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Comment by swagtricker | Hacker News Reader

They have another problem to address as well: Detroit. Or, culturally speaking, the high-strung midwest attitude. I say this having spent the first 15 years of my life about 30 miles outside of Detroit and then moved to the Seattle area to finish high-school, college & start a software development career. I've still got family back in Michigan, but they're so culturally closed-minded & uptight I don't know if a $200k salary and dirt cheap houses from what's left of The Great Recession would be enough put up with the rest that's broken. Oh - and if you have kids, don't forget about the mess that is the state educational system: Betsy DeVos' blueprint for destroying public education nation-wide.

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I too grew up in the Metro Detroit area (and then moved to Seattle).

The suburban schools are quite good. Oakland County schools are some of the best in the nation. International Academy was rated as the top public school in America for many years (it's now amongst the top 10 or so).

In my opinion, Michigan is experiencing a statewide cultural divide. The more metropolitan areas are not nearly as culturally close minded as the less metropolitan areas. Ultimately, Michigan companies don't seem to value talent enough to pay them well. There's no reason somebody should be able to make 2-3x more outside of Michigan than in the state.

Good point. Washington State is also suffering from a cultural divide. It almost felt nerve wracking and threatening to drive outside of King county last year before the election and see Trump signs literally everywhere. You're either in a technology or technology supported work in King county dealing with 18% annual housing cost increases, or you're broke in outlying counties and the other side of the Cascade mountains wondering where all the jobs went.

This cultural divide has existed in Washington for a long time - but its not really a King County/not King County split - it has more to do with the Cascades. I'd also suggest that the outlying counties are not as broke as you seem to think they are.

Western Washington was an extractive economy that transitioned to manufacturing in the 20's and 30's - Eastern WA was and is primarily agricultural. It's a cultural divide that is usually pretty well bridged.

Why would you be afraid of Trump voters? They're Americans just like you are, and are trying to pick someone who'll solve their problems - which I'd note, are probably different than yours - a good reminder is, more people in King County voted for Trump than did in any other county, and King County accounts for 1/5th or so of the votes he got.

> Why would you be afraid of Trump voters?

Do you really want anyone to answer that question on HN?

and king county was 72% for Clinton, and Seattle was even more tilted that way.

i actually do - I want to understand what they're afraid of - because while trump makes me nervous, most trump voters dont.

"High-strung", "closed-minded"? I'm sort of offended. There's some good stuff going on in Detroit and Ann Arbor. Not to mention Grand Rapids and others.

Hopefully it's largely the family I left behind then;)

Don't worry - the poster's just being a bit closed-minded

So no one can point out close-mindedness without also being close-minded? Seems a bit close-minded.

You're not wrong. Something is off in southeast Michigan. I blame the insane legacy of racial segregation. And the dreary environment. I mean, look at the article...

>When we reached the end of the hall, Ford welcomed me into his office, a midcentury wooden cavern with a fish tank built into one wall and a panoramic view of Dearborn along the other. The dreary vista stood in stark relief with the golden-era artifacts in Ford’s office...

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