Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > North Carolina > Western North Carolina
 [Register]
Western North Carolina The Mountain Region including Asheville
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-23-2010, 11:37 AM
 
1,379 posts, read 3,904,955 times
Reputation: 841

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cofga View Post
Americans have a national history based on moving elsewhere when opportunities close to home bottom out so maybe now is the time for them to embrace that tradition. I know that may sound harsh but reality often is.
Yeah, I agree. The short of it is, you have several choices:

1. Find a job within the the natural strengths of the local economy (health care, tourism, real estate etc.).
2. Become an entrepreneur and develop your own business.
3. Move somewhere else, where the local economy is naturally suited to your skills and expertise.

The local government is not your nanny; it's not their job to find you a job or to develop demand for jobs that suit your particular interests. Sounds insensitive, but that's the heart of the matter.

Don't sit around and complain; take charge and do something, rather than wait for someone else to do something for you.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-23-2010, 12:14 PM
 
Location: North Carolina
756 posts, read 1,648,454 times
Reputation: 289
Quote:
Originally Posted by NC_Paddler View Post
Yeah, I agree. The short of it is, you have several choices:

1. Find a job within the the natural strengths of the local economy (health care, tourism, real estate etc.).
2. Become an entrepreneur and develop your own business.
3. Move somewhere else, where the local economy is naturally suited to your skills and expertise.

The local government is not your nanny; it's not their job to find you a job or to develop demand for jobs that suit your particular interests. Sounds insensitive, but that's the heart of the matter.

Don't sit around and complain; take charge and do something, rather than wait for someone else to do something for you.
In 1957 (when I was young), there was not a single sports stadium built with taxpayer dollars. Today, there is not a single one without taxpayer support. Once incentives started to woo teams to a different city, the dam burst.

It now costs citizens millions upon millions of dollars to support sports whether they like it or follow sports or not. Meanwhile, salaries for players exploded because owners no longer had stadiums to build and support, so they could spend more on bidding wars for the "best" players.

Incentives are not good. In fact, they are counter-productive.

In my prior city, the Council voted to grant tax breaks for 20 years to a new super mall and the stores that went into it. They claimed it would bring in millions in new revenues and jobs. So what happened?

Auto dealers and Walmart and other stores closed local and downtown businesses and moved to the mall for the tax breaks. This left a dead downtown, less tax revenue, no increase in retail jobs, and a deficit budget that resulted in hundreds of employees being let go - a net job loss for the city.

Incentives are bad.

Asheville would be wise to build on its strengths, not the supposed strengths of other places. We have beauty and easy access to a fabulous National Park and the Parkway. We are on an interstate where commerce flows. We can succeed if we approach it correctly. But incentives are bad. The location, people, and culture are incentive enough.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-23-2010, 01:04 PM
 
Location: Mtns of Waynesville,NC & Nokomis, FL
4,782 posts, read 10,542,409 times
Reputation: 6523
Back to the OP's point, I haven't run ratios, but I suspect the foreclosure rate, per capita, per home, etc. in Asheville "area" is not "worse than"
most of the rest of the country. Not suggesting that is good, but the screaming meemies headline and barely so-so article, using data from peak
of "boom times"/2006, made it seem like it was an exponential cancer for the area.

Yesterday's NewYawkTimes had an art. in the Biz section that stated ~50% of the homes, with mortgages, in the US were in "serious default on loan"
and in, or facing foreclosure. The endless appreciation and use of the piggy bank, aka one's home with a mort, and a 2nd...is over.

Good points by NC Paddler on this "area" is what it is. I wasn't humping a goal of the area becoming a mini-Charlotte, just lamenting the lack of impetus
given by the local geniuses to seek out some light industry, med tech stuff, etc., for all the vacant buildings/lots around western NC.

And, I'm with GuyF: "incentives", as doled out by the least effective organization(s) on the planet, aka any level of gov't, tend to seldom support the classes
below the top 1/2 % tier. And, rarely do those incentives bring in any real growth other than arm waving PR stuff by the elected knuckleheads, imo.

I've been all around the world, but I love living in western NC.
GL, mD
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-23-2010, 03:18 PM
 
1,379 posts, read 3,904,955 times
Reputation: 841
I'd be skeptical of anything put out by a newspaper, especially a local rag like the ACT. Their job is not to inform you; their job is to stimulate you . . . mostly through fear mongering, exaggeration, and selective reporting of the "facts". That's what sells newspapers. Rational analysis is boring.

But I'll leave it that, as I sense the long tentacles of the Maoderator creeping up behind me.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-23-2010, 07:21 PM
 
Location: Carolina Mountains
2,103 posts, read 4,449,185 times
Reputation: 2326
Quote:
Originally Posted by GuyFriendly View Post
I meant no disrespect. Incentives are "taxpayer dollars." A government is run by tax dollars, so giving up any of the potential revenue to encourage business means that the revenue is lost - taxpayers often have to make that difference up in other ways.

I worked for government for over 25 years and saw this time and time again. Incentives were given, the budget suffered, sales taxes or property taxes were raised to make up the difference, and many times the businesses left after the end of the incentives!

That is all I meant.

I respect your views even where we may disagree.

I apologize then for thinking you meant literally.
Cofga, I totally agree with you on everything. I think I was trying to say that, but you managed to word it better.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-23-2010, 08:53 PM
 
532 posts, read 1,086,891 times
Reputation: 228
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cofga View Post
Personally, I think that we are seeing the beginning of a major structural change in our economy. Companies are taking advantage of this long drawn out recession to cut their costs. As a result most recent increases in company profits have been due to cost cutting measures and not increased sales. Manufacturing companies are busily installing new computerized robotic assembly lines to replace the legions of employees that used to do the same work. So even when the economic recovery does start to pick up steam the old jobs won't be there anymore. Sure there'll be a few hourly wages jobs like the extra 100 at Continental Brake in Fletcher, Ethan Allen in Old Fort, and Arvado in Weaverville but nothing to raise a family on. Our old manufacturing economy has moved to Mexico and China so we're left with a major service industry and the future seems to belong to hi-tech. Face it, you can't have an economy based on a nation of consumers buying Chinese trinkets--you have to make something to sell to somebody else too.

So the real question is will Asheville be able to shed its image as a tourism/retiree destination or as John asks does it really want to? I really don't see a lot of action from the powers that be, to move away from the status quo. Of course this really isn't a good time to be trying to bring in new companies who themselves are struggling to make it through the recession. I'm afraid that the sons and daughters of the area had better look outside the area for a future unless they are happy working hourly for low wages. This has been the story for several generations. My father left Appalachia after WWII to avoid the traditional mining and farming jobs that left his brothers and sisters scratching out a living. Americans have a national history based on moving elsewhere when opportunities close to home bottom out so maybe now is the time for them to embrace that tradition. I know that may sound harsh but reality often is.
Where did your father go? A lot of my dad's family went to Detroit to work in the auto plants.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-24-2010, 08:14 AM
 
Location: Weaverville
765 posts, read 2,559,655 times
Reputation: 404
Quote:
Originally Posted by ButtercupMcToots View Post
Where did your father go? A lot of my dad's family went to Detroit to work in the auto plants.
After stints in the Navy (during the war) and the Army he went to Richmond Va and attended barber school, married my mother, and then went back to Richlands Va (where I was born) and worked there for a few years. We then moved back to Richmond and Quantico area (N. Va). I worked for the Dept of Interior in N. Va. until I retired this spring and moved down here.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-24-2010, 09:12 AM
 
532 posts, read 1,086,891 times
Reputation: 228
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cofga View Post
After stints in the Navy (during the war) and the Army he went to Richmond Va and attended barber school, married my mother, and then went back to Richlands Va (where I was born) and worked there for a few years. We then moved back to Richmond and Quantico area (N. Va). I worked for the Dept of Interior in N. Va. until I retired this spring and moved down here.
That was a better move than the auto plant.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-24-2010, 09:20 AM
 
141 posts, read 321,975 times
Reputation: 88
Calculated Risk: Existing Home Sales lowest since 1996, 12.5 months of supply

Future continues to look bright for the housing market. Glad WNC isn't one of those nasty bubble markets. Wonder what the fallout will be as the residential construction and sundry housing supported industries continue to decline in the area?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-24-2010, 07:03 PM
 
Location: Lowcountry
764 posts, read 1,594,817 times
Reputation: 416
Quote:
Originally Posted by jstubbspt View Post
Calculated Risk: Existing Home Sales lowest since 1996, 12.5 months of supply

Future continues to look bright for the housing market. Glad WNC isn't one of those nasty bubble markets. Wonder what the fallout will be as the residential construction and sundry housing supported industries continue to decline in the area?
Correct me if I am wrong but I sense some sarcasm here....
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:




Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > North Carolina > Western North Carolina
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top