More good news from the Bay Area
Ugh. That title is some serious sarcasm. I just saw this on Scott Loftesness' blog:
San Francisco Chronicle: Job market collapse has people packing
This morning's San Francisco Chronicle has a story by Sam Zuckerman, Economics writer, about the very weak job market in the San Francisco Bay Area. What is pushing people out is the collapse of the job market -- approximately 180,000 jobs have disappeared from the regional economy in the past two years -- plus a cost of living that remains in the stratosphere. Workers both in tech and out are fleeing the region by the tens of thousands, seeking opportunities elsewhere, economists and demographers say.
"I would not be surprised if 50,000 people have left the Bay Area because of the economy," said Ken Rosen, an economist at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.
Here I am plotting my return and all I keep seeing is reports like this. I still have friends on the ground in San Francisco who can tell me how the local climate really is, but wow, stuff like this makes my eventual return seem very far away.
Hopefully it's starting to hit bottom - or even better yet, has hit bottom already. Ana and I are starting to think about the next year. We need a new apartment and we're thinking about a car. I can't imagine me EVER agreeing to buying someplace permanently here in Madrid. The weather is already changing here and I know what the next 6 months are going to be like. God... and this is Spain. Thank goodness I don't live in any Northern European countries, I'd go psycho. I'm get serious SAD. I HATE winter. All I can think about when it comes is how I can escape it. Ugh.
We're starting to think of options - somewhere else in Spain (they were hanging out on the beach yesterday in Valencia), Lisbon (beautiful city, really... though a bit run down. Portugal's economy needs to improve some) or somewhere in the U.S.: Bay Area, LA, San Diego or maybe even Miami. But crossing the Atlantic again is a BIG DEAL, so I'm not sure what we're going to do.
Well, for now, it looks like I have to live through one more Madrile�an winter... wwaaaaaahhhhh.
-Russ