It sucks, but you have to admire a man who will go where the jobs are to support his family. I’m firmly convinced that one reason young people can’t find a job is that they are unwilling to leave the comfort of the area they grew up in.
But, but, but everyone knows we have not been drilling for oil and just getting started would turn this economy around in a heartbeat. It is good people are making a good living, but drilling is not going to turn the economy around. Some people need to take a chill pill.
That is a man!:-)
I spoke with a Surveyor in ND a couple of weeks ago and got on the subject of the boom.
His observations: Crime is skyrocketing by “normal” standards for the area.
Convenience store friend of his pre boom was averaging 1.5 milion/year in revenue. He’s sold $3.5 million in Pizza alone since the first of the year.
No hotel rooms available for 150 miles.
Another friend bought land and put in a campground, bought 50 camping trailers and is renting them out. He’ll break even in 3 years.
I lived in a (software related) boomtown as a single man and prospered greatly. I was never bothered by my insufficient housing as I knew a better future awaited.
This is exactly what Gov. Palin meant when she said “Drill baby drill” because she’s seen what happened in Alaska when the government got the hell out of the way and let business work.
And hey you OWS hippies: this is what PROSPERITY looks like!
(It’s also what national energy security looks like, you idiots in Congress!)