(11 hours ago)EndtheMadnessNow Wrote: White Gold stories from 2022:
The coming "white gold" rush under the Salton Sea to fuel the Biden battery revolution. Gov Newsom calls it the "Saudi Arabia of lithium" and developers are making big plans to extract it. But will locals get left behind?
The answer is yes, the locals WILL get left behind. Speaking as a long-time inhabitant of mining country, outsiders (we calls 'em "furriners", on account of wherever they're from, they ain't from around here) come in, make a lot of grandiose promises, work us to death, and then when the mine goes dry, kick us to the curb like so much trash. Matter of fact, I think that is really where the term "white trash" comes from.
We've already riidden that ride here, whether we were tall enough to ride it or not.
The squeeze comes from all directions. The company owners bring in goons to keep you in line. Every now and then, you've got to shoot a goon and make him vanish, 'cause if you don't, he'll damned sure get you. I've lost a few friends because the goons shot faster, so you learn to shoot fast, and never, EVER, answer a knock at the door unarmed. A guy I grew up with was buried without his head because the guy on the other side of the door had a shotgun. No one was ever arrested for it - no one knows if it was a Company goon or a Union goon that did him in.
The constabulary really didn't look into it all that hard, since they are working for the government to begin with, so they don't care all that much so long as they can snatch a tax from you or your estate.
The government takes all the pay the company leaves you in taxes. The miners themselves unionize just so they can terrorize the entire countryside every 3 years when the contract is up for renewal. There ain't nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide once they start mining your area. Only thing you can do is learn to fight like a mother, and never back down 'cause backing down is the best way I know of to get shot in the back.
I wouldn't wish a mining life on anyone, not even a California Liberal. They never learn, and still believe the Union has got their backs. Suckers!
The only thing mining bequeaths on a place is poverty left in the vacuum after the empty promises suck all the air out of the room... and a lot of empty holes in the ground like so much Swiss cheese. Don't get me wrong - those holes in the ground are a dandy place to stash the bodies, but they get put there though a bunch of lies, chicanery, and cheating from all sides. That's all that mining gives you.
That's why I take pot-shots at anyone approaching my patch wearing a suit. They're probably coming to try to hoodwink me out of my minerals for a song and a dance, and they can't have 'em. I'm keeping my minerals. I've already seen what happens when you let just ONE of those sumbitches cross the cattle guard. A whole herd of the bastards stampedes ya after that one gets through, and like locusts they only leave you with a lot less than you had to begin with. The Unions snatch the last dollar out of your hand too, on their way out the door to fleece their next victims.
Nope, the locals ain't gonna get rich. That's for the Big Wheels in New York, Company and Union alike, to do, and they can't get rich if they give that money to YOU, or even let you keep a little bit of it, now can they?
The Companies, the Unions, and LBJ with his bullshit "War on Poverty" can ALL kiss my rosy red ass until their lips get chapped. They all promise you the sun, the moon, and the stars to get your stuff, but then just hand you a bag of shit in payment... then they take the bag back, and just leave you with a pile of shit.
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