of the tracks girl who wanted to get ahead. Am a lifelong Dem as were my parents. My DCs love to visit Midwest. I don't think the "weak" necessarily stay there because they lack options. They want to be near their parents, want their kids to be raised there, want to stay in their social networks. There is nothing wrong or weak about this. Nothing.

I am from the same type of place. On this site, unfortunately, there apparently is.

Don't worry about it, if they were so satisfied with their cool highbrow DC lives, then they wouldn't feel the need to denigrate other people.

I think most of it is because "those people" didn't tow the democrat line like they had in so many prior elections. Now instead of being nice people down on their luck who voted to have big government take care of them, they are idiots who will never amount to anything.

"Tow the line"? FFS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flyover country represents capitalism; used up and spit out. It doesn't serve a purpose anymore. Nobody should live there. The strong moved away, which has been happening for decades. The weak will still be there in 20 30 40 years waiting for things to return to the heydays (they heard pa talk about).

I left the Midwest b/c I was a wrong side of the tracks girl who wanted to get ahead. Am a lifelong Dem as were my parents. My DCs love to visit Midwest. I don't think the "weak" necessarily stay there because they lack options. They want to be near their parents, want their kids to be raised there, want to stay in their social networks. There is nothing wrong or weak about this. Nothing.

Take some f'n initiative and ownership if you live in a failing community with no jobs. Those high-paying factory jobs that didn't require you to work all that hard aren't coming back. Your home is not going to meaningfully appreciate in value. Remember how awesome it was when the WalMart Superstore opened -- before it caused local businesses to close. But by all means keep buying those crappy Chinese-made goods at WalMart.

[Anonymous]

Question: If the Rust Belt is as bad as some of you say it is, then isn't some of that on your Savior Obama, who has been in office for the last eight years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flyover country represents capitalism; used up and spit out. It doesn't serve a purpose anymore. Nobody should live there. The strong moved away, which has been happening for decades. The weak will still be there in 20 30 40 years waiting for things to return to the heydays (they heard pa talk about).

I left the Midwest b/c I was a wrong side of the tracks girl who wanted to get ahead. Am a lifelong Dem as were my parents. My DCs love to visit Midwest. I don't think the "weak" necessarily stay there because they lack options. They want to be near their parents, want their kids to be raised there, want to stay in their social networks. There is nothing wrong or weak about this. Nothing.

actually not wanting to push yourself 'out there' and challenge yourself by moving long distances is kind of weak to be honest.

testing yourself in new situations and experiences is a mark of strength

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flyover country represents capitalism; used up and spit out. It doesn't serve a purpose anymore. Nobody should live there. The strong moved away, which has been happening for decades. The weak will still be there in 20 30 40 years waiting for things to return to the heydays (they heard pa talk about).

I left the Midwest b/c I was a wrong side of the tracks girl who wanted to get ahead. Am a lifelong Dem as were my parents. My DCs love to visit Midwest. I don't think the "weak" necessarily stay there because they lack options. They want to be near their parents, want their kids to be raised there, want to stay in their social networks. There is nothing wrong or weak about this. Nothing.

actually not wanting to push yourself 'out there' and challenge yourself by moving long distances is kind of weak to be honest.

testing yourself in new situations and experiences is a mark of strength

As is staying in your community and helping to build it up.