Americans have a couple of ways they tend to think about rural America. On one side of the coin, we see it as a post-apocalyptic wasteland of dysfunction, intolerance, and economic ruin. On the other, we see a pastoral cornucopia of small-town charm, neighbor helping neighbor, and home-grown tomatoes. In other words, it’s all bad […]
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Posted inRural Economy
Speak Your Piece: Digital Parity Will Help Rural Turn the Corner Economically
I would like to share a different perspective of what seems to be a growing narrative on a decaying rural America and giving up on it. Not long ago, Eduardo Porter argued this view on his December 14th 2018 piece while Paul Krugman’s did the same on his March 18th 2019 piece. I disagree. In […]
Posted inBroadband and Technology
Speak Your Piece: Times’ Rural Economics Analysis Omits a Wealth of Options
EDITOR’S NOTE: This weekend the New York Times published an op/ed by Eduardo Porter titled “The Hard Truths of Trying to ‘Save’ the Rural Economy.” Porter, an economics writer for the Times, says (among other things) that it might be better to stop fighting rural poverty with programs in those distressed communities. Instead, public policy could encourage people who live in distressed areas […]
Posted inMedia
Speak Your Piece: Big Thinkers Repeat a Small Idea
There is a common line of thinking in the world of urban pundits that rural America is broken and that the best fix is to cut public investment and get folks out of there. Put that money someplace it can do some good. That means getting it to cities, and not just any cities, but […]
Posted inUncategorized
Tuesday Roundup: Keystone Pipeline News-arama
The State Department’s inspector general will conduct a special investigation of how the agency has handled its decision on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. There have been news reports of improper influence and conflicts of interest in the decision whether to allow the 1,700 mile pipeline that will carry tar sands oil from Canada across […]
Posted inUncategorized
Tuesday Roundup: White Spaces
Federal Communications Commission chair Julius Genachowski outlined a plan Monday to shift money set aside to subsidize landline telephone service to pay for high-speed Internet in rural communities. Genachowski outlined his plans to revamp the $8 billion universal service fund in a speech at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. A recent ITIF study found […]
Posted inEnergy, Food
Krugman Says Biofuels a ‘Terrible Mistake’
“Grains Gone Wild” is the headline in Paul Krugman’s New York Times column today. There are financial troubles in the world, Krugman writes, “But there’s another world crisis under way — and it’s hurting a lot more people. I’m talking about the food crisis.” Krugman, a Princeton economist, notes the higher prices in stores today […]
Posted inUncategorized
Roundup: Water Still Troubling W. Va.
LaCrisha Rose from Cabin Creek, West Virginia, describes how the January spill of a coal-cleaning chemical has affected her family. The video is produced by Keely Kernan, an artist and freelance photographer. An elementary school in North Charleston, West Virginia, closed early yesterday after complaints about odor from the water system. Several teachers complained of […]
Posted inPolitics and Government, Rural Economy
Debt Reduction and Rural America
Two high-level groups have issued reports this month outlining how the federal government can reduce its deficit. Both reports target agricultural subsidies, which is no big surprise. Farm payments are always front and center when it comes to a discussion of the federal budget. But the reports target several programs and expenditures that particularly affect […]
