And it really doesn't matter on a whole who is in...a dem or rep. They just all seem to tax and spend and cater to the special interest groups and the hell with the people.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I was talking to a woman today, who was somewhat teary eyed. She was taking her 21 year old grandson out to dinner for his 21st birthday. THEN he will be moving south. She also said that one of her daughters lives in Seattle. Her exact words were, "I didn't have children so they could leave when they grew up and when I got old." She continued to say, "It's just not fair, but where are these young adults going to work and not be burdened by the taxes? I want to be selfish and ask them to stay here, but that would be too selfish of me."
I have to tell you, it almost made me teary eyed just listening to her.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
VIEWPOINT Economic report gave true picture of weaknesses of upstate New York Lagging growth, income make it hard to attract people to area BY BRIAN MERRIAM For The Sunday Gazette
If you had the choice to live anywhere in the United States you wanted, would you choose upstate New York? Ignore the beauty of the Adirondacks or the fun of the Saratoga Race Course; that isn’t what I mean. Rather, if you were to look at it from a business point of view, what are our assets, and what are our liabilities? Most of us live here because someone else lives here who has a bearing on our decision to stay. Maybe our parents live here, or maybe our job brought us here. But if we were to survey the entire country for a place to live, would you choose upstate New York? The Business Council recently released its Economic Growth Index Report a couple of weeks ago and gave us some statistics that suggest that economically, we deserve a failing grade. The report supports in principle what many of us know who live here: the region is not a robust place for business. Accordingly, if we were to base our decision on where to live from a business economic point of view, we would be foolish to ignore this element of the question. Almost immediately after the report was released, Ms. Kathryn McCary of Schenectady wrote an Opinion column [Sept. 9, “Low grades from Business Council are misleading at best”] mocking the results and questioning the methods whereby these results were arrived at. While she certainly has the right to question the conclusions drawn by the Business Council’s findings, I would like to support the results from another point of view. It has often been said that busi- ness, tourism and government should focus on regional collaboration, not on competition. This is naive. We are in competition with other areas of the United States and until we realize that, it is too easy to poke fun at those who point out our weaknesses. We are in competition with the rest of the country for the minds, bodies and dollars of Americans. Unless we can provide people with an attractive economy and the goodness of a future infl uenced by a robust economy, everyone suffers. Ms. McCary questioned just about every element of the methodology and the findings of the study and even suggested that “in the absence of explanation, it is hard not to suspect these measures were selected because they yielded the result the Council wanted.” This borders on paranoia. No one in business wants a negative business environment. If Ms. McCary doesn’t like the Business Council’s grade and its rather obvious implications, let’s try the following to see if upstate doesn’t in fact deserve our troubled review: During the 1990s, nationally the number of private-sector jobs grew by 22 percent; upstate grew by 5 percent. Nationally, personal income grew by 22 percent between 2000 and 2005. Upstate grew by less than 15 percent. Do you suppose that we started with such a high standard of living that we are just waiting for the rest of the nation to catch up with us? Or is our competitiveness and economic attractiveness slipping? If upstate were its own state, we would rank third behind every state except North Dakota and West Virginia. Our nation’s population growth during the ’90s was 13 percent. Upstate, our population gain was a mere 1 percent. Again, does a reasonable person believe we are just allowing the rest of the country to catch up with us, being the attractive place that we are? No, our upstate economy does not attract businesses unless we bribe them with tax incentives and member items. Note the direction businesses move: to upstate or away from upstate? Furthermore, we are an expensive place in which to live. Yes, we may have a better cost-of-living than some parts of the country, but our state income taxes are 22 percent higher than the national average. Our property taxes are 55 percent higher than the national average, and our local sales taxes are twice as high. Perhaps this too is part of the Business Council’s “simple, dramatic and dire” report so that “those who can’t be bothered to read and think at the same time will become alarmed, and act also without thinking,” as Ms. Mc-Cary puts it. NEED FOR REALISM As someone who employs 21 people in this upstate economy and conducts business in 40 states around our union, I know it is a struggle to do business here, even without naysayers who mock those who are working to improve the business climate. It is time to take a realistic look at ourselves, roll up our sleeves, change the political gridlock in Albany, provide tax relief to businesses, who chose to do business here and begin to compete for the workers, students, retirees, homemakers and resource providers. This is what businesses, universities, the Business Council and the National Federation of Independent Businesses are working tirelessly to do. We are working to influence people to choose to come and to stay in Upstate New York.
Why must young New Yorkers leave state to find work?
Re the April 25 article, “State planning job recruitment”: I find Civil Service Commissioner Nancy Groenwegen’s assessment admirable but a bit too late. The state comptroller’s office has a recruitment list — which has been in existence since last June — and to my knowledge, not hired from it. In the article it states, “In the next five years as much as 30 percent of those state employees will retire . . .” That may be true, but it’s funny that in the comptroller’s office, they have retired ex-employees still occupying the jobs they held previously. These jobs should have been filled with young college graduates willing and able to handle the jobs that are on the list. The commissioner doesn’t need to hire a public relations firm to connect jobs and job-seeking individuals. Why send recruiters to colleges and job fairs? Have you been to a job fair lately? It’s not what you think, and a waste of taxpayer dollars and time. The commissioner needs to utilize the existing lists of tested, accepted individuals — which they can choose from right now. It’s a shame that the state is following in the path of big businesses in New York. They realize, too late, that the market for bright, educated individuals has gone south, along with more advantageous tax breaks. It’s a shame that in order to get a decent job, a college graduate has to move south. Because up here, if you don’t have five years’ experience with a college degree, you’re not worth hiring. Whatever happened to the time when a firm found a bright individual with the background they wanted, then hired and trained them? Shame on New York and big businesses for not seeing the potential in our recent college graduates. Inevitably when the kids move south, what is to hold their parents to New York? Who will bear the brunt of New York’s taxes and fees then. New York is no longer a place to raise a family and have a career when there is so much political instability and corruption that the unfortunate victims (being the residents) have to leave to salvage any shred of hope of achieving their “American Dream.” How else would a mother know the troubles of finding a job and living in New York? I’ve lost one child to a position out-of-state, with my other children to follow. K.A. NELSON Burnt Hills
Look, even if there WAS work available in this state, they still can't afford it. We, who are still living here and have jobs, are feeling the pinch. Why should we ask these young adults to even consider signing a death sentence by staying here? NYS must lower taxes and stop employing people in the public sector.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Upstate continues to lose population BY MICHAEL HILL The Associated Press
ALBANY — The Big Apple is getting bigger as the largest cities in upstate New York continue to lose more people, according to census estimates released Thursday. New York City grew by 23,960 people in the 12 months ending July 2007 for a population of 8.27 million, according to the yearly estimates from the U.S. Census. The city has been steadily growing for years and remains a magnet for immigrants and young people. Population growth in New York has been centered for years in the metropolitan area. Some suburban villages north of the city in the Hudson Valley were among the fastest growing in the state over the 12 months, including Wurtsboro (7.9 percent), the Hasidic enclave of Kiryas Joel (5.2 percent) and Wappingers Falls (4.8 percent). The story was different throughout much of upstate New York, where the largest cities showed slight losses in the annual estimate. Buffalo’s population of 272,632 was down 0.93 percent over the year; Rochester, at 206,759, was down 0.49 percent; Syracuse, 139,079, down 0.78 percent; Albany, 94,172, down 0.46 percent, according to the estimates. The numbers reflect a long-term trend of population losses in upstate areas as manufacturing jobs dry up and people settle in the South and the West. California and Texas each had five cities among the 25 fastest-growing cities in the census estimates released Thursday. Politicians in New York are particularly concerned about the exodus of young people just out of college, so-called brain drain. Among the upstate cities that grew over the year were Saratoga Springs (up 0.68 percent), Plattsburgh (0.16 percent) and Ithaca (0.14 percent). Census estimates released earlier this year showed the state’s population nudged up over the period by 15,741 to 19.3 million people.
Politicians in New York are particularly concerned about the exodus of young people just out of college, so-called brain drain.
What incentives are these politician giving to these young people so they would stay? There are no jobs and there is no incentive for new private businesses to even WANT to come here.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
What incentives are these politician giving to these young people so they would stay?
We've got one of the BEST Welfare systems in the country, certainly in the state. We've got the BEST drinking water (in Rotterdam) in the whole damn county! (even tho we all get it from the same place) We've got the "Birthplace of General Electric" and it's famous museums, tours and community activities. We've got ALCO, one of the first manufacturers of trains in the nation - oh wait, they left, didn't they. We've got our own regional supermarket chain based right here in Rotterdam (er, Schenectady) - and all the good they do for our community We've got some of the highest crime #'s in all of New York State. And hey, like that big ball of twine that draws tourists, we've got the 8th highest taxes in the nation - that's gotta be worth SOMETHING!
Well all of the good people that need this here welfare come right to our front door dont they? We have th ebest around and they know it, how come none of the politicians say anything about doing away with that? Maybe good people would come here and stay if there wasn't so many welfare people on the astreet walking around all day with nothing to do but collect the check?
Does anyone know where we could get the stats on exactly how many NYS residents are on welfare, excluding the seniors or disabled?Where could we get this info or who could get it for us?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
If anything needs change, it's New York state! Who is at fault for the fact that the only thing that has come down is gas prices? Not enough, though, because we're still 25 cents per gallon higher than the national average. Why are we still paying grossly inflated prices for food and everything else? Are surcharges still in effect? Why? Why are state legislators calling for increased tolls and taxes? So many people have left New York that we have lost [representation in Congress]. People ask why I came back to my home state after living in Hawaii for five years and California for 35 years. I tell them I have a larger question: How could they have stayed here so long when there are many more reasonable and comfortable places in the United States? Answers, please.
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