The more important city: Washington, DC VS Los Angeles (cost, people, moving)

[BKmachine]

Originally Posted by BajanYankee

You do realize that you have exposed yourself to a most obvious riposte?

Sure do

[missRoxyhart]

Originally Posted by BajanYankee

You do realize that you have exposed yourself to a most obvious riposte?

Aww, everyone knows what he meant lol.

[DANNYY]

Oh yeah and then there's always this too:


If Washington DC were losing the polls, I would side with it, but I normally like to side with the underdog. It helps me go to sleep better at night knowing I can put up a good argument for an underdog. Lol.

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer

The answer is LA. The size of its CSA population, economic and trading might, diversity of industries, dominance in the whole southern California region, cultural, media and entertainment influence in the U.S. and the world puts it in a realm above DC.

However, DC still packs a mighty strong punch, especially considering its size. Washington politics is talked about throughout the world, even in some remote corners of it. DC is probably the most politically influential city in the world. It also has one the highest GDPs per capita in the U.S.

That's an understatement. DC is the epicenter of world Democracy. What it lacks in economic import, it more than makes up for in politics influence. L.A.'s sole claim to fame is an entertainment mecca. That hardly matters in the big scheme of things.

[Newsboy]

Wasn't the question "Which city is most important?" Clearly DC is the most important city in the nation because it's the CAPITAL. Why is this discussion even taking place? How ridiculous. Where do you think Russia had all it's Nukes pointed during the Cold War? Not at Hollywood, I can tell you that.

[DANNYY]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

That's an understatement. DC is the epicenter of world Democracy. What it lacks in economic import, it more than makes up for in politics influence. L.A.'s sole claim to fame is an entertainment mecca. That hardly matters in the big scheme of things.

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Wasn't the question "Which city is most important?" Clearly DC is the most important city in the nation because it's the CAPITAL. Why is this discussion even taking place? How ridiculous. Where do you think Russia had all it's Nukes pointed during the Cold War? Not at Hollywood, I can tell you that.

What? So Los Angeles doesn't have anything outside of entertainment? Please give me a break, you don't become America's 2nd largest city off just "Hollywood". What about culture? And demographics? And how linked it is to the world in those terms? It is the ONLY city in the country that can surpass New York City in cultural aspects (in certain ones). Did you know that?

See the below information, and then tell me how Washington DC can top that in terms of cultural diversity?

You can't imagine how linked this city is to the world, and yes this thread is a fair argument. But people are sleeping on Los Angeles's strengths here.


1. Los Angeles is one of the world’s megacities (10 million or more population)
2. Los Angeles is the world’s most ethnically diversified city. Studies have shown that there isn’t a segment of the world’s ethnic or religious not represented somewhere in Los Angeles


It is the second largest English-speaking city in the world
It is the world’s second largest Spanish speaking city
It has the largest population of Iranians outside of Iran
It has the largest population of Thais outside of Thailand
It has the largest Armenian population outside of Armenia
It has the largest Filipino population outside of the Philippines
It has the largest Korean population outside of Korea
It has the largest Vietnamese population outside of Viet Nam
It has the second largest Cambodian population outside of Cambodia
It has the largest population of Persian Jews in the world
It has the largest Salvadoran population outside of El Salvador
It has the largest Guatemalan population outside of Guatemala
It has the second largest Chinese population outside of China
It has the third largest Japanese population outside of Japan
It has the largest population of Pacific Islanders
It has the nation’s largest Romanian population
It has the nation’s largest population of native-American Indians
It has the nation’s second largest population of Russians
It has the nation’s second largest population of foreign-born citizens
It is the fourth-largest African-American metropolitan area in the nation
”Little Ethiopa” is in the Fairfax section of Los Angeles. “Ethiopia is the first African country to be named as a part of a city, any city, in the U.S


3. Los Angeles has by-passed London and New York as the world’s most religiously pluralist metropolitan region.
It has the largest Buddhist temple in western hemisphere
It has the largest Roman Catholic archdiocese in the country
It has the largest Mormon Temple outside of Utah.
It has the largest concentration of Scientologists in the nation
It has the second-largest Jewish population outside of Israel
It is home to the biggest variety of Buddhists in the world
It has the third largest concentration of practicing Muslims in the nation

Source for some of it: Mosaic Alliance Leadership Development » Blog Archive » Los Angeles, The Microcosm of the World (http://www.mosaicalliance.com/leadership/microcosm/ - broken link)

[grapico]

how are the culture and demographics that important though? its the institutions, government, companies, universities, actual embassies (instead of just people) that draw the importance and influence. there are many important yet smaller populated, and less diverse cities around the globe that are more important and can at least hang with LA. Also many larger populated cities that are less important than LA...

[mas23]

Well if you're pre-occupied with movies and hollywood then Los Angeles may seem more important. But D.C.....need i say more

mas23

[toredyvik]

I think GMP (gross metropolitan product) is a good measure of a city's influence, and obviously its wealth.

Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

In pure numbers, LA (#2) beats out DC (#4), because of its obvious population advantage.
But look halfway down the page, to the PER CAPITA list. That is quite a different story!
Washington now ranks #3, while LA is all the way down at #23.
-My interpretation of this is that Washington has more productive members of society, and a more robust/diverse workforce.
-Does that make it more important? I don't know, but I certainly think its a factor. I voted DC.

[toredyvik]

sidenote: im surprised at how high the small northeastern cities ranked! like Hartford and Rochester. (props to Roc, the city i went to college in, the city that everyone says is dying. Apparently they have strong industry. Lot of entrepreneurial spirit there!)