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In warm weather, you use AC, in cold weather, you use heat, meaning the internal temperature is regulated no matter what.
When it's cold out, I put on a jacket, and I'm 100% comfortable, unless the temperature gets below 20 degrees or the wind is blowing hard. When I go inside, I take off the jacket.
The same isn't true in warm weather. Personally, as a hairy guy of northern European extraction, I sweat if I have to wear more than a T-shirt and the temperature gets much above 75 degrees. But of course if you work an office job, you pretty much have to wear more than one layer. Meaning I'm always a horrible drippy mess.
I can see why people would want to move to the west coast, and not deal with hot summers or cold winters. But I can't see trading off the already intolerable Northeastern summer for even MORE summer and less winter.
The problem is that many in the Northeast don't know how to dress for hot weather (just as many in the south don't know how to dress for the cold). Did you know that cotton is a really bad material for hot weather? In the old days, southerners would wear linen, it was much more comfortable, but the problem is that it gets wrinkles easier.
Nowadays, there are some fast drying materials that wick the sweat away from the body quickly and cause your shirt to remain dry whatever the temp. I jog in 100 degree heat and my shirt is dry the minute I get back inside.
The other thing is to make sure you have a wide brimmed cap in the sun. Just like a cap keeps your head warm in cold weather, a cap will keep your head cool in warm weather.
Everytime I go up north in the summer I realize how clueless y'all really are about how to deal with heat and humidity.
The reason the South has higher unemployment than those northern Plains states is we have droves of people moving here without jobs just because they heard that things are better down here. You don't get the same effect up north.
And this is a good thing?!? I'm glad to live in a northern Plains state that is stable!
Location: Cleveland bound with MPLS in the rear-view
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People move for many reasons, but jobs and weather are two huge ones right now, and only jobs makes actual sense if you don't have a job lined up already. People who move for "sunshine and beaches" get just that -- sunshine and beaches -- because they are unemployed because they have their priorities mixed up!
Yet southern metros are all the way at the bottom when it comes to per capita income. What does the south have to show for its large growth? Absolutely nothing.
There is a difference between growth and good growth. The "sunbelt growth" has done nothing but shifted problems of the Northeast to sunbelt states (i.e. look at your real estate industry, spiking poverty levels, higher than average unemployment).
Grow away!
Actually, that's a rather poor interpretation of the statistics. The southern states were so far below the national averages for per capita income for decades that it wasn't even funny. Sixty years ago, southern states' per capita income was roughly 40-50% of the national average. Now it's in the high 80s and 90s. Add in the lower cost of living, and southerners are now beginning to build wealth at a faster rate than their northern counterparts. Perhaps not a dramatic difference every year, 0.5% here, 1.0% there. But the cumulative effect has been dramatic. And if you look at the historical rates of poverty in the southern states, you'll realize how far the region has come.
So, yeah, the South remains at the bottom, but the gap has narrowed markedly. To make my point, I'll pick on Michigan. Sixty years ago, Alabama's per capita income was only 52% of Michigan's. Thirty years ago, it was only 75%. Today it's per capita income is 95% of Michigan's and climbing. Add to that Michigan's overall tax burden being a good 1.2% higher than that of Alabama's and the income disparity has become almost non-existent--not even factoring Michigan's higher overall cost of living. All of this is the direct result of the continued growth of manufacturing in the southeast at the expense of other states that chose to kill the goose that laid the golden egg with higher business taxes and more regulations. That means that the southern states are poised to surpass midwestern states such as Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the rest. What's more, once I start comparing average home prices, I'd much rather make $60,000 a year living in a southern state than $100,000 in a state in New England.
Heck, if you really want look at a state on the edge of imploding, look at California. That state alone has lost 4,000,000 professionals over the past twenty years due to migration, resulting in the hollowing out of the middle class in that state. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...california+tax
So rather than look at a snapshot and gloating, you might want to look at the trend lines instead.
Unless A/C goes away, the boom in the South will continue. Simply put, there are many people who don't like shoveling snow and/or being cold for 6 months a year.
There are also many people that don't like sweltering heat and enjoy seasonal weather and the activities that come along with it.
Actually, that's a rather poor interpretation of the statistics. The southern states were so far below the national averages for per capita income for decades that it wasn't even funny. Sixty years ago, southern states' per capita income was roughly 40-50% of the national average. Now it's in the high 80s and 90s. Add in the lower cost of living, and southerners are now beginning to build wealth at a faster rate than their northern counterparts. Perhaps not a dramatic difference every year, 0.5% here, 1.0% there. But the cumulative effect has been dramatic. And if you look at the historical rates of poverty in the southern states, you'll realize how far the region has come.
So, yeah, the South remains at the bottom, but the gap has narrowed markedly. To make my point, I'll pick on Michigan. Sixty years ago, Alabama's per capita income was only 52% of Michigan's. Thirty years ago, it was only 75%. Today it's per capita income is 95% of Michigan's and climbing. Add to that Michigan's overall tax burden being a good 1.2% higher than that of Alabama's and the income disparity has become almost non-existent--not even factoring Michigan's higher overall cost of living. All of this is the direct result of the continued growth of manufacturing in the southeast at the expense of other states that chose to kill the goose that laid the golden egg with higher business taxes and more regulations. That means that the southern states are poised to surpass midwestern states such as Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the rest. What's more, once I start comparing average home prices, I'd much rather make $60,000 a year living in a southern state than $100,000 in a state in New England.
Heck, if you really want look at a state on the edge of imploding, look at California. That state alone has lost 4,000,000 professionals over the past twenty years due to migration, resulting in the hollowing out of the middle class in that state. The Weekend Interview with Joel Kotkin: The Great California Exodus - WSJ.com
So rather than look at a snapshot and gloating, you might want to look at the trend lines instead.
The economy in the South was growing. It had made great progress. I feel like the South has been hit extraordinarily hard by the recession and cities like Atlanta and Charlotte that were once growth miracles and hot places to be have difficult job markets and massive foreclosures. Despite the South having assembly plants for different car companies, ATVs, boats, etc., it still doesn't make enough. Its not its fault its the company leaders' and Walmart's for forcing them to outsource and no longer make things in the community they were founded in. The country as a whole doesn't make enough due to outsourcing, etc. Why the South isn't an agricultural paradise with its fertile soil and long growing season is beyond me. The South's current unemployment situation is nothing to gloat about either. I would advise anyone moving to the region or most regions for that matter to line up a job and a secure one before they leap. Even in the midst of the pre-recession boom there was still counties that had been decimated by NAFTA, had little-to-no agriculture, and terrible poverty. A service sector, retail, and real estate does not drive an economy. The sooner we learn that as Americans the better!
The economy in the South was growing. It had made great progress. I feel like the South has been hit extraordinarily hard by the recession and cities like Atlanta and Charlotte that were once growth miracles and hot places to be have difficult job markets and massive foreclosures. Despite the South having assembly plants for different car companies, ATVs, boats, etc., it still doesn't make enough. Its not its fault its the company leaders' and Walmart's for forcing them to outsource and no longer make things in the community they were founded in. The country as a whole doesn't make enough due to outsourcing, etc. Why the South isn't an agricultural paradise with its fertile soil and long growing season is beyond me. The South's current unemployment situation is nothing to gloat about either. I would advise anyone moving to the region or most regions for that matter to line up a job and a secure one before they leap. Even in the midst of the pre-recession boom there was still counties that had been decimated by NAFTA, had little-to-no agriculture, and terrible poverty. A service sector, retail, and real estate does not drive an economy. The sooner we learn that as Americans the better!
Well, if anything, Atlanta was hit hard by overgrowth, namely in construction. Just like Las Vegas. And manufacturing-based economies tend to be more vulnerable in economic downturns. However, I would offer that the manufacturing sector in the South continues to grow as opposed to the rest of the country, which is precisely what you're talking about.
Well, if anything, Atlanta was hit hard by overgrowth, namely in construction. Just like Las Vegas. And manufacturing-based economies tend to be more vulnerable in economic downturns. However, I would offer that the manufacturing sector in the South continues to grow as opposed to the rest of the country, which is precisely what you're talking about.
I sure hope things change for the better in the country as a whole. I've been reading about China's first trade deficit, improving wages, and a lack of competitiveness warranting a return of jobs back to the USA. I say bring it on!
There are also many people that don't like sweltering heat and enjoy seasonal weather and the activities that come along with it.
There are more than 300 million people in the US. Certainly there are many who will prefer to stay in cooler places. However, there are many people who are sick and tired or long, cold Winters. It comes down to picking ones poison whether it's about weather, costs of living, traffic, distance to ones relatives, yadda, yadda, yadda.
A/C has mitigated the poison of long hot Summers in places across the entire sunbelt and was a factor in changing minds of millions over the last several decades.
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I'm glad to live in a northern Plains state that is stable!
