The author talks about Missouri without mentioning it anywhere else. Does he mean California?
The cost of living in california is too high for most of the lower to middle class workers.
Between outrageous real estate prices, ridiculously high taxes, and the ever crushing burden of state regulations, outside of the government subsidized illegals, silicon valley techies, and welfare parasites, nobody can really afford to live there.
I work with people who escaped from california, and they can’t believe how much cheaper it is to live in eastern WA and OR.
I told them that when I moved out here from the upper midwest, that the cost of living is way more expensive here than in the midwest.
When they told me how much it cost to live in california, I wondered how they actually managed to survive.
Forty years ago there was a TV program on Okies in California.
The original Okie fled the 1930s dust bowl and found work in California.
The son of that Okie grew up and found work in California.
The grandson of that Okie born and grew up in California chose to go on the public dole.
Today the great-grandson of that original Okie is probably still on the public dole.
Que no hablan?
I remember talking at a CHRISTMAS Party to the sponsor’s HR Head. When we talked about their LA office, she sarcastically laughed at all the employment compliance stupidity she had to put up with there. SHH
And this was probably 8 years ago.
Two Kids’ Mom got laid off in April after being with the same company for 20 years (in California). She’s still looking for a replacement job. The process is insane because all employers do their hiring based on online applications and those are processed through third-party sites who make the applicants’ information public and then the spam emails flood in while the actual employers reject the applications as being overqualified or not having the proper college degree or whatever.
It ain’t pretty in CA for someone looking to actually get a job and pull their own weight. The system seems to be all about keeping the system running, not about matching employers with potential employees.
The real question is why do employers relocate to CA given the high costs there? And the high regulatory burden?
California’s economy is really dependent on the stock market. As long as tech companies can raise money from stock sales, they don’t need to make a profit. But there are a lot of things that can go wrong in that calculation.
I live in Southern California. I bought my condo in 2001 before the house prices skyrocketed. There is no way I coukd afford a house, much less a condo today. My mortgage is now half of what people pay for rent in my area. Its a good thing because at the start of the year I was laid off from my job of 17 years because the company centralized to corporate headquarters in Chicago and I had to take significantly less to get my new job.
No way I could make it if I was renting!