It looks like we all are going to feel this. If unemployment gets to historical levels where would you move to? Would you wait it out where you are now until things improve? It may take 5 years until things start to improve.

 

I would stay here where the cost of living is cheaper than other area's of North America.

 

What will happen to the high cost metro's? Will they move away? What will happen to the fast growing metro's?

 

 

It looks like we all are going to feel this. If unemployment gets to historical levels where would you move to? Would you wait it out where you are now until things improve? It may take 5 years until things start to improve.

 

I would stay here where the cost of living is cheaper than other area's of North America.

 

What will happen to the high cost metro's? Will they move away? What will happen to the fast growing metro's?

 

 

 

UM, where is "here" exactly?

 

For me, Cleveland is fine.  I'm not moving anywhere, my house is paid for.  If all hell broke lose, I'd sell some real estate and bunkerdown in my crib and chill on the Square!

I live in Silverton. Just outside the city limits of Cincy.

I'm satisfied with my current location in Over-the-Rhine. The rent is stable, I can go down the street for a haircut, general need items (Park+Vine), Findlay Market (food and other items) and bike or take the bus to work (if driving became prohibitively expensive).

If worse comes to worse, then I probably wouldn't be able to sell my house. If we can't sell the house, it would be difficult to move. Additionally, my wife's job is pretty much recession proof.

I wouldn't do anything, so far "bad-economy proof" specifically where I am.

I'd join the military, or at least try to.  I tried to join in 2001 but I've since messed up my upper back and so I'm not sure if I'd pass the physical.         

Are gov't jobs really that safe in a depression? The gov't would have less tax revenue to work with. If the fed printed out more money, each dollar would be worth less so ultimately we would all be paying for it, even gov't funded agencies.

If worse comes to worse (and it almost is for me), I'm counting on my fellow UO members to help me out.

 

 

I wouldn't do anything, so far "bad-economy proof" specifically where I am.

 

Porn business?

I really wouldn't go anywhere...if the economy is bad, you really can't go anywhere, hence, bad economy, nowhere to go.

 

EDIT: I see 3231 already said that in other words. 

Stay right where I am, stock up on ammo and dried and canned food. :x

Are gov't jobs really that safe in a depression? The gov't would have less tax revenue to work with. If the fed printed out more money, each dollar would be worth less so ultimately we would all be paying for it, even gov't funded agencies.

 

I'm no expert, but I'd guess that they are pretty safe.  FDR initiated all of those work programs during the Depression, which meant a huge increase in jobs, so the fed gov must have some ability to shoulder the burden.  Whether or not federal workers would be immune to pay cuts is another story entirely.

I think I'm fairly secure right now. I've been watching the financial performance of the bank holding my mortgage and it's doing very well. But if things took a turn for the worse and I lost both of my jobs, I'd sell or rent my home for what I could get out of it. Then I'd buy a cheap farm for cash. There are a lot of them out there, even with corn-based ethanol bumping up farm real estate, which have gone into foreclosure and are at sheriff sales. I found a decent-sized farm recently which was selling for a minimum bid of $9,000. Several others were selling at a minimum price in the mid-teens. I'd learn agriculture, and learn how to feed myself.

If worse comes to worst where would you move?

 

I'd follow Mark Twain's advice and stay in Cincinnati. :-D

I'd move to Ann Arbor, downtown. You know the saying, "six square miles surrounded by reality." I'd also consider Toronto. I love Montreal more, but I don't speak French. :oops:

Vous etes jeune et a l'ecole. Vous avez le temps pour apprendre le francais!

Show off.

 

Besides there's lots of folks in Montreal who speak English. One of them now works about 10 feet from my desk.

If our economy suddenly tanks, I'm catching the first midnight Amtrak to Cincy and squatting in OTR.  I'll be happy to do manual labor all day to make sure the building I'm in doesn't fall down.  Fixing OTR up could be one of the new WPA projects.

Vous etes jeune et a l'ecole. Vous avez le temps pour apprendre le francais!

 

Cette expression ne convient pas; il vaudrait mieux dire "étudiant." Pourtant, j'avais l'impression qu'il n'est plus à la fac...

 

Besides there's lots of folks in Montreal who speak English. One of them now works about 10 feet from my desk.

 

Yeah, but Quebeckers sound like Kermit the Frog when they speak English, so I'm not sure they count!  :-D

I wouldn't do anything, so far "bad-economy proof" specifically where I am.

 

Porn business?

 

LOL no, but perhaps I'd make more money pursuing this avenue.

Cette expression ne convient pas; il vaudrait mieux dire "étudiant." Pourtant, j'avais l'impression qu'il n'est plus à la fac...

Thats what I get for being a smarty pants!  :|

 

Thats what I get for being a smarty pants!  :|

 

Sorry, I didn't mean to come across as pedantic!  I just know that expressions are tough for non-natives (and even sometimes for native speakers!)

 

On topic, though, I think that the general trend would be for people to stay put.  If you can't sell your house, you're pretty much out of luck.  High-growth metros would slow, and high-cost metros with below-average home ownership rates (i.e. lots of renters) would see movement to lower cost areas (for high-rent cities, this would favor the suburbs) or possibly lower cost neighboring metros.

 

If unemployment AND gas prices sharply spike, though, that could be pretty ugly all around.  I think this is the surest formula for increasing population density around job centers- be they downtowns or "edge city" suburbs.  Historically, the poor have been willing to spend a larger percentage of their income on housing within walking or transit distance to work, and as middle-class people find their incomes shrinking, I could see them mirroring this trend.

In a van down by the river.

 

 

Maybe beneath an overpass.  I've seen some elaborate setups.  And there's always 'homeless' making money beneath the 8-Mile / 75 stack in Detroit.  Special bonus if it's beneath a bridge "down by the river."  Why? Fishing.  I can live off catfish.

There is always the urban myth of people living in self-storage garages.  They either take showers at truck stops or at gyms.  My personal favorite myth is people living in Wal-Mart or in abandoned stores at malls.  I actually attempted to live at the Highlander Motel in Athens but it became cost-prohibitive when the Indian family took over. 

Why? Fishing. 

 

You'll have plenty of time to go fishing when you're living under a bridge down by the river!!

This is actually all really the truth.  On my lunchbreak I used to see the homeless on the piers beneath Genesee Ave bridge fishing for catfish in the dioxin poisoned river where they'd then prepare their catch in a neighboring abandoned warehouse, which I suppose is palace place to live.

 

My personal favorite myth is people living in Wal-Mart or in abandoned stores at malls.

 

I think I read somewhere about some teenagers attempting to live at a Meijer department store somewhere in the Chicago area for over 24 hours, or maybe even more than that.  The staff were completely unaware, or probably didn't care.  But they'd go and buy food and consume it in the furniture section where they had their own living room set up.

D@mn, that's sad.

 

I wouldn't mind living in a hotel. When I first moved out on my own, my apt. was basically the size of a hotel room.

 

I'm not sure if it was this thread, but JMeck mentioned that poor people have it pretty good. I agree but I think the big issue is inequality and people's expectations of themselves and others. We all compare our lives to other people's too much. Even though you have good reasons to not own a tv or car, some people will instantly label you a bum after mentioning that. I hate this status oriented society we live in.

Spitzer Hotel Garage, Downtown Lorain

I think I read somewhere about some teenagers attempting to live at a Meijer department store somewhere in the Chicago area for over 24 hours, or maybe even more than that. The staff were completely unaware, or probably didn't care. But they'd go and buy food and consume it in the furniture section where they had their own living room set up.

 

My friends and I have done that at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in suburban Milwaukee dozens of times.  Since middle school, we've picked a night and spent 24 hours there.  We do this 2-3 times per year.  It's really quite easy and fun.  Unfortunately there aren't showers, so I don't think it'd work long term.  But if there is a truck stop nearby it might.  I've actually fallen asleep on the beds twice and not been woken up by the employees.

 

***Remember to always wash and/or clean everything you purchase***

My friends and I have done that at a Wal-Mart Supercenter in suburban Milwaukee dozens of times.  Since middle school, we've picked a night and spent 24 hours there.  We do this 2-3 times per year.  It's really quite easy and fun.  Unfortunately there aren't showers, so I don't think it'd work long term.  But if there is a truck stop nearby it might.  I've actually fallen asleep on the beds twice and not been woken up by the employees.

 

***Remember to always wash and/or clean everything you purchase***

That garage is just a step down from some of the lofts I've seen!

In a van down by the river.

 

 

LOL.

 

I don't plan on moving from Cleveland ever again.  Regardless of how bad it gets, life goes on.

I wouldn't do anything, so far "bad-economy proof" specifically where I am.

 

Porn business?

 

LOL no, but perhaps I'd make more money pursuing this avenue.

 

It's definitely an Up-and-Coming industry.

I hear the internet porn business turned into a bunch of major conglomerates and forced out most of the mom-and-pop sites.

LOL!

 

I bet CDawg gets flustered and confused when he sees 10 of the same company names listed on his monthly bank statement.

I felt very productive today at work keeping what economy we have propped up. I found a cardboard box, and a hole puncher and proceeded to make thousands of dots, because that's what the federal government wants me to do.