Awaiting Trump's coal comeback, miners reject retraining

[Indy Texas]

wow now we have a permanent underclass of americans who are fueled entirely by resentment. Thanks Trump!

That's the only way Republicans can keep winning elections.

Keep the white people uneducated, unemployed and bitter, and then tell them it's all the mean lib'ruls' fault. (Or the Mexicans, the Muslims, the gays, whoever fits the situation.)

[Indy Texas]

In the early 20th century, when industrial growth and agricultural changes had made the grand country estates of the British nobility unsustainable, what did the former tenants and servants of those aristocratic households do? They moved to the cities and got different jobs.

What did farmers in Oklahoma do when the Dust Bowl made it impossible to continue farming their lands? They moved elsewhere - often to California, which was a whole world away back then.

I don't understand why we've come to this idea that people should be bound to their land and that moving even a few hours drive away is a completely heartless and unacceptable proposition, when that is literally what Americans have done for hundreds of years.

[Indy Texas]

In the early 20th century, when industrial growth and agricultural changes had made the grand country estates of the British nobility unsustainable, what did the former tenants and servants of those aristocratic households do? They moved to the cities and got different jobs.

What did farmers in Oklahoma do when the Dust Bowl made it impossible to continue farming their lands? They moved elsewhere - often to California, which was a whole world away back then.

I don't understand why we've come to this idea that people should be bound to their land and that moving even a few hours drive away is a completely heartless and unacceptable proposition, when that is literally what Americans have done for hundreds of years.

So, simply because that's how something was done in the past, that's how things should be done in the present and future? I'm not against retraining these folks into other areas; I'm 100% against the continuation of coal's usage in any form. Even the most radical of Democratic environmental policies are too weak, in my opinion. But you can't simply uproot people, displace them from their communities, and toss them into financial insecurity simply because "muh market." F*** the market and f*** anyone who thinks we, as humans, in a society as complex and sophisticated as ours, should have to be slaves to an "invisible hand," which is nothing more than private, wealthy investors, stockholders, financial "experts," and corporations calling the shots while we all just have to stand-by and watch as they dictate our lives to us. We, as humans, should control our destiny; each of us as individuals, not have some wealthy people scattered across the country and globe decide winners and losers, pick and choose where investments will go, whose community will face ruin next, whose job will be lost next, which law should be passed, whose views will be express on TV news.

So refusing to train for a new job and refusing to move and blaming everyone else is what passes for controlling one's destiny nowadays?

You yourself oppose them continuing to mine coal because of the environmental effects. But you don't think they should have to move. And you don't think they should have to train for new jobs.

So what is your plan? Does this 33 year old get to collect a pension for 60+ years? Are the rest of us expected to pay for that? Including those of us who have moved for work and who have changed careers before?

[Indy Texas]

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That is the case for literally every kind of education/training in this country.

[Indy Texas]

That is the case for literally every kind of education/training in this country.

lol what are you even talking about

I didn't get paid a salary to attend college, and I had to spend a few months looking for a job after I graduated.

So clearly I should have just not gone to college.

[Indy Texas]

A college student has no dependents, and indeed often is a dependent themself. If you are the sole breadwinner for a household, spending a significant amount of time with no income is no option.

One of my childhood friends was born while her father was still a medical resident.

While her father was in medical school, her mother worked various jobs (retail, hair stylist, etc) to pay their living expenses.

There are many non-traditional college students out there raising families and going to school part time.

I don't know why you all act as though no one has ever changed careers as an adult.