Will Chicago see the same fate as Detroit?

[NoJiveMan]

No. Chicago has more going for it than auto assembly plants ever could. Some businesses are fleeing to Wisconsin due to taxation, but for one lost, another moves in to take it's place.

Someone once coined a phrase that if you can't make a living in Chicago, you can't make a living anywhere, which is true, the work and job environment is always moving and rolling with the changes and will always be vibrant.

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by NoJiveMan

No. Chicago has more going for it than auto assembly plants ever could. Some businesses are fleeing to Wisconsin due to taxation, but for one lost, another moves in to take it's place.

Someone once coined a phrase that if you can't make a living in Chicago, you can't make a living anywhere, which is true, the work and job environment is always moving and rolling with the changes and will always be vibrant.

First part: Yes, basically true. However, Metro Detroit in modern times has probably only a small % of its workforce in actual auto assembly. The majority of those employed are in things like engineering, R&D, advertising, market research, supplier relations, executives of various sorts, etc., etc. But yes, its the loss of the overpaid UAW assembly jobs that have left the region with economic problems.

The second part is more debatable. While maybe true in a big picture, many people leave and have left Chicagoland to take career opportunities that they didn't have in Chicagoland. One of the reasons for this, is that although Chicagoland has a very diversified economy, its not the nations hub for any one particular industry. Whether ones career is technology, aerospace, entertainment, energy, government, research, etc., better opportunities have takent them elsewhere.

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by Tex?Il?

First part: Yes, basically true. However, Metro Detroit in modern times has probably only a small % of its workforce in actual auto assembly. The majority of those employed are in things like engineering, R&D, advertising, market research, supplier relations, executives of various sorts, etc., etc. But yes, its the loss of the overpaid UAW assembly jobs that have left the region with economic problems.

The second part is more debatable. While maybe true in a big picture, many people leave and have left Chicagoland to take career opportunities that they didn't have in Chicagoland. One of the reasons for this, is that although Chicagoland has a very diversified economy, its not the nations hub for any one particular industry. Whether ones career is technology, aerospace, entertainment, energy, government, research, etc., better opportunities have takent them elsewhere.

I'll also add to my previous post, that again although this is true, when community areas/suburbs are taken individually, vast areas of the Southland, including NW Indiana, obviously has seen the same kind of effects of deindustrialization. I mean Gary, IN is closer to the Loop than Naperville and not much further from the loop than even the southern edge of Chicago proper, but commutable distance to the Loop hasn't meant areas in the metro area haven't succumbed to the fate of same kinds of towns in MI, OH, and PA that have depended on heavy industry. Heck one can possibly even make a connection with places as close to the loop as Back of the Yards. Its not entirely reasonable to suggest that the condition of that area may be linked to the idea that it never recovered from the closing of meatpacking plants in the early 70s.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by NoJiveMan

Some businesses are fleeing to Wisconsin due to taxation, but for one lost, another moves in to take it's place.

Most forms of corporate and personal income tax are higher in Wisconsin than they are in Illinois, so this isn't really the case. Illinois does have a 2.5% "replacement tax" that is tacked on since Illinois local governments can't tax personal property outside of real estate, but Wisconsin does still tax this type of property, so it's often a wash depending on the business and how they do their accounting. For individuals, the income tax rate is still lower in Illinois... For now.

Many of the businesses that have left Illinois for Wisconsin have done so because of special tax breaks offered by local governments to lure them there. Indiana would be a better bet for businesses looking to pay lower corporate tax rates.

[Republic of Michigan]

DETROIT LOST CITY - Can it be Saved? (Part I) - YouTube