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What parts of NC did you visit? I've only been to coastal NC which didn't seem that different from most places.
North Carolina is a very different state depending on where you are. There are the metro areas of Raleigh/Durham, Charlotte and Wilmington. There is coastal Carolina along with Ashville along with several other places that attract tourist and transplants. There are some smaller cities like Greensboro etc and then there are the more rural regions of the state that have not been at touched by transplants and tourists. There is a editorial out today from Capital Broadcasting which touches on the dynamics of all of this in the state legislative process.
One of the ways the differences can be most seen is in the wide range of retirement realities depending on geography. From mostly trailer and small home and living with children in some areas to more lavish retirement communities and access to top medical care etc.
Have you guys seen Mike Rowe's website called profoundly disconnected? I was amazed to see all the trades jobs that are out there. And they pay better than entry level engineering jobs! I think some kids need to learn a trade instead of getting a degree.
There are shortages in many areas of the country of skilled labor to meet the demands of local industry. We don't always have a match of where people want to live and where business wants to located. Government can give incentives for business to locate but it doesn't mean workers will follow nor will they stay when their working years are over.
The coastal areas are different than the rural parts of the State. It has been a few years, but I spent some time around the Great Dismal Swamp. Then to Nags Head which is a resort area. Then across on highway 64 to Raleigh and across the rest of the NC mostly on 40.
You can do what I call the rt 40 fast food tour and stop along the way at McDonalds etc and you can tell a lot about the area from who works there and who eats there. Detour a bit off the road and the difference can become greater in just what is available and how it is staffed.
The short answer is that they can't, at least on their own.
Like jrkliny noticed in NC, many small towns and rural areas continue to experience a decline. Where I'm from, many people worked at local manufacturing facilities, in mines, and farmed tobacco. Manufacturing has taken a hit, and mining and tobacco are all but gone. These were well-paying jobs by the standards of the area. My dad hired in a mechanic at a chemical company after completing their apprenticeship at $15/hr....in 1981.
The current median HHI in town is in the mid $30k range. That's barely enough to keep one afloat and live a meager lifestyle, much less properly save anything. It's not uncommon to have a one income family here where the man is making $15/hr or so with a wife and kid at home. What are they saving? Probably nothing - that's going to be your elderly underclass right there.
Silent and some older Boomers largely avoided this. Younger Boomers were often pounded by the Recession and many aren't back to where they were.
It's sad and I don't think it's right that we're largely becoming a society of "winner take most" of retirement benefits, and those winners are mostly coastal, urban, and liberal elite with high powered jobs in Chicago, Boston, SF, etc.
Your comments and observation are right on focus and why I started the thread. Your reactions are personal but your observations are reality. So a Bada Bing for that!
Everyone has a choice. Living in a dying area is very likely to mean it is all but impossible to find a decent job, let alone a career with advancement opportunities.
I don't think it is at all necessary to live only in one of a handful of cities. In fact moving to one, certainly does not guarantee a good job. Also there is nothing new about this. I moved all over the country in the pursuit of jobs and to replace jobs that died due to M&A and other reasons. I lived and working in Little Rock, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Phoenix, and Long Island. I almost had to move another time or two but I got lucky and worked for three different businesses after moving to Long Island.
Sometimes you need to put in maximum effort and do things you don't like and live places you don't like in order to thrive.
Is it just more expensive to move nowadays?
My parents grew up during the depression. They moved all over the southwest. My grandfather would drive to Arizona from Texas all the time. Up to Washington state etc. I have family living all across the U.S.
My dad was " lucky" thar he was drafted for ww2, and afterwards landed a job at a large military base.
When I see people wanting to revitalize small dying towns, I wonder why? Our ancestors just picked up and moved on as needed.
People say they want things grown and manufactured here in the U.S., but won't pay for it.
Just saw a political commercial about immigrants taking our jobs. We should be asking, who is hiring them? I had a relative happily say that their company was saving money by hiring IT workers from India. I told her not to be so ecstatic cuz your job could be next.
Everyone has a choice. Living in a dying area is very likely to mean it is all but impossible to find a decent job, let alone a career with advancement opportunities.
I don't think it is at all necessary to live only in one of a handful of cities. In fact moving to one, certainly does not guarantee a good job. Also there is nothing new about this. I moved all over the country in the pursuit of jobs and to replace jobs that died due to M&A and other reasons. I lived and working in Little Rock, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Phoenix, and Long Island. I almost had to move another time or two but I got lucky and worked for three different businesses after moving to Long Island.
Sometimes you need to put in maximum effort and do things you don't like and live places you don't like in order to thrive.
I am not sure you are disagreeing about the reality and have different points about the results. While one person mentioned NY, Boston etc the same concepts apply to Phoenix etc. There is much written about how rural resentment towards urban areas is becoming a problem in states. http://www.wral.com/editorial-legisl...ines/16032429/
Quote:
So why, you might ask, is our state legislature preoccupied with micromanaging our successful cities and counties? It comes from a shameless push for partisan advantage, rural resentment, an outdated ideological approach to economic growth (low taxes, low wages, low skill) and just because they can
There is a body of opinion that much of the rural resentment within states towards urban areas is heightened by transplants especially retirees bringing wealth and perspective to metro areas and not rural areas. They don't understand why they have worked hard and have what they have and don't understand how others can have so much more. Remember in many states folks now in their 60's and up and in some cases 50's went to segregated schools and now see those they thought disadvantaged retiring to their state with much more than they have.
Maximum effort doesn't yield the same result from region to region. Social Security is income based and the higher the income area you work in the greater your SS benefit for the most part when compared to the same job in a low income area.
Everyone has a choice. Living in a dying area is very likely to mean it is all but impossible to find a decent job, let alone a career with advancement opportunities.
I don't think it is at all necessary to live only in one of a handful of cities. In fact moving to one, certainly does not guarantee a good job. Also there is nothing new about this. I moved all over the country in the pursuit of jobs and to replace jobs that died due to M&A and other reasons. I lived and working in Little Rock, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Phoenix, and Long Island. I almost had to move another time or two but I got lucky and worked for three different businesses after moving to Long Island.
Sometimes you need to put in maximum effort and do things you don't like and live places you don't like in order to thrive.
I agree people may have to move, but it's sad that wide swathes of the country are drying up economically and are essentially economically nonviable for working people.
Take TN for instance. It's a beautiful state with low taxes, low cost of living, mild four seasons, seemingly great for seniors. Yet two of our local hospital systems are merging, and that's likely to lead closure of some rural medical facilities, and an increasing share of medical services being in Johnson City. Seniors over a fifty mile or so stretch of interstate may be left with little in the way of medical care within an hour, and that's a town of 15,000 or so, not tiny. We're also far more dense than places in the rural West, northern Maine, etc., so it's not like "no one is there" either.
Economically, if you're not in health care, education, or doing some sort of onsite service, and want to remain in the state, the only viable city to find work is Nashville, and even its economy is weak compared to Boston or a northern city.
These days, you have to chase jobs in seemingly ever fewer cities to make enough money to retire in the future
I know many people in my area who think things are going downhill. The biggest differentiator I think is education, not location. If you have a college degree, you are less likely to have experienced unemployment and stagnant pay, and are more likely to have a significant nest egg.
On the other hand, some of those "down and out" sorts also have a $40,000 pickup truck, a bass boat and a Harley in their garages, so to some degree it is about choices.
My parents grew up during the depression. They moved all over the southwest. My grandfather would drive to Arizona from Texas all the time. Up to Washington state etc. I have family living all across the U.S.
My dad was " lucky" thar he was drafted for ww2, and afterwards landed a job at a large military base.
When I see people wanting to revitalize small dying towns, I wonder why? Our ancestors just picked up and moved on as needed.
People say they want things grown and manufactured here in the U.S., but won't pay for it.
Just saw a political commercial about immigrants taking our jobs. We should be asking, who is hiring them? I had a relative happily say that their company was saving money by hiring IT workers from India. I told her not to be so ecstatic cuz your job could be next.
It may not be more expensive in real terms, but there are hidden things most people don't think about.
If you skipped out on a rental in 1950, broke the lease, and moved out of the state, what means realistically would a landlord have to collect damages? Credit scores weren't critical, maybe not even developed yet. A common person could generally show up and find a job in short order - you generally can't today. Have a bad rap or legal issue in one town and want to truly start over? Can't really with background and credit checks. Have skills but applying out of state? Good luck getting your resume looked at.
It may not be technically more expensive, but it sure as hell Is a lot more complex.
My parents grew up during the depression. They moved all over the southwest. My grandfather would drive to Arizona from Texas all the time. Up to Washington state etc. I have family living all across the U.S.
My dad was " lucky" thar he was drafted for ww2, and afterwards landed a job at a large military base.
When I see people wanting to revitalize small dying towns, I wonder why? Our ancestors just picked up and moved on as needed.
People say they want things grown and manufactured here in the U.S., but won't pay for it.
Just saw a political commercial about immigrants taking our jobs. We should be asking, who is hiring them? I had a relative happily say that their company was saving money by hiring IT workers from India. I told her not to be so ecstatic cuz your job could be next.
You are right about the "Made in USA" sentiment. Keep in mind that half the population is barely getting by; they have to pinch pennies. If you are willing to pay more, then if you compare like items in the same price range, US made items are usually on par at best.
I get the attraction of revitalizing an area, but it usually involves more sentiment than cold logic. But if enough people like an area enough to make a go of it, it does work out in a lot of cases.
I only lived 3 places growing up (and the first was in the college town where mom was doing post grad; second and third were only about 90 miles apart and only in the third a couple of years before returning to the second) and I have only lived 3 places as an adult. I did pick carefully with both job prospects and desire to live in the area as the major factors. My kids will enter adulthood (one has) leaving the same house they were brought home to at birth.
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