According to economic theory, when gold prices go down, people and capital will move out of the gold town seeking a new "equilibrium" in greener pastures where all will be well. All the nasty stuff that happens to the people and the town between these two equilibria is just "friction" and would be eased by more "liberal reform" and less attachment to "sunk costs". Didn't they teach you anything in your Economics degree?

Can the last politician to go out the revolving door please turn the lights off?