The Status Quo
written by SCOTT HITCHCOCK
In the early 2000s, opportunities for the urban and rural poor to better their own economic situation shrank drastically. The reasons for this are many and varied, but are mainly the result of middle-wage jobs disappearing. In Athens County, however, these limited opportunities never even appeared.
Athens County is not only one of the most impoverished counties in America right now, it has been for a long, long time.
Just one simple look at the article at the link below shows how the poverty line centers around Upper Appalachia, which Athens County is a part of.
http://www.censusscope.org/us/map_poverty.html
In the past, many middle-wage jobs came in the form of industrial work, often through steel mills or auto factories. However, if you look around Athens, you see no deserted factories. This is because most of those jobs emerged and then disappeared north of here in areas like Pittsburgh, Pa., Steubenville, Ohio, and Canton, Ohio. How could these areas, which are demographically similar and in relatively the same location, have received jobs while our workforce laid fallow and untended?
Did the very presence of higher learning in Athens discourage economic growth and force our county into a service-based industry? Is Ohio University's presence to blame for the economic hardships faced every day by thousands of Athens residents? In an economy, especially one in need of growth or emergence, the best way to raise the living standard is to produce tradable goods. This is something that Athens has never done on a large scale. The presence of large numbers of advanced consumers (people only in need of food and other basic consumer goods) often drives trade-based industry away from an area.
The city of Athens was started solely to house a university, and thus it and surrounding areas have suffered even in times of plenty. I therefore make the argument that Ohio University is to blame for Athens County's economic struggles. Yes, Ohio University and its students support the economy by buying things like cigarettes, beer, food and clothes, but those are all things produced elsewhere by major corporations.
My challenge for Ohio University students then, is this: Next time you need to go on a shopping run, don't go to Wal-Mart or BP. Go to a locally owned small business. Rebuild the economy here by supporting the people who live here. Foster a change in the economic base of this county by choosing to with your buying patterns and your subsequent respect for the local people.
