The Promises to Coal Country Are Familiar, but Can Biden Deliver?

[matt819]

1. How about this for an idea

Stop promising stuff about coal country.

There are many other parts of the country that have suffered economically because of fundamental changes to the economy. The move away from manufacturing, stutter steps toward renewable energy, growing inequality, and so much more. Even in New England, you can drive through communities that have been decimated by the decline of manufacturing and the shrinking of the tax base, complete with shuttered commercial space and potholed town roads. Native American communities have confronted comparable challenges for well over a century. And then there are the southern states, which collectively sit at the bottom (or top, depending of the subject) of charts of just about anything that's being measured in the US - medical care, education, income, joblessness, poverty, etc.

Much of the responsibility lies with state governments (e.g., expansion of Medicaid). I think that's where the guidance must come from before the federal government starts doling out money for stuff.

I would argue that any plans for economic growth should take the form of the American Rescue Plan bill. Large-scale plans that affect the largest number of Americans. For example, I could see a massive infrastructure bill plan this role.