The Albuquerque Economy and Employment thread (Santa Fe, Rio Rancho: transplants, 2014, crime rates)

[abqcd]

Originally Posted by Zoidberg

Not quite accurate.

According to last August's economist, NM receives $2.73 per dollar taxed. Puerto Rico receives $3.47, and West Virginia receives $2.51 (requires you to do a little math based on the chart's numbers)..

Oh yes, I do appologize. I did not know that Puerto Rico had become a state.

[Zoidberg]

Originally Posted by abqcd

Oh yes, I do appologize. I did not know that Puerto Rico had become a state.

Nobody said it did. Note the mention of West Virginia as a counterexample to your "no other state comes close".

[mattywo85]

Originally Posted by abqcd

Two words: government spending. For every $1.00 you pay in federal income tax, $2.18 cents come back to NM. No other state comes close.

Forgive me for sounding like a dum dum but how does that work?

[Zoidberg]

Originally Posted by mattywo85

Forgive me for sounding like a dum dum but how does that work?

New Mexico's bounty of federal spending comes down to a few major areas:

*Transportation Funding. Even though nobody lives near major stretches of I-40 and I-10, these are vital transportation corridors. The locals could never support these roads to the standards they maintain.

*Federally-owned Land. NM has a very high proportion of its land owned by the feds, and feds pay taxes to the state.

*Military and Nuclear. Two nuclear weapons labs and 3-4 major military installations support much of the state's economy.

NM's history, location, low, poor and sparse population, wide-open spaces, and political control of certain aspects of the congress over the years, has ensured a political gravy train that will continue for some time.

[aries63]

Originally Posted by abqcd

Two words: government spending. For every $1.00 you pay in federal income tax, $2.18 cents come back to NM. No other state comes close.

Is that all? I think we're worth a lot more than that.

[mortimer]

Originally Posted by Zoidberg

According to last August's economist, NM receives $2.73 per dollar taxed.

It would have been fun and interesting to see how D.C. rated on that list.

I'm guessing that it is on the order of hundreds of dollars received per dollar taxed - maybe thousands.

BTW, I knew you knew that Puerto Rico wasn't a state. That, of course, wouldn't have stopped me from making a cheap shot.

Originally Posted by Zoidberg

... a political gravy train that will continue for some time.

Your "some" may vary.

We tend to think that the labs are sooooo important, but what does a taxpayer in Maine
or Minnisota think? All I see is a couple of things that might amount to 1% of 1% of the
spending get trotted out for show and they say "See?" We are relevant and important.

If they shut Sandia tomorrow, would anyone miss it?

They tried to shut Kirtland once. The Air Force didn't actually want it.
NM congresscritters did, so it didn't shut.

If they closed Cannon or Kirtland, would people in Oregon or Florida be less safe?

I'm just trying to introduce perspective here.

When the government is borrowing around 1/3 of what it is spending, something is going to give.
Lots of things are going to give. ....

.... OR we could raise the FICA tax to 20% so all the 20 and 30-somethings can support the Baby Boomer's retirement needs.

Something is going to give.

P.S. Note that I spelled Kirkland correctly this time. Zoidberg caught me on that once.

[rock_chalk]

Originally Posted by mortimer

If they shut Sandia tomorrow, would anyone miss it?

Yes. Defense-related R&D has significant positive externalities. It's exactly the sort of thing the government needs to encourage.

[Guitarplr]

Originally Posted by caphillsea77

I am trying to wrap my mind around what makes the economy in Albuquerque and the state of New Mexico tick. We are at the end of 2011 going into 2012 and looking at charts for 2011 the city and state have unemployment percentages fairly well below the national average.

-The city/metro of Albuquerque hovered around 7%, Albuquerque, NM Economy at a Glance
-Santa Fe around 5-6%, Santa Fe, NM Economy at a Glance
-The state of New Mexico between 6-7%. New Mexico registered the largest jobless rate decrease since November 2010 (Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary).
-While nationally it's around 9% which a marginal drop in the last quarter of the year Current Population Survey (CPS)

There are many components I realize. Big players like Intel in Rio Rancho, and a heavyweight being government tied to Sandia Labs/Los Alamos/Kirtland AFB and little components like the film industry. I wonder how secure the government jobs are with the deficit. How are the service industries doing? Will state government jobs be rolled back? Will there be any growth industries? Energy perhaps (solar/wind/natural gas extraction)?

I've seen tid bits and inquiries regarding the economy and jobs for Albuquerque and New Mexico on here but wanted to have a common thread to build on and keep a discussion going. I realize that in comparison to growth in Arizona and Nevada that New Mexico is much more stable as the real estate bubble did not inflate quite as bad, though there are big plans (in progress or stalling?) on the horizon like Mesa del Sol. How do you feel about growth projections and the economy in the city and the state? I realize it may be difficult to make concrete predictions but how do you feel its doing presently and where is it heading?

I'll say this. I moved to Albq and within 4 weeks I had a job. Albq is the kind of place where if you want work you will find it.

[mortimer]

Originally Posted by rock_chalk

Yes. Defense-related R&D has significant positive externalities. It's exactly the sort of thing the government needs to encourage.

I didn't ask from the perspective of someone comfortably employed ( maybe in defense ).
I asked from the perspective of someone who is a $12/hour factory worker in Illinois.

Most constituants of congresscritters don't care and don't understand qualitative
military stuff that makes a US soldier = 10 Chinese soldiers or stuff like that.

The constituants are going to say stuff like; you are cutting my Social Security check by
$10/month so we can keep $100k physicists doing stuff 2,000 miles away from here employed?

I'm asking about "caring" when push comes to shove and the US government
finally decides to cut, not billions, but hundreds of billions in spending.

Even people positive on the defense industry are likely to value keeping an obsolete base open to
support the local economy with tens of thousands of "normal" jobs over some "lab" in po-dunk NM.

Unfortunately, it's finally reached the point where we are going to be discussing national budget
issues like Social Security right along side National Defense. This wasn't the case before.

Old fahrts vote harder than most others do. Grandma wants her check. Sandia might die. It's a real possibility.

[rock_chalk]

No disagreement here. Your question was whether Sandia would be missed. I am quite sure we would all feel the consequences, not now but years down the road.

(BTW, I live in a donor state and don't currently work in defense.)