Tim_Tex wrote:
We don't get below 70F at night until October.
Yea you rite. Crackernooga, Tennessee is pushing over 100 days so far this year over 90F. I left New Orleans, and the acoutrememts of a worldy and cosmopolitan city with plenty of good jobs, for two reasons: leaving behind insufferable heat and the consant threat of losing everything to bad weather. After enduring this place for fourteen years, I have survived chronic smog and air pollution, three major droughts, two periods of local wildfires, and an EF4 tornado half a mile away from the house. On top of that, it's almost as hot and the job market here is totally abysmal.
Quote:
I just wish the West Coast states would do something about the ungodly cost of living.
Well.... It's subjective. In Georgia and Tennessee, land values and rent are somewhat below the national average (yet coming up recently due to inflation), but quality of life is more comprable to some third world countries (the UN literally said that about nearby parts of Alabama recently). We have average property taxes but extremely high income tax (30-35% with total household income around 65k) and very high sales tax (between 9.75% in TN and up to 15% in GA). I personally clear an average of under 20k (after gas, auto insurance, maintenance, car note, taxes on every dollar x3 sometimes), I have no healthcare WHATSOEVER. I have not had a checkup since I was 21 years old (I am 35 now) and recently paid $400 out of pocket to have my teeth cleaned for the first time since then (not poor enough for indigent dental or doctor care). Getting my wisdom teeth out cost me over $6000 dollars, and when I need antibiotics for sickness, I go to the emergency room. I have had to buy antibiotics from a pet store before when the actual perscriptions were well over 100 dollars. There is no viable public transportation option, so I have to drive everywhere, which isn't cheap.... In Oregon, there are good jobs for college graduates starting at 45k, and minimum wages are nearly fifteen dollars an hour. Health and dental care is readily available and based on income at a sliding scale. Gas is higher per gallon, but public transportation is available between suburbs and cities. Rent and land values are a bit higher than here, but there is lower income tax and NO sales tax. Quality of life is much better as well, as a result of more greenspace, less pollution, better wages, healthcare, and more affordable fresh food prices. I have spent a summer there... meat, dairy, fish, and produce are all cheaper than here (which makes sense given proximity to cattle country, international ports, fruit and vegetable farms in Cali and Oregon, interest in local farms, etc.). Thank the maker that my appendix burst when I was up there, I still owe medical bills down here for simple stuff, that four day hospital stay was free. The way that I see it, this is America in 2019, 'my name ain't exactly Rockefeller', I'm gonna struggle no matter where I live, but I should at least be able to enjoy it.
Quote:
I've been to Tennessee several times. I liked it, it's better than Texas.
I could see that, but what part of Tennessee and what part of Texas (just curious)? They have a lot more in common than just about everywhere else. I enjoyed the Woodlands and San Antonio on past travels, but Tennessee is okay to visit too, just not for me to live here.
_________________
-- Hank
o-(|8[#]
“Politics is the art of controlling your environment.”
― Dr. Hunter S. Thompson