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People are moving to Boise who have money from "somewhere else" (mostly California) because places like San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle are become socialist cities where homeless people and drug addicts abound and the police do not enforce the law of the land against these types of people because the city councils and State Prosecutors will not support them. So the junkies and mentally ill and homeless transients are concentrating along the major West Coast cities and thankfully Boise has rules and regulations and laws that are enforced, so people are moving here to escape the left-coast politics and it's social issues. Our taxes and fee's are also relatively low here and it's affordable compared to places like Seattle, Bend, Portland, and pretty much all of California. Maybe it's a good thing Boise is not a high-tech job mecca because look at what has happened to those places and compare them to Boise. There are still good solid career paths in Boise catering to all of us old people who moved here from somewhere else and are aging in place. Seems to be sustainable because when we die off more of the same will take our place and the entire Treasure Valley will benefit.
People are moving to Boise who have money from "somewhere else" (mostly California) because places like San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle are become socialist cities where homeless people and drug addicts abound and the police do not enforce the law of the land against these types of people because the city councils and State Prosecutors will not support them. So the junkies and mentally ill and homeless transients are concentrating along the major West Coast cities and thankfully Boise has rules and regulations and laws that are enforced, so people are moving here to escape the left-coast politics and it's social issues. Our taxes and fee's are also relatively low here and it's affordable compared to places like Seattle, Bend, Portland, and pretty much all of California. Maybe it's a good thing Boise is not a high-tech job mecca because look at what has happened to those places and compare them to Boise. There are still good solid career paths in Boise catering to all of us old people who moved here from somewhere else and are aging in place. Seems to be sustainable because when we die off more of the same will take our place and the entire Treasure Valley will benefit.
Yeah but let's hope it holds up. The rate it's going is a bit brisk and we don't particularly want the lefties to over do it.
I read the summary, and it is pretty spot on. The article is correct that new tech industry is probably not going to be a harbinger of growth in the next couple of decades. It is also correct that sustaining basic city services will be the real growth...Medical/Hospitals, Service Industries, Schools/University, and generally sustained growth due to migration from California and Washington. I would expect Boise to generally be among the leaders in growth, but perhaps a bit slower than what was expected just a few years ago. 2.5 million in the Treasure Valley is not likely in our lifetimes, unless you are very young.
Good observation IMHO.... I would easily assign Amazon in category 3.
Not really sure where to put uSoft and Google in that scale.... that's the same problem I have a with IT and cell service. Probably closest to #2, similar to utilities.
FWIW, creating wealth is not the same as making people rich.
Most of all this is happening in the Silicone Valley / San Jose and of course San Francisco. Google, FaceBook, Oracle and the rest of these tech companies are in the south bay.
Yes that is the wealth I am driving at.... the original premise of the thread is the Boise may not be doing so well. Many folks often confuse/miss signs of wealth creation, and sometimes think of cost activities as being wealth creation. So that is the point to list it out, so people could see beyond just things like manufacturing to assess Boise's future, plus get a sense of relative ranking of wealth to cost for activities.
Take lawyers for example. They are basically just engaging in a zero-sum game. Are some lawyers wealthy? Sure, but how did they get that way? In a lawsuit, courts just take money from one party and hand it to another with the lawyers taking a very sizeable portion. No new wealth was created in the form of physical or intellectual property, however. They have only enriched themselves, and not society at large.
Boise might not play above its size in high tech as much as it did in 70-90s for awhile; but it will still get play from small to medium sized companies and may see play from big companies again in 10-20 years.
A main point of exports is importing cash. If you can import cash in the form of new arrivals (working age and retirees) with cash and spending patterns then the region can grow / do well.
High tech is important for creating high wage jobs but most of them (for the foreseeable future) will go to metros over 2 million and mostly to metros near or above 5 million.
Boise might not play above its size in high tech as much as it did in 70-90s for awhile; but it will still get play from small to medium sized companies and may see play from big companies again in 10-20 years.
A main point of exports is importing cash. If you can import cash in the form of new arrivals (working age and retirees) with cash and spending patterns then the region can grow / do well.
High tech is important for creating high wage jobs but most of them (for the foreseeable future) will go to metros over 2 million and mostly to metros near or above 5 million.
Referring to the bolded above, small and mid size tech companies are thriving in Boise and a lot of those jobs are concentrated in and near the downtown core with others in Meridian and Eagle. Boise's tech job growth has increased the past few years.
Quote:
Boise's net tech employment hit 28,645 last year, up 4.1% from 2017, representing 8.4% of its workforce, the report said. In 2018, the city had just over 1,000 tech firms.Mar 26, 2019 https://www.wsj.com/articles/it-jobs...bs-11553623183
Finance/banking jobs are also flourishing in the metro with jobs moving in from Washington and California. There have been several articles recently highlighting how Boise is attracting a good share of millennials who are moving here for jobs and/or tele-working. I think Boise will be just fine, the main concern is growing smart.
Here are a few examples of positive job growth news:
Yup. I'll believe prosperity is fading when Boise quits showing up on the 10 Most Desirable Places lists.
That's not going to happen for quite some time in the future.
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