To the Editor:
Today's issue of the New York Times by weekly op-ed writer Paul Krugman noted that 87% of Clay County voted for Trump. He promised to bring back coal jobs. But, Krugman pointed out, they peaked way back in 1979, "fell rapidly during the Reagan years, and [were] down by more than half by 2007."
That is, before the Obama administration. Krugman points out that the culprit is fracking and mountain-top removal, which takes many fewer men, and that is not likely to change. Does anyone really believe the power behind the fossil fuel industry is going to make it more costly to produce coal?It breaks our hearts here, in the supposedly elitist educated Northeast, to see the less fortunate people in this country duped. Hopefully, Clay Countians haven't been "duped".
Bettina A. Norton
Boston, MA
