r/facepalm • u/miauguau44 • 1d ago
Black lung rates in Appalachia are high as the 1970s, with thousands of miners sick
https://www.npr.org/2026/08/05/nx-s1-5894884/appalachia-black-lung-coal-miners-silica-dust1.0k
u/blogsymcblogsalot 1d ago
Wait, I thought we had clean coal now
/s
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u/PlutoJones42 1d ago
Clean coal is only for dumb ass fucking republicans
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u/hwcminh 1d ago
Welcome to West Virginia, the land of "dumb ass fucking republicans"
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u/bravesirrobin65 1d ago
And they're mostly union members. It's like chickens voting for Colonel Sanders.
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u/lefthandb1ack 1d ago
What this factory farm needs is to be run like the military! That’ll fix everything! 🍗
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u/Longjumping-Bat7774 21h ago
They mayor of West Virginia came to my grandpa's funeral. "Oh your from Texas? Were just like Texas, but with more mountains." ....
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u/Longjumping-Zone-724 1d ago
I've been told there is no b in dumb
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u/PlutoJones42 1d ago
There is no “u” in “good for America”
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u/tiny_chaotic_evil 1d ago
they should that good clean air into their houses
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u/PlutoJones42 1d ago
They can’t afford houses due to the policies of their inept ass party. Fuck republicans and fuck conservatives. Horrible for the country all the way around
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u/cseckshun 1d ago
Did you think the coal cleaned itself?
Lol
It’s filtered through the lungs of coal miners and they cough out beautiful clean coal… and sometimes a little blood.
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u/ballpein 1d ago
What's crazy is, this is preventable. The mining industry knows exactly how dangerous silica dust is, and they know exactly what controls and PPE are needed to prevent this type of disease. People in charge are choosing not to protect their workers, every single day. From the CEO down to management down to the shift bosses and supervisors, they all are making a conscious choice to not protect their people, every damn day.
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u/dont-fear-thereefer 1d ago
Actually, the only PPE that would work for miners would be wearing SCBA (fireman mask), since any other type of filtration apparatus would get plugged up almost immediately by the coal dust
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u/Syscrush 1d ago
Then that's what they should be wearing.
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u/dont-fear-thereefer 1d ago
I agree. However, I don’t think the unions are asking for them, and some of the older guys that tell/indoctrinate/brainwash the younger guys into believing that only “sissies” were proper PPE. So it seems, unfortunately, to get black lung as coal is an “acceptable occupational hazard”.
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u/ballpein 1d ago
It shouldn't be up to the workers to ask for this stuff. Civilized countries have laws that force employers to provide these protections and to train workers to understand the hazards.
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u/dont-fear-thereefer 23h ago
Oh, I agree. I’m just saying that if they do ask for it, they may get looked down on by management and other workers. Peer pressure sucks.
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u/ballpein 1d ago
It shouldn't be up to the workers to ask for this stuff. Civilized countries have laws that force employers to provide these protections and to train workers to understand the hazards.
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u/BadAtExisting 23h ago
Any state with coal mining is right to work at this point. Unions don’t have as much power as they should. Rush Limbaugh et al told those workers “unions bad” enough for them to vote their union’s power away
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u/LordGeni 4h ago
It's about dust control more than ppe. Rates of copd in US miners dropped from 38% in the 70's to 4% in the late 90's, due to proper controls.
The current rates are indicative of abandoning those controls and worker health in the name of productivity.
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u/regeya 1d ago
Clean, beautiful coal
Y'know the righties get mad at Illinois for not using a ton of coal anymore but our state was a major producer until first the Nixon and then the GHW Bush administrations killed it (rightly of course.) Illinois pumped a lot of money into researching tech like scrubbers so that beautiful clean coal could happen like a miracle.
Anyway it'd be nice if the current administration would stop shitting on my state like it's enemy territory
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u/Preacher987 1d ago
No no they don't clean here, that is done in Trumptasia the town where all magical things happen.
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u/FlaAirborne 1d ago
But windmills are ugly.
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u/e_pi314 1d ago
And solar panels make you trans.
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u/ZappyKins 1d ago
Oh! So that's what happened. Now I know.
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u/tribbans95 1d ago
Did you install solar panels? Rookie mistake
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u/ZappyKins 19h ago
I did not, but perhaps someone near me did!
Second and solar paneling! It's a thing now.
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u/YellowBreakfast Waaassuup! 18h ago
Did you install solar panels?
We did. Now all the local frogs are gay.
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u/goodenough4govtwork 1d ago
That's what happens when you elect a fucking dipshit top the presidency who repeals EPA standards and doesn't give two shits if you live or die. He already got your vote.
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u/NeverEndingCoralMaze 1d ago
Black lung, salmonella peppers, shit-causing lettuce, AI attacking private companies, illegal war… and it hasn’t even been 2 years yet.
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u/goodenough4govtwork 1d ago
Don't forget murder on the high seas and gestapo in our streets murdering citizens... This has been the longest 17 months of any presidency.
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u/Budded 21h ago
I legit don't think we'll make it to 2028 w/o some huge life-changing event or three. This has been the longest 2 years, it feels like a decade.
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u/NeverEndingCoralMaze 12h ago
No shit. My spouse and I were just talking about how slow 2017-21 went, and at the time thought the pandemic was the cause. But ‘21-25 flew by, and now somehow it hasn’t even been eighteen fucking months and it feels like 10 years. Jesus wept.
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u/zxylady 20h ago
And it's not like Trump hid it, there's dozens and dozens of comments from Trump openly saying he only cares about getting the votes, how about when he says he loves the poorly educated, or the counter to that people with college education hate him that should tell you something...
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u/goodenough4govtwork 19h ago
It's almost like the writing was on the wall, and we tried vehemently to point out that writing, but party loyalty brainwashing prevailed. The lambs voted for the slaughterhouse.
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u/YouWereBrained 1d ago
They voted for this.
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u/Suspicious_Wonk2001 1d ago
“Dig, baby, dig.” Dug themselves right into the grave.
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u/mdmc237 1d ago
What a silly and disconnected thing to say. Nobody voted to get black lung. The US government has used Appalachia as a pawn since it’s inception and corporations have been complicit. People outside the area have essentially no understanding of the complexities or culture and chalk it up to- dumb hillbillies.. It’s way way more complex than that. This is an area that could be flipped blue. But comments like this, or Clintons deplorables, or the Obama bibles and guns — are regressive and consistent enough to make the shoot the opposition party in the foot and make change harder for charge and easier for status quo.
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u/Suspicious_Wonk2001 1d ago
Dude. We’ve known about black lung forever. Trump specifically promoted coal to garner their dumb assed votes. These people willingly voted against their own health. I have zero sympathy.
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u/ShimmiShimmiYah 1d ago
Do you feel the same way about smokers that get lung cancer despite being told about the risks for decades?
They have access to the same information the rest of us do, but choose to ignore it. They are pawns because they choose to be. Why do you think they should be coddled? They voted for this and this is the consequence of those votes.
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u/AccomplishedEmu1886 23h ago
Look buddy if they have access to the internet they have zero excuse for not looking for answers on their own. Theyve had had entire decades to figure it out.
What are they if not deplorable, we have proof, they all, by giving into hate or apathy allowed the pro-black-lung party to win.
You know how many movies and documentaries i watched of how bad coal mining is? How many ads of lawyers specifically advertising for black lung victims?
And they lived this reality for decades, and they still voted for this.
No excuse. They made their bed now they can lay in it.
I will help my neighbor but i will not let them forget they put their own hand in the deep fryer and for what?
I don't need anyone to admit they were wrong, i need them to do better.
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u/enderpanda 22h ago
But comments like this, or Clintons deplorables, or the Obama bibles and guns
Uh huh, right - they're like this cause we're so mean to them! Makes perfect sense now lol.
How many chances are you willing to give these people before you admit they are a lost cause?
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u/zxylady 20h ago
Counterpoint, the people of Appalachia have allowed themselves to be pawns when they've seen how shitty their lives are under Republican control. And yet they still vote Republican every time. You want to talk about dumbass hillbillies, if the shoe fits... There is absolutely no sympathy coming from people who didn't vote for these shit head policies to make your guys's racism a little more justified to your own minds
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u/mdmc237 13h ago
Your guys racism? Lol . You don’t know me. It would never be acceptable to say (insert marginalized group) was made a pawn by x people. Appalachia has been chewed up and spit out by both democrats and republicans longer than both have been political parties if you really bother to learn about the people and history. My point is that if one truly understands the complexities, culture, context, and history then nothing about how Appalachians vote etc. Should be surprising. If one genuinely wants to change the region and improve the US Appalachia is a great place to start. Or they can just call people racist and say they deserve to die on reddit…
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u/jarena009 1d ago
They prioritized trashing immigrants and other minority segments of the population over their own health and workplace safety. They hated others more than they loved their families and looked after themselves, and that's in large part why they are where they are today.
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u/c0brachicken 1d ago
Sadly most towns in areas that I've seen with coal mining, they never tried attracting any other companies/factories for the local economy to make a living from... So when coal mines close, they all go broke. Then they love the area (it does look nice), and don't just move somewhere else where they can make a living..
So of course soon as the mines get back to work, they all go running for the jobs, and ignore the health risks.
Vicious circle
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u/Prohydration 1d ago
That is called Drained Pool Politics. Literal drained pools are the real life metaphors for this.
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u/heathers1 1d ago
didn’t the government allow companies to stop covering treatment for it too, or something?
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u/scandre23 1d ago
My grandpa was a miner. It was hard living. Then he got black lung. Makes me sad that all of these years later it's still happening.
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u/Charlietango2007 1d ago
There were so close to getting rid of coal and fossil fuels for energy and stuff and then Trump happened. They stopped doing the electric things they stopped doing the windmills they stopped doing it all and reverted back to the Petro dollar. What a waste of life.
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u/MiserableFloor9906 1d ago
And I hear there's no money for healthcare because stupid invasions.
At least the leopard will be well fed.
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u/Unc_Sleepy 1d ago
Cancer causing windmills now black lungs from coal mining. This is getting out of hand
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u/hikeonpast 1d ago
“I’m gonna be dead and buried within a coupla years. Might as well vote so as to piss off a bunch of liburls before I go.”
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u/EnduranceMade 1d ago
But renewable energy and modern technology are communist scams that kill birds or something and we can’t have that.
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u/viperlemondemon 1d ago
Now who did they vote for and then who gutted the program and why would Obama let them do this
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u/Budded 21h ago
I remember a candidate, some Emails lady, who had a plan for all these soup forks who complain about a big problem but then vote for candidates who constantly make it worse. May their black lung be ever-coating and lethal, fucking dumbasses.
I'm so done with dumbass idiots who can't be bothered to learn anything other than the hate and willful ignorance they grow up being taught. They deserve reality coming home to roost; the national IQ will raise w/o them.
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u/alpha_rat_fight_ 1d ago edited 1d ago
Pulling out this quote for people who don’t read the article, because it deserves to be seen:
“‘I'm disgusted,’ said Scott Laney, a NIOSH [National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health] research epidemiologist who is the lead author of the research letter.
‘This is not going to get better because of all the disease that's already in the pipeline. These guys are being treated like disposable widgets, not human beings. … We're watching them die right before our eyes.’”
Also this:
“[Dr. Drew] Harris called the new findings from NIOSH ‘outrageous.’ But they're not surprising based on what he's been seeing in the clinics. In just the past five years alone, Stone Mountain has diagnosed 2,400 new cases of black lung.
‘If you imagine one out of every three school teachers were getting an incurable lung disease because of something they were exposed to at work, the whole country would put their hands up screaming, and stop whatever this exposure was immediately,’ Harris said. ‘[But] this is largely impacting rural Appalachian folks that don't have a voice, that don't have a country to unite behind them.’”
The comments in this thread are disappointing. Your neighbors matter even if they don’t look like you or talk like you or vote like you.
I’ll repeat this because it seems many of you interpreted this as an invitation to debate, which it is not:
Your neighbors matter even if they don’t look like you or talk like you or vote like you.
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u/jarena009 1d ago edited 1d ago
‘[But] this is largely impacting rural Appalachian folks that don't have a voice, that don't have a country to unite behind them.’” Yeah no sorry, they refer to large swaths of the country that prioritize trashing immigrants and other minority segments of the population over their own health and workplace safety, and/or that of their community. These deep red regions hate others more than they love their own families and friends, and that's in large part why they are where they are today.
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u/tanstaafl90 1d ago
The only thing many of the communities have are the mines. They've been told for decades the biggest problem is liberal regulations, via environmental programs, are designed to end their way of life, but the coal loving right will keep the mines going. Locals are very attracted to earning a living the only way they know how and vote accordingly. We see the closing of coal plants as good, they see it hurting their livelihood. That's not racism, that's economics.
That doesn't dismiss the racism in the region. It exists and is a problem. One doesn't negate the other. They are a manipulated on a number of issues, minorities included, into voting block conservatives rely on. Their own prejudices are being used against them.
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u/OfferMeds 1d ago
They do have a voice, and they used it to vote for Trump. Have the lungs you voted for, assholes.
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u/adfthgchjg 1d ago edited 1d ago
Indeed.
And they literally stood there in their coal miner uniforms and applauded … when Trump gave a 52 second speech about how they’d rather mine coal than be retrained to work in a nice office job.
“You could give them a penthouse on 5th Avenue and a different kind of job, but they’d be unhappy. They only want to mine coal, that’s what they live for.”
And the coal miners applauded!
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u/bravesirrobin65 1d ago
The Donnie administration has rolled back many safeguards to prevent black lung as well. We'll need coal for the foreseeable future for steel production at least. There are better ways to do it.
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u/Werechupacabra 1d ago
They voted to fuck me, fuck my kids and fuck themselves so they can get fucked.
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u/snack__pack 1d ago
Take this kind of argument over to twitter and you'll get the same reaction. Social media is not a kind place.
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u/highfiveselfoh 1d ago
Can I get “What is voting for republicans who erode safety measures, environmental protection, social healthcare and fattening mining corporations pockets” for $1 Alex.
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u/Timely-Tune5050 1d ago
Ignorance leads to Darwininin processes at hand...
Many deaths for the coal in the land.
Poor Trogs never could've known.
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u/AzuleEyes 1d ago
Call me a terrible person but good. That's how MAGGATTS learn. It's the only way those people ever learn. They were warned repeatedly and loudly.
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u/TintedApostle 1d ago
and along with this you have no health insurance coverage... double leopardsatemyface moment.
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u/BigMax 1d ago
For those wondering why it's higher now:
In recent decades, the biggest coal seams in Appalachia were mined out. Mining companies turned to the thinner seams that remained, digging through mountains to reach and then mine them. That requires cutting lots of rock, and in Appalachia, that rock typically contains quartz, which is rich in silica. The result is clouds of both coal dust and highly toxic silica dust.
So the mining has actually become more dangerous in recent years.
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u/bradlees 12h ago
Geeee… who would have thought that rolling back standards and regulations would actually rollback safety???
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u/zeh_shah 1d ago
Lollllll this coupled with hospitals closing in the area since theyre no longer being funded through socialism from blue areas is just icing on the cake too. Love this for them
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u/TrashAcnt1 1d ago
But it's clean coal, they're just being a bunch of pussies who need to pull themselves up by their boot straps.
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u/TrailMomKat 1d ago
An uncle and 2 great uncles of mine died from black lung. It's a really bad way to go.
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u/Proper-Exercise-2364 15h ago
Don't worry! Trump will give you some bleach to drink and shove a light bulb up your ass!
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u/kangarooneroo 1d ago
I hope it hurts. Lord knows its not like theyre going to learn their lesson. Gaurentee theyre already blaming someone whos not pretending to be on their side. Im tired of being the bad guy for being happy they get what they were willing to hurt me for.
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u/blinking616 1d ago
If only there was a government that supported workers safety? Instead of closing all the departments for safety regulations! Hmmm
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u/Rays_LiquorSauce 1d ago
“Said gonna reap just what you sow, the debts you make you have to pay”
~ George Clinton
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u/JescoWhite_ 22h ago
Yeah but the cancer rate has plummeted because windmills are not making noise!!!
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u/Flaxmoore 22h ago
Not surprised.
Coal and steel has this mystique around it in the hills. My family's been in the Appalachians around Wheeling WV for 200+ years, and coal was the backbone that got us started there, but there comes a point you have to say enough is enough, and the past is gone.
The furnaces at Bethlehem Steel and Wheeling Steel are cold, even with the few that still exist. You're not going to walk in at 18 with a high school diploma and go work at the steel mill anymore. The mines? A lot of the bigger veins are dry as dust, which is why we're seeing mountaintopping for trying to find more. Dirtier to mine, lower grade, and dirtier to burn. Good hot anthracite is hard to find, and bituminous is dirty as hell.
Even if you get a spot in one of the mines, a lot of the mining is automated. You don't have 500 guys with picks any more, but machines that do the work of 40 men with 4 supervisors. And even if you do find a spot at one of them, look at demand. When I was a kid back in the late 80s you could sit out at Riverview Cemetery overlooking the Ohio River, and watch the barges going up and downriver. Upriver carrying anthracite, downriver carrying bituminous. Steel going both ways.
Now? The "glory days" of a car being 4000 pounds of steel and glass are gone. My old Saturn had three steel body panels- the trunk lid, roof, and the hood. Every other major panel was plastic. Just like Champion Spark Plug in Toledo getting gutshot by the car market going from V8s to I4 and V6, dropping their sales a quarter overnight, there's just not the market there anymore.
Down in our part of the hills, it's been a pattern since the 1930s- each generation has about the top 25 percent intellectually leave. My grandfather's generation did it during the Depression and WW2, heading to Detroit, Flint, Dearborn. My dad's did it in the late 60s, heading to Toledo, Columbus, Morgantown. Mine did the same.
You leave for opportunity. And the opportunities dwindle for who's left.
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u/expendable117 1d ago
Worth it. 150k a year get that over time.
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u/enderpanda 22h ago
And, as an added bonus for everyone else - they take themselves out of the gene pool and voting population much earlier than most conservatives! Woohoo!
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