thisorthatorwhatever , 2 months ago 1910 machinery starts to transform farming, killing small subsistence farms. 1920 factories in large towns start draw labor of off small subsistence farms 1930 cheap cars make it easier to travel great distances, small towns start to decline 1930-50s telephones, refrigerators, radios and TVs allow people to live even greater distances apart 1970s new pesticides allow for an even greater mega-farms, and fewer family farmers 1980s Free trade kills off most industrial jobs in small towns 1990s collapse of USSR means rush of cheap engineering labor, depreciates well paying technical jobs 2000s reinvestment into oil fracking and other oil extraction methods causes dutch-disease (taxes come from oil, so little interest in industry) 2010s spike in cheap synthetic drugs rolls through rural America
1910 machinery starts to transform farming, killing small subsistence farms.
1920 factories in large towns start draw labor of off small subsistence farms
1930 cheap cars make it easier to travel great distances, small towns start to decline
1930-50s telephones, refrigerators, radios and TVs allow people to live even greater distances apart
1970s new pesticides allow for an even greater mega-farms, and fewer family farmers
1980s Free trade kills off most industrial jobs in small towns
1990s collapse of USSR means rush of cheap engineering labor, depreciates well paying technical jobs
2000s reinvestment into oil fracking and other oil extraction methods causes dutch-disease (taxes come from oil, so little interest in industry)
2010s spike in cheap synthetic drugs rolls through rural America