factories have closed, and they probably aren't coming back

**ROMAD1** · 06-15-2012, 01:06 PM

Faith Groups Sustain the Working Poor -- Printout -- TIME

There has been an economic collapse--factories have closed, and they probably aren't coming back--but there has been a moral collapse as well. Drugs, divorce and out-of-wedlock births have devastated these communities. Charles Murray, the libertarian counter to Thomas Frank, delivered this argument in his recent book Coming Apart. But the problem isn't just moral collapse or economic collapse. It's a combination of the two, with a lot of crass materialism and relentless globalization thrown in. This is an incredibly sad story, one that neither liberals nor conservatives who opine from above fully understand.

This is an incredibly bleak look at the part of the US that Sarah Jessica Parker and her fashion industry friends really don't think of. Too white, too rural, not enough good restaurants.

I hate to think that there is no hope for rural/small-town America and that good sustainable work will never return to a place like this.

**mtutiger** · 06-15-2012, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by ROMAD1

This is an incredibly bleak look at the part of the US that Sarah Jessica Parker and her fashion industry friends really don't think of.

How does Sarah Jessica Parker factor into any of this?

Incidentally, according to Wikipedia, she was born and spent her young years about an hour away from Gallipolis. Maybe she knows more about it than you'd like to think she does.

**ROMAD1** · 06-15-2012, 01:20 PM

Originally Posted by mtutiger

How does Sarah Jessica Parker factor into any of this?

Incidentally, according to Wikipedia, she was born and spent her young years about an hour away from Gallipolis. Maybe she knows more about it than you'd like to think she does.

Who threw the big bash for the President? Which state did President O' visit to give his crapola economic address the next day?

The President is offering wallpaper as a solution to hurricanes.

**mtutiger** · 06-15-2012, 03:43 PM

Originally Posted by ROMAD1

Who threw the big bash for the President? Which state did President O' visit to give his crapola economic address the next day?

With all due respect, throwing a bash for the President doesn't automatically mean you don't understand the problems facing rural areas in this country. That's why I find it so ironic that you go after SJP here, since she grew up 55 miles away from the town in question in the Time article you posted. Maybe she understands more than you give her credit for.

Either way, it's rich for conservatives to go after Sarah Jessica Parker when there are plenty of Romney donors who are out of touch with the problems in rural America.

**rhino** · 06-15-2012, 04:25 PM

Originally Posted by mtutiger

With all due respect, throwing a bash for the President doesn't automatically mean you don't understand the problems facing rural areas in this country. That's why I find it so ironic that you go after SJP here, since she grew up 55 miles away from the town in question in the Time article you posted. Maybe she understands more than you give her credit for.

Either way, it's rich for conservatives to go after Sarah Jessica Parker when there are plenty of Romney donors who are out of touch with the problems in rural America.

Romney supporters are out of touch? Hell, Romney is out of touch.

**pfife** · 06-15-2012, 04:27 PM

[insert SJP dressage joke here]

**screwball** · 06-15-2012, 04:57 PM

I would be more worried about the jobs coming back, and why, not what some actress or press idiot thinks.

But that's just me.

**ROMAD1** · 06-15-2012, 05:09 PM

Originally Posted by pfife

[insert SJP dressage joke here]

I may not like where you are coming from politically, but that was clever.

**Who is the Drizzle?** · 06-15-2012, 05:38 PM

speaking of animal faces, did anyone see triumph the insult dog on conan last night? that whole segment was pretty great i thought, would love to have heard it without all the bleeping.

**TheCouga** · 06-15-2012, 07:16 PM

I often get frustrated by the right for making poverty seem like it's only an "inner city" thing. That makes it easier for them to rail against anti-poverty programs -- by insinuating that it's all just free money going to blacks and Mexicans who spend it on drugs and rims.

But the left has done nothing to counter this and little to reach out to the rural and small-town poor, or turn the poverty issue into a nationwide bludgeon against the right like FDR was able to do. The majority of people in poverty in this country are still white. And Federal anti-poverty programs don't discriminate -- they help everyone. And conservative economics is terrible for these people.