small towns leading economic comeback?

obama is on a bus tour to reconnect with small-town america -- or at least be seen on the nightly news talking about things that people are worried about. it's not deficits, of course, but jobs. so with this in mind, he spouts a most improbable scenario:

Obama: Look for economic comeback in small-town America - Political Hotsheet - CBS News: "Telling residents of Peosta, Iowa that small towns hold the key to economic recovery, President Obama today announced a series of initiatives aimed at increasing the number of jobs in rural America. The president said the new initiatives are steps the administration can take without consulting Congress -- but he pressed citizens to call on Congress to accomplish more."

and after that, of course, we'll be delivering sno-cones to the inhabitants of hell...

okay, seriously now, what on earth is ever going to lead to a resurgence in rural, small-town life in the USA?

economic collapse -- total economic disintegration wrought by a breakdown in the modern, global supply chain that makes the contemporary world go 'round.

when there's no fuel to run our SUVs to the corner store, much less bring cheap goods from china, where do we suppose we'll find the stuff to feed ourselves? answer: it won't be mickey D's. maybe then, for those of us lucky enough to still be around and part of a functioning community, the small-town model might not seem such a stretch to imagine.