Our Economy

I always fear this sort of thread will devolve into some obscure shouting match about topics not covered in Econ 101. But I'll forge ahead anyway. I expect some mention of Keynes, whomever that might be.

In any case, my sister just finished a documentary on poverty in our hometown. It was for a class. After watching it, I realized that we really have come to a dramatic point in this country. I know it's been discussed in the past, but it's a topic dear to my heart. You see, my hometown is crumbling. The population is taking a nose-dive, and there's no end in sight.

It's an old factory town, and most of the factory jobs are gone. Most of the farms are owned by corporations. Most of the small family-owned business have crumbled, and many homes that should be demolished are still being inhabited.

Most of the jobs in today's economy are centered near the metro areas, which offer all sorts of careers that don't exist in my hometown. Even if a company wanted to relocate to my hometown, it couldn't. The workforce isn't trained for that. If it was, people would be moving to the metro areas in droves.

My question is whether this post describes your hometown. Surely, it must be the same scenario for the little dots on the map from coast to coast. The Bank of Podunk is now just another branch of Bank of America. Sam's Shoes is now another payday loan joint. Etc. Etc.

 

...will not end well.

 

... is headed the way of North Carolina in the NCAA tourney.

 

Will Bush show up at the finals wearing a China sticker?

 

The opening post sounds like something The Boss would say on stage between songs...

 

No this does not describe my town, but I am still out of work.

 

Be glad the factories have moved to the third world. You see, this keeps inflation down.

 

....is running a Randy Moss go route to hell.

 

And before you know it, there will be 4,000 people applying for 500 poverty level jobs at Wal-Mart.

 

... has never been in my kitchen.

 

Not only that...

I realize we've already had this discussion, of course. But my sister's documentary reminded me that those Walmart salaries actually equate with extreme poverty rather than basic poverty. In 2005 dollars, an annual income of less than $10,000 for a family of four meant extreme poverty. That's a single mother of three working at Walmart. There are other factors involved. But it's hard to imagine that a mother of three working 35 hours a week would be in the extreme poverty category. What percentage of the U.S. population is in that category?

 

Hasn't that already happened?