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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Conservative here –  grew up in the Rust Belt in a working middle class home.

Trump pulled the perfect Jedi mind trick and people were so caught up in the fervor that many did not catch it – he clouded the issue. I was in my hometown a week after the election and a lot of people somehow thought that immigrants were taking the jobs THEY WANTED. These folks do want to pick apples or cut grass – they want the $25 dollar manufacturing jobs with benefits. They have a hard time understanding that the economy (and the lure of CHEAP labor overseas) makes those jobs obsolete.  What they do know is that those manufacturing jobs (and the service industries derived from them) served as the foundation of the middle class in their cities.  If you were a line worker at Ford or a brew worker at Miller, you were doing pretty well.  However I do wonder whether people and corporations will actually want to make the sacrifices – because “fixing” the problem will require government market intervention on some levels. Here are a couple of observations.

1.	 The issue in many of these places is the lack of a consistent stable tax base.  Relocating some government operations and giving a Federal incentive (in addition to state and local measures) for companies to move to certain areas and to hire and train local folks will help with this. 
2.	If you really want to get tough – even out the costs of manufacturing overseas through import tariffs or corporate level taxes.  The issue is that folks may have to pay $800 for their iPhone – that’s the trade-off. 
3.	Many of these places will need a massive retooling away from typical Rust Belt jobs similar to what happened in Pittsburgh, Cleveland and is now starting to happen in Detroit. So invest in post HS education whether it be traditional college tuition or vocational education.  Problem is that this does not solve the problem of the 45YO laid off line worker who would have to retrain. 
4.	As PP said, recognize that this is a bigger issue outside of the cities and requires a different mindset. Cities are a bit more organic and require less of a Federal touch. Focus outside of the cities.  
5.	Continue to give grads incentive through a bonus or student loan forgiveness to live and work in some of these areas – especially rural. The issue in many of these places is talent drain.  Many kids head off to college and the big city and never come back and it is difficult to get folks to relocate to these areas.
6.	Understand that is an issue that you cannot just throw money at.  It is going to take a lot of cooperative work between the Feds and the state and local governments and it may requires Conservatives stepping away from a couple of their core planks. 
[/quote]

Wow, very impressive - this is a great range of ideas, not hanging it all on re-education.  Appreciate if you describe why you consider yourself a conservative.  I think of many of these proposals to be traditional Democratic Party planks.  [/quote]

Well, I am a Conservative for many reasons that I do not want to get into here.  But on this particular question of "fixing" the Rust Belt, I know firsthand how the priorities of working class Republicans differ from the Republican elites. I am also a pragmatist.  I believe in letting the market work generally, but in some of these places, government effort is required to get them to a place where the market can function. A lot my fellow Conservatives do not embrace that - which is why I said it may require them to step away from the platform. [/quote]

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