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> What happened? Undo that. 1. the construction of interstates and airports that routed around old railroad/highway towns. 2. The green revolution. Agricultur

> What happened? Undo that. 1. the construction of interstates and airports that routed around old railroad/highway towns. 2. The green revolution. Agriculture became much more efficient, productive, centralized, and automated. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_the_United_States#Employment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_the_United_Stat... 3. Resource extraction running its course. 4. Efficiency improvements in manufacturing and resource extraction. The amount of rural blight caused by the favority political demon of late (outsourcing of manufacturing) is relatively minor compared to the above items. Especially 1 and 2! (Seriously, if you come across a run-down main street away from any interstate, odds are better than even it used to be a railroad station.) IF we follow your advice in a way that's meaningful to most rural communities, we'd have to roll back the green revolution, bring back passenger rail, and magically refill coal veins/oil wells. Other favorite policy quick-fixes as of late (in particular, on-shoring manufacturing) might help a handful of communities but are a teeny, tiny fragment of the story for blighted rural america in general. The ~80% of small towns that never had a factory to begin with can't reasonably blame outsourcing for their woes. > It should be even easier now, given that a little remote office can be easily connected to the rest of the world. 1. Have you lived in rural America? Especially outside of "technically rural" locations such as university/college towns, good internet connections are sometimes available but usually not. And if not, convincing an ISP to dig is anything but "easy". 2. Most execs have no interest in building a big office in a remote location, both for personal reasons and for legitimate business reasons (proximity to a major airport is important in a lot of businesses). 3. Chicken-and-egg: People very reasonably won't move to most small towns due to lack of quality services (schools, hospitals, and entertainment). But those services can't be established without a critical mass of people moving into town.

burfog 8y ago
You reasons mostly date to the era from 1910 to 1960. The era from 1960 to 2010 matters too, and that is more about outsourcing. The USA already subsidizes airport service for these locations. Increasing that might be worthwhile. The same goes for good internet connections and many other services. It's like the rural electrification done a century ago. The schools are sometimes better than the urban ones. Often there are pros and cons that could be considered to even out. We can expand Teach for America if need be, but I think things are mostly fine already.

burfog 8y ago

You reasons mostly date to the era from 1910 to 1960. The era from 1960 to 2010 matters too, and that is more about outsourcing. The USA already subsidizes airport service for these locations. Increasing that might be worthwhile. The same goes for good internet connections and many other services. It's like the rural electrification done a century ago. The schools are sometimes better than the urban ones. Often there are pros and cons that could be considered to even out. We can expand Teach for America if need be, but I think things are mostly fine already.