Here is an old saying I like.
You cannot bring prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot further brotherhood of men by inciting class hatred.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.

It isn't about families moving here - to the Villages. It is about drawing families to Sumter, Marion, and Lake counties, thus providing new blood to support the Villages via employees working in places that hire them.

The question remains: where will these new employees and their families live, when the Villages is gobbling up all the real estate?

I had to respond to this, as much as I was trying to just read this thread and laugh. A few notes:

1. I think many of us here, including myself, came from Poverty. I left home with $200 in my pocket in 1981 and now most would consider me rich (I have 2 homes in TV, both currently rentals until I move in a few years).

2. Since many of us came from poverty and are now not in poverty, we have the opinion you can get out of it if you want to. Let me say IT IS NOT EVEN THAT HARD! There are jobs going unfilled everywhere right now that pay great wages - maybe not around TV but around the country. If you have not noticed there is a help wanted banner in front of every business right now.

3. We have all seen that most are in poverty because of bad choices - they get pregnant at 19, before they are married. They do not get educated, they won't move to get a better life, they do drugs, they have 3 baby dadies for 3 kids, they don't show up for work. They don't learn english. they are lazy. You get the point.

4. Simple economics will fix this and is fixing it around the country. I saw a target DC with a sign saying they were paying $19 an hour for workers(in Wisconsin). Around TV, wages will increase to bring in workers, and we will all pay more. I know I am paying more for lawn service, house cleaners, and golf cart repair than 5-6 years ago, and this is also why rents go up every year. There was a post contrasting 20 years ago with today- the point being there are 10s of thousands of jobs now that were not here 20 years ago - they people came to fill them. BTW - I notice that a lot of the workers in the new build areas down south are driving $60,000 trucks - they are obviously making a nice wage.

The article is a hit piece on TV, plain and simple. Stupid Lies mostly. Most of us moved or are moving to TV because the stupid way things up north are run with high taxes and too much regulation, along with huge wealth transfers to those who won't work. Even with the Sumter county tax increase the area has a very low cost of living and low taxes. Yes, prices will rise, but they are everywhere. This crap about less than 2% inflation is bull, but that is for another post.

Packer Fan.

Sounds like to me that you are more worried about somebody serving you a cheap burger or getting your grass mowed. If there is a labor shortage the employers will have to increase the wages to attract employees. As mentioned in this or another thread about the new Wendy's restaurant being unable to open because they can't get employees. The owner is going to have to offer a wage that will entice other companies employees to come work for Wendy's. If you think this is a problem that only TV faces I have news for you, it is in every city in the country.
If you want a good wage you have to have marketable skills. Minimum to no skills gets you minimum wage. Flipping a hamburger requires no skill. My nephew is a mechanic, he makes $100K a year because he has a needed skill, shows up on time every day for work and is good at his job.

Totally agree. Narrow demographic with a narrow perspective, who - if they are very fortunate - will never have to experience truth as it is NOW (as opposed to truth as it was in 1981, for example). Meanwhile the rest of us will keep our eyes, minds, and hearts open to the challenges of living as a working person in the 21st century.

Fruitland Park doesn't have a lot of affordable housing; what's available are mostly run-down fixer-uppers under 100K. Been there, done that with a Fruitland Park fixer-upper. The outcome of our experience did lead to one thing, it raised prices in the neighborhood.

Most of the folks residing in TV today likely came from modest or working class backgrounds, poor through middle class families, not upper middle class or above. They developed their ability to get and hold decent jobs by learning a skilled trade, or obtained a college education working their way through a state university or via a scholarship at a more expensive and perhaps exclusive private college. Over their lifetimes they worked hard, sacrificed to raise and educate their children and prudently saved to achieve a comfortable retirement. Most are over the age of 55 years. I suppose in this sense they fit into a "narrow demographic with a narrow perspective". One thing is certain, I admire, hold a lot of respect for and like such people!

[QUOTE=Boomer;1688798]Jazuela,

I get it and for what it’s worth, I think TV is now “too big for its britches.” Various ratios are already out of sync.

But you are in debate here with what is mostly a narrow demographic whose perspective comes only from their own place and time in the big picture. Within that narrow perspective, there is a spectrum ranging from, “Such is Life” to “Let them eat cake.”

While I seem to be awash in a sea of old sayings this morning, I might as well throw in another one: “When you find yourself banging your head against a brick wall, it feels so good when you stop.”

Sincerely,
Boomer[/


I find it humorous when the discussion is success is possible and most of us didn’t start at the top and we’re dismissed as a narrow demographic.

If we raised the children now in the manner we were raised, they would be successful too. Where were all of you when we struggled so hard and had so little? Yet we succeeded and our children are successful as they carry the burden of the crowd that uses the system for freebies.

I do think a huge part of the problem lies in one parent families and schools. Children have no role models and the education provided is subpar now.

It seems to me that the entire premise of this "study" is flawed. The statistical area of The Villages is Sumter County, which outside The Villages is the poorest county in Florida. IF the study actually was confined to the boundries of The Villages, I am confident it would portray a vastly different outcome. A vast majority of Villages residents moved here with little need for income. Those that need some income, are, for the most part, simply in need of supplemental income. Working poor is not a term I even think of when considering the residents of TV. I would say, if given the true picture of those residents of TV, that it may be the lowest representation of "working poor" in the country.

The Villages has the best credit scores of any place in this entire country. I am very proud of that.

As the OP, the reference to 'people moving here' is in regards to why would someone move to the local surrounding communities to work; not to move to the Villages itself to retire.

With a low unemployment rate within the local workforce, people will need to be attracted here to fill the gap. Why would people come to our outlying communities to support you and me when this area ironically is also found to be a leader where a person working fulltime is not being paid a wage that allows them to be above the poverty line.

This has nothing to do with people working harder and raising themselves out of poverty like you did. It has to do with a worker who can choose to go to another town and get a better paying job, affordable housing, and transportation options so they will not choose to come to this general area.

The purpose of the post is that the laws of supply and demand do not seem to be working for us in our local employment sector. We have a unique demographics that no other city has. We have high retired population and a low working population. We have tapped our local workforce and though there is good financial resources of the demanders (us), the wages are not adequate to provide the supply (employees).

This is not necessarily the fault of the business owner. The main expenses of a business is cost of goods sold, rent, and labor. IMO, I think high rent forces the businesses to hold wages down in order to keep their doors open.

We all should be concerned that if wages are not adjusted, stores and restaurants will close, services will go unfulfilled, work quality will continue to decline. All due to labor demands that cannot be met. This in turn will increase our costs for services that provide quality work because demand will allow them, increased wait times at restaurants or to have a job done at your home, and could force us to go to Orlando, Ocala, or the Internet to shop.

The high rent issue is more of an urban legend in TV.
Compare the $ per square foot rates of shopping centers, malls and the like in the surrounding area.

I think your concern is misplaced. Services have not been unfulfilled. Work quality has not declined. Everyone is using the internet to shop.

Shopping centers and malls tend to serve a demographic that is year round. That is not the case in The Villages.

The "Developer" is not ignorant of the economic process for owning, managing, and profiting from real estate. If they(it, him) could earn more with a different model (rent, terms etc) they would no doubt adopt them. Retail business is hard. Markets change on a dime . Restaurants fail at incredible rates , everywhere. Most new entrepreneurs are under capitalized and under cashed and therefore cannot weather any blips. Very few posters here have any understanding of the basics of running a business.
The "Developer" does.

Disclaimer:Am not related to "Developer" don't work for developer, never met the "Developer" don't hold any public office in TV. Have run several successful and a few unsuccessful businesses .

You don't offer any solutions, only problems. I don't see a problem. You don't need a college degree to work in retail or at Burger King. I've lived in Florida off and on since 1959, and Florida has no shortage of unskilled people. You build it, they will come. You can put a Walmart or a McDonalds in Timbuktu, and there will be a line of people applying for jobs. When that day does come that you worry so much about, they'll raise the price of a Big Mac to $10. In the meantime, worry about more important things like, getting a teetime.

Pretty well sums things up. :)

It is interesting how the dominant users of TOTV club turn everything as an attack on the Villages. Then again, thats why I titled the post. You can put your head back in the sand since the future will not impact you, just move on to the next topic concerning dogs pooping in your yard. :popcorn:

Well, I don't know if I am considered a "dominant user" or if my post was considered a defense of an attack on the villages, but I did not see the study as an "attack on the villages", but simply one that did not accurately reflect the reality.

Perhaps it is your head in the sand that needs refreshing. I actually don’t position myself for The Villages other than to point out this is a fixed income territory. You can’t get blood from a turnip, as they say.

What you, and a couple of other posters, insist is that minimum wage earners are an imbecile crowd with no hope for bettering their circumstances. However, legal immigrants move here daily and find America to be an opportunity waiting to be applied.

I know of a fireman who is currently working 3 jobs, his wife works one and she goes to school for nursing. They also have 2 children to raise. Yes, they started minimum wage but they live by the example their parents set and work hard for what they want.

People live up to your expectations and the “give them YOUR money” crowd has labeled and corralled those individuals with hopelessness. I will reiterate this, unparented children grow into clueless adults as to how to be successful and schooling needs quality teachers who are innovative and encouraging.

Wages in all areas of the country mirror cost of living in those communities. Should minimum wage be fair? Of course, but it should not match the wages of skilled labor. It is entry level employment.

When a debate is lost than jabs come next. You have stated your opinion and many debated your opinion. Many of us find this place to be just right and do not feel that we have to defend how we got here or worry too much about how other people will run their lives and find their happiness. No matter what we are told, we are not all born equal, all dumb, all bright, all lazy, all hard working, we are not at all equal because of genetics, because of fate, because of accidents, because of a lot of things, but we are all born valuable. And if we have a conscience, a feeling heart, a sense of responsibility we will each do good to others and for others as directed by our parents and our religion. Or we won't. You cannot legislate or direct morality.

WOW !!!! Someone who finally gets it..

This thread has degenerated into personal attacks and a number of off topic replies. It has run its course and will now be closed.

Moderator