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For manufacturing districts, the wave is red

How is that working out for them?
“My image of Republicans is of a blue-collar type,” says Larry Smith, a 68-year-old weave room supervisor at Greenwood Mills Inc. in South Carolina’s third Congressional District. He voted for Democrats before, including Barack Obama in 2008, but sided with Mr. Trump in 2016. “Democrats come from more financially successful groups.”
 
How is that working out for them?
“My image of Republicans is of a blue-collar type,” says Larry Smith, a 68-year-old weave room supervisor at Greenwood Mills Inc. in South Carolina’s third Congressional District. He voted for Democrats before, including Barack Obama in 2008, but sided with Mr. Trump in 2016. “Democrats come from more financially successful groups.”

Which is tribal bullshit. Trump voters are better off than average.
 
Dems let Republicans blame them and exploited cultural divides at the same time. US manufacturing productivity exploded since 1992 and total output also rose while employment fell, primarily due to technology. Yes some manufacturing jobs off-shored but the real culprit is simple technological advancement.

I suppose it's fitting that a Republican president now threatens to upend the livelihoods of all these same people they claim to support. Excuse me...my popcorn is about ready.
 
OP....is this a good thing? If so, why? What benefits have the GOP brought to these districts? How have the industries and jobs changed over that time?

Also note that the KY and WV coal fields have turned from blue to red? Why?
 
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I'd like to know what some soybean farmers or Harley Davidson workers think of this premise.

Seems out of date, doesn't jive at all with what I've heard personally from farmers. Which, incidentally https://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-farmers-rising-suicide-rates-plummeting-incomes/

"The farm crisis was so bad, there was a terrible outbreak of suicide and depression," said Jennifer Fahy, communications director with Farm Aid, a group founded in 1985 that advocates for farmers. Today, she said, "I think it's actually worse."

When it comes to manufacturing, well people wan to cling to what looks and sounds good.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/manufacturing-jobs-are-never-coming-back/

"There’s no mystery why candidates love to focus on manufacturing and trade. The U.S. economy faces deep structural challenges — stagnant wages, rising inequality, falling employment rates among men and other groups — and China presents an easy scapegoat. (Wall Street often plays a similar role, especially on the Democratic side.) And manufacturing in particular embodies something that seems to be disappearing in today’s economy: jobs with decent pay and benefits available to workers without a college degree. The average factory worker earns more than $25 an hour before overtime; the typical retail worker makes less than $18 an hour.

But those factory photo ops ignore an important reality: In 1994 there were 3.5 million more Americans working in manufacturing than in retail. Today, those numbers have almost exactly reversed, and the gap is widening. More than 80 percent of all private jobs are now in the service sector."

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Republicans need to accept we have a service based economy, and no amount of photo ops with Dump looking infantile in a hard hat is going to change that.
 
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I worked in manufacturing when I was younger, before I realized I could use my functioning brain to get college degrees and better mine and my family's life.

It doesn't at all surprise me these dummies were swayed by a snake oil salesman and will continue to vote against their best interests...
 
Which is tribal bullshit. Trump voters are better off than average.

"Better off" does not mean "well off".

The voters in those swing states are hurting, and it's not because they're rich. Hell, even if someone is "better off" that just means fewer benefits and more taxes. Housing and Healthcare costs alone probably crush them. Trickle down has ruined most these people no matter how you slice it.
 
"Better off" does not mean "well off".

The voters in those swing states are hurting, and it's not because they're rich. Hell, even if someone is "better off" that just means fewer benefits and more taxes. Housing and Healthcare costs alone probably crush them. Trickle down has ruined most these people no matter how you slice it.
Some synonyms for trickle are dribble and drip. Wonder if it would have gained such widespread support if given another name? I guess people didn't realize the spigot would be left as tightly closed as possible. The masses get a slow and steady leak and should be more appreciative.
 
I worked in manufacturing when I was younger, before I realized I could use my functioning brain to get college degrees and better mine and my family's life.

It doesn't at all surprise me these dummies were swayed by a snake oil salesman and will continue to vote against their best interests...

Maybe you should can the classist bullshit, huh?

Dems let Republicans blame them and exploited cultural divides at the same time. US manufacturing productivity exploded since 1992 and total output also rose while employment fell, primarily due to technology. Yes some manufacturing jobs off-shored but the real culprit is simple technological advancement.

I suppose it's fitting that a Republican president now threatens to upend the livelihoods of all these same people they claim to support. Excuse me...my popcorn is about ready.

There's a huge amount of truth in that. Reduced Capitalist need for labor translates into higher profit for the ownership class. That extends to every field of endeavor, some more than others. Why is the Rust Belt Rusty? Because the Captains of Industry dumped the whole region & the people in it some while back. Movin' on to greener pastures & higher profits. Don't call us- we'll call you. There are no stakeholders other than the shareholders, so taa-taa.
 
Don't call us- we'll call you. .

Should be...

"Don't call us- unless you need us to loan you the money to buy our stuff since your new jobs don't pay enough to do so....might even extend the terms out for many years or even a decade".
 
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Maybe you should can the classist bullshit, huh?



There's a huge amount of truth in that. Reduced Capitalist need for labor translates into higher profit for the ownership class. That extends to every field of endeavor, some more than others. Why is the Rust Belt Rusty? Because the Captains of Industry dumped the whole region & the people in it some while back. Movin' on to greener pastures & higher profits. Don't call us- we'll call you. There are no stakeholders other than the shareholders, so taa-taa.
And we have only hit the tip of the iceberg. Technological advancment isn't a good bogeyman though.
 
Maybe you should can the classist bullshit, huh?

When it ceaces to be true sure thing sport!

Nope. Im done playing nice. Its worked so well the past 18 years...

Nope. Derp will be fought with Derp...

Hate will be returned with hate...

Keep being a posterboy for why Conservatives think they can run roughshod over us poor pathetic liberals...

Time to sack up or continue to be part of the problem...
 
There's a huge amount of truth in that. Reduced Capitalist need for labor translates into higher profit for the ownership class. That extends to every field of endeavor, some more than others. Why is the Rust Belt Rusty? Because the Captains of Industry dumped the whole region & the people in it some while back. Movin' on to greener pastures & higher profits. Don't call us- we'll call you. There are no stakeholders other than the shareholders, so taa-taa.

If the Rust Belt wants to look for it's lost jobs they need not cast their gaze as far as Mexico or China. Try South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Texas where the labor market is far more favorable to employers.
 
If the Rust Belt wants to look for it's lost jobs they need not cast their gaze as far as Mexico or China. Try South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Texas where the labor market is far more favorable to employers.

Yeah....lower wages, lower (or no) benefits...on...and...on. Hard to beat that.
 
OP....is this a good thing? If so, why? What benefits have the GOP brought to these districts? How have the industries and jobs changed over that time?

Also note that the KY and WV coal fields have turned from blue to red? Why?

I dont think its a good or bad thing. Just interesting.
 
Yup. Wages have actually gone down 1.4% since the republican corporate tax cut IIRC...

Real wages perhaps? Link as I'm curious. Raises have been few and far between for me but partly by choice. I could leave to make more money but am content at the moment.
 
When it ceaces to be true sure thing sport!

Nope. Im done playing nice. Its worked so well the past 18 years...

Nope. Derp will be fought with Derp...

Hate will be returned with hate...

Keep being a posterboy for why Conservatives think they can run roughshod over us poor pathetic liberals...

Time to sack up or continue to be part of the problem...

Read this & get back to me-

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/...-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region
 
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