Where is the American Dream kive and well?

[GreatWhitehunter]

I've been thinking lately that the economic outlook in New England is still really depressed at least in my area(northeastern ct).
I'm born and raised in this area and got to thinking that there's got to be someplace in this great land that is prospering and thriving.
I'm not talking about cities but country living for the middle class within diving distance to good jobs. Here in Ct good jobs are not easy to come by(the wife and I both have them but they aren't abundant for most) and home price remain flat with many way upside down due to suppressed property values. Land how ever remains high along with taxes. Which really makes the outlook bleak at least in the short term.

How about everyone else?

Matt

 

[TomSeller]

There are many states doing well.

 

[newbury]

I'm in NE Mississippi.
The malls are full, traffic is terrible. The unemployment rate is about 6.7%. Down from 10% in 2010.
I just left Northern Virginia. Traffic was worse, the malls were cheek to jowl. Unemployment rate was below 5%.
Google shows the unemployment rate in Ct as 5.5% in June, about what it was in 2008, has it jumped up?
https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=z1ebjpgk2654c1_#!ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=h&met_y=unemployment_rate&fdim_y=seasonality:S&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=country&idim=country:US&idim=state:ST2800000000000:ST0900000000000:ST5100000000000&ifdim=country&hl=en_US&dl=en_US&ind=false

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

Been a lot of changes (not good ones I might add) to what was considered the "American Dream" in the last 8 years.

 

[KiotiKowboy]

I wouldn't trust any officially quoted unemployment statistics. The formula was changed, much like that for calculating inflation, to mislead the public.

 

[300UGUY]

There are many states doing well.

Well, I don't know. That list is based on the average income. I suspect that the average is quite a bit higher than the median income. And Wyoming and Texas are in different worlds. Texas is a huge state, and has several cities with more population than Wyoming has in total. A local guy here moved to Wyoming about 5 years ago. He just came back, got laid off, and couldn't find anything there, came back.

There are folks on here with better backgrounds in economics and stats than me.

 

[GreatWhitehunter]

I think a lot of those unemployment numbers are misleading. The quality jobs are gone in a big way and lot of folks just stop trying. House prices are stale because of slow job growth and low wages. NE cost of living is very high and ct taxes are out of control. I know Texas is a hot spot and the mid atlantic region seem to be doing well also.

 

[houstonscott]

I wouldn't trust any officially quoted unemployment statistics. The formula was changed, much like that for calculating inflation, to mislead the public.

That's right, unemployment calculated old method is 23%. There are 14 million jobs lost since 09. There is no recovery. You put interest rates back to anything but 0 and we're all in deep sh#t. HS

 

[jeff9366]

Austin, Texas and Boise, Idaho are two cities where the quality of life is high and the economies growing.

 

[Wagtail]

I'm honestly curious as to what you (OP or anyone else) define as "The American Dream"?

In my case, I 'left home' and have been working since I was 17. I 'retired' 3 years ago @ age 55. In all of those intervening years I've had several 'Dreams' of what I'd eventually want to do...

Now I'm 'living the dream' of a beautiful property, house, tractor & horses. I've got a steady pension coming in and 2 more pensions that will kick-in when I make 65yo.

It didn't just happen... or was given to me. I worked for it and made it happen.

Or... maybe your American Dream "uped-stakes" and moved to Tasmania.