Why Coal Country Elected Trump

we are heading right into the belly a coal mine in Eastern Kentucky whether extracting what it's like a hell of a lot a couple of miles deep into the mountain tell you this is the most terrifying place to be a difference aerobic each side you can see these deep kind of cave they've all been blocked off till doctor swear for detox donuts all that cab so having destroyed teeth or deeper [Applause] [Music] [Music] people working advances in technology have revolutionized coal mining but this machinery paired with the rise of cheap natural gas has led to a huge decline in coal jobs this has - like Bridget countin worried about that future colwiz been in my family for centuries you know grandpa's grandpa's I remember when I was little beat him up I would come in and he'd be all black and I'd get in his little bucket pretending that I was in the coments and that was when I was five sheet you're out but here right now you're lucky to get a job I've been quite a few miles just in Perry County that's shut down because they just couldn't afford it you must have seen a lot of people get laid off yeah a lot of the friends that light off you know it's hard you just you thank the Lord every day for a job are you hopeful that trunks gonna turn things around I'm hoping he promised he was willing to do what he could and Hillary I was for healer I'm just gonna be honest at first until she said she wasn't for Co that was it for me I didn't have nothing else I was full vote for Trump do you think a lot of people felt the same way about that income and yes he did for the first half of the 20th century coal was America's primary source of energy and a lucrative industry but over the last three decades coal jobs have declined 70% and economists like dr. Erik Brynjolfsson doubt that they'll ever return there's no way it's economically viable to restart most of the coal mines it's simply a fact that coal has become uncompetitive versus natural gas and increasingly solar hydro wind power so hard minded capitalists are looking at and saying this is not an industry that we want to invest in and there's no point in trying to reverse that tide what's the significance of a flexion in the coal country as a whole when it comes to the US economy at large I think Appalachia is symptomatic of the biggest economic challenge that our society faces today the powerful forces of technology are fundamentally transforming our economy cars are beginning to drive themselves our diagnosing diseases this is a whole new ballgame and it's having fundamental effects on the nature of the workforce sadly I think most of the US economy is not very well prepared coal has not only been central to Appalachian economy but also to accessory and culture state representative Chris Harris took us on a tour of his constituency starting with a recently closed mine most of the communities in Eastern Kentucky and southern West Virginia were built on those people who came here to work in the mines there was a tremendous recruitment effort at Ellis Island to bring people to the Appalachian region to work in the coal mines because they could offer you a home to live in they could educate your kids and give you a job and those are things that people really wanted when they came to this country looking for the American dream people here aren't they're not in love with cold they're in love with the American dream and it's being taken away from since the entire local community relies on coal the ripple effects of its decline are being felt far beyond the mines Terry Blake and her husband have owned this once-thriving hardware store for the last 28 years this is what we've done all of our life how's business keeps getting worse over the last three years to the point where you wonder if you're gonna be able to hold on another month how well what's business doing a few years ago how bad are things now I'm off at least 35% that's basically to save he was doing a hundred thousand a month I'm down to 65,000 a month there is no profit left after that so I mean it just trickles all the way down from the top let's come on coal mine shuts down you know it shuts something else down then it shuts something else down and that's where we're at now there's no money available the individuals that's living here haven't even had to take over the lighting system here in Warfield just to have lots of that time so individuals have to pay for the streetlights we go because we have no money coming into our town anymore that paid for the streetlights coal is our industry here this is how we make our living when coal hurts we all hurt and while the market continues to work against coal the people who are hit hardest are often families who can't afford to leave Virginia Williams and her family have struggled to make ends meet after her husband was laid off from the mines I found a job at 7-eleven with the both of us working now makes up his 1 income leaving a trade of a long time it's like spaghetti you know you can get the dollar cans but uh you make it do some days it's a lot of potatoes well the food city card saved us that's a good deal I worked in the mines for 12 years I was one of the unfortunate ones that got laid off John has spent the last three years in and out of work for the past two months he's been working as a contractor for a fraction of the pay steady work you have yes this the pays not as good as what the mines was about $17 an hour difference that means at least thirty five thousand dollars less per year for a family of eight which is left John holding on to hope the coal jobs will return this is the last hat that I wore I worry it underground she's probably the same one that I would wear if I went back what do you think it is about working in coal mines that people from outside of this region misunderstand that we can afford to not have it I mean don't get me wrong I'm all for being green I'm all for solar power wind power you know all that but this community in this area is founded on coal there's nothing else and for it to not be here is disastrous for this area but it doesn't have to be it now fools on the next generation to consider a future without coal I'm hoping that with technologies advancing the different things like that we can establish our own sort of industry so to speak here and maybe help bring it back that's the kind of the plan and kind of the hope you know that's the dream that's the goal the Williams kids enrolled at belfry high school in spite of significant losses in enrollment and federal funding the school is working to provide their students with opportunities outside the call lines seeing the decline of it over the last two years one of our advantages is disillusionment we've always kind of known what what's at stake we've always kind of known that you need to do good in school and you need to go to college it's not gonna be there everyone knows how hard it is right now all of a sudden people have had to shift their life views from saying I'm gonna be a manual labor to I'm gonna go for a larger education and a lot of people are scared of few things like the value of an education increases why they've tried to start new initiatives you know start from scratch some other assistive technology with no reliable future in coal for graduating students the school has tried to add more classes in technology and business that can potentially create new industries in the region so what is this you're doing it well what we're doing is we're a 3d printing custom foot orthotics for different fitness orders like a flat foot what we intend to do is get the prescriptions from the podiatrist and fill the prescriptions with a scanner we intend to make a business out of this what do you think the solutions are when it comes to fixing the future for Appalachian we need to embrace this change and not try to freeze the past there's no better time in history to be someone with an idea that can be encapsulated in a digital form and replicated but that requires a revolution in our educational system to transition people there while an investment in education could help save Appalachian future generations its current workforce is hoping that a revolution in entrepreneurship and technology in the region could capitalize on the thousands of people's struggling for jobs today hillbillies coding is like the Jamaican bobsled team it just it resonates at people's imagination bit sauce founders rusty justice and Lynn parish believe cultivating a tech industry in Appalachia can diversify the economy and create new jobs from an outside perspective it's not an obvious fit to go from working in a coal mine to coding how easy is it to train people who have worked in coal mines to code a lot easier than you might think how does this work compared to your previous life you know something you have to understand is that mining is a high tech industry so it's not it's not a radical transition but you know there's also a scary transition you know to go at my age it's a culture shock well bit sauce only employs about 10 former miners it does show the region is eager to expand programs and new industries but we had the idea then we thought well maybe we can find you know 50 folks that will apply this is just a theory so we advertised and we had 950 applicants for 10 10 jobs this speaks to the magnitude of the problem emerging startups like this rely on federal funding through programs like the Appalachian Regional Commission but president Trump has already proposed to slash these efforts from his next budget leaving it to the people of Appalachia to move the economy forward the strategy of trying to go backwards into the past has never worked for the United States the successful strategy has always been to embrace the future embrace new industries America's been the greatest economy in the world and who had the potential to continue to be the greatest economy but it really depends entirely on our choices [Music] you [Music]

Channel: VICE News

Views: 531,781

Rating: 4.8334007 out of 5

Keywords: VICE News, VICE News Tonight, VICE on HBO, vice news 2019, coal country, vice hbo, isobel yeung vice, vice video, news, donald trump, west virginia, coal miners, return of coal jobs, miners, donald trump campaign promise, MAGA, trump supporters, election 2020, appalachian falls, Appalachia, coal mining, coal industry, Green New Deal, Climate Change, natural gas, Fracking, trump coal miners back to work

Id: EJZmr7E2M_U

Length: 12min 3sec (723 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 28 2020

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[u/funkytownpants]

Coal miners coding.. if you’re hungry or desperate, you can do anything. But like they said, 10 jobs for 950 people. That’s what automation does.