Quote:
Originally Posted by Jondalar
I'm just really sad this Christmas. Getting too old to ignore things.
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I can certainly relate to that. The holidays always stress me out, and seem to do nothing but put a spotlight on all the ugliness in the world.
It's astounding to look at the differences in our nation's economy. Here in Texas, and especially Austin, we're truly in a golden era for the history books. The recession never really hit here, and 150 additional people move to Austin in particular every single day. Yet employment is at 4%, housing sales & values are skyrocketing, and everyone is prospering. The only bad news is our infrastructure can't keep up. For the time being the energy boom is the rising tide that's lifting all boats in Texas. The extent of it has to be seen firsthand to be believed, and even then, it's impossible to wrap your mind around the scale of it. How long this can all be sustained is another matter. But even if the bottom falls out from under the energy sector, in the process Texas has diversified it's economy to the point where it could weather about anything.
On the other hand, all I hear is gloom and horror from my friends and family in the Carolinas & Florida. My brother & his wife can't keep their kids fed, my Dad is making 1/4 what he did 6 years ago, and my friend Lee hasn't worked in 5 years. These regional disparities are unlike anything I've seen since the Oil and Savings & Loan busts of the 1980s. But this is so much larger and complex than that. What will pull these areas out of the hole besides time?
