Should the feds bail out coal miners?

[theHandpuppet]

Interesting article that provided some real food for thought.

Grist
Should the feds bail out coal miners?
By David Roberts
14 Oct 2014

I wrote yesterday that coal country is largely lost to Democrats, and that’s fine; they don’t need it to put together consistent national majorities.

Lots of people (via Twitter and email) complained that of course those voters are going to the GOP, since at least the GOP offers them sympathy on culture-war issues, while the Democrats offer them nothing. Why should they vote Dem?

Often paired with such complaints is the notion that Dems ought to propose some kind of large-scale federal program to ease the transition of miners and their families away from coal — a bold, populist, New Deal-style development program that would show coal miners (and other rural whites) that Dems care about them.

I was going to do a deep dive on this, but it turns out there aren’t many details or concrete proposals out there, and this kind of thing has a snowball’s chance in hell of passing Congress in a time of (ill-advised) fiscal retrenchment, so I’m not going to do a multi-thousand-word geek-out. Instead, just some idle musings....

MORE at http://grist.org/climate-energy/should-the-feds-bail-out-coal-miners/

[appalachiablue]

1. Very interesting article. I will keep 'Grist' in mind.

[theHandpuppet]

2. I should visit there more often.

I've tripped across some interesting articles at that site but neglected to bookmark a link.

[greatlaurel]

3. Interesting article, but I think I disagree with him somewhat.

The miners are just completely abused, even when well paid. They are trapped living in communities where other work is nonexistent. Thanks to deregulation, black lung is making a ferocious comeback shortening their lives and destroying their health at very young ages. Then, of course, the mining communities have never had the funds to properly equip and staff the public schools, so kids get even get a proper education to start life with at least a fighting chance.

[theHandpuppet]

4. I'd agree with you

It is not in the interest of those who exploit Appalachia for workers to have alternatives. If they create an economic situation in which the only choice is to descend into a black hole and dig coal, all the better for them. For example, the 2nd biggest employer in WV (aside from mining-related jobs) is Wal-Mart.

This job-poor economy is nurtured by a number of factors and one of the most glaring, as you've pointed out, concerns the schools and lack of access to higher education. Right now there's a crisis for schools in eastern Appalachia. As mining jobs disappear, so do the schools and the money to fund them. It's a terrible situation described in another thread I posted:

http://www.wtvq.com/story/d/story/as-families-flee-coal-country-schools-struggle/53062/zfUa5roVB0GOfexAEngY_Q
As families flee coal country, schools struggle
09/27/2014

PIKEVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Enrollments in eastern Kentucky public school districts are falling as the region continues its economic struggles amid a declining coal industry.
The issue has a direct impact on school funding. The largest factor determining how much money a public school gets from the state is its average adjusted daily attendance....

Both the state and federal governments are complicit in this national disgrace. Buried in the back of some newspapers you might trip across stories such as this one:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023147631
Kentucky govt. diverts economic development funds from Appalachian counties for basketball arena

Or find statistics such as these:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1272697
Some would argue that this is because of shortcomings of the people themselves, and would point to money that has been sent to the region to help Appalachians (e.g., Payne, 1999). However, the ARC reported that “the region receives 31 percent less federal expenditures per capita than the national average” (ARC, 2011, p. 4). As a result, “Appalachia has been unable to take advantage of programs that could help mitigate long-standing problems due to a lack of human, financial, and technical resources, geographic isolation, disproportionate social and economic distress, low household incomes, and a declining tax base” (ARC, 2011, p. 4).

These problems continue to compound themselves as mining-related jobs disappear without decent-paying jobs to replace them. Further, I see no indication there exists a national will (or even a regional one) to solve the complex and dire situation facing Appalachia.

[greatlaurel]

5. A lot of the lack of sympathy is due to classism that is rampant in the US.

The fact that most college educated folks grew up in suburbs means that they have no contact with and no personal interactions with people from different classes. It is more pernicious than racism. Racism is easy to see why it is so very wrong. Lack of empathy for people you feel are just not smart enough or too lazy to solve their own problems is perfectly acceptable. It is endemic in the environmental movement and has actually stymied us from getting more done.

The more I think about it the more I think that original article is dead wrong. If we follow his advise, then we are going to loose in Appalachia. That means more moutaintop removal and more destruction from all forms of mining.

[theHandpuppet]

6. Good post.

As we've seen lately, it's virtually impossible to discuss classism, even the classism that is too oft evident on DU, without a lot of condescending name-calling or outright denial. I've brought up the subject before (some of those threads are saved to my DU Journal) but to my dismay I think the atmosphere has grown increasingly worse. That was the primary motivator in creating Appalachian Group, a place where we can engage in some rational discourse about these issues with like-minded folk who truly care.