How did we get here? (Detroit: home, unemployed, neighborhood)

wishiwashome · 10-18-2009, 01:33 AM

It's late on a Saturday night, I am in my comfortable house, thinking about my stready but overly stressful job, my wife is sound asleep, and everything seems right in the world. Except for the fact that I am miserable. Everything I love and know is 2800 miles away in Michigan, while we are stuck in Seattle. A recent graduate of MSU, I have worked my way up the corporate ladder of my company in 2.5 years to achieve a status that most would hope to get in ten, yet I would return home like the prodigal son for a chance to make half my current salary.
This leads me to the point of my thread(my first), how did we get here and what is the "ultimate" solution to what has been deeded to the younger generation by the greed and ignorance of our predecessors. (1) How we got here; Please excuse my youthfulness in this answer, but the challenges facing MI our self-induced. Watching my father toil in the auto-industry, spending half my childhood in Mexico setting up new factories, mindlessly doing his job while he undoubtedly rendered himself useless. This definitely sways my opinion of why we are in the current state that we are in. The one thing I have learned in my 25 years on this Earth, is business is business. Everyone is a number. To be honest, I am a capitalist to the core and think this is the way it should be. However, you can't put all your eggs in one basket, c'mon parents and grandparents, you must have known your offspring would reproduce and have to deal with what you left them. This being said, people that whine and complain and offer no solutions drive me insane, so here is some things I have been contemplating. (2)Finding the ultimate solution... We all have opinions of how to fix our problems. Some of us abandon ship(regrettably me), some of us give up and suffer through till the end of our lives, and some of us try to make a difference. Personally, I plan on moving home next summer and start to grind out a living. I have enough confidence in myself to know I can make it, I will be a positive influence in whatever neighborhood I choose to live in, and I will not hang my head in shame when it comes to where I was raised.
Anyways, the point of my thread is this, I know there are a lot of 20-somethings that have recently graduated and have left our state to find work. What if we were the driving force of the re-invigorated MI? What if we could make a positive difference for our future generations rather than leaving them a legacy of despair. I don't know, maybe I'm just looking for a positive voice in a world of negativity, telling me if I come home I will make it, and my hard work will make a difference.

eiram21 · 10-18-2009, 05:20 AM

Hi Wishiwashome,
I admire your drive and attitude. The old saying "you can do anything that you put your mind to" is true. It sounds like you don't have kids, so there is even less risk involved in coming back. What is the worse that can happen? You are certainly not risking death! I say go for it! At least you can say that you tried! I think that once Michiganders and the media accept that Michigan folks can and WILL make money outside of the auto industry and perhaps (???) in a smaller domestic industry, things will start turning around again. There are many other industries in this state - healthcare being one of them!
Goodluck, and don't live with any regrets!

mich2fla · 10-18-2009, 12:51 PM

Wishiwashome- did you look in the GR area (or West Michigan for that matter?) This side of the state is doing well compared to Detroit. What is your line of work? I wish you well!

Go State!

Sparrow_temp · 10-18-2009, 02:07 PM

Well, there are worse places to be stuck. Is it really you missing Michigan or is it the stressful job? Will your memories of MI live up to the new reality?

There are 48 other states to choose from and most are in a better economic situation than MI. Do what you want to do but don't give up a good life for nostalgia reasons. And unless you're starting up a business here in MI, the only real difference you're going to make is taking a job away from one of the already unemployed.

I think the endgame for MI is simply going to be population migration until we hit a new equilibrium with regard to jobs. The state government is going to have a hard time coping with this since they never want to shrink government and increasing taxes will just push more people out.

Indentured Servant · 10-18-2009, 02:48 PM

If you don’t rise…..you cannot fall. Whatever the negatives people lament about Michigan’s dependence on the auto industry, without it, Michigan might be like Wisconsin or Indiana, and not the 8th largest state in the Union with a peak population of over 10 million people.

If the downturn in Michigan and the Detroit area is due to its over dependence on the auto Industry, then what is perceived as problems are actually a manifestation of a solution. Why? The reason being is that Michigan is shedding so many auto jobs, the reason for its current economic pains, that the result will be that the auto industry will cease to occupy the large percentage of jobs that it used to in the state. In other words, the decline of the auto industry is diversifying the state’s economy and forcing it to find other means of growth.

Now, personally, I think Michigan is currently akin to an undervalued stock. That is because the auto Industry has hit bottom and the industry is too big for this nation to let fail. In fact, it would be a security risk to allow the arsenal of Democracy to jettison is war time manufacturing capacity or to be dependent on foreign owned companies to produce the tanks and vehicles to defend this nation in the time of world war. So I see the industry as hitting bottom and the Unions bargaining leverage greatly weakened which makes Michigan much more competitive nationally for labor. This state also has a lot of fresh water, which will be in shortage in many Sun Belt areas in the coming decades. Oh…..and the state has a lot of natural amenities and beauty.

Things go in cycles and Michigan has been in a bad cycle for the last 30 years, with the exception of the 90’s. Now I truly believe the cycle will turn in Michigan’s favor. That said, our standard of living as a nation will take a big decline over the next 25 years. So Michigan will start doing better in relative terms (relative to other states) but not in absolute terms due to a declining national standard of living.

YAZ · 10-18-2009, 05:53 PM

My head hurts thinkin' about it......

....I miss the Motherland.

tjay · 10-18-2009, 07:14 PM

its only money....
and i wish all 25 year olds had your attitude!
i understand how you feel though, i had left.....had that bad attitude about michigan (its too cold! people here are unfriendly! there are no jobs! blah blah blah). its wasn't michigan, i think it was me:} not to say michigan isn't struggling right now. i'm still not quite where i want to be, but i'm home and i'm happy. when i was away i learned that money means nothing when you're miserable. it means NOTHING.
i wish you lots of luck, but i don't think you need it:}

michsnowlvr · 10-18-2009, 08:55 PM

26 y/o here...absolutely ZERO desire to ever move out of Michigan.

malamute · 10-18-2009, 11:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wishiwashome

Watching my father toil in the auto-industry, spending half my childhood in Mexico setting up new factories, mindlessly doing his job while he undoubtedly rendered himself useless. This definitely sways my opinion of why we are in the current state that we are in.

There you go -- that's why Michigan has no jobs. Foolish people decided people in the USA didn't need jobs and that thinking has hurt Michigan more than most states.

sike0000 · 10-19-2009, 09:39 AM

wishiwashome, there is nothing wrong with leaving the state for work, especially if you are a recent grad, and then come back home at a later time. In the long run you will be better off.

I always tell people to move to find work, for a few years at least. Then, as their experience grows, they will find it much easier to move back to MI to find employment. And, if MI turns around, they will really be ahead.

I would not sacrifice my future for a couple years of misery, escpecially if I was young. And let's face it, how bad are you suffering? Married, career with a future etc, but your job sucks and you miss your home state. Welcome to life. Not trying to sound harsh, but a few years is nothing. And now when you come back, you will have an advantage over someone that stayed, has the same degree, and has been out of work, or, almost just as bad, working outside their chosen field. I say come home. Just remember that these days in MI you could make a lot less money, and have a more miserable job, just with a change of scenery

But if you are like me, I don't let my day job effect what I consider my life, which is everything after 5 o'clock

And I speak from similar experience. I am not from MI originally, and I don't really like it here, but I actually came for the jobs 15 years ago (can you believe that?). But, I married a MI native and have a family now, had to finish my degree, and have made a decision to stay until my son graduates. I just make the best of it. My wife and son are happy, and I make good money. So I have to 'suffer' a little for 30 years. I guess you could say I made MI my home.

A few years is nothing to establish your future