Non-Michigan DUers: Is the economy good in your state?

One talking point MI Repubs use against Granholm is that the economy is getting better everywhere except in Michigan (gee, thanks Engler).

A few people in my class today said they thought the same thing (never mind improving unemployment numbers here and everything going on in Mississippi and Louisiana).

But the economy can't be better everywhere else! Especially under Bush.

So... how's your state's economy?

We are doing very badly here -- never really got the economic kick other people did a few years back. We were recently compared to Appalachia, which raised some hackles, but the truth is Appalachia is doing BETTER than we are...

West Virginia is in horrible condition, and I moved here from Ohio for a job!

So the Amway guy is gonna make it all better? He gonna set up state sponsored pyramid schemes?

I live in Phoenix and there are many tech jobs, plus real estate has tripled. BTW our Governor is a Dem.

and it's been trailing just about every state in some measures since 1975. It certainly hasn't done any worse since Granholm, and it sounds like it's doing a lot better than a lot of times. It's only the hand Michigan was dealt back before you were born. Every state has a little bit of the Michigan=type industrial mix in it, and those towns and areas are hit hard. Every state has a little bit of the Michigan rural mix in it, and those towns and areas always are hit hard. Unless Granholm could move Chicago or Miami or TX oil fields to Michigan, she couldn't do any better.

Los Angeles.

here. The housing market is still booming and their are jobs. The malls and shopping areas are busy, people are buying.
Saratoga County, NY

houses. The rest of us are working at grilling hamburgers.

is pretty good. Note, our mayor and governor are both Democrats.

but that is largely because it was so far down to begin with. With successive hurricanes and floods over a short span of years the tax base was devastated at just the time that *'s policies were drying up funding to the states leaving us with huge budget shortfalls. State employees got no raises for three years running; many, many cutbacks on state employment; and most divisions of the state government wound up turning back to the state significant portions of their budgets before the end of the fiscal year. That has changed since last year, but I think it is due to recovery from the storms, rather than from administration economic policies.

And nobody I know is exactly feeling easy about it. I'm seeing no fewer homeless on the streets than three years ago. Just cause we were pretty much left alone last hurricane season doesn't mean we won't get hit this coming year, and I don't think the state has the resilience to deal with another Fran or Floyd.

we are home to 3M, Medtronic, Best Buy, etc., and our economy is well diversified (unlike Detroit, my hometown). I've been here for 18 years and can't believe how quickly the Twin Cities have grown, largely because of a huge influx of people from the rural areas of the state, No. Dakota, So. Dakota and Iowa (which is why, IMHO, Minnesota isn't as safely "blue" anymore). The economy is NOT good in the rural areas.

Along with that influx of folks, we also have more people moving from Chicago, Detroit, California, a practically overnight increase in Mexican citizens who are here illegally and legal immigrants from Laos (Hmong), Somalia and Ethiopia. As you might imagine, this has increased the demand for housing and we now have our share of gross, McMansion, exurban development.

I would never, in any way, credit Governor Pawlenty for our economy. Although, he IS a tool of the anti-tax, "Taxpayers League," which is a teeny-tiny group of rich, greedy, jerks who hold an inordinate amount of influence on our Rethug politicians.

('Hope that isn't TMI...)

even 6 years later. I can't TELL you how many once-semi-thriving neighborhoods are now ghost towns with weeded hulk factories that used to have workers come in and out of them.

Yet people still beat off over the Chimp and the PNAC-a-lack warhawks because refusing to admit you're wrong don't come that easy to a Republican Duh-HIGH-an.

is still hurting . the chain reaction
of people being broke has really hurt
our business so much so that I had to
go back to work ...

I love my job working for the school
district , It's union and with developmently
delayed preschoolers . My dream job ,
because I get summers off as well as all
the days my son has off .

And unlike the Clinton Administration, we're still feeling the effects of the Engler Administration even though they left a few years ago.

One can blame Engler more than Clinton.

You'll see city after city and town after town with closed factories struggling to get by. The worst part is that this is beautiful country with great schools, libraries, parks, hospitals, colleges, affordable housing etc. You'd have your choice of city living, small town life or rural life, but there are no jobs!


Great schools: Two of my daughters are in high school studying AP American History, Latin, German, Studio Art, Saxophone, Violin, Calculus, Algebra, English, Biology, Physics, World History, Physical Education
After School: Science Club, Envirothon, German Club, Latin Club, Track