This is EXACTLY the same dynamic that’s driving rural hospitals into closure. Costs are going up, labor force is shrinking, and there aren’t enough people living in rural areas to make service of any kind economical. Their ability to live and thrive in the hinterland was always subsidized by the federal government. We paid for their highways, their electrical grid, their postal service, their bridges, and we’re currently subsidizing their “last mile” internet service. The free market doesn’t give a single fuck about them and isn’t going to provide anything for them that doesn’t have a slam dunk ROI. Conservatives are about to learn the hard way why “gub’mint bad” is a fucking horrible philosophy if you’re living in a town with a population that’s smaller than the seating capacity of a single football stadium. The government was the only thing keeping those communities alive through the late 20th century, and thanks to “drown the government in a bathtub” troglodytes they’re about to be abandoned and left to fend for themselves.

We tried to warn them, and they spit in our faces, so fuck em.