American Greatness: Chicago was an amazing, exciting city when my family relocated to the area in the mid-1980s. “Da Bears” were Super Bowl champions. The Bulls had drafted a player out of North Carolina named Michael Jordan, who showed some real promise. The economy was relatively strong. Ferris Bueller showed the nation how much fun the city could be.
But there was a cancer growing. Underfunded pensions, high taxes, crime, poorly performing schools—and yes, the weather—caused many people to consider leaving both Chicago and the state of Illinois. And now they have . . . in droves.
“Illinois’ population declined by 113,776 from July 1, 2020, through July 1, 2021. No other Midwestern or neighboring state saw a population decline of more than 17,000,” reports the Illinois Policy Center. Last year marked the eighth consecutive year that Illinois saw a decline in its population.
With the country’s highest tax rates, second-highest property taxes, second-highest gas tax, and nation-leading pension debt, Illinoisians are voting with their feet.
Sadly, it is the state’s highest-income earners and most-educated residents who are leaving. This drains the tax base and puts a heavier burden on less-educated, poorer residents who simply may not be able to afford to move. more here
Usually the only time we hear about Chicago here in Florida is when someone from Chicago tries to rob a store here, or commits a murder. And it all seems to come from one demographic. Make a guess.
Yeah, y’all can’t move to Florida.
That’s were us Canadians Go to Defrost Our Balls & watch the Tampa Bay Lightening, Eh!
Sorry, personally Florida holds no allure for me. To damn flat. To humid. To many smelly poisonous snakes with out rattles. Two many large bugs. I certainly like their politics. I need some pine trees and some mountains. I wish you well.
Well, one thing’s for sure. When a man moves to Florida, he becomes ‘a Florida man.’ We have some here, I believe.
They have Palmetto Bugs in Florida, but I think that’s another name for a cockroach.
Palmetto Bug sounds like a laid back kind of bug that lives in palm trees, but a cockroach is a filthy little thing. Maybe Florida called them Palmetto Bugs to entice people to move there.
^ They also have June Bugs the size of human feet.
Brad,
So where would you recommend where I can also Keep a SIG-226 or 228 in my belt when I retire & get CC certified?
13 percent have a 100 percent effect.
Wyoming. The state with the largest population of retired special forces.
I like the Idea of Utah (good mountain biking) but I think the Mormons would be scandalized with my arrival.
I make Truckers Sick with my regular Foul Language…
I actually clean it up quite a bit for IOTW, Heh Heh Heh.
Brad, I was also thinking of that.
Bonus, Wife won’t tag along.
R. M. Pitz, you should see the palmetto bugs in DC and Baltimore.
I was doing a telco job in Ballmer and my meter told me the kitchen jack was bad. The subscriber was standing behind me, munching loudly his fucking lucky charms, when I pulled the jack. A million baby cockroaches poured out of the hole and I staggered back. The mofo munching his breakfast garbage just grunted. I was disgusted beyond words… until I had a horrific job in DC.
In DC I had a trouble at an elderly man’s house. He didn’t even answer the door, he just yelled from his bed. He, whomever he was, had photographs in the stairwell of him shaking hands with many Presidents and Physicists. Anyway, what was upstairs was foul beyond comprehension.
Kcir
“Bonus, Wife won’t tag along.” That’s sad bro. Here’s another spot that attracts a lot of old Spec Opps guys,
Middleton, ID
If all of those people run to Florida, won’t it tip over?
Representative,
Hank Johnson
@Brad Agree! I lived near Tampa (Brandon, FL 😆) for a year and couldn’t wait to get the heck out. Too hot, humid and flat. Spent an afternoon at a friends house throwing old shoes at a big lump of snakes that took refuge from the sun under her picnic table. Fun times! Flying cockroaches are real! My understanding was that palmetto bugs are like potato bugs in the Midwest. Weird lumpy things only green instead of brown.
Nope, need hills and mountains and cool enough weather to wear boots and jeans most if not all the time.
Western WA weather is perfect. It’s too bad about the Libtards though. 😑
Illustr8r
I’ve piggy backed off someone else’s research. And this place looks like it deserves a hard look. We’ll meet you there. LOL.
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/Middleton_ID
Illustr8r
PS, It looks pretty flat until you look at a map. It backs up to a National Forest. Full of extremely edible creatures.
@Brad I dream scroll through Idaho properties on Zillow-mostly around lakes and rivers (Sandpoint, Coeur d’ Alene).
My FIL knows lotsa retired cops who have left here and moved to Priest River, ID. So, ya might wanna add that to your search!
Illustr8r
Thanks for the tip. It was a retired cop who turned me onto this place. But he got called back to our county and is now our new Sheriff. I don’t think it would take to much convincing to get Mr.and Mrs.Joe6pak to join us. The evening fires will be fun.
Brad,
Just Joking.
My wife is Solid!
We get along great.
She reads some of my posts and I like to tease her a bit.
“She reads some of my posts and I like to tease her a bit.”
My wife just recently lost here 97 year old mother. Hit us both hard, obviously her more than me. So I’ve been teasing the shit out of her and I’m finally getting some smiles. Teasing can be a good thing. I think me naked wearing the hunter Biden Boa did the trick.
Florida is a nice place to visit, except for the bugs, the spider that carries it’s young on its back (try killing one. It’s a fresh hell when you see thousands of little ones taking off in different directions), snakes, gators, hurricanes, humidity.
And last but not least, Florida Man/Woman.
@Marooned. Hank probably believes if we all ran to Florida, it would snap right off the map.
Then it could capsize or sink.
We go to FL just to get warm for a week. Cheap flights and we stay at resorts that have everything so we don’t have to leave.
Even though Maine is the 3rd highest taxed, 4th lowest test scores, leftwing loon land with illegals, we have guns, changing seasons, terrific water out of the tap and no poisonous snakes. Crime is up, including shootings. Most shootings are the Africans shooting one another.
We are beginning to get some conservatives in local offices.
Chicago is huge though. That’s a daunting task to turn that place around. Especially after 100 yrs of corruption.
They need a dozen bold Trump like people to get into office.
Lotsa heat packing, God fearing, patriotic Second Amendment types in the Phoenix area as well. 70 year old grannies with 45s of their hips is not unusual.
Stay and fight for IL? Let’s think….
We have a friend back there, retired Air Force pilot, military family with huge sacrifices, name is locally well-known, local airfield named after one of those sacrifices, Harvard and Cambridge educated physician, trustee of U of I. Ran for office to Make A Difference.
The mud they threw at him was astonishing. They couldn’t find anything on him so they just made shit up. Their machine has enough money to defend against libel and slander dragged through the courts for years.
Lesson learned. Not enough to be gained by a Pyrrhic victory.
Chicago is so bad that people are leaving NW Indiana.
I’ve been to Florida on numerous occasions. No thank you. Watching the devastation of hurricanes over the years (many years), and there’s no way I’d take my worldly goods, money, and lose it all in Florida. Video after video the person filming is overwhelmed themselves. I’ve never seen an earthquake cause so much destruction as a hurricane does. Politics change every 4 years and Florida’s political demographics will change as well….just like Texas. Sister moved to Texas, and not all that glitters is gold. Let me know when you’ve found Shang-ra-la.
General Malaise “They also have June Bugs the size of human feet.”
When I was a kid, my grandparents lived in Tennessee, and we visited there. Grandma would tie a string around a June Bugs leg and we would fly that bug all day long without letting it loose. I hadn’t thought of a June Bug in years….. 🙂
To each his own. I lived in Florida for 30 years (15 on each coast) and would move back in a heartbeat if circumstances allowed it.