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Capital comes from productivity. There's plenty of productivity all over the nation, including the North. It just doesn't transcend across all industries.
I don't know where you got that idea. The cost of living is quite low in Montana. I've lived in Great Falls myself. It has essentially the same cost of living as Houston, my current hometown. Ditto for Helena. Also, if you think MT is ugly, I'm surprised you are a Wyoming resident. WY has very similar climate and scenery. I've visited Buffalo, Casper, Cheyenne, and Sheridan WY myself a few times.
I lived in Montana for 16 years. I couldn't make a decent living after college (living in the Missoula area). I was flat broke and moved to Wyoming. Most of Montana does NOT have a low cost of living with the wages they pay, especially in the pretty areas. The eye roll after the state being pretty comment was not because I think it's ugly. I agree, it's very beautiful. However, those pretty mountains don't pay the bills and you can't eat them. I don't know if the South is like this in this regard, but people tend to have a blind loyalty to the state of Montana and will gripe about being broke and there being few jobs. So many have no interest in actually trying to fight for decent wages just because the "quality of life" is so good there. At the same time they always gush about the pretty mountains as being a reason to stay.
I lived in Montana for 16 years. I couldn't make a decent living after college (living in the Missoula area). I was flat broke and moved to Wyoming. Most of Montana does NOT have a low cost of living with the wages they pay, especially in the pretty areas. The eye roll after the state being pretty comment was not because I think it's ugly. I agree, it's very beautiful. However, those pretty mountains don't pay the bills and you can't eat them. I don't know if the South is like this in this regard, but people tend to have a blind loyalty to the state of Montana and will gripe about being broke and there being few jobs. So many have no interest in actually trying to fight for decent wages just because the "quality of life" is so good there. At the same time they always gush about the pretty mountains as being a reason to stay.
This sounds a lot like back home. I was talking to dad today and he was talking about how he has a hard time paying his bills (they make $70k - median HHI in town is $30.5k). Granted, they could cut back, but $35k for two 57 year olds is not good, and most of the rest of the area is substantially worse. Household incomes between $20-$25k are very common in rural areas of TN.
Out of those states, GA is the only one I'd consider wholly Southern. FL is no longer culturally Southern in many of the major metros due to the influx of retirees from up north and Hispanics. TX is its own animal. MD is not Southern today in any fashion. The Southern areas of VA are not where the jobs are, and where the jobs are retain little Southern culture.
So your OP was about people abandoning the south to move up north.
But now you disqualify major southern metros as not being "southern" because they have an influx of northerners (and immigrants)? Logic is completely flawed on that.
Also, give a quick consideration of the jobs created by the influx of retirees (medical, housing, support, commercial, etc). In fact, this influx is one of the reasons that the south is picked to have the best job growth:
Also... if/since southerners and immigrants do move to northern cities, will/do you disqualify major northern metros and only consider rural areas like upstate Maine to be "northern"?
Last edited by TampaBull13; 09-07-2014 at 07:45 PM..
Reason: spelling/grammar
Up here is the end of the line; this is as far north as it gets in the lower 48 and there's nothing here either. The only people who are still here in International Falls are natives like me or are so poor they're here because they couldn't afford to move. Greyhound Bus? The closest bus station, decent hospital, shopping mall or city with a skyline is Duluth, MN which is 165 MILES south. So while there's a lot of public housing and social services here, you have to be okay with being very, very far away from essential services and be completely done with big cities, or if you're single be content that you'll never meet anyone, as everyone here is either married or has kids.
I'm afraid the job thing isn't a north/south thing. From what I'm seeing it's a big city/rural thing. I see our big cities, with skyrocketing rents and prestigious universities, will be reserved for the best and brightest who will have very plum jobs while rural areas will be receiving centers for America's poorest. These small towns will be mini-Cabrini Greens, because the land is worth nothing and it's easy to warehouse poor people who can't find jobs in small towns where nothing ever happens anyway.
I consider the South as being east of the Mississippi. Not much boom going on there. Many of those who want to work will leave, though some will stay and try to make it. Retirees coming for the low cost of living will make up for those leaving.
Do those auto jobs in Chattanooga pay as well as those in northern auto factories did, even when you factor in the low COL? My guess is no.
There are some highly specialized positions in Oak Ridge, but it's hardly an employment mecca.
Nashville is doing well overall and is an exception. Most of the rest of TN is terrible for employment.
Of course they don't, those northern auto factory wages were not sustainable. In a global economy, you can't pay factory labor the same as post graduate professional labor and still be competitive.
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