Entitlement

[p kirkes]

A recent newsprint article about the unemployment rate in Lima, Ohio caught my attention. The heavy manufacturing base that fueled Lima's economy has fizzled over time but the unemployed workers and their families seemed to have remained, entrapped in their own inertia. Drugs have now enveloped that community and with that comes it's evil twin, crime.

Is it unreasonable of me to think that these people should have left Lima and gone to areas of the country where there are jobs?

I would posit that it is typically American to move in quest of a better life for themselves and their children.

Recall our westerward expansion, the gold rush, the California dream and now the exodus of Mexican's into the upper US in search of jobs, and I might add, finding them. Or better still, creating a willing labor pool that services entrepreneurs. The joke, if it ever was one, was Mexicans were heavily involved in the landscapping industry. Also the building industry and the agricultural industry and the janitorial industry, this list is not exhaustive.

So I'm wondering, why are thousands upon thousands of unemployed American citizen workers in the northern US, still there, shivering, hungry and hopeless?

Have these people lost the spirit of carving out their slice of the pie or appropriating the "american dream"? Has the governments entitlement programs sapped the strength of these people. Are there familial or cultural forces at work?

I wonder what I would do if in a similiar situation?

Pat

 

[Gunny]

A recent newsprint article about the unemployment rate in Lima, Ohio caught my attention. The heavy manufacturing base that fueled Lima's economy has fizzled over time but the unemployed workers and their families seemed to have remained, entrapped in their own inertia. Drugs have now enveloped that community and with that comes it's evil twin, crime.

Is it unreasonable of me to think that these people should have left Lima and gone to areas of the country where there are jobs?

I would posit that it is typically American to move in quest of a better life for themselves and their children.

Recall our westerward expansion, the gold rush, the California dream and now the exodus of Mexican's into the upper US in search of jobs, and I might add, finding them. Or better still, creating a willing labor pool that services entrepreneurs. The joke, if it ever was one, was Mexicans were heavily involved in the landscapping industry. Also the building industry and the agricultural industry and the janitorial industry, this list is not exhaustive.

So I'm wondering, why are thousands upon thousands of unemployed American citizen workers in the northern US, still there, shivering, hungry and hopeless?

Have these people lost the spirit of carving out their slice of the pie or appropriating the "american dream"? Has the governments entitlement programs sapped the strength of these people. Are there familial or cultural forces at work?

I wonder what I would do if in a similiar situation?

Pat

"These people" never had the spirit of carving out their slice of the pie. Their ancestors did. These people embody the title of your thread. They've been raised to believe Big Brother should come along and bail them.

 

[Angel Heart]

It's not completely lost. My family struggled in So Cal for years and decided to make our way to Oregon. I've taken the story of the Oregon Trail to heart. The drive for something better than what we currently have. Sadly, I see too many that think happiness is owed them. That it's something to be given and not achieved.

 

[midcan5]

What a bullshit post, do you think the people in Lima are different than people anywhere who like home and want to stay there. And how the hell do you know this is true? did you go there and do you know the numbers or are you another person who can only see the dark side of things. Since you don't even know what you would do, why assume you know what another should do?

 

[Gunny]

What a bullshit post, do you think the people in Lima are different than people anywhere who like home and want to stay there. And how the hell do you know this is true? did you go there and do you know the numbers or are you another person who can only see the dark side of things. Since you don't even know what you would do, why assume you know what another should do?

Speaking of bullshit ... why the hell should people stay where they can't work? THAT is DUMB.

And *I* would leave in a heartbeat. Done it before, and will do so again if need be.

So, I know what I should do, would do and what they should do. But I bet you think someone should be nice and relocate whatever it takes to their home town so they don't have to leave?

 

[onedomino]

Speaking of bullshit ... why the hell should people stay where they can't work? THAT is DUMB.

And *I* would leave in a heartbeat. Done it before, and will do so again if need be.

So, I know what I should do, would do and what they should do. But I bet you think someone should be nice and relocate whatever it takes to their home town so they don't have to leave?

People have been leaving Lima. Its population peaked in 1970 at 53,000. In the year 2000 it was down to 40,000. There is a Ford plant there that makes V6 engines. We do not know if the politicians tried hard and were innovative in providing incentives for new industry; apparently not. But the story of Lima is not isolated and has been repeated often in the Rust Belt. I imagine that the people of Lima were as hard working as anywhere else. I do not know the details of the Lima story, but I bet it was once a proud place, and like many people in small American towns, their quality of life was probably undercut by industry leaving to find cheap labor elsewhere. And 13,000 people left. Maybe unwilling to serve each other hamburgers, or work with no health insurance for low wages at the local Wal-Mart. I think there is something wrong when we abandon the places from which we came.

 

[midcan5]

Onedomino, exactly. Should we up and leave America because the economy is faltering now under Bush?

Gunny, do you speak Chinese or Urdu? You may want to see if you can get orders for a transfer?