Why is Chicago losing population?

[blah12345678]

Quote from Clubber Lang:

The teachers union is the reason the country's public schools are a disgrace. Like all public unions, they protect the stupid and incompetent.

I agree unions have outgrown their usefulness, especially since we now have a service-based economy (not accurately calculated in any gov't statistics, btw).

The irony is that we wouldn't get to enjoy all the wonderful tech toys and other advances we've experienced since WWII without pension fund money being funneled into VC funds and all various financial markets/products...

Now we're seeing the downside of the Union system - Unions have priced it's workers out of the job market and US culture it helped create..

Consumers demand higher quality, innovative products at increasingly lower price points. You can't manufacture an iPhone, iPad, smart phone, Blu-Ray Player, household appliance, clothes, or any other mainstay of modern US society by paying the blue-collar workers $50/hr plus overtime, benefits, pension contributions, workers comp, and payroll taxes.

Consumers can't and won't buy the products at a higher price point in the volume needed to overcome past R&D, capex, employee expenses, and future R&D.

Andy Kessler explores these ideas in one of his books - Eat People

 

[Fractals 'R Us]

You can't concealed carry in Chicago, right? It will be a couple of years before they actually get it going anyhow. Who wants to walk around among armed drug dealing criminals raised in atheistic public schools that are used to preying on an unarmed population? I mean the whole law of the jungle is "don't be a zebra" if lions are around. I'm not going to stay in some place that demands I be a zebra. It's just stupid to do that.

 

[toolazy]

Quote from J Ski:

..."you cant just pull real good & experienced engineer from the bum". That's funny. If you could, he or she would probably do a "shitty" job, anyway.

There are plenty of engineers that have been put out of work. Plenty of talent and educated people in the US.
But, why should companies that operate in the US, hire engineers at $50k-$100k, when there is a cheaper alternative.
US companies don't have to hire engineers here.
The internet and file transfer allows them to send project requirements and exchange data. Engineers working in India, for example, then perform the work.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/business/global/26engineer.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Not only are engineers at risk. Doctors are getting offshored .
Health care providers now ftp transfer x-rays to be read by doctors in foreign countries, that typically earn a fraction of the counterparts here.

sorry, I did not mean IT. my point is that quality suffers when job is commoditised. somewhere down the track this will be in focus and there will be no solution. However, no one is allowed to worry about future.

 

[Pekelo]

Quote from blah12345678:

The irony is that we wouldn't get to enjoy all the wonderful tech toys and other advances we've experienced since WWII without pension fund money being funneled into VC funds and all various financial markets/products...

Yes, because without America there is absolutely no innovation and tech advancement around the world.... Oh wait....

 

[Lucrum]

Quote from Fractals 'R Us:

You can't concealed carry in Chicago, right?

That doesn't seem to be stopping the gangsters from doing it. But then such silly laws never did.

It will be a couple of years before they actually get it going anyhow....

Starts no later than April 5, 2014, supposedly.

 

[zdreg]

Quote from blah12345678:

I agree with this one...




I disagree with this one because it contradicts your first one. A small group of teacher-parent/child trying to set a good example isn't going to overcome the school-wide problem. Which originates with the parents, like you stated previously..

there is no inherent contradiction between the two. i never said or implied that teacher sending their kids to public school will eliminate all problem. it would improve the schools. that is a big difference.

 

[ammo]

there is a lot of graft in Chicago, if there wasn't the drug problem and gang problem would not have mushroomed, the immigrants that used to move here, European and Hispanic, came for jobs ,better living conditions, majority were uneducated and took manual labor jobs, construction, restaurant. lawn care, cleaning. maintance, those jobs are waning. If you grew up in the Midwest, this was the nearest large city and your college degree would get you a better check here than one of the neighboring Midwest states,and you would still be a short drive from hometown , those jobs are shrinking/outsourced also . The crime is rising with the drug money providing support for the gangs, with the shrinking job base , there aren't as many drug customers and the gangs are fighting over the shrinking customer base.

 

[J Ski]

Quote from toolazy:

sorry, I did not mean IT. my point is that quality suffers when job is commoditised. somewhere down the track this will be in focus and there will be no solution. However, no one is allowed to worry about future.

The article even though dated, does mention the civil engineers wage in India.
In 2010 it was $5,100.
It stated that civil engineers were in short supply because they chose to go into software, even after completing a degree in engineering.
Supposedly the Indian government was going to allocate trillions to alleviating the engineer shortage.

Let me tell a personal story for perspective.
I was trying to increase my skills to find more work.
Small town. Not from here, so strike one.
Deep South, I have a distinct accent, not from here, so strike two.
I don't have lifetime connections and network, so strike three.
Did have sick skills, college degree, and trade. Worked out of town, until the union decided to relocate me and other members to another local, that had alot of members, strike four.
Spent more than $5,000 to get re-certified with AWS welding cert.
(More than a years salary for an engineer in India, isn't that amazing?)
Supposedly there is a shortage of welders in the US, according to AWS.
AWS , is the American Welding Society, and you have to have that certification to weld in a nuclear facility.
Oh boy, I am certified to weld in a nuclear facility as well !
Wanna know a real spirit killer. It's all bullshit.
No shortage. The pay is still shit.
General Electric starting salary for welder is........you'll love this !
$12 an hour.
Other companies, like in the new shale oil patch...$12-$15 an hour .
So, what do you do but...something else.
Should a put that $5,000 on FB.

 

[J Ski]

I like what ammo wrote, and if you think about what he is saying, it should chill your soul a lot.
Gangs fighting for market, among a shrinking drug user base.
Then if you think it through, with a shrinking customer base, what are they going to focus on for income?
I am thinking things are going to start really getting strange for a lot of people.

 

[jem]

that was a quote.. .from the comments to the article mentioned in a previous post.

When I returned to the east coast for 3 year.. I went back to florida but decided San Diego was better for me.

Quote from zdreg:

where did you chose to live? even in ny you get a nice size apartment for 6k on manhattan's gold coast.