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My parents moved from West Philly to south Jersey in the late 1950s with their two baby boom kids in tow. First suburb subdivision in that area, unpaved roads, farms, horses on the streets, farmers' markets (great tomatoes and all, it was the Garden State!). The suburbs expanded, Route 70 from Philly to the shore got built up and up and up. When I was a teenager, I worked in one of the many diners on the Rt.70 circles and drove through the Pine Barrens to visit a boyfriend at Seaside Heights. Very rural/backwoods driving.
Now it's all suburb and retirement homes and such to the shore. No respite from it.
I do wonder if MQ's condo might become more desirable as people retire to the shore areas from Philly/south Jersey and NYC and its environs. After all, the Great Baby Boom Die-off is still years away. I'll be doing my part, I hope at an appropriate time (voting for "not too soon).
The thing is, this is still commuting territory even though it's 45 miles from New York City. I am not in a retirement area at all. I knew I'd be taking on a nearly two-hour commute to lower Manhattan when I moved here but I only had about four years to go, and I figured I would deal with it. As it turned out, those last four years turned into six that were mind-numbing, as I got a good promotion and a chunky raise to work on a major project but was asked to stay for two years past my planned retirement date. It was long hours, never enough sleep--I got up at 5 to catch a 6 a.m. train to be in the office at 8--emails and phone calls nights and weekends, but in the end the raise boosted my state pension, and I think it was worth it.
Even so, I kind of thought like you did and was somewhat shocked at just how many commuters to the city there were down here.
Since I moved here an Army base, Fort Monmouth, two miles from my house, closed as part of the consolidation program. My hope is that the planned redevelopment of the fort property will bring in industry, and my condo will be desirable as a relatively inexpensive housing choice for someone working in the area.
Those are depressing statistics. And people keep having multiple kids. And wondering why there are more people than jobs.
I guess it doesn't concern me much, since I'm over 60 and won't be here to see it double again.
Well, I did my part. I only had one kid, and she never wanted kids and had tubal ligation done when she was 26. I do have one granddog, and she and her significant other plan to have four more. I am good with that.
Those are depressing statistics. And people keep having multiple kids. And wondering why there are more people than jobs..................
That's not as true as it used to be.
Women have half as many children as they did 50 years ago. The fertility rate (number of children per woman) is now at 2.5 world wide and only 1.7 in the US.
Since only women can bear children the fertility rate has to be 2 in order to provide a replacement population. The US population is reaching a peak, and will soon decline, just like the rest of the world.
That's not as true as it used to be.
Women have half as many children as they did 50 years ago. The fertility rate (number of children per woman) is now at 2.5 world wide and only 1.7 in the US.
Since only women can bear children the fertility rate has to be 2 in order to provide a replacement population. The US population is reaching a peak, and will soon decline, just like the rest of the world.
Whilst logical and sensible, your elegant analysis does not fit doomsday scenarios.
I spent 50 years working in Boston, couldn't wait to move to northern Maine, we moved the day after my last day at work.
One Saturday at 8am I got on interstate 95 to go to houlton, there was nothing in front of me and only 1 car half a mile behind me, otherwise a completely empty road, this was before the virus lockdown....which we ignore anyway. Only 2 cases up here, and they came from CT, no deaths.
The rest of the country is tearing itself apart, Maine just keeps being Maine.
Never is this more clear than in parts of Utah. In Arches Park I could look for literally 100 miles of empty land with not one sign of humanity.
Then again, no water. I loved our place but our well was running dry.
At Arches National Park the line to enter the park often exceeds 1 mile. On top of that admissions are sometimes being held. The next car will only be admitted when a car leaves. Many of the pull offs and small parking lots totally fill.
Reservations for the hike in the fins are required and often must be made many days in advance. Camping is virtually impossible. You need to make reservations 6 months in advance which is the maximum advance time allowed. A couple of years ago I waited a few days over the 6 month advance period and got the last opening available in November, well after the tourist season used to end.
I used to love Arches and it was my favorite NP. Now it is becoming a nightmare. It looks like the next step will be reservations made well in advance just to visit for a day.
The days of empty space extending miles from the Park are also long, long gone. South of the Park is Moab which has become a serious tourist trap complete with fast food restaurants, motels, a brewery, a RV parks. To the West is the highway up to Green River. In the summer there were be RVs at every location on the way up there and you better have reservations if you expect to stay in the Green River State Park. To the East is the Colorado River. There is BLM camping without any facilities except outhouses. Every camping spot is likely to be taken by 9-10 am every day from early Spring to late Fall. If you have a 4 wheel drive vehicle you might visit the area North of Arches, maybe somewhere near the old Yellow Cat mines. Don't count on driving more than a mile or two without seeing other vehicles including motor bikes and ATVs.
The Arches area seems to be rapidly catching up with the crowds at the Smoking Mountains which are complete with miles and miles of Dollywood, motels, fast food places, water slides, bumper cars, etc.
Japan has over 100 million people in a country the same size as California with a population of 38 million. Get the picture?
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I am good with that.
