will MA be one of the first out of the recession? (Boston: cheap apartment, foreclosure)

[bluewatergirl888]

I have read a few articles which indicate that MA may weather the recession a little better than other areas, or at least will lead the way out of the recession.
What are your opinions?

Massachusetts: Best 'New Economy' state - Nov. 18, 2008

The Once and Future Hub - Boston Magazine

[LeavingMA]

Interesting article, but I doubt it. Texas and Oklahoma have a more diversified economy and have weathered the recent recession/depression better than most of the country. Texas, despite having no state income tax also had a budget surplus.

The article writer seems to think Obama and a liberal/socialist agenda will pull us through the downturn, and because MA is liberal it will take the benefits of this. Yes, healthcare and public universities will continue to have jobs, but what about the private sector. The big thing in MA is the state is not business friendly and not becoming more business friendly. This will result in a loss of more businesses and people...so what are the majority of people going to do here, work for the government. MA continues to pour tons of money into biotech industries without seeing the big return they expected.

[baystater]

It's tough to say whether MA will be one of the leader out of this deep recession/mini depression. There are just to may variables to make a judgment yet. I mean really. I don't think we really have even begun with this economic downturn. I believe we have have a long way to go and there will be alot more pain to come. And while I know MA has a well educated and industrious population with the "potential" of creating the jobs of the future. I do find there is still a problem with affordablity. Especially with affordable housing in good neighborhoods. I think this affordibilty issue will cause a lot of young folk to leave the state and look for greener pastures.........and I think that attracting young talent to the state will also be tough because it it so expensive. And let's face it guys. You NEED young folk. Especially ones that are looking to have/raise family's in the state. These are the people that will give the state it base to work from. People with families will most likely get attached to their communities and want to see there town(s) thrive and prosper. They will want to build/rebuild the economy of the state and I believe they would be willing to work hard to do so............if not for anything else but to make there children's lives better.

I don't know guys. You can talk about numbers and strategies and 5 point plans. But if you can't create an overall environment that is family friendly and looks to nurture that family base. Well then honestly to me you have...........nothing. That just doesn't go for MA but all the states in the union.

BTW I love MA. I love the south shore. It's my home, it's my people, and It's my culture. I will no matter what make my best effort to return home someday. I think a lot of folk out there feel the same way I do about there home...but I also understand that the state does not make it easy for people to stay or come home.

[lrfox]

I think that the wealthier states (i.e. Mass, CT, NJ, MD, etc) are better suited to WEATHER it simply because of the higher income. The more reserve money people have, the better suited they are to ride out tough stretches of economic slowdown. Even said, it's almost dumb to say a "state" is better suited to ride out a recession. How you ride it out depends entirely on the individual. While more people in MA have more money to get them through the hard times than many other places, the people in MA who DON'T have the money are still going to struggle as bad as they would anywhere else. I wouldn't come to Mass just hoping that I could "get by" better than anywhere else, though it may be a bit easier to find a job here than in say, Flint Michigan.

That being said, I think no one has ANY idea of how and when we'll get out of this and that's part of the problem. The confusion and uncertainty are really hurting everyone from the banks who are still afraid to lend money to the "Joe Plumbers" who don't want to spend because they're uncertain of their future.

[meltinjohn]

Originally Posted by baystater

It's tough to say whether MA will be one of the leader out of this deep recession/mini depression. There are just to may variables to make a judgment yet. I mean really. I don't think we really have even begun with this economic downturn. I believe we have have a long way to go and there will be alot more pain to come. And while I know MA has a well educated and industrious population with the "potential" of creating the jobs of the future. I do find there is still a problem with affordablity. Especially with affordable housing in good neighborhoods. I think this affordibilty issue will cause a lot of young folk to leave the state and look for greener pastures.........

BTW I love MA. I love the south shore. It's my home, it's my people, and It's my culture. I will no matter what make my best effort to return home someday. I think a lot of folk out there feel the same way I do about there home...but I also understand that the state does not make it easy for people to stay or come home.

In my opinion, MA has always survived recessions decently. They run in the top states to survive especially since the economy wasnt the greatest there at a time and I didnt face the effects of it ever, only when I lived far from Boston jobs were limited. Seems MA always pulls through tho.

Also, my desire to move back to MA is high, but I am in that group of people searching for green pastures in less expensive places that are similar to Boston since you cant live near the city or ride public transit regularly without paying through the goddamn nose. They make it hard for people to come back. NTM, I feel those who come back to MA have a refreshed attitude compared to when they never left and then left and realized they missed it pretty bad. MA needs to make it easier for these former state residents to return since they bring a more energetic attitude than those already in the state who never left and complain about how bad it is. Also if they want even friendlier people to pick up MA image, they should definitely make it easier for those wanting to return by initially setting more rents real cheap but then if they are there for 2 yrs, then they gotta pay the regular higher rents or something once they proved themselves. Like a starting rent in Arlington should be say 1000 for 2 bedrooms but then after 2 yrs, raise it to nearly 2 grand once your up on your feet even more. This kind of system works.

[bluewatergirl888]

Originally Posted by LeavingMA

Interesting article, but I doubt it. Texas and Oklahoma have a more diversified economy and have weathered the recent recession/depression better than most of the country. Texas, despite having no state income tax also had a budget surplus.

I also looked at Texas as one of the places I thought had good potential to whether the storm. However, I am hearing that they are starting to feel the effects of the down turn. I was wondering if some of the states that started to feel the pinch early (such as MA), would start to pull out of it earlier. On the reverse side, the states that came late to the party (such as Texas), would still have to work through the mess, and therefore would still be in a downturn after some states started to turn around.

I wish MA would make it easier for businesses here. At least they provided a tax credit for the movie industry. Let's hope that helps!

[brightdoglover]

Regarding the rental price control suggestion (assuming it was serious) the rent control "emergency" in Cambridge that lasted almost 30 years was an unbelievable disaster and mess. It can't be done, and I say that as someone who had a great cheap apartment for five years (although I knew RC was nuts) and someone who also ended up in court, accused of occuping a condo that I bought that was supposed to be rented out at RC prices. The only person who could not inhabit the condo was me, the owner. When my lawyer told me to plead the Fifth Amendment as to my address, I knew it was time to get outta Dodge.
As unfortunate as high rental prices are, RC absolutely does not work.

[SSWM]

Having live here most of my life, I've lived on the south shore and the north shore. One thing is certain, it is expensive to live here. Rents are outrageous, gas, electricity. Taxes I'm being taxed to death here. Income, gas, (maybe more gas taxes or a chip in our inspection stickers), health (I don't have insurance and am being fined $260/mo for the privilege ), sales, liquor, excise, property, meals, and I'm sure there are more.
Our jobs are drying up though. Everyone I've talked to knows or is related to someone that's lost their job. The commonwealth is broke. The court system is out of money already and the fiscal year doesn't end until the end of June.
Cities and towns are cutting budgets. I can't wait to see the school budgets for next year. It's not going to be pretty. Fire and police cuts. Some towns are doing away with their parks and recreation departments leaving the grass in the parks unmowed, trash barrels overflowing, trash littering our highways and byways. Some smaller towns are even discussing laying off DPW workers. We'll have potholes that will swallow the mini cars that are just starting to show up on our roads.

Housing is out of control. Rents for 1250/mo plus utilities in a run down section of the city with no parking. Single family homes are coming down, unfortunately they're in foreclosure. The homeless situation is so bad that in Brockton families are moving into foreclosed homes (squatting) and having the utilities turned on. While others are being used as crack houses.

Someone mentioned Texas. Texas is doing okay right now. They have the oil industry in the south/southeast and they're doing just fine.

How will it end? I don't know, we might come out a little better than some states. When will it end? Who knows, it's just starting.

[Valerie C]

Wow... makes me glad that I got the heck out of Massachusetts when I did... (apparently not far enough... we in NH have a born and raised in Massachusetts 3-term tax-and-spender in charge up here now... sigh...)

Does anyone ever wonder what would happen if the voters of Massachusetts changed their voting habits and stopped rewarding the crew that's been running the state for so very long, and put people in charge who actually worked for the residents, instead of the other way around? The only power that people have is the power of their vote, and I see the same clowns being put into office over and over and over again...
Remember, "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results." (supposedly either Ben Franklin or Albert Einstein said that...)

Oh geeze, I got off topic. Sorry

Originally Posted by SSWM

One thing is certain, it is expensive to live here. Rents are outrageous, gas, electricity. Taxes I'm being taxed to death here. Income, gas, (maybe more gas taxes or a chip in our inspection stickers), health (I don't have insurance and am being fined $260/mo for the privilege ), sales, liquor, excise, property, meals, and I'm sure there are more. <snip> The commonwealth is broke. The court system is out of money already and the fiscal year doesn't end until the end of June.
Cities and towns are cutting budgets. I can't wait to see the school budgets for next year. It's not going to be pretty. Fire and police cuts. Some towns are doing away with their parks and recreation departments leaving the grass in the parks unmowed, trash barrels overflowing, trash littering our highways and byways. Some smaller towns are even discussing laying off DPW workers. We'll have potholes that will swallow the mini cars that are just starting to show up on our roads. <snip> Housing is out of control. Rents for 1250/mo plus utilities in a run down section of the city with no parking. Single family homes are coming down, unfortunately they're in foreclosure. The homeless situation is so bad that in Brockton families are moving into foreclosed homes (squatting) and having the utilities turned on. While others are being used as crack houses.

[brightdoglover]

I don't think Brockton ever represented an average Massachusetts experience, and wouldn't in a national downturn, either.
I don't know where you see 1250/mo for rent in lousy neighborhoods, unless you mean for a whole house. You can easily get a decent one- or two-bedroom apartment in decent neighborhoods for that, and less if you are wiling/able to drive a bit west on Rt.2, and I mean Acton, Ayer, etc., not Timbuktu.

I don't know how Mass. is compared to other states, but most states are in big trouble financially now. I believe I saw that about three aren't- South Dakota and a couple of its neighbors. Fargo, here we come?