Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ Hate to break it to you. I checked the “Disposable Income Report Card” for Salisbury, N.C. and “America’s Gig City” gets an F this semester and likely for many semesters to come unless the city does a major turnaround. The future shows the very high probability of a worsening disposable income situation here.
What is disposable income? Why is it so important to industries, businesses, and retailers who might check Salisbury out as a potential place to set up shop and provide jobs?
Disposable income is total personal income minus personal current taxes. Its the tried and true economic litmus that industries, businesses, and retailers check out to see if an area can purchase goods and services. It brings a new meaning to the old adage: “You gotta have money to make money.” Salisbury is lacking enough disposable income and its growing worse.
Why is Salisbury’s disposable income situation growing worse?
• Salisbury disposable income is demonstrated by Salisbury’s poverty rate hovering around 25%. That’s folks lacking disposable income. Among the poor are large numbers of the chronically unemployed.
• Young educated people are moving away from Salisbury. The area lacks better jobs and important amenities to keep or attract the young.
• Young families, especially those with educated parents, are not staying here or are being attracted to Salisbury because of the low-rated public schools, the crime, and the very visible poverty.
• People are gradually unloading their houses and moving away for safer, more attractive places, and far better job situations. That’s major disposable income moving away. Here’s a typical Salisbury real estate website showing nearly a thousand houses up for grabs. Look at the map of houses up for sale in the city’s country club area.
http://www.zillow.com/salisbury-nc/
• Salisbury’s well-deserved reputation as a city challenged with crime and gangs is a turnoff to persons with disposable income who examine the crime plagued city from afar. A major influx of persons with disposable income is a requirement for a struggling city. Its not happening.
• The few people who come to Salisbury and take advantage of the current housing market with its bargain basement housing prices are largely over sixty and living on fixed incomes. They are watching their pennies.
The “disturbing demographic” is growing a new head of hair.
