Forbes: 4th Best Place to Do Business (Des Moines, Cedar Rapids: living, cost of living)

[Steve_W]

I'm probably late on this one but did you all know Forbe's Magazine ranked Des Moines the 4th Best Place to Do Business in 2007? Wow, that is quite impressive.

[Chicago60614]

Isn't it normally around that ranking?

Iowa City and Des Moines always seem to be towards the top of some ranking...

[RonnieJonez]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

Isn't it normally around that ranking?

Iowa City and Des Moines always seem to be towards the top of some ranking...

Those lists are released every few months. They're both good places to do business, the difference is Des Moines will use that to point and say they're better than everywhere else and Iowa City won't even care. Remember, Forbes needs to come up with some new cities every year as well.

[dmguy30]

Originally Posted by RonnieJonez

Those lists are released every few months. They're both good places to do business, the difference is Des Moines will use that to point and say they're better than everywhere else and Iowa City won't even care. Remember, Forbes needs to come up with some new cities every year as well.

Your naive if you don't think Iowa City officials (or any city for that matter) WOULDN'T use this NATIONAL publication to tout themselves to perspective businesses or residents.

[RonnieJonez]

It's a nice distinction to have. The difference is, Iowa City doesn't seem to be competing with Davenport or Cedar Rapids as to which town got a new QuikTrip or McDonalds though, so it's not taken nearly as far as it it would be in Des Moines or Omaha.

You just don't have the same "civic fanaticism" there so one wouldn't expect it to go as far.

[mfrerkes]

Chicago was ranked 100th on the 2006 edition, yet Chicago still managed to snag Boeing's headquarters from Seattle. Davenport was ranked AHEAD of Los Angeles. Peoria was ranked AHEAD of Las Vegas. I'm a little skeptical of results such as those. Davenport and Peoria are both great cities; but when cities like Des Moines, Davenport and Peoria are out in front of places like Los Angeles and Las Vegas...one has to wonder about the infallibility of such a survey.

[Steve_W]

I think the ranking shows more of the probability of a prospective business succeeding due to the business friendly environment from the local government. Undersized cities often times create more incentives to draw large businesses (and small for that matter) to bring jobs and grow the city. Don't quote me, but I think the new Union Pacific headquarters in downtown Omaha was built on land given to UP by the city. Anyway, who knows how they come up with their rankings but it is Forbe’s magazine and they don't come out of nowhere.

[Steve_W]

Originally Posted by RonnieJonez

Those lists are released every few months. They're both good places to do business, the difference is Des Moines will use that to point and say they're better than everywhere else and Iowa City won't even care. Remember, Forbes needs to come up with some new cities every year as well.

Come up with new cities? Then it wouldn't be a true ranking if they had to force different cities into the rankings. They rank them accordingly…what else is there to know?

Ronald, it seems on every thread you struggle to make any sense. Why is that? LOL, what is your true underlying issue here that is making you so unpleasant?

[RonnieJonez]

Steve, you're right.

Provo, UT, Boise, ID and Des Moines are all significantly better places to do business than everywhere else in the country. The magazine said so. They did not even mention NYC, obviously NYC is far inferior to those locations if you to do business.

[Steve_W]

Originally Posted by RonnieJonez

Steve, you're right.

Provo, UT, Boise, ID and Des Moines are all significantly better places to do business than everywhere else in the country. The magazine said so. They did not even mention NYC, obviously NYC is far inferior to those locations if you to do business.

You know Rhonda, NYC is an inferior place to do business. They have more regulations to abide by, more competition, higher cost of living which translates into higher cost of doing business...among many other things I'm sure. Plus we have many Mexicans for Cheap Labor. How about that?