Good news! Forbes ranks Madison #1 best city to find a job in '09

[Drover]

My "hostility," such as it is, is toward the fact that people actually think Forbes' rankings are meaningful and then use them as "publicity" (that's about all they're good for). I'd rather a city publicize its actual accomplishments rather than patting themselves on the back for rankings that usually mean nothing. "Oooh lookie! Some magazine that declares itself an authority on everything but is actually an authority on nothing cobbled together some completely arbitrary criteria and ranked us the #1 _____________________ [fill in the blank] city! We're so awesome!"

[Bowie]

Originally Posted by Drover

My "hostility," such as it is, is toward the fact that people actually think Forbes' rankings are meaningful and then use them as "publicity" (that's about all they're good for).

Even if you don't find the ranking authoritative, you must admit that it is newsworthy because people outside Madison will change their behavior and consider moving there because of it.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Bowie

Even if you don't find the ranking authoritative, you must admit that it is newsworthy because people outside Madison will change their behavior and consider moving there because of it.

And that's another reason for my hostility: giving people hope that simply may not be there based on sheer speculation. Employment has always been low in Madison relative to the rest of the region, but the Madison market is notorious for underemployment thanks to a huge pool of college grads who will work for peanuts so they don't have to leave Madison. The only place I can think of in the Midwest where salaries and cost of living are so out of balance is Ann Arbor, for the exact same reasons.

My argument is not that Forbes rankings aren't newsworthy and don't influence people's decisions. My argument is, respectively, that they shouldn't be, and shouldn't.

[gold*dust1]

Originally Posted by Drover

My argument is not that Forbes rankings aren't newsworthy and don't influence people's decisions. My argument is, respectively, that they shouldn't be, and shouldn't.

Agreed

[115db]

Originally Posted by Bowie

Rankings like this are a double-edged sword. When I lived in Madison, one year it was ranked the best mid-sized city in America by Money magazine. That brought a lot of newcomers and drove housing prices up. I could imagine this having a similar effect.

That happens a lot everywhere, you hear good stuff about a city then all of a sudden it gets swarmed with people from everywhere, and sadly, takes a turn. That happened in the town I lived near back in Az.
It was once a small town with just a couple of gas stations and a feed store. Once upon a time it was a nice quiet community, open land everywhere, awesome housing prices (because there were only a few homes) then word got out, now its a city with strip malls, overpriced track homes and a whole different lifestyle of people. I hear there are still many vacant homes there because no one can afford them, even with the real estate crash. (Maricopa, Az).

[gold*dust1]

Ha, Saturdays gloomy news:

Madison biotech EMD Chemicals to close

WPS loses bid for medicare contract

State will cut pension benefits 2.5 to 3 percent for public employee retirees