The large parts of America left behind by today's economy

This is nothing new, and it didn&#x27;t happen overnight. The prosperous-vs-declining areas have been moving in that direction for at least a generation. Perhaps more magnified&#x2F;pronounced in one area vs another, but on the whole this has been the trend for as long as I can recall.<p>Nonetheless, a couple of observations:<p>- Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska: regional chunks of comfortable&#x2F;prosperous areas compared to the rhetoric espoused during the 2016 election campaign. I expected these to look <i>much</i> worse.<p>- The map looks a lot like the federal distribution of taxes per dollar contributed: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;4.bp.blogspot.com&#x2F;-vby1dJlsXmM&#x2F;VtkJnusdGXI&#x2F;AAAAAAAAJqk&#x2F;EQXnfNLOqT0&#x2F;s1600&#x2F;fed_spending_dollar.JPG" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;4.bp.blogspot.com&#x2F;-vby1dJlsXmM&#x2F;VtkJnusdGXI&#x2F;AAAAAAAAJ...</a><p>- &quot;A large portion of the country...&quot; is actually &quot;a large <i>geo-graphic</i> portion of the country&quot;

I don&#x27;t really see how this can be remedied, besides there being a revival of traditional industries (unlikely) or current workers retraining in massive numbers (again, unlikely). It almost seems like this is a post-industrial great migration, where people from distressed areas would need to move to the few areas that are thriving.<p>It doesn&#x27;t help that the republican dominated political parties in many of the distressed states are more concerned with cutting taxes on the rich (Kansas) or trying to pass ridiculous and unnecessary laws (bathroom bills in NC, Texas etc). This has got to stop.<p>Accepting Medicaid expansion, as I see it, is probably one way to immediately kickstart many of these distressed states. The federal money that comes in might just help create jobs in the healthcare sector (or fund existing ones better) that might somewhat mitigate the affects of economic duress. Not to mention better healthcare for the people.

Yet again, Minnesota bucks the trend. Wonder why they keep doing so well while the rest of the middle states flounder.<p>By bucking the trend I mean that compared to most other states it appears to be very comfortable and prosperous across the state in most but not all counties at least according to this map. I’ve seen similar findings in New Yorker and in the NYT too.<p>Edit: is there something MN is doing that we could all learn from? They weren’t apart of the North Dakota oil boom really so I don’t think it’s that.

&gt;This isn&#x27;t a Republican or Democratic problem. At every level of government, both parties represent distressed areas. But the economic fortunes of the haves and have-nots have only helped to widen the political chasm between them, and it has yet to be addressed by substantial policy proposals on either side of the aisle.<p>I don&#x27;t understand how the article can claim this when their own graphic at the top of the page shows that the majority of distressed communities are in Republican-dominant areas.

In Oklahoma the Internet has shown up in the rural areas. Oklahoma is 30% rural which amounts to 1.3M people who don&#x27;t live in any kind of town. Rural Oklahoma is rapidly changing so fast many of the people are having a hard time understanding the changes. It is not that it is falling behind, but generations old ways of order became obsolete or massively challenged overnight. This community is being asked to catch up on multiple decades of urban cultural in a few years. So they vote to slow it down.<p>The Urban-Rural divide is real. Massive investments in Rural Oklahoma and Rural America are needed. Something I hope to promote if and when I enter the Oklahoma State House.

From the article: &quot;It&#x27;s not likely to fix itself,&quot; said EIG co-founder Steve Glickman. &quot;Entrepreneurs are everywhere, but capital flows are really isolated and captured in a handful of places.&quot;<p>From YC&#x27;s FAQ section:<p><i></i>Location<i></i> Can we do it without moving to where you are?<p>-Sorry, no. We tried this once, and by Demo Day that startup was way behind the rest. What we do, we have to do in person. We would not be doing a startup a favor by not making them move.<p>I&#x27;ve said this before, but the conservatism of YC regarding location is astounding when considering the diversity that YC accepts in virtually all other facets of its operation.<p>They&#x27;ll invest in a file sharing app and a nuclear reactor company in the same batch, but apparently investing outside the Bay Area is just too hard.

As someone who has lived in the southern United States for over 30 years I can say with confidence that America did not leave these people behind... They left themselves behind.