[PRCo] poor parts of Calif.

[roger]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Fred Schneider" <fschnei at supernet.com>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2003 8:12 AM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Charleroi etc.


>
> Roger, and anyone else who cares:
>
> There are two many factors to simplify the issues.   Industry likes low
wage
> areas (Mexico is good), lack of labor unions (the Carolinas were good
except
> they've lost a lot of their jobs due to migration of garment shops to
Mexico and
> the downturn in tobacco), good transportation (generally this means
interstate
> highways and not railroads), cheap utilities (Allegheny Power is skirting
> bankruptcy now so there are no givens), low taxes (that rules out
Pennsylvania),
> abuntant youthful workers (that tends to rule out western Pennsylvania -
this
> state has the second oldest population in the nation). The youth tend to
lower
> retirement contributions and medical insurance premiums and they tend to
be
> better trained.   Lamentably, western and northern Pennsylvania has
everything
> going against it.   The weights applied to each need vary depending on
what is
> being produced, stocked, or sold.   Perhaps our most recent nail in the
cross
> has been incredibly high medical malpractice insurance premiums (even the
boss
> wants doctors when he gets sick).
>
> I don't have any solutions, Roger.  A good industrial development
authority
> helps, but even it needs something marketable.  Right now I think about
the only
> thing Washington and Westmoreland counties have to market is gasoline,
food,
> repairs, lodging and peep shows to the truck drivers on I-70 and I-77.
None of
> these are high wage jobs.  Western Pennsylvania was a classic oversized
> "one-industry town."   Steel,  aluminum and machined steel products, and
coal
> for energy to produce the steel and aluminum, and railroads to move in raw
> materials and steel to market.  There was also a glass and crockery
industry but
> it too has also pretty much vanished.  I've never seen any numbers.  I
would
> love to know just how much of the steel output went into railroad rails
and
> railroad cars.  I suspect that most of us knew Pittsburgh at its best
because of
> legislation in the 1930s that allowed unions which secured unheard of pay
and
> fringe benefits for their members, and now we're seeing it at is most
> depressed.  We're too young to have known the area in the 1880s and early
1900s
> when the employees were slaves.  It's been 21 years since the steel
collapse ...
> and those people who are still there are the ones that were too old to
move out
> in the 1980s.  I recognize my own cynicism.
>
> roger wrote:
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Fred Schneider" <fschnei at supernet.com>
> > To: <tsquare at toad.net>; <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> > Sent: Friday, February 28, 2003 5:22 PM
> > Subject: [PRCo] Charleroi etc.
> > Thats a real sad story about whats happening down there.  There really
is no
> > solution to this sort of thing either is there !!!
> >
> > >Yes there are poor parts of Calif east of me here in Beaumont east of
Palm Springs. In the area near the Salton Sea there are numerous towns of
farmworkers and indians {those that dont own casinos } who are living in
shacks that are just thrown together and some in ranch houses that are in
poor shape . There is rampant poverty among these people and the outlook in
the future is not any better with the economy in the hopper like it is. I
think in the farm belt area in the central valley the same is true there
above Bakersfield.
>
>
>
>