HUGO, COLORADO // Folks in this windswept, hardscrabble town get a grim laugh over the fact that the president recently set a half-million-dollar salary cap on New York bank executives widely blamed for sending the economy tumbling.
Out here in Lincoln County, in Colorado's remote south-eastern flatlands, you consider yourself lucky to bring home US$20,000 (Dh73,000) a year. Many households scrape by on about half that.
"When the state figured out what wage you needed to earn to qualify to collect free food," said Karen Korvar, who runs the local food bank, "it turned out virtually everybody in this county qualified."
As the United States trudges through the worst financial turmoil since the Great Depression, and new labour department statistics put nationwide unemployment at 8.1 per cent, times are particularly tough in Hugo and other tiny, rural towns.
"Rural communities face a whole different set of challenges than cities and large towns right now," said Lori Capu, the chief programmes officer for the Care and Share Food Bank, which has seen demand for food handouts rise 40 per cent since the economic downturn began.
Hugo had been in trouble for years before Wall Street crashed, a steady decline that sent its population drifting away like the tumbleweed that blows across the featureless plains.
Most of Hugo's young people took off years ago in search of jobs, leaving a community top heavy with elderly households, and a high school graduating fewer than a dozen students each year.
Many more residents want to leave, but say they cannot sell their homes. A decade-long drought has all but wiped out the farms and cattle ranches. And then the meat-processing plant shut down, dashing hopes the ranches would ever recover.
"Nowadays, most people with jobs here work over at the 'pen'," said Sarah Olson, a 64-year-old with muscular dystrophy, referring to the state prison in nearby Limon.
And they are the lucky ones. All but one of the shops on Hugo's dilapidated main street have been boarded up. The local hardware store, owned by the mayor, serves as the de facto town centre, posting funeral notices on its front window. With sales down sharply, it is struggling, too.
The economic downturn put the final boot in for many, and may herald the final chapter for the area's few remaining cowboys.
"It ain't easy to be a rancher these days," said Adrian Mousel, after collecting a box of food handouts from the Care and Share station in nearby Cheyenne Wells.
That town's population has dwindled to just 950 in the past year, and the food bank now feeds almost one-third of them.
"Our unemployment rate hovers at two per cent," said Burry Bessee, the pastor at United Methodist Church in town, "but that is only because so many people just leave when they lose work."
That left Cheyenne Wells with a predominantly elderly population, just as in Hugo. Many elderly residents in this town saw their retirement savings slashed when the US stock market crashed.
"I lost about half my retirement during the Bush years," said Carl Spencer, a former electrician. "The first week Obama took office, it lost another 25 per cent of its value."
Because such rural towns as Hugo and Cheyenne Wells have ageing populations, there is a proportionally greater need for medical care and other social services, but the lack of younger generations means there is no balance of tax revenue to support the elderly.
And the jobs that have disappeared in these communities are not ever likely to return.
"There's a domino effect," Mrs Capu said. "Once the ranches and farms go, then the shops and restaurants fail. Eventually, there is not enough revenue to keep the schools and health clinics open."
Mrs Olson, in Hugo, pulled her food container home in her granddaughter's red wagon, dragging it behind the electric wheelchair the state gave her. Living in a shared trailer home, where she and two relatives eke by on $2,100 a month, she wondered aloud if Washington knew how bad the situation had become.
"I saw [US Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton in Afghanistan promising to increase American aid," she said. "And I said, 'Why don't you put it over here instead?' "
But dwindling towns such as Hugo and Cheyenne Wells are expected to receive proportionally less relief from Barack Obama's $787-billion stimulus package than more prosperous cities, precisely because many perceive such communities are already well on their way to becoming ghost towns.
Some worry what will become of these isolated and ageing communities, as more and more services and businesses around them close.
Ninavera Glass, an 85-year-old, lives in nearby Genoa, a place she describes as a one-horse town that no longer even has a horse. "The cafe closed. Then the grocery and the mechanic shut down," she said. "Today, all we got left is the post office."
Mrs Glass is no stranger to hard times. She grew up during the Depression, when her mother used to hang a quilt over the door to keep the dust out. In 1941, she married "a Texas cowboy", as she described him, and moved to Genoa, where he worked on a cattle ranch.
Widowed almost a decade ago, Mrs Glass recently gave up trying to make ends meet on her meagre Social Security payment. "You realise one day you just don't have enough to go around," she said. "It's scary, and a person don't know what's coming next."
What people in these areas say they fear most is a return to the $4-a-gallon gas prices of a year ago.
"I drive 20 miles just to buy milk," Mrs Glass said. Many others here commute twice that distance for work and to do routine shopping. Some said they had to cut down their food purchases when fuel prices soared.
Although unemployment figures in Lincoln County are officially below the national average, people such as Karen Korvar at the Hugo food bank said there is widespread under-employment, an equally critical concern.
"I am seeing people in here who are working two, three jobs and they still earn so little they can qualify for food aid," she said.
Nicole Kunze, who runs the cash register two days a week at the Hugo hardware store and also works as a nanny, said she is desperate for more hours. "I have been keeping my eye out for new employment, but there's just nothing out there," she said.
Cassandra Arnold, a 29-year-old mother of three in Cheyenne Wells, is equally anxious. She has called fast-food chains, nursing homes, petrol stations and convenience stores but no one is hiring. Her husband, a former truck driver, is also out of work.
"I feel we are at the bottom," she said. "It can't get much worse so I just smile and keep going."
gpeters@thenational.ae
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Mina Cup winners
Under 12 – Minerva Academy
Under 14 – Unam Pumas
Under 16 – Fursan Hispania
Under 18 – Madenat
A%20QUIET%20PLACE
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Four motivational quotes from Alicia's Dubai talk
“The only thing we need is to know that we have faith. Faith and hope in our own dreams. The belief that, when we keep going we’re going to find our way. That’s all we got.”
“Sometimes we try so hard to keep things inside. We try so hard to pretend it’s not really bothering us. In some ways, that hurts us more. You don’t realise how dishonest you are with yourself sometimes, but I realised that if I spoke it, I could let it go.”
“One good thing is to know you’re not the only one going through it. You’re not the only one trying to find your way, trying to find yourself, trying to find amazing energy, trying to find a light. Show all of yourself. Show every nuance. All of your magic. All of your colours. Be true to that. You can be unafraid.”
“It’s time to stop holding back. It’s time to do it on your terms. It’s time to shine in the most unbelievable way. It’s time to let go of negativity and find your tribe, find those people that lift you up, because everybody else is just in your way.”
Company%20Profile
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UAE WARRIORS RESULTS
Featherweight
Azouz Anwar (EGY) beat Marcelo Pontes (BRA)
TKO round 2
Catchweight 90kg
Moustafa Rashid Nada (KSA) beat Imad Al Howayeck (LEB)
Split points decision
Welterweight
Gimbat Ismailov (RUS) beat Mohammed Al Khatib (JOR)
TKO round 1
Flyweight (women)
Lucie Bertaud (FRA) beat Kelig Pinson (BEL)
Unanimous points decision
Lightweight
Alexandru Chitoran (ROU) beat Regelo Enumerables Jr (PHI)
TKO round 1
Catchweight 100kg
Marc Vleiger (NED) beat Mohamed Ali (EGY)
Rear neck choke round 1
Featherweight
James Bishop (NZ) beat Mark Valerio (PHI)
TKO round 2
Welterweight
Abdelghani Saber (EGY) beat Gerson Carvalho (BRA)
TKO round 1
Middleweight
Bakhtiyar Abbasov (AZE) beat Igor Litoshik (BLR)
Unanimous points decision
Bantamweight
Fabio Mello (BRA) beat Mark Alcoba (PHI)
Unanimous points decision
Welterweight
Ahmed Labban (LEB) v Magomedsultan Magomedsultanov (RUS)
TKO round 1
Bantamweight
Trent Girdham (AUS) beat Jayson Margallo (PHI)
TKO round 3
Lightweight
Usman Nurmagomedov (RUS) beat Roman Golovinov (UKR)
TKO round 1
Middleweight
Tarek Suleiman (SYR) beat Steve Kennedy (AUS)
Submission round 2
Lightweight
Dan Moret (USA) v Anton Kuivanen (FIN)
TKO round 2
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
About Takalam
Date started: early 2020
Founders: Khawla Hammad and Inas Abu Shashieh
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech and wellness
Number of staff: 4
Funding to date: Bootstrapped
HAJJAN
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APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
THE%20SPECS
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Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
The specs
Engine: 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 540hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 600Nm at 2,500rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Kerb weight: 1580kg
Price: From Dh750k
On sale: via special order
Drishyam 2
Directed by: Jeethu Joseph
Starring: Mohanlal, Meena, Ansiba, Murali Gopy
Rating: 4 stars
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Oppenheimer
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Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
Company%C2%A0profile
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The biog
Favourite film: The Notebook
Favourite book: What I know for sure by Oprah Winfrey
Favourite quote: “Social equality is the only basis of human happiness” Nelson Madela. Hometown: Emmen, The Netherlands
Favourite activities: Walking on the beach, eating at restaurants and spending time with friends
Job: Founder and Managing Director of Mawaheb from Beautiful Peopl
More on Palestine-Israeli relations
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs: 2018 Volkswagen Teramont
Price, base / as tested Dh137,000 / Dh189,950
Engine 3.6-litre V6
Gearbox Eight-speed automatic
Power 280hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 360Nm @ 2,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 11.7L / 100km
The%20Genius%20of%20Their%20Age
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