Meanwhile, On the Other Side of the Tracks
Recently I had the opportunity to explore an amazing country. It’s a country with an incredible mix of picturesque rural landscapes and vibrant cosmopolitan towns. The cool part about this journey is that I got to explore the middle part of this country, a place where most tourists and even many of its own citizens do not visit. The land is isolated and geographically diverse with wide open spaces, rolling hills, pastoral farms, magnificent forests, jaw-dropping caves and sparkling rivers and lakes.
This land has many small towns connected by meandering highways and backroads, which pass through expanses of rugged beauty and scenic vistas. Recreational opportunities abound, and I was able to take advantage of many of them during my stay. World-class hiking, mountain biking, boating, swimming, fishing and picnicking are all on the menu. This is a place of such natural beauty and geographical variation that just by visiting you feel a palpable sense of freedom to roam without restraint.
It’s the land that has shaped the culture of this place. The geography has not always been kind to its people, but it has made them independent, creative and self-reliant. The local residents here are hard-scrabble, simple and thrifty folks who can do anything they put their mind to. They are good with their hands and over the years have demonstrated an extraordinary ability to make something out of nothing. The people here tell lively and colorful stories about seemingly mundane topics that somehow captivate and spark the imagination. Stories are shared with a subtle tinge of humor that is almost imperceptible in their voice and expressions. Legends and folklore of this region are widespread and distinct, making use of the local vernacular. Religion is highly intertwined with this culture, and they have a special talent for music. Often these twin passions are combined as a form of community entertainment.
Overall, my three-month long visit to this country’s interior was a wonderful experience. As is always the case with my favorite trips, I met many great people, saw beautiful sights and learned a bit about myself. I will certainly return to visit this region again in the future.
But despite its many charms, I can tell you that this place also has a dark side. Nestled within its rolling hills are dilapidated homes and barns with adjoining acreage strewn with rusted hunks of metal, old tires and abandoned appliances. Dirt roads lead to ramshackle trailers filled with metal chemical cans and plastic jugs, often used for the production of illegal drugs. Rivers and streams are lined with beer cans and other pieces of garbage.
Considerable sections of many of the local towns are in decay. For every nice home with a well-maintained yard, a new model car in the driveway and other evidence of a nuclear family, there are five other homes with sagging roofs and a hodgepodge of rusty vehicles parked on a weed-choked lawn. And for every coffee shop or fitness studio making a go of it in the commercial areas, there are five or six shuttered storefronts.
Many of the traditional values and warm characteristics of the people are still intact, but there is a discernible decline in the culture overall. Familial relationships are splintering and social order is being tested. People are losing a connection to their communities, as many fritter away their days in front of the television set, suffering lives of quiet desperation. Negativity and depression loom over these towns like a funnel cloud ready to devastate. People move with no strong sense of purpose — even young people trudge along like zombies showing little ambition to tackle the day.
In many of these towns, a trip to the local grocery market depicts the most glaring issues. Panhandlers and vagrants loiter about in the parking lot. Shabbily dressed men buy cigarettes, beer and lottery tickets. Women, skinny as a rail with gaunt faces and other tell-tale signs of drug use, skulk among the aisles looking for nothing in particular. Other women, grotesquely overweight, buy sugary snacks and sodas for their chubby kids. Many of the customers use food stamps to make their purchases.
By now you’ve probably figured out what country I recently visited. This is the rural ghetto of the Ozarks — in the heartland of the USA.
An America Left Behind
In case you’re not familiar, the Ozarks is an area of hills and rolling land in southern Missouri, north central and northwestern Arkansas, northeastern Oklahoma and the tip of southeastern Kansas. The early settlers of the region were English and Scots-Irish, and came from Southern Appalachia in the early 19th century after the Louisiana Purchase (there were also Germans in northeastern sections of the Ozarks). Other groups of mostly white settlers followed once railroads were built and mineral deposits of lead and iron were discovered.
Native Americans were pushed out along the western border of the Ozarks in northeast Oklahoma, historically known as Indian Territory (this was land set aside by the U.S. government for relocation). Nowadays some counties in the Ozarks have a Native America population that exceeds 50 percent, although the vast majority of the 92 county region is white. There were also small communities of black settlers near areas where slavery was legal, but large numbers of this demographic left after the Civil War to pursue opportunities in urban centers. More recently there has been an increase in the number of Latinos in the region, but the typical Ozarks county today has a white population of at least 95 percent.
The Ozarks also happen to be my ancestral home. My ancestors of English heritage first migrated to the region in the early 1800s from middle Tennessee, followed by a migration of German ancestors from the Ohio Valley. They settled in Southwest Missouri and made a life as farmers and cattle traders. This would also become the home of my grandparents (and father), whose lives differed only slightly from the original settlers.
Born in 1910, my grandfather came of age during The Great Depression. This period of time brought severe hardship to his family, but it also fortified their sense of rugged individualism along with the pioneer values that made the Ozarks and this country so great. Despite those years of suffering, people had their land and they had their families. They didn’t have much from a material perspective, but they knew how to work the land and take care of themselves. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for many of their descendants living in the Ozarks today.
The modern day Ozarks has a poverty rate of about 20 percent, with some counties having as high as 30 percent of its residents living below the poverty line. While there are other parts of America doing much worse, the numbers by the US Census Bureau show poverty in the Ozarks moving in the wrong direction since the beginning of the 21st century, a trend that has continued to worsen even during the recent economic recovery. Tellingly, the latest report by The Missouri Office of Rural Health indicates the state’s rural poverty rate is almost 25 percent higher than its urban counterpart.
These numbers underpin what I have seen over the years with my own eyes, and what I know from my family’s experience as property owners in the region. The decline in some rural communities and segments of the culture is real. And yet from my recent explorations, I’ve also noticed that not all of the trends in the Ozarks and surrounding states are bad.
Mid-size cities in the Ozarks like Bentonville and Rogers in Arkansas, Branson and Springfield in Missouri, along with larger cities across the middle part of the country, are doing quite well. There has been an underreported revival of America’s middle market cities in the past decade, triggered by downsizing baby boomers and culture-loving millennials who want to be closer to entertainment, jobs and urban attractions. The past few months have taken me to Kansas City, St. Louis, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Louisville, Nashville, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. And from what I can tell, all of these cities are on the right track. They have revitalized their downtowns, making them more livable and attractive.
As might be expected, this has spurred some to decry the subsequent gentrification and “inequality” resulting from low-income families and small businesses being pushed out from urban areas. While these are legitimate concerns, we should not forget that less than a generation ago the majority of these cities were suffering from severe poverty and crime. However, much less attention has been placed on the increased poverty and desperation of Rural America.
The New American Ghettos
Rural America has long been the lifeblood of our country. American farms have fed and clothed us while rural factories have manufactured everything we need from the roof that covers our heads to the beds we sleep in at night. Over the years, Rural America’s driving forces — agriculture and manufacturing — have seen tremendous change.
During the run-up to the second World War, American agriculture went through an industrial revolution. Owing to advances in machinery, chemical inputs (such as fertilizers, herbicides and antibiotics) and genetics, agriculture became extremely productive and provided the means for the American farmer to feed a rapidly growing nation. Although agriculture became much more efficient and required fewer hired hands, the loss of farm jobs was offset by the growth of manufacturing during and immediately after the war. Manufacturing brought prosperity to rural towns and people could easily find jobs and learn new skills.
The past two decades, however, have been a difficult time for manufacturing all over our country. To be sure, the United States remains one of the top manufacturing countries in the world by total output. But labor intensive production has largely retreated to Asia, leaving many of our citizens high and dry. Since globalization picked up steam and China was admitted into the World Trade Organization in 2001, the average American family’s annual income is $4,000 less.
My family’s hometown in Southwest Missouri offers a prime example of the economic malaise that has become the new normal for Rural America. In my grandfather’s day, every able body worked the fields and there were no idle hands. Once the Agriculture Revolution began and industrial farming became the standard model, those idles hands migrated to the factory floor during World War II.
After the War, the town became prosperous and anyone who wanted a job could find one. Several shoe factories were running full steam in the ’50s, employing thousands. A milk plant flourished in the ‘60s (they produced cheese and other dairy products for national chains like Safeway). There was a local shirt factory and a color press that manufactured maps and various printed materials. There was also a photographic engraving plant that developed pictures suitable for printing in newspapers (the owner of the plant developed a special process for this work that turned him into a wealthy man). A furnace manufacturer and an animal feed factory employed many people for decades. Even in the ‘80s and ’90s, the town could boast the success of a plastic children’s toy factory.
All of this manufacturing power created a thriving downtown retail space with several shoe and clothing stores, appliance stores, banks, grocery markets, convenient stores, pharmacies, restaurants, several new car dealerships and other thriving businesses too numerous to mention. Of course it goes without saying that all this commerce also supported a large population that constantly grew in size by attracting new residents to its many economic opportunities.
Although there are still plenty of success stories in this area today and the town will doubtlessly find a way to survive, the sad reality is that there are too many people here living off government handouts. There are some counties of the Ozarks where almost half of all personal income comes from government payments (food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, etc.). Nowadays, some of the busiest retail locations downtown include the Missouri Department of Social Services, Missouri Department of Corrections — Division of Probation & Parole, City Hall and a local Christian charity that provides canned foods and housewares. The only private businesses that seem to get decent foot traffic are the pawn shop and Suddenlink Communications (the local cable TV and Internet provider).
On the other side of the town, in the new commercial district, are a Wal-Mart, McDonald’s and a few other national chains. The Wal-Mart has benefitted the community by offering convenience and quality products at a low cost, but it has also facilitated the demise of the old downtown by outcompeting local businesses.
Who created this rural ghetto? Some would like to blame the average citizen, and say he has become lazy and stupid. Others want to blame foreigners for stealing their jobs, and still others want to blame politicians and our leaders in Washington D.C. Or it could be the increase in automation and productivity of robots and technology that is taking jobs. Maybe it’s all of the above — I really don’t know. But I do know there has been a transformation of the U.S. economy that has left many people struggling.
What Seems to Be the Problem?
The truth is that other countries, like China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Brazil are also grappling with similar issues and are struggling to meet the needs of their citizens. So we are not alone.
To be 100% fair, we cannot dismiss the notion that more Americans are shirking personal responsibility, blaming others for their problems and avoiding the hard work that the old-timers did to make this country great. My own relatives worked the land during the Great Depression to feed their family. Other family members, like my grandfather, jumped on railcars and headed West to work on ranches tending sheep and picking apples in the more prosperous frontier towns just to survive.
Men like my late relatives were entrepreneurs in the sense that they were able to combine resources from the environment to realize opportunities and create their own jobs. They took risks and had a true sense of adventure just like their ancestors before them that settled this great land.
A lack of resourcefulness and work ethic, however, is not the sole culprit behind the problems here today. In fact, there are still many men and women in the Ozarks who continue to hold these values. But the spirit of entrepreneurship is indisputably on the decline. And it’s occurring at a time when government programs and perverse incentives are surging.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), with a budget approaching 150 billion dollars, has literally hundreds of different programs. Originally created to support family farms and rural communities, the USDA quickly mutated into a bloated tax money machine that subsidizes big corporations along with our nation’s most affluent commercial farmers. This generous corporate welfare state, combined with publicly-funded economic development programs, creates a mentality of entitlement and dependence of both individuals and businesses that destroys entrepreneurship.
Rather than support social and corporate welfare programs that make our country weak, we should find ways to restore and champion the traditional values of independence and self-sufficiency that made us prosperous in the past. We can offer a piece of the pie to all Americans by encouraging entrepreneurship and supporting free trade deals that actually benefit average citizens rather than special interest groups.
Achieving prosperity for all Americans, especially the rural poor, is critical because it will lessen the political turmoil we are seeing today. Rural America must figure out its competitive advantages and determine how they can square with the global economy. I offer three starting points:
- Agriculture. With the growing international demand for higher value food products, Rural America can take the lead in feeding the legions of new middle class consumers around the world.
- Immigration. Here again, we have an opportunity to change immigration policy so it benefits ordinary people in Rural America that have gained little from globalization.
- The Internet. Finally, the Internet and social media technology can play a role by offering a platform for rural Americans to engage in international trade.
Global Awareness, Global Markets
Historically the United States, with its abundance of land and innovative free markets, has had a competitive advantage in the production of agricultural commodities. However, many other countries have caught up and can now produce similar commodities at a lower price. Specialty crops and value-added food products, on the other hand, are segments where we still excel. And this is just one of many examples where we have the opportunity to expand our exports by being better aware of global opportunities.
To serve the world, Rural America must also connect to thriving U.S. cities. The Internet is an invaluable tool for agribusinesses and family farms to market their products directly to those urban consumers desiring more wholesome (and locally made) products. The interaction and communication between farmers and demanding urban consumers will “up the game” of U.S. producers and make their food products more competitive in global markets. Rural America is ripe for an injection of fresh ideas from entrepreneurs and marketers that have the ability to connect the abundant resources of places like the Ozarks to regional urban centers and global markets.
Immigration has become a contentious issue in this country that has intensified sharp partisan divisions. But there should be no doubt that immigration is vital to the success of America because it provides a constant flow of fresh blood to the beating heart of our economy. Unfortunately, our immigration policy does not bring prosperity to everyone and is due for a badly needed makeover.
Academics and pundits can find statistics and research to support whatever particular point of view they prefer on how immigration affects the economy. But it means very little to the people of Rural America who have their own version of reality. They see the influx of immigrants from Mexico and Central America working in turkey and chicken processing plants. They see immigrants working the fields and on construction sites where they used to work. They’ve also seen many local manufacturing plants close and move to Mexico and China. Sure, these trends have provided Rural America with inexpensive flat screen televisions and cheap clothing, but that’s cold comfort for families without a reliable source of income.
The U.S. must find ways to make our immigration policies work for the average citizen in places like the Ozarks. Immigrant investor visa programs like EB-5 would be a good place to start. The EB-5 program allows foreign nationals to obtain a green card by investing $1 million into government-approved projects that create or preserve at least 10 jobs (or $500,000 dollars if they are investing into areas with high unemployment).
While the original intention of the program was good, it has been misused by real estate developers and has not brought economic benefits to regular citizens. This program, and others like it, should be retooled so that it brings a fresh supply of entrepreneurship and investment capital to Rural America. For example, the program could be used for foreign entrepreneurs ready to invest in rural enterprises such as value-added food production that can be exported to global markets. These foreign entrepreneurs will not only bring their capital, but will bring their knowledge of global markets to rural communities and create jobs.
By 2020 there is expected to be over five billion people worldwide with access to the Internet. This staggering figure represents a huge opportunity for individuals and small businesses in Rural America to connect with the rest of the world and engage in international trade. Whether you are living in Blue Eye, Missouri or New York City, you have the same opportunity to use digital media to promote your business and improve your life.
Up to now, the Internet has brought prosperity to some segments of Rural America but unfortunately it’s still being underutilized. Large e-commerce companies like eBay and Amazon should invest in rural training centers and road shows to provide practical training in global commerce. Alibaba, the famous Chinese e-commerce company, wants more American companies selling to China and should also be making similar investments in Rural America as an act of good will to support U.S.-China trade relations.
The U.S. government spends almost one hundred million in subsidizing agricultural commodity exports. This is a classic example of our scandalous corporate welfare system, and is money that should either be returned to the taxpayer, or used to support export programs for small businesses engaged in the production of value-added foods. The government can also play its part by ensuring that free trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) level the playing field for small businesses and bring direct benefit to average citizens rather than lining the pockets of big business.
America should not be afraid of free trade because it will continue to bring a wealth of benefits to our country. But for free trade to work, these rewards must reach our most isolated and economically depressed areas. We need to work hard to restore liberty and economic freedom to places like the Ozarks. The future of our country depends on it.
Photo courtesy of Patrick Emerson.
