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Montana

B

Ben H

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 20, 2006
Messages
1,738
Location
Gorham, ME
Living here in Maine is pretty tough, I'd like some input on opportunities in Montana. We have the oldest population in the US, people are moving out of state due to a lack of jobs. Taxes are one of the highest in the US. Ever since most of the mills closed there has been little done to create an environment to bring jobs into the state. Southern Maine is known as Northern Massachusetts due to everyone leaving Mass and trying to make where they move to more like where they come from. It's pretty frustrating because the mindset in the North East is so liberal. I am loosing faith that it can be reversed, part of me really wants to just move and let these people destroy themselves with their liberal policies.

What's holding me here in my family's farm, I have started developing a customer base for my grassfed beef. I work another job that I dislike, while I try to grow my business to one day be self independent and not work for anyone. I work a job I dislike because it at least offers the flexibility to allow me to pursue other things.

Montana is one of the states that I feel is headed in the right direction, I'm curious what kind of opportunities, if any, there are for a person in my situation.
 
You would probably have to settle for half the pay. some jobs in energy, oil fields etc. Truck driving. That's why Montana has less then 1 million people. If there were lots of opportunities we would surpass California in population. :shock:
:???: Whoops, I momentarily forgot about our Winters. :oops:
 
We have lost over 1/2 of both logging and mining jobs. Trying to buy land that is overpriced is difficult especially if you are trying to start something.
State has turned more into a retirement/hunting preserve then anything else.
 
theony said:
You would probably have to settle for half the pay. some jobs in energy, oil fields etc. Truck driving. That's why Montana has less then 1 million people. If there were lots of opportunities we would surpass California in population. :shock:
:???: Whoops, I momentarily forgot about our Winters. :oops:
Click to expand...

Yep- and that low pay is the reason Montana is aging so much too...Lot of the smartest and brightest move to areas where they can start out making 100 K...

All the energy-transportation-mining jobs were booming until last summer/fall--but now quite a few people out of work....Mines closed down, stacked a lot of the oil rigs, construction companies stopped a lot of building projects, railroad has furloughed several...
And it really hasn't came back yet this spring....

Altho with many of the construction projects about to open up now that the weather is here- I think things may be picking up...
Yesterday I saw the neatest sight- a west bound Burlington Northern freight train sitting on a siding- made up completely of flat cars carrying the huge white vanes for wind turbines...Each blade took up 3 1/3 flat cars overlapping---and the entire train was blades as far as I could see...
 
Yup, speaking of trains. The track from Plentywood to Scobey is now a storage site for old rolling stock and same for branch line out of Glendive. No wonder, Not going to be many opportunities for RR employment. Soon to be the 2 main lines and that is pretty much it.
 
Sounds like Montana has a lot of the same problems we have, everything here seems to focus around tourism as a major industry. Our population is only about 1.2 million. I wonder how much the average pay really differs from here, we have pretty low pay in Maine. My wife has been a bank teller for a few years and makes less then $10/hr. The bank she works for was rated as the #1 Business in Maine to work for this year.

I hate to say this, but when the system crashes, these folks with their head in the sand who didn't prepare are going to wipe each other out. I just need to sit back and watch the carnage.

Are there opportunities in MT to lease land from absentee landowners and custom graze cattle? When I was looking online at properties a few years back it appeared that everything was being sold as "ranchettes".

Realistically, I guess I need to make the best of what I have here.
 
theony said:
Yup, speaking of trains. The track from Plentywood to Scobey is now a storage site for old rolling stock and same for branch line out of Glendive. No wonder, Not going to be many opportunities for RR employment. Soon to be the 2 main lines and that is pretty much it.
Click to expand...

Yep those old branch lines look like a flatcar graveyard with the thousands of unused cars sitting on them... :(

Ben H
Are there opportunities in MT to lease land from absentee landowners and custom graze cattle? When I was looking online at properties a few years back it appeared that everything was being sold as "ranchettes".
Click to expand...

Ben H-- the major problem around the state is that unless they have someone to leave the place too- most older ranchers are selling out for high dollar...Over west a lot was being bought up by speculators subdividing it up for these ranchettes.....
And over here in the east- either the hunters or the bunny huggers have a whole lot more money than the land is worth for production...Several of these large ranchs have been bought up by "nature & conservation" groups- with the idea of it going back to the buffalo and antelope...

Here in my county just this winter they have been trying to buy up a large grazing district that runs 4,000-5,000 head or so- mainly because it joins into the CM Russel Game Range- and they could make it into a refuge...
The 20+ owners have so far turned them down- but like we were talking the other day- with the money those folks have, someday they'll come back and make the owners an offer they can't refuse....
 
Move north young man. Northern Ab, Sk, or BC all still have plenty of opportunity and pay scale is still pretty fair.
 
have you tried writing a letter to Obama... this sounds like it would be right up his alley. take land from those who have it, and give it to those who want it!! you may have to form a union and get an abortion first, but it is worth a shot





think about it, you REALLY want to be neighbors with Oldtimer?? granted, the idea of knowing a guy that you can buy a verdict off of is nice, but livinig day in and day out with him???
 
If I were you, I'd look into good ole' WYOMING. Or perhaps Canada, as someone suggested. I don't know about Canada, but I do know a bit about
Montana/Wyoming.

WY land isn't cheap, but you can get a job with decent wages.
Wyoming politics are very good, IMO.
They stand for things and are not pushovers.

When we moved to Western Montana in 1975, we were told
the plan was to make one big National Park from Yellowstone
to Glacier. We laughed then. But soon found out it wasn't a laughing
matter.

In Montana, the east has the money, but the west has the people
so much of our tax money goes to the west...to promote...TOURISM.

Montana is a funny state. No sales tax; property owners bear the
burden of the taxes. Montana has been anti-business for years.
They don't want to use their natural resources (Wyoming is way
ahead in that department). We let the rich use Montana for a playground
and if they pay any tax, it is a BED TAX. If they bring their motor
homes, they don't even pay that. We have one of the highest fuel
taxes in the nation. I read somewhere that Montana is next to California
as far as taxes are concerned. If you buy a new vehicle here, you don't pay sales tax on it; you just pay an extremely high price to license your vehicle for several years.

In my business, I have learned that not much goes out of Montana on
a truck, but a lot comes in.

When we moved to W. Montana there was quite a bit of industry.
Cominco Phospate Plant at Garrison--gone now; Burlington Northern--gone now, except for a train that comes through; Anaconda Company--gone now; logging--curtailed a bunch. What has remained is Mt. State Prison; Galen-Warm Springs--all which are state run institutions and LP--Louisiana Pacific Sawmill. And if LP hiccups, the whole town coughs.

Again, Montana is and has always been anti-business. The Workman's Comp rates are ridiculous--many companies have moved to Wyoming because the Workman's comp rates there are MUCH lower. Montana has more government bureaucrats per capita, highway patrolmen, etc. than any state surrounding it (or at least they used to).

Make no mistake, Montana wants RICH people here.

JMHO.
 
Really when you compare to the rest of the country as a whole the state isn't in as bad a situation as most of the country....

The highest percentage budget gaps for 2009 were reported in Alaska and Arizona where the shortfalls exceeded 20 percent of general fund budgets. States projecting 2011 budget gaps included California, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Texas and Vermont.

"The fiscal situation facing states is like a bad horror movie - the details get more gruesome and the story never seems to end," the State Budget Update said.

Here's how the NCSL summarized Montana's situation: "There is a significant downturn in revenues anticipated for FY 2009 and 2010, with some improvement anticipated by FY 2011. The Legislature is dealing with the lower level of revenue by reducing the amount of increases requested by the governor and using federal stimulus money to the extent possible to bridge the gap between the 2011 and 2013 biennium."

That isn't the rosy picture seen here 12 months ago, but it's not a horror story. Montanans can be relieved and proud that the generally responsible way our state government has operated has put our state among the few this year that are avoiding both painful tax increases and reductions in public services.
Click to expand...

At least there was a little ray of sunshine in the jobs report that came out Friday- a lot of the summer/stimulus package jobs are opening up:

In Friday's report, Arkansas and Montana tied for the biggest over-the-month payroll gains at 1,500 a piece. They were followed by Florida, which saw an increase of 1,300 jobs.


On the hiring front, North Dakota again registered the nation's lowest unemployment rate -- 4 percent. It was followed by Nebraska with a 4.4 percent jobless rate, Wyoming at 4.5 percent and South Dakota with 4.8 percent.


In another bit of mildly encouraging news, the Labor Department reported that mass layoffs -- job cuts of 50 or more by a single employer -- dipped to 2,712 in April, from a record-high of 2,933 in March. Still, more than 271,000 workers were fired in last month's cuts, more than double the total from April 2008.
Click to expand...
 
Going to www.mt.gov it shows Montana at 8.9% unemployment;
that's almost twice as high as Wyoming, ND and SD.

Interesting.


Wyoming is a Right-to-Work State, BTW.


OOPS. OT is right. 8.9% is US. 6.1% is Montana Unemployment Rate. :oops: :oops: So sorry!! :cry:
But it is still 1.2 to 1.5% higher than surrounding states.
 
Faster horses said:
Going to www.mt.gov it shows Montana at 8.9% unemployment;
that's almost twice as high as Wyoming, ND and SD.

Interesting.


Wyoming is a Right-to-Work State, BTW.
Click to expand...

Are you sure you didn't look at the national rate?

In April 2008, Montana's unemployment rate was 4.2 percent. The jobless rate in April 2009 was 6.0 percent, down ever so slightly from March's rate of 6.1 percent.

By comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate in April was 8.9 percent, nearly one-third higher than Montana's rate, and up 0.4 percent from March.

http://billingsgazette.net/articles/2009/05/22/news/state/48-unemployment.txt
Click to expand...

If you ever note- usually the highest unemployment rates are in counties with Reservations- and Montana has 7 of them...
 
FH---you hit the nail on the head!!! Been here for 30 years and cannot believe the changes I have seen!! this little town (for example)....15 years ago, you could walk into any bar/grocery store/cafe and recognize damn near everyone....now, you walk in and recognize MAYBE 2 faces!!! Many folks are moving in because "the scenery is sooooo pretty"....take it from this single mom, scenery does not put a roof over the heads of your kids or put food on the table or pay the power bill!! Our cost of living is increasing dramatically and our "pay raises" are pathetic!! Like the majority of the rest of the country, the poor are getting worse and the rich are reaping the benefits!! The cost of housing (compared to what the average Montana resident earns) is astronomical!!! Yes, I could make more money elsewhere, but I simply cannot take my boys from all they know!! Yes, Montana is pretty, but the wealthy are moving in, buying all the land, closing access to the locals and jacking up the cost of living for those of us who live here!! Yep.....Wyoming is looking good!! :wink:
 

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