Something to think about

This is in no way my vote of support for Rush Limbaugh, or as I like to call him Boss Hogg. I find Rush, an useless, hater monger but In the early this year, I was listening to the Rush Limbaugh radio show when a young man from Youngstown, Ohio, called in to complain about... well, life.
The caller was upset that, since the company had closed years earlier, there was no opportunity for him in his beloved hometown. Youngstown. It was also the town that his father and grandfather had raised families (back in the heyday of the steel Mills) and where he had hoped to raise his own. So he was attracted to the protectionist rhetoric of presidential candidates promising to erect trade barriers in the hopes of resurrecting U.S. cities. But, short of attending a political rally, the young man from Youngstown didn't know what to do.
Noting that our most daunting obstacles are often self-imposed, Limbaugh gave the caller some simple advice: "Move!"
Brilliant. But moving isn't always easy. At various moments, some of us have felt inextricably bound to our hometowns by a loyalty that defies logic. That can be charming. Yet, especially in a sour economy, it can also be self-defeating.
Now I read about a new trend: More and more Americans are responding to the wobbly U.S. economy by fleeing the country. It seems that when the U.S. job market gets tough, the desperate get going -- to wherever the jobs happen to be.
According to a recent article in USA Today, with the nation's unemployment rate at a 26-year-high of 10.2 percent, many Americans are looking for jobs outside the country. In fact, U.S.-based staffing companies and executive search firms say that the job outlook abroad looks brighter than it does here.
The most welcoming job markets: India, China, Dubai, Brazil, and Singapore. The jobs that are most often taking people abroad: engineering, management or consulting. As the article points out, a survey by Korn/Ferry found that 54 percent of executives said they'd be either likely or highly likely to accept a post in a foreign country. Four years ago, in better times, it was just 37 percent. At MIT's Sloan School of Management, 24 percent of 2009 graduates found jobs overseas, a jump from 19 percent last year.
Sure, leaving the United States is an extreme measure. I'd be happy if most Americans were more willing to just leave their comfort zone. If you're unemployed, the secret to survival is to know where to go -- and where to steer clear of.
According to one set of job growth projections, in 2010 the three most promising states will be Idaho, Colorado and Texas -- with Wyoming, Washington, and New Mexico not far behind. The three least promising will be Nevada, Florida, and West Virginia -- with California, Illinois, and New York not much better off.
For me, this subject hits close to home. No pun intended. You see, I was once just like the guy from Youngstown. I was in love with a hometown and a nation.
The lesson I learned along the way: Jobs don't just come to you. More often, you have to go to the job. Too many Americans resist that truth and instead wait for their dream jobs to come knocking at their door. They treat the idea of living in a certain city or state as an entitlement that they're not willing to surrender.
A few months ago, I found myself having lunch next to a middle-aged man who told me that, when he was starting his business, he had moved all around the country until he arrived at what he considered the destination city of La Jolla, California -- north of San Diego.
He was frustrated because his son, who had grown up in that ritzy ZIP code, was now in his early 20s and considered it his birthright to keep living there. Shaking his head, the man said: "He doesn't understand that I had to work my whole life to get here, and that he has to move to a more affordable city and work his way back."
Multiply that story by 10 million, and you get a sense for what we're up against. Here again, the native-born could learn from immigrants, foreign students, and anyone else who has the moxie to leave behind family, friends, and the familiar in search of a better life. Those people may struggle, but they'll survive and get ahead. It has always been this way. And in a global economy, this is how it will remain for as far as the eye can see.
The sooner Americans accept that, the better off they'll be. The better off we'll all be.