Cost of Living in U.S. Has Risen 14% Over the Past 3 Years

I was talking specifically to the person I quoted. The person that said they weren't working and living off a fixed income. Also, there are plenty of jobs in rural areas. When you leave a city, it doesn't always just turn into a wasteland where nothing and no one is living, there are jobs and towns and small "cities" were plenty of jobs are available.

 

Don't look at the states because cities have their own ecosystem. You think Atlanta has the same cost of living as Jacksonville GA? Again, cities are always more expensive to live, and typically they are ran by democrats.

 

Sure, there are jobs. If you were a software engineer in Dallas, you can move to the country side and do something else. Most people, however, are not willing to change careers.

 

People in cities also have much higher incomes.

I will not play the partisan game where a mayor is blamed for the cost of living going up. It makes no sense. If you want to flee the cities and build a house in the country side, then you still have to pay more for gas, materials, appliances, tools, electric, etc. Lets not pretend the countryside is untouched. It's common sense they would compare cities and not random villages in the middle of nowhere.

 

Cities naturally have a higher tax because of public services here in the country we don't have those amenities and if we do they are small..

 

You obviously don't know that there are software engineer jobs in rural areas. How out of touch are you of the people that don't live in democrat ivory towers? Do you think Northrop and Boeing and Ratheon are only in big cities?

 

Yes, some jobs pay more, others like the Min wage jobs of fast food still pay the same as they do outside the cities.

 

False.
People are part of the supply and demand chain. With unemployment low, more people have jobs. Finding basic labor is that virtually nonexistent, or comes at a very high price.

Check with some workers at the grocery store, the fast food place... virtually no one is earning 'MW at this point.

 

Yep, its the great part of socialism, making things more expensive to live because you are paying for things only the poor use. It helps subsidize the poor who are never challenged to move up and do better because why should they? Making more means you lose your subsidies and start paying for others to get the hand outs.

 

As a software engineer by profession, I pretty much know it for fact. I once worked (one of my 1st jobs) in a small town in IL because there happened to be an employer who was looking for a software engineer. The obvious problem was that they were the ONLY employer in town who hired such people, so I was stuck with them, or relocate. And of course the salary was half of that in metro areas.

Boeing = Seattle
Northrop = Washington DC metro
Ratheon = Boston metro

You are trying to twist everything into a partisan issue. I dont get people who do that.

 

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Damn those socialist cops, firemen and libraries!

 

I do believe they are paid posters...Or else totally brainwashed by the echo chamber..

 

Not in my last post was nothing partisan. As for your examples, those are not the only places those companies are located or where engineers are employed. Like you said, small towns need engineers too. The pay is “half” cause the cost of living is so low. You don’t need $100k a year to live comfortably in small towns.

 

Yeah, go to those things, that also cost less in small towns vs cities. Less crime means less need for cops. Keeping more of your own money means you don’t need the library as people once did.

 

You called metro areas where most jobs are "democrat ivory towers". Sure has a partisan ring to it.

Why don't you ask yourself why conservatives are failing to land mayor jobs are thriving metro areas?

As for working in a small town, the employers know their employees have nowhere else to go, they treat accordingly.

I love living in Ft Lauderdale. It is not a big city, but is a part of Miami/Ft Lauderdale metro area of 6+ million people, which means jobs and services are all here. Plus the beach, ocean and sun of course. The only thing that sucks is the traffic, but I work an hourly job at my own pace, and I work from home, so what do I care.

 

Damn those public roads!

 

Youre right, but that wasn't my last post. It was before you said "I am not going to get partisan" is when I didn't mention political affiliation again.

Yes and no. Depending on what you are working on, or who you are working for. Businesses will look for places where the people don't need too much to live off of, hence why some manufacturing is in China. They will also do it in America, hence why Boeing was trying to get a second plant in SC cause the employees don't need as much to be comfortable living compared to Seattle. $100k can go a lot further in the rural areas than in major cities. But the market of employees still wont support min wage pay for skilled labor, that's why companies like Boeing don't pay min wage.

Sounds like you can do that from anywhere, and only choose to live in the city and beach for nostalgia and conformability.

 

That is worse in major cities, that's why companies like dominoes are taking over repaving. Muh roads....

 

I don't live alone, so it is not just about me. I will never live in a small town again. I did it once and that was enough. Not my cup of team. Panama and Costa Rica are possibilities thought in case we are forced into early retirement. Corporate America has surrendered IT industry to the Indians, so early retirement is an real possibility. Right now my client has 95% of their workforce at their Texas location from India, and they rotate more in and out with H1B visas. I doubt they'll have much more work for me going forward, considering the cheaper alternatives. Merit based immigration baby. Just like "The Donald" likes it. It looks like health care industry is going in the same direction. Hospitals down here are packed with Indians and arabs.

 

I grew up in St. Pete FL, I don't ever want to live in a city again. Been around the world and lived in a few different spots for the Military. No one is "wrong" for choosing to live where they do, I just know that having a "fixed" income is not a good idea to be living in a city when there are more affordable places to live.

 

California taxes everything even cow farts.

 

That should not affect you, unless your own cows.

Do you own cows?

Besides, you can always claim your cow only farted once, even if you know she farted at least three times.

 

It's like the feds and state has just up and stopped doing their jobs. In Mizzouri they keep trying to pass a higher gas tax and police tax but it never passes the public votes.

 

The Fed sets domestic interest rates - the overnight lending rate. It does not set the rates on debt (2yr, 10yr, 30 yr) and so on. The Fed intervention ( QE - buying our own debt to decrease supply which helps to put downward pressure on interest rates) was as much to get average interest rates on our debt lower as it was to stimulate the economy.

You are correct that this "messing with the invisible hand" has consequences. You are incorrect in attributing this to just to Obama. This was a concerted effort by the Establishment (both red and blue) and Obama was just a puppet in that game.

Now the invisible hand is biting back. In 2014 you could float 2yr debt at less than 0.5%. Today it is 2.9%. Click on the 5 yr chart and be shocked. https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=US2Y

One of the ways we reduced the ave interest rate on our debt was floating shorter term notes. At 0.3% this is "easy easy money". The problem is that this 2yr note had to be refinanced in 2016 and again in 2018. The interest rate you are paying has just increased by 900%.

The Fed rate is impacted by the bond rate. The reason the Fed is raising interest rates is in large part because the interest rates on our debt have increased.

Now we are facing a perfect storm. The 4 Trillion on the fed balance sheet due to QE is now being floated back onto the market (increasing supply). The short term notes that come due have to be refloated (increasing supply). Then we have Trump increasing deficits - which increased supply.

This is coupled with decreased demand on the other side of the equation.

1) The world is already awash in US debt - how much does one hold ? = decreased demand
2) 10-20 years ago there was little competition. Now we have China, India and others = decreased demand
3) After the 2008 crash Europe was on fire. The US was on fire as well but the rats then migrate to the slowest sinking ship which was the US dollar. Europe is no longer on fire = decreased demand
4) Running massive deficits in a rising interest rate environment (the pinnacle of fiscal irresponsibility) decreases confidence = decreased demand - interest rates will need to be higher to attract investors .. just the way things go.
5) The Big elephant in the room "Sole World Reserve Currency Status". The only reason we can get away with spending way beyond our means is because of this status. The calls for a competitor have been going on for years but there as no serious movement. It is something that will happen eventually but - I was thinking 20 years.

These Trade wars and sanctions have expedited this process. I am shocked at what I am seeing and the pace at which it is happening. The "ONLY" think holding this ship together is Europe (which has also been calling for an alternate means of international payments - and even taken the first step towards this goal "Special Drawing Rights" - however these were "baby steps").

Europe is "pissed" to put it mildly. The language continues to escalate. Talk of "usurping our sovereignty" has escalated to direct pock shots at the President and the creation of a "Euroforce" ... to protect against China, Russia and "The US".

If Europe starts utilizing these alternate methods of payments (some of which have already been created) and they are already doing so albeit on a small scale, this will expedite the create of "valid" competition to the USD sole status.

The history books will record the loss of "SOLE" status as the defacto end of the US economic empire. "FULL STOP"