What cures the economic ills of "Flyover Country"/Middle/Rural America?

[hollowdweller]

12. Well here's what I think.

First, if you look at the average age of a lot of the people that live there, it's old. So in a lot of these areas the labor pool is too small for a big plant or something.

Then if you drive thru a lot of these towns you can see old buildings, signs of the days when things were more prosperous.

If you look at the trends in the 60's and 70's you had people moving to the suburbs, you had the back to the land movement bringing people to the counntry.

Now, the trend is the opposite, people are moving to the cities.


I know this sounds ASS BACKWARDS, but before you can bring much businesses to an area you have to make it a place people would want to move before you are going to get any big business to move there.

I think you CAN get some small businesses started by improving internet and teaching skills to start your own businesses in school. A lot of the people in these areas were used to big employers and just going in and getting a job for life. No big tit is going to fall out of the sky and restore that right now.

Then I think that you need to provide decent roads and broadband there to help people start their own businesses.

After that there needs to be federal money pumped into the schools, infrastructure and in renovating small towns. Towns need movie houses, some place to congregate, live music, places to play sports.

We need to clean up and promote natural things like rivers, hiking and bike trails as draws.

Eventually living in cities will again be too expensive and people and businesses will be looking for cheap land and affordable housing for their employees. But these people won't move until the places have a civic life.

Sort of the sad thing about a lot of these places is they are sort of the victims of the GOP "every man for himself' philosophy, which has allowed towns and civic life to crumble for fear of raising taxes. So in a way people have brought it on themselves.
By moving to the burbs or just staying to themselves rather than participating in a civic life eventually the majority of the population who craves those things moves on.

So that is my idea. Make the areas worthy living in first, encourage the local population to start business and try to attract people from outside. Then improve the towns and civic life and eventually large employers and employees will move there.