Leaders in Democratic States Begin Planning to Fight Trump Policies

nytimes.com

8 pointswhack9 comments

We are going to see liberal states talk about states rights and Republicans fighting that notion.

When Republicans talk about states' rights, they only ever mean the rights they support.

Helping Rural America may have been a noble goal previously, but now best to speed run its decline and leave the sunbelt to address its insurance and climate crisis alone.

Yes. Liberal states like the one I'm in should be in favor of massive federal tax cuts. I'm tired of subsidizing morons.

My prediction is that Rural America will continue to clear out [1]. Young folks with options will continue to move to urban areas for economic opportunity, leaving behind folks who won’t have options because the new administration isn’t going to care about them [2]. At the same time, red states with abortion restrictions are losing obgyn’s fast [3] [4] [5] [6]. This will lead to increased infant mortality and rational actors not living someplace they can’t get maternity care (“maternity care deserts” [7]). A lack of healthcare access in general is also a contributing factor [8]. This impairs the pipeline for future productive workers who might have stayed or were considering a move. Why there won’t be more immigration in the near term should be obvious.

Blue states will be fine. They are, for the most part, the economic engines of the country.

[1] https://www.npr.org/2023/07/07/1186531913/fighting-populatio...

[2] https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/10/older-populat...

[3] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/more-medical-residents-a...

[4] https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/4721173-draconian-abo...

[5] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/06/us/politics/abortion-obst... | https://archive.today/oc0Gl

[6] https://www.axios.com/2023/04/18/abortion-ban-states-drop-st...

[7] https://www.npr.org/2022/10/12/1128335563/maternity-care-des...

[8] https://www.goodrx.com/healthcare-access/research/healthcare...

The little blemish in that scenario being that that the US's food supply and natural resources come from its rural areas. If the prices of food and other goods keeps rising, you won't be able to count on urban voters behaving sensibly either.

Hired farmworkers make up less than 1 percent of all US wage and salary workers (per USDA 2023). 43 million acres of corn is for ethanol biofuel alone, the need for which diminishes over time as light vehicle electrification continues. Urban areas are unlikely to go without food entirely, although the mix might change (less beef due to cattle herds shrinking [1], less dairy as smaller dairies continue to collapse [2], and so on). Based on the data, there is plenty of slack in the food production system as Rural America evaporates [3]. California is the country's largest ag product producer, for example, and also the world's fifth largest economy. You know who imports the most soybeans from the US? China [4]. Good luck to those farmers as China retaliates against US tariffs.

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-31/us-beef-t... | https://archive.today/GJz4w

[2] https://www.thebullvine.com/dairy-industry/why-americas-dair...

[3] https://usafacts.org/articles/what-happens-to-the-food-we-gr...

[4] https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/us-farm-producer...

Additional citation:

https://www.marketplace.org/2024/11/08/soybean-farmer-optimi...

Comment containing citations on US rural healthcare system collapse: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42111924

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