>By HOPE YEN and JOHN RABY, Associated Press Hope Yen And John Raby, Associated Press – 11 mins ago
WELCH, W.Va. – Nestled within America’s once-thriving coal country, 87-year-old Ed Shepard laments a prosperous era gone by, when shoppers lined the streets and government lent a helping hand. Now, here as in one-fourth of all U.S. counties, West Virginia’s graying residents are slowly dying off.
Hit by an aging population and a poor economy, a near-record number of U.S. counties are experiencing more deaths than births in their communities, a phenomenon demographers call “natural decrease.”
Years in the making, the problem is spreading amid a prolonged job slump and a push by Republicans in Congress to downsize government and federal spending.
“You’re the anchors of our Main Streets,” President Barack Obama told small business leaders in Cleveland on Tuesday. “We want your stories — your successes, your failures, what barriers you’re seeing out there to expand. .How can America help you succeed so that you can help America succeed?”
