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1. The heat takes some getting used to, but we love the weather out here in AZ. Not to mention the wonderful roads. Your car can last many years. A dip in the pool after work takes many worries away. If you like to exercise, mornings are perfect. Drink water all day.
2. You're not the first teacher I've heard "grumble" about the school systems here. Sure needs to be fixed. I have a mother, grandmother, and aunt that each taught school in MI for 30+ years. I think they're more "driven" back there than here....after talking to a couple of teachers here in Phoenix.
3. Ya gotta get out more. My wife & I have met many wonderful folks here.
4. 150k will buy you a very nice condo....wanna buy ours?
1. I've been out here 3 years and still haven't gotten used to it. Wile I do enjoy a bike rider, the rude drivers and dryness no matter what time, makes it impossible to enjoy it here. I also would much rather swim in a nice freshwater lake than a disgusting chlorinated pool.
2. I have left teaching and switched to health care. Yes they are more driven there.That still doesn't fix all the problems that this place has and expecting teachers to be the sole motivation for kids is unrealistic.
3. I have met a few wonderful folks, but most are shut-ins who want to be left alone. Thats another problem here. Most of the time during the day, its not pleasant being outside. The sun is so intense it feels like your skin is going to burn off (even with a lot of sunscreen. People don't go outside or socialize with their neighbors. There is also very little to do that involves meeting other people my age unless it is on 4th avenue (10 miles) away. Because Tucson has horrible traffic, this equates to about 30-40 minutes.
4. 150K can buy me a condo on a beach in MI, or a house with 10 acres. I doubt there is a condo in Tucson that compares with that!
1. I've been out here 3 years and still haven't gotten used to it. Wile I do enjoy a bike rider, the rude drivers and dryness no matter what time, makes it impossible to enjoy it here. I also would much rather swim in a nice freshwater lake than a disgusting chlorinated pool.
2. I have left teaching and switched to health care. Yes they are more driven there.That still doesn't fix all the problems that this place has and expecting teachers to be the sole motivation for kids is unrealistic.
3. I have met a few wonderful folks, but most are shut-ins who want to be left alone. Thats another problem here. Most of the time during the day, its not pleasant being outside. The sun is so intense it feels like your skin is going to burn off (even with a lot of sunscreen. People don't go outside or socialize with their neighbors. There is also very little to do that involves meeting other people my age unless it is on 4th avenue (10 miles) away. Because Tucson has horrible traffic, this equates to about 30-40 minutes.
4. 150K can buy me a condo on a beach in MI, or a house with 10 acres. I doubt there is a condo in Tucson that compares with that!
You definitely should go back to Michigan.
I think the people who do the best moving somewhere else were not just motivated by money but because of other factors like preferring warm weather, or those who want the adventure of trying out other places.
Some people should stay where they were born and will not adapt well to other places but no one should stay where they are unhappy. Life is too short.
I am so ready to get out of MI and I've only been back 6 months. Yep, ribeye steaks and lobster instead of hamburger helper, sunshine instead of snow, job-finding instead of job-hunting and no more stupid bottle deposit. My sweet home Florida you are about 1199 miles to far from me right now but we shall soon meet again.
try Arlington VA. I grew up in the 313, yes the hood. And still own my home in Pontiac. Cant give the damn thing away. I never saw myself living in Virginia, until I moved here for a great job. This place is thriving. With all the Colleges and DC just over the key bridge, plenty of work.plenty of single people. Its great. My advise is to come here for a long weekend. The hardest part about leaving MI was not being around my family when ever I want too. I took that for granted. The second, my house of course. I purchased brand new in december 03. New developemnt, never finished, now in hell, builder is long gone. Place is now worth 50 thousand less than I paid for it-its killing me slowley. Luckily I am just now in my mid 30's so I can recover.
This could be a loaded question. I am 35 years old. I am going to be finishing college with an Associates in Applied Science with a Certificate in Surgical Technology. I am three children. I currently work in the health care field in Mental Health. I make pretty decent money around 35K a year with no degree currently. I want to move out of Michigan because the economy is horrible here. I am disappointed with our Governor. The housing market is definitely the buyers market which if you are in a buying position is good but if you are in a selling position not so good. Then there is the job market which is just as horrible as the mentioned above. Then there is all the people on welfare in this darn state. Give me a break it is ridiculous. So, I am moving my family to Arizona. Unfortunately I am not going to be able to move for another 5-6 years. But I will wait patiently. I know, I know people are going to say why Arizona it is sooo hot there. Well not really, not in all places around Arizona. I would like to move to Sierra Vista and there is another city but it escapes me at the moment. Arizona just seems beautiful. I have seen pictures of this state on here that residents of Arizona post and it is beautiful, clean and people seem to respect Arizona. Unlike here. Our cities are dirty and liter filled. Our roads are one big pot hole and the city does not even pay for the cost of repair when your car falls into one giant crater. I hate to be so negative on the only state I have ever lived in, but I have to get out before I go crazy here.
I do not think it matters what state you live in, in regards to what children play with X-box's or not. The point that is trying to be made is there are jobs in Las Vegas, straight up. If you want to feed your family and be able to live, then all that is trying to be said is that there are employment opportunities available for construction workers and all of the other positions that were mentioned. Face it, Michigan is going no where and fast. You can try to deny it all you want but it is.
You think Romney was full of it and that McCain speaks the truth? McCain speaks the truth for what will happen if we continue to have business-as-usual in Washington.
So, what kinds of jobs do you think Michigan (or any state) will be able to get? Just what should Michiganders and Americans retrain and reeducate for?
IT jobs? Those were sent to India. Computer programming? Those were sent to India. Sadly, a great many knowledge-based jobs can be offshored too. Many knowledge-based college-education-requiring jobs can be offshored. Everything from financial analysis to patent law, interpreting radiological scans, animation, architecture and engineering, to name a few. In the meantime, a great many domestic jobs are being filled by foreigners on H-1B and L-1 work visas, displacing Americans, and science as a viable career field with a high probability of success has been dead for decades.
If we aren't going to do something to protect ourselves from global labor arbitrage, then what is our nation to do? That's why I'm glad that McCain lost. I doubt Romney understands all of this or would do much better, but it doesn't bother me that McCain lost. At some point this nation will have to address the economic force of global labor arbitrage lest we become an overpopulated impoverished third world country, just like the nations we're trying to merge our economy with now.
The job market might be better in other states, but what kinds of jobs are people finding? The U.S. economy is transforming itself into a low-wage service-based economy. According to the BLS employment stats, we have jobs for bartenders and waitresses but there are few new white collar openings in knowledge-based college-education-requiring fields and you can't have an entire economy based on nursing.
Neither Romney nor any of the candidates will be able to nor have the will to fix this nation's problems, but at least Romney had the right spirit to some extent. Ultimately--we are going to have to bring the jobs back. Ever heard of a tariff? The federal government could institute a zero-dollar trade deficit policy, deport all of the illegals and work visa holders, put a moratorium on legal immigration or reduce it to pre-1965 levels, and require that the American economy stay in America. What if foreign products could no longer be imported into the United States and we had to manufacture our own automobiles and parts? What if we had to make our own computer components and naval vessels?
It's disheartening to see that so many Americans who claim to support free market economics are afraid of having a closed American free market. At some point they concluded that the "free market" needs a huge labor subsidy of impoverished people from other, mostly non-free market countries. However, according to real free market theory, as long as we have capitalism internally our nation's economy should thrive.
Aside from having to import certain natural resources that we may not possess, I don't see any metaphysical reason why we can't manufacture goods and produce services right here in the United States.
My prediction: The nation's politicians, media pundits, professors, and economists will continue to spoon feed Americans the opiate-of-the-masses du jour -- education. Education for jobs that are unavailable in the quantities needed will be hailed as our nation's economic savior. I expect that the masses will buy into it. In the meantime, illegals will continue to swarm into the country and our policy of mass legal immigration will continue. The percentage of the American populace that is middle class will shrivel and the United States will become a South American-like impoverished and overpopulated third world country.
It isn't too late to avoid this fate, but I doubt that Americans have enough awareness and enough knowledge of economics and a sense of rational selfish interest to do what is necessary. The international trade dogma, the free market dogma, the notion of meritocracy (work hard and you'll succeed no matter what), and economic optimism are too heavily entrenched for the American populace to identify its real economic problems. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Americans, in mass, never figure it out.
And through all of this, candidates for presidency and current government officials continue to push the notion of helping our youth under a rug. Knowing full well the difficult of obtaining funds to even commit to a "expected" college education, most teens fall short of having fico score of 750 required to secure a 40K personal loan for college. As soon as government funds shrivel, the abundance of quaint colleges and universities across this country will do the same. In my opinion, capitalism is the perfect wool to cover the masses , at some point I hope the public realizes that even the money in their bank accounts is an investment....to the capitalist successor. America will never change, and a middle class individual will never get his chance to submit his agenda across this country as president.
Just wondering how bad the problem is.
What is your story and why you want to make the move and where?
Very high crime rate here in Saginaw, many businesses closing and unemployment rate of 8.5 percent. At one point, police were patrolling the city in helicopters because of the gang activity. If it weren't for my husband's job being located here, we'd be considering Texas, Georgia or N. Carolina.
And through all of this, candidates for presidency and current government officials continue to push the notion of helping our youth under a rug. Knowing full well the difficult of obtaining funds to even commit to a "expected" college education, most teens fall short of having fico score of 750 required to secure a 40K personal loan for college. As soon as government funds shrivel, the abundance of quaint colleges and universities across this country will do the same. In my opinion, capitalism is the perfect wool to cover the masses , at some point I hope the public realizes that even the money in their bank accounts is an investment....to the capitalist successor. America will never change, and a middle class individual will never get his chance to submit his agenda across this country as president.
Please post your quasi-observations in a related thread or a new thread so I don't have to hijack to correct you again.
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Moving out of Michigan
