Ghost towns: Rural America accounts for just 16% of population

Πηγή: The Coming Depression
28/7/2011

In 1950 the countryside remained home to a majority of Americans, amid post-World War II economic expansion and the baby boom. However, once busy areas have been abandoned, in South Dakota for example, the town of Scenic is up for sale for $799,000 as today just eight people live there.

Vast swathes of the U.S. countryside are emptying and communities becoming ghost towns as rural America now only accounts for just 16 per cent of the population.

The 2010 census results suggest that by 2050 many of these areas could shrink to virtually nothing as businesses collapse and schools close.

This dramatic population implosion is the culmination of a century of migration to cities, as in 1910 the share of rural America was at 72 per cent. 

These soon to be ghost towns never get it. Instead of cutting services and expenses for a dwindling tax base/population they raise taxes. Instead of consolidating schools, they build new schools. Ron Parsons live in one of the ghost towns. His town’s population has declined by 30%, the demographics are skewed to an aging population, they floated a bond for $14-million to renovate a relatively new school. They have more cops than during our hay day. They have municipal employees for every conceivable function from street sweepers to parking meter cops.

As with all government, it takes on a life of its own. These local politicians can mull over a budget for months and not find a single dollar it can cut. They have repeatedly refused to give tax abatements to anyone who may want to use the abandoned industrial sites. Rural American is even worse because it’s must have projects are even bigger and grander for the people who will be long gone before the projects are completed.

We’re going to become a ghost country pretty soon if we don’t create sustainable middle class jobs. Corporations that have been outsourcing the labor to cheap foreign labor markets for 15-20 years are now seeing that they can’t have it both ways. They wanted the cheap labor abroad, but still sell goods to a vibrant U.S. consumption economy. The well has run dry, and many Americans have stopped consuming anything that isn’t critical to survival. I guess these historically U.S. corporations that have reaped all the benefits of being here for decades or more than a century may consider moving everything to China, Mexico, India, etc. etc. Its’ simple economics folks: if the bulk of the purchasing power is not with the majority of the people, then the economy can not sustain. We need a financially healthy middle class, that has some money left over to spend once the mortgage, utility, and grocery bills are paid.