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In depressed areas, you don't have many people with money to spend on home improvement.
by zardo 11y ago
In depressed areas, you don't have many people with money to spend on home improvement.
- rm_-rf_slash 11y agoHome appliances and cars still break and need regular maintenance.
- zardo 11y agoAnd people can rely on friends and family to get them fixed. I bet most HN readers are very familiar with the concept when it comes to computers breaking.
- acveilleux 11y agoAnd that maintenance is minimized, avoided and cheapened out on as much as possible. You know all those stories of poor people being ticketed for burned out headlights and similar car problems? I don't know anyone in the tech industry who ever have a burned out headlight on their 2 years old leased car. Maybe it's because they can afford to have it fixed and maybe it's cause they don't own, let alone drive, a junker in the first place. Since I get downvoted a lot, perhaps a clarification in order: My point is when 2/3 of the high paying jobs in a locale get yanked, the service industry folks that depend on people having income they can use are the first to get screwed. Coal mining is high-paying (compared to median pay, it'd be shit by SF standards...)
- 0xCMP 11y agoDepressed doesn't mean poor or disadvantaged. In the case of these guys (if it's the ones I'm thinking of) they had a strong middle class area which just doesn't have the same jobs.
- zardo 11y agoDepressed means a sustained downturn in economic activity. Ie, less money changing hands.