On the government shutdown's impact on rural America

Many mainstream media (mostly I'm following the New York Times) stories have touched on rural aspects of the federal government shutdown that began before Christmas and ended in mid January.  I'm going to list here some of the ones I've read or bookmarked, in no particuolar order.

One headline is Shutdown Leaves Food, Medicine and Pay in Doubt in Indian Country, January 1, 2019, dateline Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, population 14,444:

For one tribe of Chippewa Indians in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the government shutdown comes with a price tag: about $100,000, every day, of federal money that does not arrive to keep health clinics staffed, food pantry shelves full and employees paid. 

The tribe is using its own funds to cover the shortfalls for now.

Much farther south, Patricia Mazzei reported  on January 9 from Marianna, Florida, population 6102, still reeling from Hurricane Michael.  Marianna is somewhat inland in the state's panhandle, but it suffered tremendous flooding during the fall, 2018 hurricane.  The headline is "‘It’s Just Too Much’: A Florida Town Grapples With a Shutdown After a Hurricane," and here's the lede, focusing on a federal prison in the area and the one-two punch dealt by the hurricane and then the government shutdown: 

A federal prison here in Florida’s rural Panhandle lost much of its roof and fence during Hurricane Michael in October, forcing hundreds of inmates to relocate to a facility in Yazoo City, Miss., more than 400 miles away. 

Since then, corrections officers have had to commute there to work, a seven-hour drive, for two-week stints. As of this week, thanks to the partial federal government shutdown, they will be doing it without pay — no paychecks and no reimbursement for gas, meals and laundry, expenses that can run hundreds of dollars per trip. 

“You add a hurricane, and it’s just too much,” said Mike Vinzant, a 32-year-old guard and the president of the local prison officers’ union.

The story quotes Marianna's city manager:

I worry about the government pulling out of rural America.  

This story, "Farm Country Stood by Trump. But the Shutdown Is Pushing It to Breaking Point," focuses on the impact of the shutdown on farmers and the agricultural sector more generally.   Here's an excerpt from Jack Healy and Tyler Pager's story:

Farm country has stood by President Trump, even as farmers have strained under two years of slumping incomes and billions in losses from his trade wars. But as the government shutdown now drags into a third week, some farmers say the loss of crucial loans, payments and other services has pushed them — and their support — to a breaking point.

The story includes agricultural anecdotes from Georgia, New York, Wisconsin and Mississippi.

Here's one focusing on the Coast Guard, which has a major presence in Alaska.  Thomas Gibbons-Neff reports from Kodiak, AK (population 6,130) under the headline, "A Small Alaska Town Reels as the Coast Guard Weathers On Without Pay."  About a quarter of Kodiak's population is "either an employee or dependent family member of the Coast Guard."

The morning after more than 40,000 Coast Guard members missed their first paycheck, and the federal government’s shutdown stretched into its fourth week, Eleanor King placed an empty jar next to her diner’s cash register. 

In scribbled black marker, a sign on the jar, written in all capital letters, read: Donation Coast Guard. By 9 a.m. on Wednesday, nearly an hour before a rainy winter sunrise, the jar held $120 — money with which patrons were effectively buying meals for members of the maritime force.

And here's a story out of Alabama, focusing on consequences of the fallout for Senator Doug Jones.  An excerpt from Lisa Lerer's story follows:

Mr. Jones is the only red-state Senate Democrat up for re-election in 2020. By taking on President Trump and the border wall, which are both popular in Alabama, and refusing to give ground on the shutdown, the senator may be the last “Doug Jones Democrat” to win here anytime soon. 

Alabama has one of the largest groups of federal workers in the country, and the economic pain of those who are out of work because of the shutdown is rippling through local businesses across the state.

About the shutdown more generally, here's a great story about the impact on government contractors, including the folks who clean office buildings.

On how "Trump country" is falling further behind under Trump (government shutdown aside), read this from November, 2018:

Looking at 13 months of data since the election, we can see that that hasn’t happened. The average Trump county added 1.13 percent more jobs, while the average Clinton county added 0.49 percent. These increases are quite small, especially considering that significantly fewer jobs existed in Trump counties to begin with. 

Housing prices tell a similar story, with even more data stretching into 2018. Regardless of how I compare the counties, Clinton supporters consistently come out on top. Even though their housing prices started significantly higher than their counterparts in Trump counties, their value increases even faster after November 2016.