Well I guess that must be true as he was wearing smart person glasses.
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Occupation: Energy Secretary
Preoccupation: … 
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I resemble that remark. 
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If only we could somehow generate power from the stuff that comes out of his mouth.
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Speaking poop to power?
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And join a militia.
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You can make cool sculptures from it.
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In some ways, it’s more like 100 years. Peak coal employment was around 1918, even though coal demand and production grew enormously since then. So that should have been hint one - that coal demand doesn’t translate into jobs. Also, that Trump’s demolishing of regulations means that the industry can move into more environmentally damaging, less labor-intensive forms of coal mining, so jobs could actually decrease with increased production.
I have heard that the job retraining programs haven’t worked out too well - but that may be because, if no one is doing the retraining, no employers want to move where there aren’t enough potential workers. (That these areas increasingly have environmental problems, like undrinkable water, caused by poorly regulated coal mining, that doesn’t make them too appealing to employers, either.) It doesn’t make job retraining any more appealing if it’s perceived (rightly or wrongly) as worthless, though. So I have some sympathy, even if it’s also clear that the people in coal country have less than no understanding of the general economic forces shaping the coal industry, something that you’d think they’d want to have some knowledge of. Instead they’ve let Republican demagogues delude them for years.
Nah - because those jobs were still viable in the '80s. He’d be talking up something more like buggy-whip manufacturing - an industry whose time had very obviously already passed, which he was promising to bring back, even though there was clearly no way he could possibly make that happen.
Yeah, for the last century that’s been true. Trump’s actually made things worse in that regard, because by slashing regulations, it’s made more mechanized forms of coal mining more appealing to the industry. I’m surprised there was any increase in coal jobs at all, even though tiny. It was probably temporary - I’d not be surprised to see more job loss as a result of his policies.
Worse than that - I’ve been reading about coal country Walmarts (the only retail/community meeting places in these areas) closing, because the economies weren’t doing quite well enough to support them any more… (also no thanks to Amazon, etc.).
That’ not BS - that’s… insanity.
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That’s more or less where I’m from. I remember when they were waiting for the steel mills to reopen, now they are waiting for the coal mines to reopen. Even when some of the steel mills did reopen, they were high(er) tech and didn’t need anywhere the same number of people.
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Leaded gasoline would like a word, Mr. Perry…
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I’ve had to constantly up my game and learn new skills and even physically relocate several times to find employment in order to support my family. Why can’t these salt of the earth manly men do the same? Does the black lung make them stupid or is the stupid why they can only dig in the earth like little moles?
We shouldn’t become as bad as Republicans just to spite them.
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How about empathy. Got any of that handy?
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3rd thought: Dyes and drugs - Many of our modern synthetic dyes and the building blocks for almost all of the nasty nasty pesticides (DDT, et al) were discovered in / derived from coal-tar slag - left over from German coal gasification plants.
I say leave it in the ground. We had it better in the horse and buggy days.
We weren’t as comfortable, and we died younger, but humility seemed more within reach for the average person before they could go anywhere and do anything in the world so… easily. Easier != better
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At the scale and density of urban living things were definitely worse during the horse and buggy age
Also pretty happy to live now where people have more rights and opportunities.
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I know that coal country has already made its general position known when it comes to “making america great again,” but a dozen folks asked unstructured questions seems insufficient for Reuters’s article title:
Out-of-work miners cite many reasons beyond faith in Trump policy for their reluctance to train for new industries, according to Reuters interviews with more than a dozen former and prospective coal workers, career counselors and local economic development officials. They say mining pays well; other industries are unfamiliar; and there’s no income during training and no guarantee of a job afterward.
I found the bolded point above as more impactful for folks generally living at or below the poverty line than political promises.
Thank you. Coal is a dying industry (with reasons to be glad for its demise), but it’s too early in my day for such callousness and schadenfreude on this thread.
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True, but:
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That has nothing to do with coal, and we were on that path before the industrial revolution, which arguably got us “off track” (ironic railroad metaphor, i see what I did there).
You’re wishing for simpler times, which i sympathize with. I think this is a sentiment we all have deep down so i don’t think i need to counterpoint it. Think that one has to also be mindful that “simpler times” also ignores the social and civil progress we’ve had. I’m happy to live in a time where gay marriage is legal, people’s sexuality and gender identities are better understood and accepted, etc. Perhaps i am digressing from the topic at hand though.
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