I stumbled onto an article by Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic which discussed one of the places in the West Virginia Panhandle, where I live, that I have shopped at: the local Wal-Mart.
Or, as he put it, the “crappiest Wal-Mart in America”. An exerpt:
If you want to see the underside of the unregulated capitalist economy, the people who can’t find the non-existent escape ladder from poverty and its pathologies, visit the Martinsburg, West Virginia Wal-Mart. Morbid obesity; spontaneous, public bouts of corporal punishment directed against dirty children; ten-year girls dressed as whores; tattoos running up necks and down legs; smoking like you only see these days in Baku; it’s all here.
The Panhandle is considered one of the more liberal places in the Appalachian economy that is West Virginia. But even here we have higher than average unemployment, lower than average annual incomes, a devastated population which, going back to Reagan, was convinced that Republican de-regulation was in everyone’s best interest as they all slid further down the slippery slope.
Wal-Mart, being the cheap source for breakable Chinese goods, is the catchall at the bottom that gets most of the clothing, school supply, home appliance and gardening business around here. Goldberg’s view of the people he sees here is not unreasonable… in fact it is frighteningly accurate.
Elly and I moved to the Panhandle, and, in particular, to the small college town of Shepherdstown (home of Shepherd University and some of the most expensive houses in the area) to get away from the Hagerstown, MD, area where we work. Shepherdstown was our initial view of the Panhandle… and it was a little off-putting when we drove out of town for shopping… towards Martinsburg about 8 miles away… and found another world. When I got involved with the Obama campaign in the WV Primary (which Hillary Clinton won, as you will recall, by catering to the rifle-toting “bitter” folk of white Appalachia), I became even more aware of this economy that had been kept down by decades of deregulating administrations that removed their opportunities by offering them unkept promises.
In my county, Jefferson County, the major income provider is Horse Racing and Slot Machines in the County Seat at Charles Town. Oh… there is some nearby Government employment (the IRS is in Martinsburg – I used to commute up here from Washington DC when I worked for CSC who had the IRS as a client; Shepherdstown has the Forest Service’s main training facility (which is rumored to be THE training facility for the CIA), and a good deal of small, private farms. But the downtowns in Martinsburg, Charles Town and other places nearby are dilapidated and victims of Mall surroundings. Shepherdstown’s 2 block downtown has saved itself by becoming a tourist attraction… shops and restaurants, mostly, operating at full tilt for 9 months of the year.
Goldberg looks at the results he sees at the Martinsburg Wal-Mart as the dregs of unregulated capitalism, and I think he is right. Easily one of the best things that could happen with a Democratic Presidency and a stronger Democratic Congress could be a return to the kind of regulation which would have protected us from the oil crisis, the housing/mortgage debacle and the increasing costs of food, clothing and just about everything else we need for basic survival.
And if you are ever in Martinsburg, WV, follow his warning and stay out of Wal-Mart’s men’s room.