Barbar /= "Barbershop owner".<p>I am really sick of reading about "carpenters" and "plumbers" in these articles. These are people who own and operate small businesses, with employees. We have a local billionaire (Jim Paterson) who people jokingly call a "used car salesman". He didn't make his millions selling cars. He made billions by owning the car dealerships where other people sold cars for him. Wealth comes now from operating a business but from owning it.
I encountered similar in Wyoming in 2014 when driving through. I was on motorcycle and needed a place for the night. The one city (name I can't recall) where I was ending up at sunset looked ok; but I was shocked that I could barely find a hotel room under $200/night. Apparently that had become the normal (I got one for $130/night eventually after calling literally everywhere in town), due to the oil business there. The people at the desk told me fast food places were starting people at $15/hr, because there was just so much demand for absolutely anyone to work there.<p>For context, in other equally rural places such as South Dakota, I think I was spending a princely $30/night at cheap motels, but there were none to be found there.
I grew up in this area. From boom to bust every 10 years. I wonder why nobody can save here then I realize there's literally nothing worth saving for when I lived there.