Reply #37: As a long time "Jersey Boy," I can relate.

[MattSh]

As a long time "Jersey Boy," I can relate. I graduated from good old "State U" in 1982, with my trusty old Political Science degree, right in the middle of Reagan's recession. Places like Asbury Park and New Brunswick, where I was living at the time were already in decline, although NB was able to pull through, being the home of State U and J&J. Things were pretty dim then, but within a few years things seemed better. New office parks, shopping malls, and plenty of new homes and a housing bubble too, in the test run for the big housing bubble of the 21st century. I always wondered why so few people remembered the housing bubble of the late 1980's? I sure did, and was skeptical of all the bullshit about how home values always go up. In the 80's I thought I would never be able to own a home in NJ, but by 1992 home prices had come down 35% and my programming job at big telecom seemed long term secure, so I made the leap.

Sadly, big telecom jumped on the outsourcing bandwagon early on. Hell, no one wanted to continue to pay 25 cents a minute for long distance calls, so something had to give. Big telecom outsourcing may have been the beginning of the end for NJ, which had managed to adjust to the exodus of manufacturing for the most part. Assuming it was not your manufacturing job that disappeared.

After a few years I landed a Union job with the state of NJ (Yay). But even then I wasn't all that confident about the long term prospects, seeing some of the shenanigans used to balance the state budget by governors of both parties. And I would have had to work to age 72 for health benefits in retirement. Assuming NJ did not go bankrupt sometime before then. Or after then. Although everyone with a clue laments for the sad state of California finances these days, I recently read an article that states, in reality, NJ is worse off than CA. But Jersey can hide that fact by passing off a much bigger portion of spending down to the counties, cities, and towns.

When the opportunity arose in 2005 to drop out and move to Eastern Europe, the Wild Wild East, it didn't take too much convincing for me to make the leap. At sold my home that I bought at the market low in 1992, and sold it near the bubble peak in 2005. I had hope, briefly, when Obama took the reins. But that hope burst just like all the bubbles before it, but just a whole lot quicker. Now, this Jersey boy might have a hard time coming back to the states, even for a visit.

Anyway, as a Jersey boy, when there is indeed a Springsteen weekend, I have a few things I can relate there.