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Word: ruralism (lookup in dictionary) (lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
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Usage:

...Rural planners contend that communities need a critical mass of at least 2,500 citizens to survive. The shrinkage of America's small towns will only accelerate as young people continue to leave to find better jobs, even though some retirees have migrated from the big cities to rural areas in search of peace and quiet. Although their money is welcome, older people often fail to see the need for economic development, particularly if it means higher taxes...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Small-Town Blues | 3/27/1989 | See Source »

...growth of huge regional discount stores -- despite all the convenience they provide -- has been devastating for many small downtowns, since one shopping center can draw customers away from a dozen or more communities. Says Robert Van Hook, executive director of the National Rural Health Association: "Wal-Marts are the last nails in the coffins of a lot of rural Main Streets." Because downtown retail shops are important employers, their decline can be fatal to the rest of the town's economy as well. Another major small-town employer, the local hospital, is disappearing at the rate of more than...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Small-Town Blues | 3/27/1989 | See Source »

...often portrayed as a response to problems in the farming sector, in many cases the search is an effort to replace the industrial jobs lost in the 1980s, says Kenneth Deavers, a chief economist for the Agriculture Department. Farming and related businesses account for only about one-eighth of rural employment. Attracting new industries to a small town can be tricky. "A lot of these firms are gypsies. They fly from one set of subsidies to another," notes Mark Lapping, dean of architecture and design at Kansas State...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Small-Town Blues | 3/27/1989 | See Source »

...saving small-town America worth the expenditure of more state and federal money? As U.S. cities face deeper problems, ranging from grime to gridlock, the rural option could become more important, or at least more appealing. In a recent USA Today poll, 39% of the people surveyed said they would prefer to live in a small town. (According to U.S. Census figures, less than 24% of the population dwells in rural areas, compared with 44% in 1950.) At the very least, says former Agriculture Secretary Bob Bergland, "it would be unwise for U.S. public policy to force people to leave...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Small-Town Blues | 3/27/1989 | See Source »

Rather than trying to re-create the web of regulations and subsidies that once supported rural America, federal policy should concentrate on helping rural areas compete in the new global economy. Economist Robert Reich of Harvard University believes that rural America must shift its dependence from production of low-value, high-volume products like grain and simple manufactured goods to high-tech manufacturing and services. To make that transition, business and government would have to pump more money into rural schools, hospitals, roads and other infrastructure. Says Van Hook: "We have to make some investments in rural America...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Small-Town Blues | 3/27/1989 | See Source »

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