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There are only about 45,000 coal miners in the entire US. That's a tiny number.

by burnout1540 1y ago

jeffbee 1y ago
More people drive buses in NYC than are coal miners in the whole America.
- HPsquared 1y ago
  Probably though, like the buses, there's an order of magnitude more work done on the "back end". The machines, logistics, etc etc and everything else that depends on the industry. In the bus drivers example, it could be all the people in NYC who need to take a bus to get to work and would be affected by the sudden disappearance of buses. So it is with many industries.
olddustytrail 1y ago
If people really cared about coal miners then they could be offered a $1 million redundancy package. It would amount to a tiny fraction of government spending and I'm pretty sure it would be welcomed.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
rtkwe 1y ago
They're also in geographically low population areas so counting them and the people employeed in their towns they have a significant sway on some states and the Senate skews things towards low population states through it's inequitable representation AND the outsized power Senate rules give individual Senators. Plus it's made a few people EXTREMELY rich so they've made their opinions and interests everyone elses problem too.
- Yeul 1y ago
  Every once in a while someone in the Netherlands argues for the district system and they are immediately shut down with "America". One man one vote. And yes the regions that contribute more to the economy are a priority. They fund everything including the military without which we'd still be a part of Spain.
  - rtkwe 1y ago
    Yeah I get the idea originally, you had to appease the slave and smaller states to get them to join the plan originally at all, but there's a very, very good reason wherever the US has had the chance to design a new government we have never saddled them with our system. I don't think there's a reasonable hope that it'll get reformed in a clean way though.
hamdingers 1y ago
There are approximately twice as many yoga instructors. It's unfortunate Big Yoga doesn't have the same political pull.

There are only about 45,000 coal miners in the entire US. That's a tiny number.

jeffbee 1y ago

More people drive buses in NYC than are coal miners in the whole America.

HPsquared 1y ago
Probably though, like the buses, there's an order of magnitude more work done on the "back end". The machines, logistics, etc etc and everything else that depends on the industry. In the bus drivers example, it could be all the people in NYC who need to take a bus to get to work and would be affected by the sudden disappearance of buses. So it is with many industries.

olddustytrail 1y ago

If people really cared about coal miners then they could be offered a $1 million redundancy package. It would amount to a tiny fraction of government spending and I'm pretty sure it would be welcomed.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

rtkwe 1y ago

They're also in geographically low population areas so counting them and the people employeed in their towns they have a significant sway on some states and the Senate skews things towards low population states through it's inequitable representation AND the outsized power Senate rules give individual Senators. Plus it's made a few people EXTREMELY rich so they've made their opinions and interests everyone elses problem too.

Yeul 1y ago
Every once in a while someone in the Netherlands argues for the district system and they are immediately shut down with "America". One man one vote. And yes the regions that contribute more to the economy are a priority. They fund everything including the military without which we'd still be a part of Spain.
- rtkwe 1y ago
  Yeah I get the idea originally, you had to appease the slave and smaller states to get them to join the plan originally at all, but there's a very, very good reason wherever the US has had the chance to design a new government we have never saddled them with our system. I don't think there's a reasonable hope that it'll get reformed in a clean way though.

hamdingers 1y ago

There are approximately twice as many yoga instructors. It's unfortunate Big Yoga doesn't have the same political pull.