If you want to get an idea of where the rest of America is heading, just take a trip through the western half of West Virginia and the eastern half of Kentucky some time. Once you leave the main highways, you will rapidly encounter poverty on a level that is absolutely staggering.
Overall, about 15 percent of the entire nation is under the poverty line, but in some areas of eastern Kentucky, more than 40 percent of the population is living in poverty. Most of the people would work if they could. Over the past couple of decades, locals have witnessed businesses and industries leave the region at a steady pace. When another factory or business shuts down, many of the unemployed do not even realize that their jobs have been shipped overseas. Coal mining still produces jobs that pay a decent wage, but Barack Obama is doing his very best to kill off that entire industry. After decades of decline, vast stretches of impoverished Appalachia look like they have been through a war. Those living in the area know that things are not good, but they just try to do the best that they can with what they have.
In previous articles about areas of the country that are economically depressed, I have typically focused on large cities such as Detroit or Camden, New Jersey. But the economic suffering that is taking place in rural communities in the heartland of America is just as tragic. We just don’t hear about it as much.
Most of those that live in the heart of Appalachia are really good “salt of the earth” people that just want to work hard and do what is right for their families. But after decades of increasing poverty, the entire region has been transformed into an economic nightmare that never seems to end. The following is a description of what life is like in Appalachia today that comes from a recent article by Kevin D. Williamson…
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Let's send more money to the communist nations that need weapons. Crazy a$$ Obama muslim $OB.
ReplyDelete12:35-Not just the communist nations,but practically every nation.For some reason the US feels the need to keep the world.That to me is a mystery when most of them despise us and everything we stand for.Appalachia is a prime example of how our priorities are screwed up.
ReplyDeleteThat part of the country has always been the poorest.
ReplyDeleteBut they continue to live, propagate, and make a living in a way that an outsider cannot even fathom. All he can do is compare it to his own life and call theirs "poverty".
ReplyDeleteThey are probably richer than we are morally, and when the SHTF, I'm going there!
Big deal! Chicago, Detroit and many other northern cities look worse.
ReplyDeleteLast summer friends went to Appalacia. They said at night they had local bands playing music and people were selling their different homemade items they said it was really nice. So I would guess some small towns try to survive from tourist trade.
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