Since the "Los Angeles" thread got derailed by this, I'm going to start its own thread because this is a subject that nobody ever really considers. Right here in one of the 'richest' nations in the world, the country that's supposed to give everybody else money and solve all its problems, we have people living on only a few hundred dollars a month in often squalid conditions, shacks, trailers, many without modern conveniences like toilets or even electricity. The people mostly live in areas where the coal or railroad booms that once thrived there are over and there are no jobs for many miles around. As Verte and I were discussing, no amount of education will get you a job where there are none. True some towns have shunned progress, preferring their old ways and keeping to themselves to bringing in business and inevitably, unwelcome outsiders. But surely there is something that can be done for these people, and some places that would welcome and influx of jobs if only someone would invest in the region.
here is a map of where Appalachia is, in the Appalachian mountains of most eastern states, though most of the poverty stories you hear are in VA, WV, KY and TN.
This is open for discussion, suggestions, criticism, whatever. I want to hear what you think.
As maybe the only person here who has been to these places and has seen it first hand, I will be glad to answer anything you ask if I can. I will also be looking for more links to stories and pictures. I think most Europeans would be shocked at the impoverished conditions hundreds of thousands of Americans are trapped in. And this isn't all. There is also poverty and despair in our inner cities and on "Indian" reservations. But don't blame only Bush, it's been this way for many years.
here is a map of where Appalachia is, in the Appalachian mountains of most eastern states, though most of the poverty stories you hear are in VA, WV, KY and TN.
This is open for discussion, suggestions, criticism, whatever. I want to hear what you think.
As maybe the only person here who has been to these places and has seen it first hand, I will be glad to answer anything you ask if I can. I will also be looking for more links to stories and pictures. I think most Europeans would be shocked at the impoverished conditions hundreds of thousands of Americans are trapped in. And this isn't all. There is also poverty and despair in our inner cities and on "Indian" reservations. But don't blame only Bush, it's been this way for many years.
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