689
“I Didn’t Vote to Lose My Job”: DOGE Destroys $1.2 Trillion Industry as Rural Workers Bear the Cost (thedailyadda.com)
submitted 10 months ago by to c/leopardsatemyface@lemmy.world
131 comments fedilink hide all child comments
:kekw: 1 :kekw: 1
 

Terry Zink has spent 57 years building a life in Montana’s backcountry. The 57-year-old third-generation houndsman from Marion—a remote town nestled deep within the Flathead National Forest—runs a small archery target business serving outdoor recreation workers and guides who, until recently, had steady employment managing America’s public lands. Contents

Those workers are disappearing. Their jobs are gone. And Zink, who voted for Trump in 2024, is watching his customer base—and his livelihood—vanish before his eyes.

“You won’t meet anyone more conservative than me, and I didn’t vote for this,” Zink told Politico reporters as he surveyed the damage. “You cannot fire our firefighters. You cannot fire our trail crews. You have to have selective logging, water restoration, and healthy forests” (1).

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 4 points 10 months ago (1 child)

There is a grain of truth in that rural areas get worse government service. Power outages last for longer, often they don't even have sewer hookups and have to maintain septic systems, roads are maintained at a lower level, etc. They really do get less benefit (in outcome terms) than city folk.

I think @Greddan@feddit.org hit on the information environment as the reason they can't see that that lower service level comes at a way, way higher monetary cost. Our information aggregators are in the business of making money from engagement, and telling people things they want to hear that sound true is the most effective engagement tool. I don't see the problem getting any better unless we figure out a better information model.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 11 points 10 months ago

    It is true, and I counter that with if you choose to live far away from people then you will be prioritized less. Things get fixed faster when there are more people affected, so when you choose to live miles away from anyone, when your power goes out it's not a high priority. I argue that that's their choice, and that it's deserved when it also costs much more for that one person to have power compared to thousands of people getting power for relatively the same cost in an urban area. Harsh I know, but that's how the money flows. They can always move to an urban area if they choose that services are more important than living rurally. More or less I agree with you, but I would tell them "you chose that".

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent