Larry the Legend Loc: Not hiding in Milton

That too. You nailed it.

Black lung, that had to be an awful way to go, you know?

beammeupscotty Loc: 31°07'50.8"N 87°27'00.8"W

Thank you Linda, hope you are well also. Had a rough 2017 but, so far 2018 has been fantastic!

Nickolai

I owned my own construction business for 20 years worked in supervision for a company for five years before that and was never bothered by any regulation State or Federal I was signatory to the Carpenters and Painters unions until the big real estate developers managed to bust them and the unions were never a problem. Every three years an new agreement was negotiated between the contractors association and the unions and that was the end of it for another three years. Then the unions were gone and it became dog eat dog.

Nickolai

Our understanding of human nature, the laws of economics, the history of mankind, and a quick glance in the mirror tell us everything we need to know. In short, that so-called “self-policing” doctrine promoted by free market zealots is a howling fraud.
Just consider other applications of “self-policing.” What if it were applied to our roads and highways? What if motorists were told that no more traffic tickets would be issued? Or what if college and professional athletes were told there would be no more tests for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs? What if there were no more audits of our tax returns? One of the best examples of the need for stringent government regulation is the April 5, 2010, explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine (in Montcoal, West Virginia), which k**led 29 miners. This non-union mine (unaffiliated with the United Mine Workers) was owned and operated by Massey Energy. The reason we mention its non-union status is because there is no way in hell this could have happened in a union mine.

Although the cause of the explosion was eventually traced back to unsafe, substandard mine conditions (the accumulation of flammable gas, among other things), federal investigators found evidence of something far more disturbing.
In order to thwart possible interference of government safety officials, Massey Energy was keeping two sets of books. One set contained all the beautiful, by-the-numbers stuff any federal safety official would rejoice in seeing during a routine mine inspection, and the other contained the actual, untampered-with data (which, in Massey’s case, was incriminating).

Nickolai

This is nonsense Your dreaming again Don
In Decatur, Ill., far from the coal mines of Appalachia, Caterpillar engineers are working on the future of mining: mammoth haul trucks that drive themselves.
The trucks have no drivers, not even remote operators. Instead, the 850,000-pound vehicles rely on self-driving technology, the latest in an increasingly autonomous line of trucks and drills that are removing some of the human element from digging for coal.
When President Trump moved to dismantle the Obama administration’s c*****e c****e efforts, he promised it would bring coal-mining jobs back to America. But the jobs he alluded to — hardy miners in mazelike tunnels with picks and shovels — have steadily become vestiges of the past.

Pressured by cheap and abundant natural gas, coal is in a precipitous decline, now making up just a third of electricity generation in the United States. Renewables are fast becoming competitive with coal on price. Electricity sales are trending downward, and coal exports are falling.
All the while, the coal industry has been replacing workers with machines and explosives. Energy and labor specialists say that no one — including Mr. Trump — can bring them all back.

Nickolai

Well yeah Obama inherited a great recession with 750,000 jobs down the tube every month an a 1.3 trillion deficit on the desk of the oval office. Trump inherited a healthy economy and an economic trend stock market and rising job market that began in Dec 2009

Nickolai

Oil and coal is 19th century technology and will go the way of the dinosaurs eventually and sooner than you think

kankune Loc: Iowa

Nikki...the ONLY thing we inherited from obama was evil, and grief!!

Nickolai

245 Things President Obama Has Accomplished That Conservatives Don’t Want You To Know About

We got a recovery from a near depression that is in its ninth year and the all time record for a recovery from recession is 10 years so this Recovery is reaching its soon to be limit. There is no economic driver that could drive the recovery to a new record. Obama only had 15 months of control of congress and in his 8 years Republicans filibustered every bill proposed by democrats. In any event Obama still managed to make some progress

debeda

Do you understand the difference between federal regulations and collective bargaining? Doesn't sound like it.

debeda

kankune Loc: Iowa

Yep..the ONLY progress he made was tearing this country apart!!!

EconomistDon

So what is your point? Deep mines have been a thing of the past. Coal in the Appalachian Mountains is strip mined. The top layers are removed for later replacement; then huge d**g lines scoop up the coal. This has been the process for most of the last half century. Apparently you just learned this. But the strip mines where I grew up were all shut down by Obama era regulations. They are now reopening. And its not just d**g line operators and explosive experts; its truck drivers, coal tipple operators, railroad workers, and power plant workers. Many jobs were affected.

You seem to think that conservative want to eliminate "all" regulations. That is typical Democrat nonsense; its what they blabber when conservative resist over-regulation. Fact is, we just want the stupid, unnecessary regulations eliminated. Obama's administration was responsible for about 3000 new regulations. I guarantee that many, or possibly most were stupid and unnecessary. Nobody is arguing to eliminate "necessary" regulations -- get it?

EconomistDon

Oil and coal would go away faster if you Democrats would get your heads out of your butts over nuclear energy. Until that happens, there aren't enough solar cells and wind turbines to replace f****l f**l energy. You can't force technology change without destroying jobs and damaging the economy. Democrats never understand that. It takes time and open markets to make the change. Stop destroying peoples' livelihoods by forcing the issue.

bahmer

What is that saying if you build a better mousetrap the world will beat a path to your door. As of yet we have not built a better mousetrap. Until that happens coal and oil will remain king.