60 Minutes spends 20 Minutes in Dumbfuckistan, 'Murika

[maxrandb]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/venture-capitalist-steve-case-spreading-funding-to-middle-america-with-rise-of-the-rest-60-minutes/

Steve Case, the man who co-founded America Online and injected the jingle "You've got mail!" into the American lexicon is now trying to steer venture capitalists and their money to areas they've typically overlooked. Mostly, small towns and cities in the middle of the country. His vehicle to do that is a $150 million dollar investment fund and a 35-foot long, bright red bus.

Now he's trying to convince the local high school students here there's a future in Eastern Kentucky.

STUDENT ONE: There's not anything here right now. And I hope and pray for our community that something does come back here, but as of now it's impossible for all of us to stay even though 90 percent of us want to, and be able to live the kind of lives where we could support ourselves and our family too.

STUDENT TWO: My whole family's here, they've been here. But there's just-- there's nothing here. No job, nothing.

Sharyn Alfonsi: You worry about your parents?

STUDENT TWO: Yes. And, like, you worry how-- how are you gonna make it? I mean, how-- I mean, how can they live paycheck to paycheck? And you wanna help, but there's just no future for you.

=======================================================
I don't know what has happened to 60 Minutes, but this story is a perfect example of how fucked up our "journalism" is today.

While I agree that there has been a flood of investment away from "middle" America and to the coasts...and some of the facts in this story are accurate...70% of investment does go to places like California, New York and Massachusetts, but to say that CA, NY or MA are "coastal elites" requires a journalist to have not spent any time outside of the coastal cities in those states.

60 Minutes also could have taken a look at "why" investment is leaving "middle"...of fuck...let's just call them "red states"!

Could it be that Retrumplican economic policies have destroyed the education systems and infrastructure in those areas?

Could it be that these "middle" Americans sending majorities of Retrumplicans to run their states, over and over and over again...have made their states places that investment money wants to avoid.

I spent plenty of time in the Central Valley of CA about 40 miles south of Fresno. Trust me, states like CA, NY and MA have their fair share of white rednecks driving rusty pick-up trucks with fake testicles hanging off the trailer-hitch, with tattered Confederate Flags blowing in the breeze. The difference is that those states don't elect those folks to majorities in their statehouses and governors mansions.

Maybe these areas and the decisions they have made, have contributed to their plight.

Who wants to invest in an area that takes money from Public Education to give it to the equivalent of Trump High Schools?

Who wants to invest in an area that cuts money from Public Education and promotes Bevus and Butthead "home-schooling" their kids?

Who wants to invest in areas that think everyone should have an AR-15 and thousands of rounds of ammunition, without so much as a background check?

Who wants to invest in areas that deplete their tax-base by giving billions in breaks to large corporations for a handful of minimum wage jobs?

Who wants to invest in areas that want their poor to die on the streets without access to medical care?

There was not one fucking second of this story that was devoted to asking if these areas of American decline SHARE ANY RESPONSIBILITY for their decline

That's not journalism. That's blaming states that actually care about their citizens and take action to better themselves against those that don't.

Fortunately, they have the co-founder of AOL to "bring them into the 21ST Century

[trotsky]

1. Just serves to perpetuate the myth...

that the only thing that can save us is rich people graciously giving us jobs - which they won't, if we tax them!

[mr_lebowski]

2. How much you wanna bet that if the these weren't predominately WHITE areas, there'd have been

a good solid segment on the subject of how the people themselves 'share in the responsibility'?

[StrictlyRockers]

3. My family is from Visalia.

I grew up in Santa Cruz and have lived here for 44 years.

Two different states. All that you say is 100% spot on correct.

[maxrandb]

5. I spent some time in Lemoore at the Naval Air Station

Loved the location as a place to get away from and see some of CA while I was there. An hour one way I was at the foothills of the Sequoia National forest. An hour the other way, I was at Pismo Beach.

I remember when they opened an Olive Garden in Visalia. There was a 2 hour wait to get in. However, the local Mexican Food Trucks were some of the best fucking Mexican food I ever had.

and don't get me started on the fog...OMFG! You can't describe it unless you've seen it.

[old guy]

4. Doesn't surprise me.

This kind of reporting is why I stopped watching years ago.