Posted on 03/11/2013 11:40:22 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Silicon Valley has more jobs than it did at the height of the dot-com boom.
But despite its seemingly healthy economy, poverty is on the rise, Martha Mendoza of The Associated Press reports. The number of people on food stamps recently hit a 10-year high and homelessness went up 20% in two years, according to the annual Silicon Valley Index.
"In the midst of a national economic recovery led by Silicon Valley's resurgence, as measured by corporate profits and record stock prices, something strange is going on in the Valley itself," Cindy Chavez, executive director of Working Partnerships USA, told the AP. "Most people are getting poorer."
But why?
It's mostly due to the cost of living in Silicon Valley. The median price for a home is $550,000, while rent is, on average, a little under $2,000 a month for a two-bedroom apartment. And a family of four in Silicon Valley needs about $90,000 a year in order to cover rent, food, transportation, and childcare, according to the nonprofit Insight Center for Community Economic Development.
The average income for Hispanics, who make up one in four residents in Silicon Valley, fell to an all-time low of $19,000 a year, according to the annual Silicon Valley Index. In the meantime, Silicon Valley's wealthiest are worth billions of dollars.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Are all the southbound highways into Mexico closed now? I hear all the rents are a lot cheaper in Tijuana.
want to destroy teh RAT party - tell stories like this on TV advertising. “The folks in Calif. think silcon valley is great, but ask the 20% of the population taht are on food stamps or can’t afford to buy a home if it is great? Do the same thing about gasoline - “Do you ahve a hard time creating a budget when you don’t know if gas will be 3.00 or 4.00? Just think what $4.00 gasoline does to working men and women.” Maybe regulations and the desire to make have a nanny state is hurting the working class while helping the rich - gee who is making all these rules...democrats!!” It won’t drive down their approval or % of voters if nobody hears the message.
in other words, some people have different employable skills than others (and a third group does not work at all)
so
incomes vary across the spectrum
so what’s newsworthy about that?
I’ve lived there and it’s just extremely difficult in general to get to the level of education and experience you need, not to mention having the necessary aptitude and intelligence, to make the kind of money necessary to thrive in Silicon Valley. Hispanics aren’t at any special disadvantage unless of course they’re not here legally.
Sounds like the California gold rush. The only ones making money were the guys selling picks and shovels, at astronomical prices.
The income disparity the Left always cries and frets about...
From their Lear Jets and 10,000 SF homes in Pacific Heights.
I’ve lived there and it’s just extremely difficult in general to get to the level of education and experience you need, not to mention having the necessary aptitude and intelligence, to make the kind of money necessary to thrive in Silicon Valley.
I used to live and work in Silicon Valley, too, and vouch for every word of that statement. I did well. I not only made more money than I'd ever made in my life, but made more than I'd so much as imagined myself making. I was neck-deep in freelance projects, and as often as I raised my rates, people were glad to pay them.
Concurrently, I was surrounded on all sides by criminals whose very least offense was invading our nation. One driver in five had no insurance. Armed robbery and burglary were rampant. I lost more and more of my civil rights. I paid more and more in taxes, more and more for rent, more and more for insurance, more and more for everything else.
I returned to America in 2002. I missed the beaches several years.
I live here now. I’m a highly skilled and unemployable semiconductor process engineer.
If I had an H1B or were 20 years younger, I could start at any of several dozens of companies tomorrow.
As it is, I can’t even get an interview.
You might want to check out the employment opportunities in Austin, Texas.
I have been and continue to do so.
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