That makes it a little unfair to judge anti-poverty programs, he said. If you hold things to that standard, then they fail. But you can say that poverty is substantially better than it was, that the efforts affected people, that they brought hope. Appalachia, all over again While the rest of the country was enjoying the sunny days of the Reagan Revolution, West Virginia lost more than half its mining jobs in the 1980s as the bottom fell out of the coal industry. Today, coal's future is precarious.
Newspaper headlines scream of lost jobs and closed mines.
Studies question how long it will be until reserves are depleted. And the social programs implemented under earlier administrations are being rolled back as a new government philosophy takes hold. More than 50 percent of the families on West Virginia's welfare rolls have been dropped as the state, working under a federal mandate, implements new, stricter requirements. In this uncertain time, Appalachian poverty is being rediscovered. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., remains skeptical today.