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I agree, its sad, the city is loosing a great treasure when someone educated leaves, do you have any regrets leaving?
I did, but before I lived in Jersey, but I've moved back, living in Brooklyn now. I can't see myself living that same lifestyle I did back down in FL. Car oriented, lack of culture and motivation. Plus there's more I could do with my degree here, thats why it puzzles me why so many educated minorities leave.
I am here because my job is here and I would not make the salary I make here if I were elsewhere.
But there is a light at the retirement age which is really not that far away....
so we hang on, then it is splitsville out of this city and out west my boy....
where I can have a cactus and a rattlesnake in my back yard
Many people have been leaving NYC in the past 20 years.
I want to know if many of you don't ever intend to leave the city, and would you ever recommend people to move into NYC.
Um...people have been coming and leaving NYC for decades. This is not some recent phenomena. Just look at how many of the 12 million immigrants (and their ~100 million descendants) who came through Ellis Island prior to 1954 that are still here. The city cannot accommodate or can be for everyone.
Only thing new is that people are leaving the city because it's now expensive and not (just) because it’s some overcrowded, crime-ridden hellhole. It's ironic that the expense that is forcing people to leave is caused by people wanting to get in and stay. This is not entirely a bad thing and the constant change and flux of different people is what keeps it a dynamic place.
Um...people have been coming and leaving NYC for decades. This is not some recent phenomena. Just look at how many of the 12 million immigrants (and their ~100 million descendants) who came through Ellis Island prior to 1954 are still here. The city cannot accommodate or can be for everyone.
Only thing new is that people are leaving the city because it's now expensive and not (just) because it’s some overcrowded, crime-ridden hellhole. Ironic that the expense that is forcing people to leave is caused by people wanting to get in and stay. This is a good thing IMO.
The high COL is caused by a number of factors. Chief among them is not people wanting to come in. That's part of it but not the greatest force on pushing up the COL. Not all people who come here are the well educated who have great jobs. Lots of poor and immigrants come precisely because the welfare stat eis so extensive. You won't find this generosity in other states.
The main culprits are the welfare state and the cost of government. The city employs 300k workers at an average cost (including benefits and pension) of 108k per person. That's 33billion just for city workers.
Wonder why taxes are so high? The city artificially creates greater demand thereby pushing up prices . The greatest losers are the taxpayers; especially those who do not receive any help and make a median salary.
Wasn't the city a "welfare state" when COL was much lower, pre-2000 too?
I don't believe for a sec that the increase in wages/benefits to city-workers in the past decade is responsible for the exponential increase in rent. It's the increase in property values that has driven everything up.
Wasn't the city a "welfare state" when COL was much lower, pre-2000 too?
I don't believe for a sec that the increase in wages/benefits to city-workers in the past decade is responsible for the exponential increase in rent. It's the increase in property values that has driven everything up.
Wasn't the city a "welfare state" when COL was much lower, pre-2000 too?
I don't believe for a sec that the increase in wages/benefits to city-workers in the past decade is responsible for the exponential increase in rent. It's the increase in property values that has driven everything up.
Depends how you define welfare. The system is certainly more extensive today and is a greater burden per capita on those who have to feed it with taxes.
The biggest culprit is Medicaid.
Welfare, as in food stamps, isn't the problem. It's health care via Medicaid. 4.5 million people are on Medicaid in NY. . As we all know, healthcare costs are astronomical in the US at present. NY spends virtually the same on Medicaid as CA and TX, even though their populations are quite larger.
The cost of Medicaid is around $15bn to the state.
Go through the budget here: http://publications.budget.ny.gov/budgetFP/2011-12EnactedBudget.pdf (broken link)
You have a 130bn budget and ~50bn is going to just Medicaid and state employees. That's 40% of the budget already.
How many taxpayers are there in NYS? People who not only file but actually are net negative for the year with the government. I can't seem to find the data.
There are around 8.5 million employed persons in NYS. Let's be very generous and say 60% pay taxes (national average is around 50%). You have 5MM people supporting 20MM on a 130bn budget.
Does the picture become clearer?
Last edited by wawaweewa; 07-12-2011 at 05:48 PM..
I'm from Atlanta and although I love it here, if the right job came along, I wouldn't rule out moving back home.
Being able to make mortgage payments on a nice 2 bed/2 bath condo right in the heart of Midtown Atlanta, next to the large park, for not much more than my rent payment on a 1 bedroom here with one foot in the ghetto is pretty tempting...
I think it's harder for an average person to live an average life in NYC. In central Florida, you can earn 12 bucks an hour and live in at least a nice studio, maybe 1 bedroom. Over here, you can't.
Once you start getting into basic and specific things like that, the whole "culture", "nightlife", "energy" argument becomes moot.
I think a lot of people who grew up here want to move is just because of that: THEY GREW UP HERE. When you're raised in a rat, pee infested, unhospitable city and then go to other places, you begin to see that how you were living is wrong. lol
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