We have quite a few self proclaimed "liberal" intellectuals here in Seattle who have turned on the working class of any color Eli. You work for one of their flagship newspapers.

How dare white people be poor! What kind of example are they setting?

Eh, just the same old pull yourself up by your bootstraps while we kick you in the face song. Most commonly sung to African Americans but really just what entitled people have been saying to the masses since this country began.

Apparently these people have never dealt with the realities of trying to rent a u-haul and move across country with a) no money to rent the u-haul, much less pay for the gas and mileage, and b) no money to pay a month's rent and damage deposit on advance--assuming you could find a landlord willing to rent to you with no local job or employment history. There is an argument to be made that there is room for a government relocation allowance in lieu of unemployment, but they didn't make it here.

Pretty sure you cobbled together that Williamson post from Dan's Urban Achiplego article from 200-whatever.

It also occurs to me that there is a lot of class-based moral shaming, as though only the working poor abuse substances or cheat on their spouses. Apparently the author has never heard of Rush Limbaugh or Newt Gingrich.

Conservatives failing the white working class is not new - they've played them all along, looking to them as useful idiots, for their votes. Trump appeals to poor white people largely because for a long time now they've felt there is no one in government who speaks for them. Conservatives hate them because they are poor. Liberals hate them because they are white. So they turn to Trump.

Productivity is higher than ever but poverty is on the rise because people don't want to work... sure, why not.

David Brooks and Ross Douthat- NYT's cons- are even more pathetic. Four years ago they told us how smart are those republican voters.

Raindrop- in case you read this... You keep telling us that house republicans opposed any Obama moves right from the outset because they were so radical.
Could you please elaborate on those radical policies?
Also, why didn’t the pres try and implement them when he had both houses during his first two years in office?

I love the idea of federal relocation support for those who wish to try their luck elsewhere. The poverty in the middle of the country and Appalachia is dire. However, no one should pretend that a massive wave of low income newcomers would be treated very nicely regardless of where they went. Even low income urbanites are regularly told, "You have no right to be here. If you can't afford our gentrified rents, get out and go to the middle of nowhere where everything is cheap.". So poor people get shitty judgemental advice from everyone no matter where they go.

wow, this passes for intellectual? Must be a self branded title that Kevin Williamson and ilk conjured out of the black hole of their withered soul.

They need real opportunity, which means that they need real change, which means that they need U-Haul.

I dunno, can U-Haul get these folks to China or India?

The white working class is indeed to blame for its sorry state, but only for getting suckered into believing the ideology of the likes of Kevin Williamson going back to the Reagan revolution. I'm reminded of the title of that book written in 2005 by Thomas Frank, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" This is what happens when you spend generations voting against your own economic interests.

I wouldn't be quite so harsh on the white working class, though, for its support of Donald Trump. It's an indication they're finally waking up to the GOP's elaborate con. Sure, Trump is himself a con artist, but is he any less of a con artist than the oligarchy's empty suits like Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio? With Bush and Rubio, you already know ahead of time they're going to pander to you and then stick it to you every chance they get. That's what their puppetmasters want them to do. With Trump, at least there's a chance he'll be looking out for your interests for once.