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Steve Myers
Site Admin
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Worst Places
America's Most Miserable Cities
Kurt Badenhausen 01.30.08, 6:00 AM ET
America's Most Miserable Cities
By This Author
Kurt Badenhausen
In Pictures: America's Most Miserable Cities
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.
Misery 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.
code:
No. 3
Flint, Mich.
Rank
Commute times 83
Income tax rates 64
Superfund sites 116
Unemployment 146
Violent crimes 143
Weather 123
Misery Measure 675
Flint's decline has corresponded with the downturn in the U.S. auto industry. The Flint metro area has experienced a net migration out of Flint every year but one since 1990. One upshot of living in Flint is cheap housing. The median home price was only $104,000 last year, according to Moody's Economy.com.
Ranks are based on the 150 largest metro areas.
Sources: Bert Sperling; Moody's Economy.com; U.S. Census Bureau
http://www.forbes.com/2008/01/29/detroit-stockton-flint-biz-cz_kb_0130miserable_slide_4.html?thisSpeed=15000 |
_________________ Steve Myers |
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Wed Feb 06, 2008 3:51 pm |
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last time here
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al's gonna love this!! |
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Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:08 pm |
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Ryan Eashoo
F L I N T O I D
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We are miserable ever since Michael Moore moved out of town, we always hoped he would come back.. Just like General Motors!
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_________________ Flint Michigan Resident, Tax Payer, Flint Nutt - Local REALTOR - Activist. www.FlintTown.com |
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Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:14 am |
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Ponycar
F L I N T O I D
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Thu Feb 07, 2008 2:12 am |
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Demeralda
F L I N T O I D
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And to add to the misery...
Once more, I live in the farthest reaches of Genesee County, and the roads out there are 198787658753 times better than downtown Flint.
I guess serving the people isn't quite so important AFTER an election.
Thanks again, Flint, for reminding me why I made the biggest mistake of my life in moving back here. |
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Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:28 pm |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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Are you talking about the bricks on Saginaw St.? |
_________________ I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Thu Feb 07, 2008 2:02 pm |
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twotap
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[quote]Thanks again, Flint, for reminding me why I made the biggest mistake of my life in moving back here.[/quote
Ya but if you had not ya might have missed out on this forum. |
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Thu Feb 07, 2008 2:51 pm |
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Dave Starr
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Snow update: ALL streets in the Civic park area were plowed this afternoon. |
_________________ I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Thu Feb 07, 2008 5:54 pm |
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last time here
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all the streets between saginaw and center, court and atherton plowed!!
great job mayor and DPW!!! |
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Thu Feb 07, 2008 7:11 pm |
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Bossman
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Funny, Ahterton Road and Fenton Road were completely snow covered this morning. And don't even try to check out the side streets. Great plow job mayor. |
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Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:02 pm |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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Our street was plowed, but there's still packed snow on it. They don't put the plows all the way down on the pavement to keep them from wearing out. Looks like they keep them a couple inches off the pavement. |
_________________ I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:53 pm |
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Opprimo
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Bossman schreef:
Funny, Ahterton Road and Fenton Road were completely snow covered this morning. And don't even try to check out the side streets. Great plow job mayor.
Chavez street had not been touched by a plow at 12:15PM today
Although... I am not going to say anything outwardly negative, as this was a fairly big storm. |
_________________
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
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Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:04 pm |
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