Monday, February 11, 2008

Miserable Cities

According to Forbes article online, my home state ranks number 1 (Detroit) and number 3 (Flint) for most miserable cities to live in.

"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." -Kurt Badenhausen, Forbes.com (Feb 11)

Did you know there's a thing called a Misery Index - an economic indicator??? There doesn't appear to be a Happy Index, but there is a Happy Planet Index - an envirnomental indicator.

So in light of places to live, check out this website: http://www.findyourspot.com/ (and if you're curious, here's my top three: Burlington, VT - Montpelier, VT - Northampton, MA)

6 comments:

murat11 said...

Of course, Forbes no doubt blithely sidesteps the egregious economic downturns (and egregious manufacturing decision-making) over the past few decades that have eviscerated Detroit and Flint. May they rise again.

jsd said...

murat11: I hope that MI can turn it's economy around. My brother was telling me that a one point MI was loosing 40,000 people a month to other states. He also said that companies looking for people to work in Iraq are recruiting in MI, because the unemployment rate is so high. The towns/cities that didn't build their economy around the auto industry seem to be doing alittle better. I imagine it'll be awhile before things get better.

Lee said...

Happy Valentine's Day, JS!

Tried this out the first day you posted it and kept meaning to go back and try again. Didn't like my first set of choices so I kept adjusting things. Still didn't like most of them but finally managed to get mostly out of Louisiana and Arkansas. I want to live in Asheville, Reno or Santa Fe. Go figure, I have friends or family there. Did those fine cities ever come up? No! Drat!!

Hugs! Peace! Hope! & Joy!

jsd said...

lee: thank you, back at ya! thankful the results don't dictate where one must live ;-)

Emma Gorst said...

Um, the only person I know who lives in Detroit thinks it's pretty drab and sad there too. I used to visit a lot and thought it was pretty in summer... out of the cities and burbs anyway...

jsd said...

aurora: yeah the Detroit Metro area has always been drab, and bleak if the auto industry was hurting. But, once you get away from the big city, it's like you're in a whole nother state.