It is true that we're being hit hard, but we sure are taking it in strides. The only thing that has really hit my family is the astounding prices gas has reached around here. I am still a student, and go out of district at that. So it is NECESSARY that we drive to school. And by "out of district" I mean, I live about a half hour drive from the school building. We also have four kids including me in our family, one in elementary, one in middle, and my elder sister and I in high school. So as you could probably guess, mornings are murder. But I've maintained a solid 3.4 and Lauren a 4.0. And this is with all of our mayhem at home. I strongly disagree to the stereotype that West Virginians are stupid. Most of my friends are very focused on their studies, and those who don't do well are already studying a trade and going to vocational schools. As my mom always said, "There are no unemployed West Virginians. They've just all left for jobs in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and New York!"
And I too agree with the first post. It is so beautiful here. Our scenery stands up to be SEEN! The leaves are slowly changing now, lighting the whole mountainside up like fire. I love living here.
But--back on the subject of the economy--we never really asked for that much in the first place, so dealing without is definitely easier. The key is to take it with a smile and move on. Don't complain when you're asked to take a little less.
Karen C.
of WV
@
Sep 23, 2009 00:25:11 AM
Corruption in Idaho Kills Business, as it does in all 'Right to Corruption' States.
Can't buy green in Idaho, the Almighty PAC dollar rules, so power companies can charge over a million dollars for an alternative power company to come in. Idaho literally has no real working infrastructure for business employee's to rely on. Schools among the worst in the country, with public education funding gutted in an effort to move public education to the private sector. Transportation and Health care budgets also gutted in good times, leaving the worst roads and hospital care available. Zero child protection laws and zero conflict of interest laws, mean each tax dollar taken from business is pilfered from Idaho State's General Fund and moved into their One Time Fund, for later pilfering. Law enforcement so underfunded that it resorts to selling drugs to Idaho schools through their Resource Officers. Corruption kills business and productivity far worse than higher taxes, or a reasonable effort at an infrastructure.
Apapa
of ID
@
Apr 27, 2009 17:07:03 PM
WV.
west virginia is the place you want to be so were loading up the truck ,and will move to beverly in the hills that is , swimming holes and shooting stars
john kelly
of HI
@
Apr 03, 2009 01:55:28 AM
stereotyping at its worst
Too bad the world will never know why we call WV "Almost Heaven". What you will find in WV (if you did any research at all) is a population of some of the hardest working folks in the country. Perhaps we aren't spoiled by some of life's unnecessary material items. Maybe that's why we aren't faring so terribly during these tough economic times. I was born and raised in WV. I graduated from WVU--what I consider to be one of the best universities and I own a successful small business. Too bad your researcher will never know what a beautiful, peaceful existence we have here.
Regina Morris
of WV
@
Mar 30, 2009 15:38:54 PM
Wv
I own a very successful small business in wv and have traveled around the world, Wv is the greatest place one could ever live no matter what the stats say
g davis
of WV
@
Mar 30, 2009 13:09:50 PM
7 worst states to start businesses
As the information in our world increases I have serious questions about the experience of the people writing these articles; the ability to keep bias out of them;how extensive the reasrch is while writing the article. In our world of cutting out the fat from any project, I think my lack of trust is somewhat correct. Besides the lead time in writing for magazines adds to my distrust in the result.
Mag
of MI
@
Mar 30, 2009 13:00:09 PM
Clarification
Wow, this is sad. WV is #1 on a negative list yet again. And Iowa is #2. Wish this article had made note of the following. There are areas in these states where a lack of educated people doesn't exist - Morgatown, most of the Eastern Panhandle of WV, Des Moines, and Iowa City. All of those are university towns with research institutions or near huge metro areas. So based on this article the negative stereotype keeps getting spread more and more.
Andrea
of WV
@
Mar 30, 2009 10:48:07 AM
Maine
I live in Maine and I love my state. The mountains, lakes and beaches. If you love being outdoors then yes Maine is the state for you. But the taxes are out of control here. The legislative body needs to think outside the box in terms of raising state revenue. We spend before have, revenue is always below projections and then huge cuts have to be made or as Maine likes to do raise taxes or tax something new.
Tim
of ME
@
Mar 22, 2009 18:32:53 PM
We used to rent our property in the summer to vacationers but stopped in 2005 because of the growing state controls and taxes that made it no longer worth it. They still won't leave us alone. Maine has a third world economy because it has a "progressive" third world government. The policies are deliberate. Social controls and taxes are both legislated and imposed subjectively at bureaucratic discretion without regard to objective law. The taxes and the environmentalists' preservationism are especially crushing to those targeted. For ordinary people there is no where to turn for help. For one aspect of this see http://MaineTaxAbuse.org.
Erich Veyhl
of ME
@
Feb 11, 2009 17:26:32 PM
Property Taxes in Maine
Mr. Bandyk states that Maine now has the second highest property taxes in the nation. A recent Brookings report stated that Maine had the highest property taxes in 2002. The Tax Foundation listed Maine's property taxes as sixth in the nation in 2004. The problem with these numbers is that, according to the Tax Foundation, property taxes of non-residents are included. Along the Maine coast one-third to one-half of all property is owned by non-residents and this tends to be the more expensive shore front property and biggest houses. It's easy to see that when you have this inflated numerator (resident and non-resident taxes combined) divided by a denominator of only residents, you are going to have an inaccurately high answer as to what the per capita property taxes are. In addition Maine residents receive a homestead exemption on their primary residence and a "circuit breaker" refund if their property tax is greater than a certain per cent of their income. To my knowledge no one has done the math on this. In our town the population doubles in the summer and more than half the taxes are paid by people from "away". Our per capita taxes figured on resident and non-resident taxes combined and allocated only to our year round residents would be truly frightening, perhaps the highest in the nation or even the world! They would also be totally useless as a basis for policy decisions and planning. Neither the Brookings Institute or the Tax Foundation are doing the public policy debate in Maine a favor by relying on these numbers and US News and World Report has also been misled by the numbers it relied on.
Karen C. of WV @ Sep 23, 2009 00:25:11 AM
Apapa of ID @ Apr 27, 2009 17:07:03 PM
john kelly of HI @ Apr 03, 2009 01:55:28 AM
Regina Morris of WV @ Mar 30, 2009 15:38:54 PM
g davis of WV @ Mar 30, 2009 13:09:50 PM
Mag of MI @ Mar 30, 2009 13:00:09 PM
Andrea of WV @ Mar 30, 2009 10:48:07 AM
Tim of ME @ Mar 22, 2009 18:32:53 PM
Erich Veyhl of ME @ Feb 11, 2009 17:26:32 PM
growsmartmaine of ME @ Feb 04, 2009 18:57:31 PM
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