r/NewMexico

My wife and daughters are absolutely done with the hellscape that has become TX. I’ve lived all over, but my wife has never been out of TX. We’re looking seriously at NM, but have a few questions. I like trees, moderate weather and available trails for hiking. Their main concerns are availability of health care, veteran friendly, and within an hour or so of a larger city. We don’t mind some snow, but also don’t want 100F daily temperatures. Looking for at least 3-10ac of land, that doesn’t require HoA bs, and can be kept natural. Wife and I are both disabled so that is also a concern. We make about $200k/yr so need to stay affordable. Any suggestions on an area to look into would be more than appreciated.

As painful as this was to read, I can only imagine the pain of writing it. Thank you Laura Paskus for sounding the alarm.

Please take the time to read this and consider the ideas at the end. I agree with all of it wholeheartedly.

Hello, anyone worked for PACU? Any insights? Good bad and ugly? Hows the training? Do you get floated to other places outside of PACU or is there separate floors for like OB PACU AND PEDS. Never worked for a trauma hospital. Have worked for plenty of HCAS and from Florida . I’ve been looking at other reddits and see mixed reviews. Also places to stay that are family friendly or is this solo kind’ve place. I know its a mouthful but anything helps.

"Dusoma Foundation Fundmaxxing- when you don't just fundraise for yourself, you try to get money for everyone around you." - Dusoma.org

Over the last three years, New Mexico has had more oil production than any other state, and that includes Texas. Yet, one in six residents live below the poverty line, and the average family income is about 20% less than the US median. So, one of two things must be true: either the largest oil boom in recent American history hasn't generated any lasting wealth, or that wealth has gone somewhere that we can't see.

The truth is New Mexico hasn't wasted its fortune. In fact, it has saved almost $66 billion. But that leaves an even bigger question: why has saving $66 billion not created any visible prosperity? Why can't we see any of that wealth when we drive through places like Hope?

To understand that, we need to go way back to where it all started. When New Mexico entered the Union in 1912, its economy was built largely around sheep and cattle. Back then, oil was not a meaningful part of the state's economy, and New Mexico didn't begin producing oil commercially until 1922 when drillers struck the Hogback field in northwestern New Mexico, triggering its first oil boom. By the 1970s, the industry had begun to decline. The oil wasn't gone; rather, it was becoming harder and more expensive to reach with the technology available at the time.

Then, around 2010, a breakthrough took place. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing—two major technological improvements—allowed operators to turn a well sideways and drill horizontally into the thick shale that lines the earth beneath New Mexico. The results were extraordinary. Because of this boom, New Mexico is now bringing in $36 million a day.

So, where has all that money gone?

To answer that question, follow one barrel pumped from Eddy County. Eddy County has state trust land. A private oil company—in this case, Mewbourne Oil Company—drilled the well, brought the oil to the surface, and sold it to suppliers. But that company doesn't own everything beneath the surface. The state of New Mexico owns the earth beneath the rigs and everything within it. So, the oil company owed the state a royalty—a percentage of that barrel's worth.

That royalty doesn't get stashed into some big vault or pocketed into a state official's bank account. Instead, it flows into three different public trusts where the money is invested and set aside to grow. There is a system of public funds that now holds almost $66 billion. One of these, the Early Childhood Education Fund, was opened in 2020 with $300 million; thanks to oil and gas revenue, it now holds $11.7 billion.

This refutes the common narrative that corrupt lawmakers are wasting the money, pocketing it, or letting private corporations run off with every dollar. New Mexico did not lose its oil money, and politicians didn't steal it. The money simply changed form: it went from petroleum beneath the earth to financial assets owned on behalf of the public.

But that leaves a much harder question: if New Mexico has invested so much of its oil fortune into public funds, why has that wealth been so difficult to see in places like Hope?

One reason is simply how the modern oil and gas industry works. Oil can generate enormous revenue without creating enough jobs to raise incomes across an entire state. Technological advancements in oil drilling over the past decade have been significant. Thanks to automation and AI, drilling technology is more productive and requires fewer people than ever. One crew can drill much farther, and one well can physically reach more oil. This productivity is valuable to a government that taxes production on barrels of oil, but it leads to a strange outcome: the wealth can make the government rich without employing enough people to make the surrounding communities rich.

Another barrier is time. The extraordinary scale of New Mexico's windfall is relatively young—around five years old—while the problems this money is being asked to solve are much more systemic. New Mexico's public balance sheet became rich much faster than its institutions could become strong. Money does not automatically equal capacity.

For example, New Mexico could approve a new irrigation system for Hope to help revitalize a once-thriving farming community. But before anyone receives that system, it must be designed, land must be surveyed, permits approved, engineers hired, and contractors selected to bid on construction. This same structural delay applies to education, healthcare, and childcare—all areas the state has historically struggled to maintain.

The change New Mexico expects to see from its oil windfall will never look as dramatic as an oil well producing thousands of barrels a day; it must be measured in decades. However, that is a risky approach. Oil is a volatile commodity, where even a $1 change in the price per barrel over the course of a year can lead to a $57 million shift in annual state revenue. New Mexico faces a precarious battle: it needs to capitalize on the oil boom while the commodity is strong, but if it sets too much aside for a rainy day, it could balance its budget for decades while failing to build the institutions that allow ordinary people to flourish.

Revitalizing Hope does not mean returning it to a mythological golden age. Prosperity might mean something more modest, like investing in an irrigation system to help return farmers to the region, or hiring more teachers so the local school can provide a better education. Oil revenue will not instantly reverse the trajectory Hope has been on for the past 50 years, but it can offer residents newfound optimism about what may happen there.

So where did New Mexico's oil money go? It's in the bank. Now, New Mexico faces a much tougher problem: turning a rich government into a prosperous society.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyXJZqp3Pxw

I'm here in ABQ, and while we've had some decent rain, I feel by and large this monsoon has been a bust. How's it going in your neck of the woods? Getting any decent rain, or nah?

Hi everyone! Family is having a little get together to visit my mom who lives in Las Cruces. It was decided to come down and start in Roswell then make our way north to Santa Fe then end in Albuquerque for the balloon festival. Issue we are running into is finding things to do in Roswell that aren’t just photo op like or is that what majority of it is in Roswell.

Also the group is traveling with a toddler so family friendly places would be appreciated.

We plan to hit Meow Wolf in Santa Fe but want to find more things to do and places to eat. Very open to many ideas!

Thanks so much in advance!

Ps. Do they sell tickets to actually ride in an air balloon?

I'm taking family back east some green chile. How many bushels of roasted green chile can I fit into a 70 qt coleman cooler after I separate them into freezer bags, and add ice?

I do not know where else to ask this. Sorry if it isn't appropriate. Surely someone here knows.

Are there any suitable trails at this time?