A friend of mine has a son who works as a contractor for Microsoft. In the last two years, there have been cutbacks to the son's division, and he is now the only one remaining. Needless to say, he's pretty worried.
Last summer, my friend took his son and family for a Disneyland vacation. While there, the son met up with an official from one of the HUGE gaming companies and received a job offer. He was thrilled. He told his dad it would be a dream job. But then he had to turn the offer down. As suggested by this article, he's one of the millions of Americans who is underwater on his mortgage and simply cannot move - even for a higher paying, more dependable job. It's a sad thing.
March 12, 2012, 9:00 a.m. EDT
Underwater and locked in
Job mobility hurt by housing woes
By Ronald D. Orol, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Jose, 47, hoped to build a life with his wife Maria, 43, and three children in Phoenix, Arizona where he took a new job at a plastic bag factory in 2007.
Unfortunately, he was unable to sell a home he and his wife bought in 2002 in La Puente, California, six hours away by car. After five years of frustration, Jose moved back there in September to take a lower-paying job at a factory he had previously worked at.
Like many of their neighbors in La Puente, a community of about 40,000 located 15 miles from downtown Los Angeles, they are “underwater,” which means they owe more than their home is worth.
Full story: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/labor-mobility-curtailed-by-housing-market-2012-03-12
Gold is $1,581/oz today. When it hits $2,000, it will be up 26.5%. Let's see how long that takes. - De 3/11/2013 - ANSWER: 7 Years, 5 Months
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