Charlotte's days as a boom town (Washington, Jackson: transplants, sales, condos)

[vindaloo]

Originally Posted by Carolina Blue

I disagree with most of what you wrote. People always insist that if only Charlotte had a more diverse economy, somehow we wouldn't be in a recession like the rest of the country, I suspose. Yet having a more diverse economy does not explain why cities like Atlanta, Portland or Jacksonville, FL have double digit unemployment rates, all higher than 10%.

Where we do agree is your quote above regarding Charlotte's lack of influence. Now, I do think you've totally ignored the seven other Fortune 500 companies based here. But beyond the obvious slights from Raleigh, I think people here fail to realize the growing influnce of Fayetteville. The millitary is transferring its Forces Command unit to Fort Bragg by 2011 and its estimated that area will gain up to 45,000 people because of it; over 3,000 military personel, and the rest from family members and related contractors. Most important is this quote regarding the move...

"...When the move is complete, Fort Bragg will have more generals than anywhere except the Pentagon..."

We've already seen the controversy regarding our loop highway versus Fayetteville's. And I think you'll only see issues like that grow in the future as that area continues to gain prominence not just on the state level, but also nationally.

I don't think the dude understands that we are in a recession and it isn't the end of the city. Despite his wanting to be the authority with his superficial comments, his opinions without support data are useless. For example, he mentions laws that made NCNB and Wichovia monopolies and kept out competition. What were the laws? I remember other banks around at the time. What is the law to which he refers? I don't think that many subscribers on this thread realize how diverse Charlotte actually is. It is the top producer of dental equipment and other technical manufacturing items in the U.S., one of the top five trucking centers in the country, home of Lowes, Home of NASCAR, large medical center, and one of the top seven cities for headquarters of Fortune 500 companies as you mentioned. Additionally, there is a vibrant services and entertainment industry in the area. Charlotte will bounce back and continue kicking @ss as it has in the past.

[pink caddy]

^^^^+100

[vindaloo]

[quote=lumbollo;10651716]: Turn back, nothing good ahead and it's long and boring _

Indeed it is. IMO, Charlotte has some serious issues facing it. Remember the what has happened in the past is no indication of what will happen in the future. As an example, St. Lewis was the 4th largest city in the USA in the middle of the 20th century and it looked to heading towards rivalling Chicago. However instead, by the end of the century it was thrown up as an example of complete urban failure. It's population fell by 500,000 during this period. The point is that you can't look at the past and assume the future will be the same.

--Obviously you don't know that the "less than 500K" to which you refer is the "city limits" population. The population in St. Louis (not St. Lewis by the way) has enjoyed a healthy growth. It grew 4 percent over the last seven years to a population of nearly 3 million. If you look at populations as you do, you would see that Charlotte has more people than Boston, Atlanta, or St. Louis. We know that is wrong and that's why we look at metro area population for the real picture.

Charlotte's economic past has always been reliant on these 3 items:

• Direct manufacturing. Yes, there was a lot of manufacturing in the city.
• It was the administrative and distribution center for the manufacturing and farming in the Southern Piedmont.
• Some sort of banking and finance. This ranges from the good rush at the beginning of the 19th century, to the US Mint producing gold coins in downtown, to the handling of money for the cotton mills, to the growth of the large banks.

--How about: transportation, airlines, trucking, Lowes, NASCAR, Nucor, research and development, huge retail headquarters (Belks), sports, entertainment, huge medical, and hospitality business?



First understand that real wealth in an economy is generated by just 3 things. 3 things, nothing else. They are:

• You dig it up
• You grow it
• You manufacture it

--So, research, design, and development don't count? How about banking or even NASCAR? How about transportation? The economy of Florida is based on tourism. Are tourist dug up, grown, or manufactured.



. Banking and the associated make people wealthy by transferring the wealth created by the above activities. It doesn't create it. When all the wealth creating is gone, guess what goes next?

--- So.....? Is there a point?


This is all well and good and one asks then why shouldn't Charlotte be doing a lot better. Well that is because nationally our economy has participated in a mass transfer of our manufacturing industry, including all logistical technology, to China, Mexico, Vietnam, India, etc etc. The excuse as been that it is cheaper to produce stuff there and good for all. All good economists and MBAs from fine American universities know this. Where this has failed is in the lack of understand of what this means to the economy.

--It's called outsourcing. We are all familiar with it. Charlotte has not been hurt much. If you are concerned in other than ranting, you might research how much foreign investment we have in Charlotte as well as the surrounding area. We are very fortunate. Did you know this?

There are two ways to explain it. First remember the 3 items that I said create wealth? Well if you eliminate manufacturing you are left with:

• You dig it up
• You grow it

--How about the research, design, development, transportation, logistics, Lowes, NASCAR, etc.?


So this is a long winded talk that would seem to have nothing to do with Charlotte's future.

---I agree with this statement.

But there is one final element to this. When we got rid of manufacturing over the last 30 years, we replaced it with something referred to as FIRE. = Finance, Insurance, Real Estate. Which was proped up by cheap energy and the huge printing of money.

--I have an acrynym. It is BOC. It stands for bunch of crap. Something is BOC when a communication occurs that reflects unsubstantiated data and the unqualified opinion of the communicator. The fact that it has no value makes it BOC.

Sorry folks, I can't read any more of this ranting. Have a nice day.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by vindaloo

--Obviously you don't know that the "less than 500K" to which you refer is the "city limits" population. The population in St. Louis (not St. Lewis by the way) has enjoyed a healthy growth. It grew 4 percent over the last seven years to a population of nearly 3 million. If you look at populations as you do, you would see that Charlotte has more people than Boston, Atlanta, or St. Louis. We know that is wrong and that's why we look at metro area population for the real picture.

Well he could have just as easily said Cleveland or Detroit; the original point made was valid and still stands.

How about: transportation, airlines, trucking, Lowes, NASCAR, Nucor, research and development, huge retail headquarters (Belks), sports, entertainment, huge medical, and hospitality business?

Note that he did say "economic past." A lot of those things have only played significant roles in Charlotte's economy relatively recently, and others fall into the categories he mentioned (Nucor--manufacturing, transportation and trucking--distribution, etc.).

I just wanted to point those two things out. But I don't see why all the vitriol towards a different point of view. If this nation is in trouble and Charlotte is a part of the US, then go figure.

[aninaction]

my wife and i have been looking for work in Charlotte for the past year or so, so that we can move out of Florida. Yall's thread has been interesting, i'll throw in my two cents as an outsider:

though it may say more about me than your city, i've had just has hard of a time looking for work in Charlotte as I have in Tampa. I have been extremely aggressive, but i get the feeling i'm sending out apps for positions that are getting hundreds of others applying. The situation in Tampa is about the same and we have, i believe, 13% unemployment.

Our economy has significantly slowed, and businesses going under, though somewhat out of the public eye, has been in significant number. of course we have a different economy than yall.

i'm in the writing/graphics/publishing/marketing type work, if that makes a different. inb4 isnt print dead?

[lumbollo]

Originally Posted by aninaction

i'm in the writing/graphics/publishing/marketing type work, if that makes a different. inb4 isnt print dead?

For rags like newspapers, with a couple of notable exceptions, yes. But keep in mind that people, who write stuff that people are willing to pay to see in high quality glossy print, don't need to live in any specific geographic locale. Mr Internet has fixed that.

[Gregory P]

Originally Posted by aninaction

i'm in the writing/graphics/publishing/marketing type work, if that makes a different. inb4 isnt print dead?

One thing is it's harder to find a job in any state/region right now from the "outside." This is a fact...and in many areas if it's between you and another person who already lives in an area -- with equal skills -- you're probably going to get the stinky end of the stick.

Secondly, since this is "social networking" and you are, in fact, networking here in this forum...I'd figure out what it is you really do/want to do rather than saying you're a writer, graphic, publishing, marketing type person.

I'd guess that same "jack of all trades" approach may be coming out in your job seeking approach.

Sorry to get off OP here...but had to lend a hand :-)

[Gregory P]

and for the OP...

I didn't read every post so sorry if a repeat...

Have you seen the press Charlotte is getting in the Energy sector?

From the other day:

New energy jobs coming to Charlotte - CharlotteObserver.com

It's still a young, attractive city with a lot of potential and "future thinking."

[lumbollo]

Originally Posted by Gregory P

.....
It's still a young, attractive city with a lot of potential and "future thinking."

Charlotte was settled in 1755 and incorporated in 1768. This alone makes it one of the oldest cities in North America. Of course we are talking about Europeans. It's real age is older than that.

[Gregory P]

Originally Posted by lumbollo

Charlotte was settled in 1755 and incorporated in 1768. This alone makes it one of the oldest cities in North America. Of course we are talking about Europeans. It's real age is older than that.

It's young in many, many ways.

And, in fact, has changed a bit since 1755.

Thanks for the history lesson though.