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We're all aware of the United States' Alpha global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago (although Chicago is somewhat debatable, but shall be included notwithstanding this). The question is, what is America's fourth city? Is there one that is on par, or close to being on par, with the other three previously mentioned centers? Is there a city that has reached both national and international prominence in the same way that these cities have, such that it can be included among these? What say you?
I think Houston has to be due to the amount of exporting (and importing) the Port of Houston does. In addition, a lot of people call us the Energy Capital which is a bit of misnomer. Energy really means oil and natural gas (although renewable energy companies are starting to pop up here and there). In addition, Houston's manufacturing industry is huge...mainly b/c it manufactures all the equipment necessary to explore for all that oil and natural gas. I think Obama's recent decision to open up the Pacific coast and parts of the gulf for drilling will bode well for Houston since most of the equipment necessary to do so (at least for the gulf) will come from Houston. In addition, many oil developers from Russian, the Persian Gulf and Africa are now coming to Houston to do business with companies and to get supplies for their refineries overseas. NASA really brought Aeronautics to Houston although that's been kind of threatened lately. There's been talk though that when the shuttles are retired in favor of the development of privatized space flight that Houston might be such a city for that industry to take off from (pardon the pun)...only time will tell. Finally, the TMC is a huge player in our economy and in the Healthcare and Medical research industry. Houston is really trying to expand its economy (our technology sector is growing) and we have a very healthy venture capital and finance market too. All in all, I think Houston is a vital node to America's central nervous system whose importance cannot be ignored or dismissed as merely another business center that specializes in finance. I think it's a good mesh of specific industries and the ubiquitous banking industry standard to every central business district.
I chose ATL just b/c it is the hub of the southeastern US, but definitely could see Houston or Washington DC being the No. 4 as well.
Despite being in NYC's shadow, Philly is still larger than Atlanta, both in city population and metro. It's also better located and more prominent, I think, in people's minds.
Anyway, I'd go with San Fran right after Philly and way before Atlanta - I believe city population is roughly the same, but the SF Bay area - including San Jose, Oakland - blows away the Atlanta metro. Not to mention the importance of silicon valley, which is unrivaled by anything in the Atlanta metro - or most metros, really - only NYC has Silicon Alley, that's about it, and the IT industry is the backbone of large businesses these days.
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