Yea, you're getting at a very unpopular reality that, if spoken would sink anyone's political career, so politicians will never say it: Many of these little towns probably just shouldn't exist. Nobody wants to admit that a community has failed. Go for a stroll through the Rust Belt or any other economically devastated area. People still live there, despite the misery! You drive through, and it's just old houses and the occasional Walmart vampirically sucking out what little wealth remains. There's no real industry anywhere. You wonder what do all these people living here do for a living?
Instead of trying to prop up obsolete mining communities with hopeless economic support, it would be better to 1. focus on retraining/re-skilling and 2. send fully-subsidized moving vans to help people physically get away from the misery.
Instead of trying to prop up obsolete mining communities with hopeless economic support, it would be better to 1. focus on retraining/re-skilling and 2. send fully-subsidized moving vans to help people physically get away from the misery.