The price of oil (Anchorage, Metlakatla: rentals, modular home, to buy)

[Dakster]

Met - We agree we just got there differently... No one is going to export weed from AK. And yeah, that other legal substance is a bigger problem that what the future weed growers of AK will do.

Pitts - The gravy train is over in oil and gas for the time being, maybe forever? I wouldn't bet on it either way. Personally, whether you make 6 figures a year or not doesn't affect me either. So why should I care about who makes what and in what industry? I care about what the state makes off the industries is has or could have (Tourist, Oil, Mining, agriculture, fishing, crabbing, aquaculture, etc...) because if the state can't make enough, I GET TAXED for it and that could affect my income more than the PFD. Sorry that the industry you work in is falling flat on its face. I wish it wasn't, but it is. I don't need to do nearly as much about it as a lot of people do. The question is what are 'we' going to do about it. OR what are we going to support/push our law makers to do about it? What is the solution? I see one forced solution is a lot of people are going to get out of town and go somewhere else.

[pittsflyer]

I will move to where I can make real money. I don't really care what they do as long as I can keep a 6 figure job I will stay (unless my soon to be wife wants to support me in a lower paying job lol). Paying an income tax would suck but as long as there are big money jobs it wont be such a big hit.

Originally Posted by Dakster

Met - We agree we just got there differently... No one is going to export weed from AK. And yeah, that other legal substance is a bigger problem that what the future weed growers of AK will do.

Pitts - The gravy train is over in oil and gas for the time being, maybe forever? I wouldn't bet on it either way. Personally, whether you make 6 figures a year or not doesn't affect me either. So why should I care about who makes what and in what industry? I care about what the state makes off the industries is has or could have (Tourist, Oil, Mining, agriculture, fishing, crabbing, aquaculture, etc...) because if the state can't make enough, I GET TAXED for it and that could affect my income more than the PFD. Sorry that the industry you work in is falling flat on its face. I wish it wasn't, but it is. I don't need to do nearly as much about it as a lot of people do. The question is what are 'we' going to do about it. OR what are we going to support/push our law makers to do about it? What is the solution? I see one forced solution is a lot of people are going to get out of town and go somewhere else.

[Dakster]

Like I said -- people will leave.

I am in that boat too, in fact if things JUST didn't start to work out in my life we might have had to pull out and regroup.

[pittsflyer]

That's my point, if you have to leave why would you care about what the state is doing, how they are doing it or how much money they make doing it?


Unless you have a vested interest in the out go of said money it is largely irrelevant. All most people should care about is what solutions result in an abundance of high pay (read 6 figure) jobs.

Originally Posted by Dakster

Like I said -- people will leave.

I am in that boat too, in fact if things JUST didn't start to work out in my life we might have had to pull out and regroup.

[Frostnip]

IIRC less than 4% of jobs in the US pay $100,000+ per year.

[GnomadAK]

Originally Posted by pittsflyer

That's my point, if you have to leave why would you care about what the state is doing, how they are doing it or how much money they make doing it?


Unless you have a vested interest in the out go of said money it is largely irrelevant. All most people should care about is what solutions result in an abundance of high pay (read 6 figure) jobs.

Some of us still have family in AK so it does matter what happens. If it gets really bad we might have to open up that spare bedroom (and where will we put that treadmill?)

[Dakster]

I'm in the state unless I can't eat by staying in the state. It would have been easier for us to leave, but we fought so hard to get there I am not giving up easily... In fact, GnomadAK - got a spare closet for us? (kidding)

I care about what happens to AK, because what happens will determine whether I can stay or not. And I want to stay!!! It looks like we should be OK, but if prices, taxes, and unemployment go way up. (which means my wife becomes unemployed) it gets difficult.

[pittsflyer]

You have to truncate all the noise (you cant compare degreed professionals to migrant workers). If you truncated all the noise the percentage is much higher.

Originally Posted by Frostnip

IIRC less than 4% of jobs in the US pay $100,000+ per year.

[pittsflyer]

I want to stay too but I want to do more than eat and watch TV because im too broke to do anything else, that is a non starter (I worked to hard in school and building my career to live like that). I wont live in Alaska just for the sake of living in Alaska there has to be something on the table. Also I don't have a paid for house yet so I have to be able to make a mortgage payment if we decide to "buy in". It is not cheap to live up here.

Originally Posted by Dakster

I'm in the state unless I can't eat by staying in the state. It would have been easier for us to leave, but we fought so hard to get there I am not giving up easily... In fact, GnomadAK - got a spare closet for us? (kidding)

I care about what happens to AK, because what happens will determine whether I can stay or not. And I want to stay!!! It looks like we should be OK, but if prices, taxes, and unemployment go way up. (which means my wife becomes unemployed) it gets difficult.

[Dakster]

You shouldn't live anywhere just to be there... I could have stayed where I was and be miserable or as you said, eat chips and watch TV because that's all I could afford or want to do.

It's expensive to live in most places people would want to live in. Try SoCal, South Florida, NYC to name a few. I do pay a little less for groceries overall in South Florida and only because the fresh stuff is cheaper (and tastes better). Since I have been traveling back and forth I started comparing prices. And what I pay taxes on in Florida vs. so far None in Anchorage.

The problem is that very cheap houses and land areas do not have the jobs. While I like Anchorage and the city, I don't REALLY want to live in the city, but I am stuck there... Why? Because the better schools for my kids and my wife's job is there. Buy your large house and areas of land in one of the more remote areas of the state... But of course that means along commute to work. I guess that is why a lot of people I have met have cabins in the rural areas. So they can escape the city.