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comment by Tumbamuerta
Tumbamuerta  ·  1872 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Thomas Edsall: What does Tucker Carlson know that the Republican Party doesn't?

Being new to Hubski, thank you for these insightful deep-dives into many topics like this.

To add a little more , learned from personal experience with both families:

The Clampetts economic conditions relate to much of the North- eastern US. Towns and cities built up by a growing industrial-economic base that imploded in a generation or two. The causes are not complicated, in my limited view:

Citizens consumed more and more lower priced goods manufactured outside the country, produced at labor rates unacceptable to themselves.

Companies took advantage of lower production costs to do what business does: make more profit.

State and local politicians, having build infrastructure and support systems for a good local economy, increased taxes to make up for falling tax revenues ( less businesses and people paying taxes, so increase taxes on those left). This accelerated the flight from the area.

Wholesale deletion of resource-based, rural " only game in town" businesses through national legislation, where compromise and investment in safe production/ consumption might have increased.

We got what we paid for.

The Garcias economic conditions driving their migration are the same as the Clampetts, " on steroids". Maybe we switch to using " economic migration"?

Thier family has lived in the same town for generations, each successive generation building a modest house next to each other, on land thier grandfather or earlier generations purchased. Built with concrete and metal, these buildings last for hundreds of years.

Much of thier country is in the same state as the Clampett's area- the Garcias have no where to go except to migrate to a distant foreign land to feed thier family. The head of the household, and/or other able-bodied family members, make a perilous journey to this land of plenty, as seen on TV.

Once there, if they have working papers, thier qualifications for work in their profession don't apply, so they take any two to three jobs they can get, working 18 hours a day. Being the economic engine for an extended family, they send as much money as they can back home. If they have no working papers, they take what ever work they can get.

The cost of living in this new land of opportunity proved to be shockingly expensive, so they pool their resources with others, live in substandard conditions even when compared to thier home country. This maximizes the amount of money they can send home.

For those that cannot speak the local language, transactions of any form are difficult. Their inability to communicate limits thier options and opportunities.

The Clampetts and the Garcias are the same people, in the same situation. In both cases, the citizens of the country, businesses, and governments could have prevented, and still can reverse, these conditions by making different decisions.

For us, ( sorry- have to add my opinion) , the leadership in our country is too wrapped up in opposing one-another because of economic and ideological conflicts of interests. How do politicians enter public service broke and leave multi-millionaires, on both sides? Lobbyists spend millions of dollars while the Clampetts could do a lot with $100 before the end of the month. $100 goes even further for the Garcias.





kleinbl00  ·  1872 days ago  ·  link  ·  

It's insightful to draw the parallels between both. You're right - the Garcias were just forced to adjust first.

That adjustment, however, is powerful. Becoming an immigrant is world-changing. Your expectations are gone and your traditions are what you can carry. It's shit - no doubt. Expect to be knocked down an entire economic rung; if you were wealthy you're middle class and if you were middle class you're picking lettuce. So from the Garcias' perspective, they've given up everything to lick the boots of the Clampetts... and from the Clampetts' perspective, the Garcias have crossed thousands of miles to destroy their way of life.

You're right - the Garcias are just ahead of the Clampetts. But the Clampetts are fighting to not be the Garcias.