How has Dayton, Ohio changed over time in regards to poverty and employment opportunities? Discuss the social and economic forces that have caused increased poverty in Dayton Ohio.
Dayton Ohio was once referred to the epitome of American prosperity wealth and ingenuity but now the poverty rates have soared up to 34.5 percent which is almost three times the rate of poverty in the entire country. During the 1900s, the place was filling more patents per capita compared to other places in the country. Looking at Dayton in 1930 to 1970s, people were filled with prosperity and the middle and bottom class people saw a rise in their income, consequently, millions of people became owners of houses and facilities. Nonetheless, the situation began changing by the influence of various factors.
Because of the opportunities present at the place, people crammed it and the interracial society was the first worry. Most of the people that jammed the place were Black and people were not comfortable having them around. The African-Americans were then segregated and denied many opportunities which include settling at the suburbs. They moved to West Dayton where resources and funds steadily declined. Because of this, livelihoods began declining and incomes decreased significantly.
The social issues led to more detrimental economic consequences. Dayton was no longer the attractive place for the corporate American to invest their wealth in. Many corporations and people began pulling out their investments leaving the community in a desperate situation. During the wave of deregulation in the Reagan era, tax cuts were made on the wealth which worsened the situation. Bill Clinton in 1993 signed NAFTA and this triggered the flight of multiple auto-parts makers out of Dayton to Mexico.
The worst thing that happened to the place was globalization when China was admitted to the World Trade organizations. The community lost dominance over organizations and they were not used to it. A lot of work was redirected to other places like China and Mexico; consequently, from 2001 to 2007, almost 23, 000 jobs were lost in the Dayton metro area. Other companies like GM shut down their operations in Dayton because of increasing costs and, as a result, many people were laid off. Because of all these problems, more than 190, 000 jobs were lost and as the economy entered the Great Recession, Dayton was dragged down with it.
Discuss two main takeaways from the film
Economic downturn
Globalization led to unhealthy competition between the local industries and the foreign ones. The film depicts deeply the effects that globalization has brought to Dayton City that was once a self-sufficient but is due to external pressure factors that were brought about by globalization, it led to the closure of many industries that devastated the local economy at a greater extent. This is because the corporations suddenly went hard on the workers, disintegrating unions and transferring their resources abroad. Since few individuals were working towards the maintenance of the local infrastructure, many companies were forced to be closed and the workers working their lost their jobs while others were being deported to other countries.
Opioid epidemic
The city was known to be struggling with many concerns including unexplained deaths cases among its citizen which greatly brought negative impacts to its per capita income. The film illustrated that there was a failure in companies manufacturing drugs to vigilantly trace what was ineffective during drugs production before it was consumed by the consumers. Sadly, it is worrying to know that there are more fatalities reported than the morgue’s coolers can accommodate and despite this fact, most of the citizens are assuming the worse by taking matters into their own hands by struggling to exist through survival.
Works Cited
"In Montgomery County, 1 in 5 Live in Poverty." Mydaytondailynews, 2 Oct. 2015, www.mydaytondailynews.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/montgomery-county-live-poverty/fzVS1fIGioe60Wm3IlPaPN/.
"Left Behind America." FRONTLINE, www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/left-behind-america/.
