miserable cities according to forbes -detroit #1
kala
3,361 Posts
Imagine living in a city with the country's highest rate for violent crime and the second-highest unemployment rate. As an added kicker you need more Superfund dollars allocated to your city to clean up contaminated toxic waste sites than just about any other metro.Unfortunately, this nightmare is a reality for the residents of Detroit. The Motor City grabs the top spot on Forbes' inaugural list of America's Most Miserable Cities.In Pictures: America's Most Miserable CitiesMisery is defined as a state of great unhappiness and emotional distress. The economic indicator most often used to measure misery is the Misery Index. The index, created by economist Arthur Okun, adds the unemployment rate to the inflation rate. It has been in the narrow 7-to-9 range for most of the past decade, but was over 20 during the late 1970s.There also exists a Misery Score, which is the sum of corporate, personal, employer and sales taxes in different countries. France took the top spot (or perhaps bottom is more appropriate) with a score of 166.8, thanks to a top rate of 51% on personal incomes and 45% for employer Social Security.But aren't there other things that cause Americans misery? Of course. So we decided to expand on the Misery Index and the Misery Score to create our very own Forbes Misery Measure. We're sticking with unemployment and personal tax rates, but we are adding four more factors that can make people miserable: commute times, weather, crime and that toxic waste dump in your backyard.We looked at only the 150 largest metropolitan areas, which meant a minimum population of 371,000. We ranked the cities on the six criteria above and added their ranks together to establish what we call the Misery Measure. The data used in the rankings came from Portland, Ore., researcher Bert Sperling, who last year published the second edition of Cities Ranked & Rated along with Peter Sander. Economic research firm Economy.com, which is owned by Moody's, also supplied some data.Detroit in the top spot, with its sister city Flint ranked third, is probably not a great shock. "If Detroit were a baseball team, we'd say they are mired in a slump," says Sperling. Both Detroit and Flint have suffered tremendously from the auto industry downturn. Flint's plight was immortalized in the Michael Moore movie Roger & Me, which chronicles Moore's attempts to meet with then General Motors (nyse: GM - news - people ) Chief Executive Roger Smith.Crime and unemployment are closely linked, according to Sperling. Our three most miserable places bear that out (Stockton, Calif., ranks second). All three are among the eight worst cities in terms of both unemployment and violent crime.The United States' two biggest cities both induce a ton of misery. New York was the fourth most miserable city by our count, while Los Angeles clocked in at sixth. The Big Apple has the longest commute times (36.2 minutes) and the highest tax rates (10.5%) in the country. As the financial capital of the world and home to write-down kings Merrill Lynch (nyse: MER - news - people ) and Citigroup (nyse: C - news - people ), New York appears poised for more misery in 2008.The people of La-La Land have some of the best weather in the U.S. (it's ranked seventh) but scored poorly when it came to commute times, Superfund sites and taxes. And we did not even factor in air quality, where Los Angeles is the worst in the nation by far, according to Sperling.The biggest surprise on our list is Charlotte, N.C., which is ranked ninth. Charlotte has undergone tremendous economic growth the past decade, while the population has soared 32%. But the current picture isn't as bright. Employment growth has not kept up with population growth, meaning unemployment rates are up more than 50% compared with 10 years ago. Charlotte scored in the bottom half of all six categories we examined. It scored the worst on violent crime, ranking 140th.So take heart, Detroit, you are not alone. After all, misery loves company.
Comments
People mover 4-EVA.
Love,
JRoot
i think that if kala lives in your city, it increases the amount of misery experienced by the normal people living there.
I call UNFAIR!
kala likes to fight his corner, that's all
plus if I stick up for him he may give me a long-awaited (positive) feedback on ebay
plus you all should know, London would figure higher in a world list
so count yourselves lucky
whatever you do, don't admit to him that you're gay
---
is being gay something you have to 'admit' to, like theft or voting republican?
you're 'out & proud' eh?
good for you
here's 2 dollars
go buy yourself an ice lolly
then get back to class
there's a good little souljerk
what the fuck is an ice lolly?
biggest
most cultured
crudest
most dangerous
safest
expensive
richest
poorest
most important
zing.
Detroit, Lagos, Kingston, Manchester, etc.
I love San Diego and Sydney but how creative can you get when the surfs up!
Umm, okay. "miserable?"
This thread will die after this post as I am a thread killa, but man... wow. I wish folks will tell us how they really feel about us. You smile in our faces, then rape us for our musics. That's not very nice.
'our musics'
cmon dude that's a little much.
reminded of why i don't look at this here place so much.
Somewhat whine-in-a-box
How does it rate on your list of most miserable websites?
i was referring to the whole 'tell me what you really think about detroit' 'our music' deal.
it was a bit self righteous i thought. i been knowing h*****. that's my dude but still.
Sure, things are pretty bad in Detroit. Everyone knows that. It has been for years, but obviously it's not so bad that folks can't manage / visit / inquire / discuss.
Now A*****, if "self-righteous" means pride, then sure, that's me. I ride for this place through thick and thin. Yeah, I stay mad at Detroit on a regular basis, but I know nothing that goes on here negatively is unique to any of major city in America. Well, I guess there are the unions. Anyway, I digress.
I get tired of all these "reports," which is just a waste of resources. They seem to be created just for the media. I don't see where these reports ever make a real difference. The same cities are the recurring offenders. Detroit goes through a cycle of being called the worst city ever 5 years or so. Politicians use it to chalk up their minor successes. It's all bullshit.
I'm thinking if you can work with census information and alleged statistically-sound surveys for a living, you can probably help provide solutions to all these causes of misery. Then again, maybe they can't, that's why they get paid to generate reports.
Okay... this thread can finish dying now.
america is going thru some shit. north america, south america. the cities, the suburbs and outlying areas. who's it on? i don't know. ride for detroit by all means. but man it's gotta be about more than on some 'what you talking about detroit is miserable'.
as an aside detroit was most fruitful when there were great schools, great jobs available to all, and a huge mixed multiculti middle class. so was it misery? really?
I just don't like folks calling the place where I exist "miserable." That word is a bit stronger than the nerds at Forbes are recognizing. That's some heavy shit to denote, which only will lead the natural connatation of the word to the leading cities. It's the last thing people need to be doing.
I still want to be on the cover of Forbes some day, but regardless how it's viewed, this bothers me.
?????????????? WTF[/b]
Waymond Hall on Jamal?
The Ninth Creation ?
Plaese to realize the error of your ways.
Point taken. I'm quick to diss, though I was admittedly happy to cruise Pacific Ave back in the high school days. Still, being listed as the second worst city in the whole USA, the cultural upsides are relatively small. I did cop some of my first funk records at Replay Records, though (Manchild-related).