Christian Exodus ? (Greenville, Spartanburg, Union: income, income tax, living in)

[Marks]

Originally Posted by USAwanderer

On thing I have found most interesting.

The South Carolina forum on this board is FULL of people wanting to move to SC, while (for example), the Arkansas forum has very little traffic at all.

Yet, SC is FULL of empty houses, foreclosures & tax sales, unemployment, poor education, and crime (leading the country in domestic crime I believe)...

while places like AR are full of new houses being built & occupied left & right, help wanted signs all over the place, top education & very low crime.


I just don't get it.

Like someone once said about SC the secret is out. I guess it must have some draw?

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by Marks

Amen! That's right. I never said it would be here on earth did I?

What else is a theocracy an attempt to do?

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by USAwanderer

On thing I have found most interesting.

The South Carolina forum on this board is FULL of people wanting to move to SC, while (for example), the Arkansas forum has very little traffic at all.

Yet, SC is FULL of empty houses, foreclosures & tax sales, unemployment, poor education, and crime (leading the country in domestic crime I believe)...

while places like AR are full of new houses being built & occupied left & right, help wanted signs all over the place, top education & very low crime.


I just don't get it.

The picture is NOWHERE NEAR as rosey as you try to paint for Arkansas, and while South Carolina isn't exactly a model state, it does tend to outrank Arkansas in several quality of life measures.

I have no idea where you're getting your foreclosures figures from, but Arkansas has more than SC does (see here: http://www.realtytrac.com/ContentMan...x?ItemID=1362).

Arkansas? Top education? Firstly, Morgan Quitno ranks SC ahead of Arkansas in its "Smartest States" rankings: http://www.morganquitno.com/edrank06.htm
Secondly, public school quality isn't much better in Arkansas, and SC actually has it beat in a few areas (see here: http://www.edweek.org/ew/qc/2007/17csi.h26.html). In terms of higher education, SC's top two universities (Clemson, USC) were ranked by US News & World Report in its 2007 "America's Best Colleges" rankings, while none from Arkansas were (see here: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/t1natudoc_brief.php) (broken link).

Unemployment statistics do not tell the entire story as far as how well a state is doing economically. SC has a lead on Arkansas in this regard (see data here: http://www.cfed.org/imageManager/2006%20Final%20DRC%20Data_2.xls) (broken link).

Also, while neither Arkansas or SC really has any major cities, Arkansas only has Little Rock, whereas SC has Columbia, Charleston, Greenville, and the up-and-coming, fast-growing Myrtle Beach. Both states also rely on tourism to a considerable degree to bolster their state's economies, but SC also does better than Arkansas at bringing in the dough in this regard (thanks to the coast).

[USAwanderer]

Originally Posted by Akhenaton06

The picture is NOWHERE NEAR as rosey as you try to paint for Arkansas, and while South Carolina isn't exactly a model state, it does tend to outrank Arkansas in several quality of life measures.

Well I tell you what, I spent 2 years trying to get an IT job in SC, and found nothing... even after several IT recruiters told me - no problemo!


from resume submission to job offer = 30 days in AR.


You enjoy your life in SC, I'll enjoy mine in AR.


One bright note about living in SC..... it was much better than it was in Maine!

[Adrienne1]

Hey USwanderer,
What part of Maine did you live in? We live in Maine are looking at relocating to SC. My husband is in IT, but he may be transfered by the company he works for now to the Greenville area.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by USAwanderer

Well I tell you what, I spent 2 years trying to get an IT job in SC, and found nothing... even after several IT recruiters told me - no problemo!


from resume submission to job offer = 30 days in AR.

So based on not being able to find an IT job, you get all of that misinformation you posted about AR and SC?

[USAwanderer]

Originally Posted by Akhenaton06

So based on not being able to find an IT job, you get all of that misinformation you posted about AR and SC?

No, I do not base my experiences on only the IT job.

Let's see....

my wife works at a 'major retail store' and her (and everyone else who applied and was hired) were treated like dogs.

She goes to work for a LOCAL insurance company, who asks her to LIE on applications.

She then applies for a cleaning position at a major hotel chain where they tell her - you people are our FIRST LINE of advertising for our hotel. (that is why we are only paying you $5.15/hr, you MUST work weekends/holidays, and you MUST pay for your own uniform.)

THEN, she goes to work for a LOCAL cleaning company run by a 'christian', where is has the pleasure of cleaning up people's ***** and BLOOD and VOMIT. Then her manager was so nice that her and her cleaning partner were assigned to clean 24 HOUSES IN ONE WEEK!

You can call it 'misinformation', I call it EXPERIENCE.

[USAwanderer]

Originally Posted by Adrienne1

Hey USwanderer,
What part of Maine did you live in? We live in Maine are looking at relocating to SC. My husband is in IT, but he may be transfered by the company he works for now to the Greenville area.

Adrienne, I worked in South Portland. If you husband has a firm IT job lined up with a stable company, I would make the move. Otherwise.... I personally would not do it, but I am only speaking from my experiences.

The Greenville/Spartanburg area is 'good ole boy' area. Most IT jobs (again what I found) if they are not filled by overseas people, they are filled by someone who the manager knew & worked with in the past.

[Adrienne1]

Uswanderer,
Why do you think SC is better than Maine? Just wondering what the pros are for SC that you see compared to Maine. The only draw here is family for us. The cost of living is crazy! We live about 20 min. away from South Portland.
Where did you work?

Thanks for your imput.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by USAwanderer

No, I do not base my experiences on only the IT job.

Let's see....

my wife works at a 'major retail store' and her (and everyone else who applied and was hired) were treated like dogs.

She goes to work for a LOCAL insurance company, who asks her to LIE on applications.

She then applies for a cleaning position at a major hotel chain where they tell her - you people are our FIRST LINE of advertising for our hotel. (that is why we are only paying you $5.15/hr, you MUST work weekends/holidays, and you MUST pay for your own uniform.)

THEN, she goes to work for a LOCAL cleaning company run by a 'christian', where is has the pleasure of cleaning up people's ***** and BLOOD and VOMIT. Then her manager was so nice that her and her cleaning partner were assigned to clean 24 HOUSES IN ONE WEEK!

You can call it 'misinformation', I call it EXPERIENCE.

So what does all of that have to do with the misinformation/lack of information you presented (or failed to present) concerning foreclosure rates, crime, education, taxes, etc.?

Furthermore, just because you may have had these experiences in one particular city in SC doesn't mean this is how things are in every other city in the entire state, and vice versa for AR. I'm pretty sure I can find testimonials of people who have had worse experiences in AR, but does that give me the right to post misleading information about the state?