Shrinking population in more than a third of rural U.S. counties

[Guno צְבִי]

Trump land dying off


Nearly 35 percent of rural counties in the United States are experiencing protracted and significant population loss, according to new research. Those counties are now home to 6.2 million residents, a third fewer than lived there in 1950.



"Population loss from outmigration is the most important factor in the initial stages of depopulation," the researchers said. "These depopulating rural counties had an average migration loss of 43 percent of their 20-to-24-year-olds in each decade from 1950 to 2010, and that chronic young adult outmigration means there were far fewer women of child-bearing age and, as a result, many fewer births. In addition, 60 percent of these counties had more deaths than births. This combination of young adult outmigration, fewer births and more deaths produced a downward spiral of population loss that will be difficult to break."

People who lived there (and who continue to live there) made poor decisions about their future and the future of their children, they now find that few people want to move there, fewer businesses want to open there, and worst of all almost no investors are willing to bring money to their area. They are no longer functioning entities, or they won’t be within several decades at the most.


https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0206115611.htm

[Guno צְבִי]

Drugs, drink, obesity, smoking and suicide: Why rural America's white women are now dying up to 48 percent faster than 25 years ago




Americans are only five percent of the world's population, but consume 80 percent of its prescription opioids - and most of those getting the drugs legally are white.


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...years-ago.html

[Guno צְבִי]

The paper points to Walker County, Alabama, less than an hour from Birmingham, where coal mine closures are putting the 91-percent-white population out of work, one in five working-age people is registered disabled, and four out of five arrests are drug related.

'When we see somebody dead under 50, we automatically think drugs,' Walker County Circuit Clerk Susan Odom, whose sister died of a drug overdose, told the Post. 'Died at home? Drugs.'

The idea that today’s generations will do better than their parents’ generation is part of the American Dream. It has always been true until now,' Cherlin said.

'It may still be true for college-educated Americans, but not for the high-school-educated people we used to call the working class.'

And. the Post says, it might explain why these areas - poor, disenfranchised, angry - have been observed to be very supportive of Donald Trump's bid for the presidency.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...years-ago.html

[Guno צְבִי]

One sociologist believes that whites are struggling to deal with the fact that their skin color is no longer the advantage that it was, and are losing hope

[PoliTalker]

Hello guno,

Trump land dying off


Nearly 35 percent of rural counties in the United States are experiencing protracted and significant population loss, according to new research. Those counties are now home to 6.2 million residents, a third fewer than lived there in 1950.



"Population loss from outmigration is the most important factor in the initial stages of depopulation," the researchers said. "These depopulating rural counties had an average migration loss of 43 percent of their 20-to-24-year-olds in each decade from 1950 to 2010, and that chronic young adult outmigration means there were far fewer women of child-bearing age and, as a result, many fewer births. In addition, 60 percent of these counties had more deaths than births. This combination of young adult outmigration, fewer births and more deaths produced a downward spiral of population loss that will be difficult to break."

People who lived there (and who continue to live there) made poor decisions about their future and the future of their children, they now find that few people want to move there, fewer businesses want to open there, and worst of all almost no investors are willing to bring money to their area. They are no longer functioning entities, or they won’t be within several decades at the most.


https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0206115611.htm

Smaller gene pool too.

[PoliTalker]

I would guess that another factor would have to be automation of farming. How can an individual farmer compete with agri-giants? You can't run a small business when your competitor is large enough to squash you. Say you grow beets. They grow everything. They can lower the price of beets, even sell at a loss for a while, making up the loss with other business. I bet they can hold out doing that longer than you can without any sales or selling at a loss.

How many young people these days want to be a married couple with a small family farm? Back-breaking work, risks through the roof, no vacations ever. Every day before sunrise till dark and after. And knowing that everything you worked for could be squashed by greedy big corporations, well, who wants that life?

I have heard we are seeing fewer and fewer small farms.

That's fewer and fewer people coming to town for supplies, fewer people spending in town supporting other businesses. Less opportunity.

And then you have TV, social media and the internet drawing young minds away.

[Guno צְבִי]

I would guess that another factor would have to be automation of farming. How can an individual farmer compete with agri-giants? You can't run a small business when your competitor is large enough to squash you. Say you grow beets. They grow everything. They can lower the price of beets, even sell at a loss for a while, making up the loss with other business. I bet they can hold out doing that longer than you can without any sales or selling at a loss.

How many young people these days want to be a married couple with a small family farm? Back-breaking work, risks through the roof, no vacations ever. Every day before sunrise till dark and after. And knowing that everything you worked for could be squashed by greedy big corporations, well, who wants that life?

I have heard we are seeing fewer and fewer small farms.

That's fewer and fewer people coming to town for supplies, fewer people spending in town supporting other businesses. Less opportunity.

And then you have TV, social media and the internet drawing young minds away.

And trump conned these people

[PoliTalker]

Hello guno,

And trump conned these people

Yeah, not everybody who was conned is going to stay that way. It is shocking the staying power of the con, but cracks are forming in his support. And he's not gaining any new followers. I think he's in trouble for a second term. I hope I am right.

[evince]

fox "news" is to blame for the trump voters being unable to understand they were conned