It's a common refrain from right wing commentators. It has always seemed to me a very anti-human position though. When people move they lose the support network of their friends and family and community. That network can be crucial to them in all sorts of ways - helping to find a job if they become unemployed, helping out in times of financial hardship, helping them during periods of illness or depression. In many ways it's just about the worst thing a person can do for their economic future.
"It's a common refrain from right wing commentators."
FWIW: I'm as left wing as they come. Really.
I think you mistake my opinion that "folks should move to where they can afford to live" with a lack of empathy. I actually have very strong empathy for folks in this kind of situation (having had family members in it myself!)
I just don't see a viable alternative here that actually works long term.
Also
"When people move they lose the support network of their friends and family and community."
This is complete and utter bullshit in most cases. It's simply rhetoric with no support. Especially in this day and age of easily available instant communication and social media.
(For reference: I have had severely depressed people in my family who i have supported through their depression, so i actually have some experience in this area. )
"In many ways it's just about the worst thing a person can do for their economic future."
Really? You should probably tell this to all the people who don't end up living near their parents after college ...
Seriously though, you do not offer any evidence of this assertion at all, and all available data i've seen points to the opposite. My ex-wife was the first of her many-generation family to leave the area they lived in. First to go to college. Family pushed her very hard to relocate back to the same area after college. But if she had, that would have been the worst thing she could have done for economic future. Instead she moved somewhere with a better job market for her skill set, and saved money.
Meanwhile, other folks in her family who stayed behind where they couldn't afford to, and where good-paying jobs are hard to get, are now having serious trouble making ends meet. Family can only help you so much here.
