Why would people not want to commute to a plant built in a more secure, upscale location? They commute all over the place now.

Power plants' locations at present are dictated by who will allow them to be built nearby. The people with the most understanding of how the system works will win. Hint: who can afford better educations?

Why is it so desperately necessary to paint the wealthy as clones of Marie Antoinette? How many of those resort-dwellers are Democrats?

First, Marie Antoinette was part of an absolute monarchy. We couldn't have a clone of her here.

Second, she actually got a bum rap, if you read your history.

Third, the wealthy will make sure that the facilities that produce their goods and services are not located anywhere near their neighborhoods. As I said: look where things end up. Why would they want that? They want what we all want: to live in a nice, safe park with plentiful shopping and entertainment reasonably close. They can control enough of the political process to get it.

Fourth, if you don't basically believe this is true, why bring up how many of them are Democrats? And yes, some of them are Democrats. When it comes to self-interest based on income and occupation, you would be surprised how little political party matters. This is why, regardless of who controls state houses and state legislatures, school districts with low tax bases have to go to court to get relief from the inequalities in educational spending in a state. Students from school districts with high tax bases, i.e., the districts with high-income residents, will have the advantage. Class trumps political preference 7 times out of 10.

One reason workers might live near the plant has very little to do with walking to work. It has to do with the fact that they can't afford to live in cleaner, more secure areas with better schools because of their income levels. (What is the first thing blue collar workers do when they get real money? They move to the suburbs.) So the workers live where they can afford to live: the places with the lower property values, near the means of production. And why are property values lower there? Noise. Dirt. Smoke. Traffic. Industrial hazards. Crime.

So one way to fix this is to clean up the things that are making industrial facilities unattractive places to live near. And another way is to put such facilities near neighborhoods of people who not only don't want them there (for the above-mentioned reasons), but have enough clout to get something done about the root causes. I'm not holding my breath, but then, I don't live near a factory so I don't have to.