
Trump: Tribune of Poor White People - dpeck
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/trump-us-politics-poor-whites/
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11thEarlOfMar
"The average kid will live in multiple homes over the course of her life,
experience a constant cycle of growing close to a “stepdad” only to see him
walk out on the family, know multiple drug users personally, maybe live in a
foster home for a bit (or at least in the home of an unofficial foster like an
aunt or grandparent), watch friends and family get arrested, and on and on."

I'd prefer to see a statistical presentation of this information, rather than
hearsay, but if even somewhat true, a basic income trial in these areas would
be highly valuable.

~~~
smt88
While basic income might make sense, many of these people won't be satisfied
with it. They would be ashamed and angry that society has no useful job for
them anymore. Wouldn't you?

There's a reason many of these people prefer Trump, who promises jobs and
(false) hope, over Clinton, who isn't making such promises.

~~~
ConfuciusSay02
What?

Hillary is totally promising jobs, it's one of the core planks of her
"platform":
[https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/jobs/](https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/jobs/)

~~~
smt88
She is, but it's not exactly the same.

Where I grew up (Appalachia), there's already plenty of great infrastructure.
There are, however, no industries to replace coal mining or steel production.
It's literally impossible for Trump to bring those jobs back -- it's much
cheaper to extract coal in the West, so there's little-to-no incentive for a
for-profit corporation to build new mines in Appalachia.

I did a social studies report in 6th grade on the topic, "What will replace
coal in West Virginia?" Even then, we couldn't figure anything out. Nothing
has changed. WV is the strongest state for Trump for that reason.

Clinton can promise jobs in a general sense, but it's not what they want to
hear. They want to hear someone offer them a time machine to 1960, when men
could work in mines or manufacturing from his teens until he retired, and they
knew their sons would be able to do the same.

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pinewurst
This is a really thoughtful article* and I plan to read the book ("Hillbilly
Elegy") discussed.

*Despite the URL, it's not kneejerk anything. Ignore the comments at the end as usual though...

