oiuew83

Read or watch the news to understand why: jobs, market growth, yadda yadda.

Well, like all things, there are a range of opinions. Point taken.

My anecdotal experiences, talking to people online (mostly Reddit) and in-person (I grew up in rural midwest, have an affinity for those small towns, but live in PDX, and like to road trip to those areas), the reason there are no jobs is because taxes keep businesses away.

I know Oregon does this to an extent; I have seen signs located next to state highway projects "Your tax dollars at work.".

The central rural parts of Oregon are killing their communities out of ignorance.

In 2014 Josephine county voted down a tax to keep their jail open.

Another counties entire sheriff's department resigned recently, due to lack of funding to properly staff the office; they were all burning the candle at both ends.

There are other examples of this behavior over the last decade that are easily Googled, so I'll avoid posting it all.

If you talk to these people, or see their commentaries online, many of them are thinking they'll just make taxes low, and of course someone will build a factory, in the middle of nowhere, with a poorly informed workforce, and no social services.

The locals don't want to shoulder the cost of education and security, but of course some private business owner will.