Is PA depressing? (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, York: contractors, restaurant, low cost)

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

Well, you can't take out NYC and DC.

You certainly can't. I was simply trying to add a different perspective as metro Philadelphia seems to be carrying itself quite nicely despite the fact that it doesnt get trillions of dollars of government contracts like DC.Md/NO.Va. and isnt the worlds HQ like NYC.Sorry you took the quote verbatim.

One thing that is for certain Pittnurse is the economic dominance that the Philadlephia area has in regards to the rest of the state.You cant refute that. 11 of 15, 45 of the top 60, and 75 of the top 100 wealthiest zip codes are in the immediate 5 county Philly metro. Thats not counting the economic powerhouse communities in neighboring NJ counties and De. that are also part of metro Philadlephia.

Bottom line Ryans101 comments has to go down as one of the misinformed ill-advised collection of words I've ever seen on the internet.

Originally Posted by Ryan101

Philadelphia area :.... it's a mess economically as well (it's the 5th largest city in the nation, and it's also amongst the nation's top ten poorest metro areas). The traffic, sucks, and the people largely....are some of the rudest human beings I've ever met.

There's a reason why that city is nicknamed Filthadelphia....and it's more than just the ever-spreading ghetto and the attitude of it's citizen's.

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by BPP1999

True, and Montgomery and Chester Counties are still in the top 20 or 30, among very lofty competition.

If you don't like Philadelphia, fine, but don't argue the region's economic prowess.

Originally Posted by rainrock

You certainly can't. I was simply trying to add a different perspective as metro Philadelphia seems to be carrying itself quite nicely despite the fact that it doesnt get trillions of dollars of government contracts like DC.Md/NO.Va. and isnt the worlds HQ like NYC.Sorry you took the quote verbatim.

One thing that is for certain Pittnurse is the economic dominance that the Philadlephia area has in regards to the rest of the state.You cant refute that. 11 of 15, 45 of the top 60, and 75 of the top 100 wealthiest zip codes are in the immediate 5 county Philly metro. Thats not counting the economic powerhouse communities in neighboring NJ counties and De. that are also part of metro Philadlephia.

Bottom line Ryans101 comments has to go down as one of the misinformed ill-advised collection of words I've ever seen on the internet.

Well, if you'll note, I did not argue, in any way, shape, or form, Philadelphia's ecomomic prowess. I disagree with statements like "If you take out this, that, or the other, then . . ." It reminds me of the days when my kids did gymnastics and someone would say, "If I hadn't fallen off the beam, I would have had a higher score". Well, yes. Point is, you did fall. Same with this. You can't take out another county or in this case, the several counties of DC and NYC, and then do your rankings.

BTW, I didn't even read Ryan's comments.

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

Well, if you'll note, I did not argue, in any way, shape, or form, Philadelphia's ecomomic prowess. I disagree with statements like "If you take out this, that, or the other, then . . ." It reminds me of the days when my kids did gymnastics and someone would say, "If I hadn't fallen off the beam, I would have had a higher score". Well, yes. Point is, you did fall. Same with this. You can't take out another county or in this case, the several counties of DC and NYC, and then do your rankings.

BTW, I didn't even read Ryan's comments.

I think the point that was trying to be made was that by taking out NYC because it's the financial capital of the country (and world) and DC because it's the political capital of the country (and, in some ways, the world), the cities/regions that are left have more in common or are more comparable with each other.

[Katiana]

Well, you can't take them out, anymore than you can leave out the falls in gymnastics. They're there.

Even by that reasoning, why DC? Government workers aren't known for the seven-figure salaries some CEOs get. Speaking of whom, in NYC, they are but a small percentage, probably insignificant in the total.

I mean, why not take out San Francisco, a financial center on the West Coast? How about Seattle, b/c of Bill Gates' forune? Maybe Omaha, b/c of Warren Buffet and the Godfather's Pizza guy? I'm being silly, but you can't do that. Actually, Buffet is probably more influential in Omaha's stats b/c it is a much smaller city.

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

Well, you can't take them out, anymore than you can leave out the falls in gymnastics. They're there.

Even by that reasoning, why DC? Government workers aren't known for the seven-figure salaries some CEOs get. Speaking of whom, in NYC, they are but a small percentage, probably insignificant in the total.

I mean, why not take out San Francisco, a financial center on the West Coast? How about Seattle, b/c of Bill Gates' forune? Maybe Omaha, b/c of Warren Buffet and the Godfather's Pizza guy? I'm being silly, but you can't do that. Actually, Buffet is probably more influential in Omaha's stats b/c it is a much smaller city.

You just provided a perfect example.

Let's assume that Buffet lives in Omaha (I have no idea whether or not he does). Take the per capital net worth of Omaha residents. Then take it without Buffet. There will be a statistically significant difference with him vs. without him. I agree this is silly, but why are you so upset that pro-Philadelphia people wanted to throw out NYC and DC for comparison purposes?

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by BPP1999

You just provided a perfect example.

Let's assume that Buffet lives in Omaha (I have no idea whether or not he does). Take the per capital net worth of Omaha residents. Then take it without Buffet. There will be a statistically significant difference with him vs. without him. I agree this is silly, but why are you so upset that pro-Philadelphia people wanted to throw out NYC and DC for comparison purposes?

OK, I'm ready to be a little sarcastic. Your statement about Warren Buffet is typical of the east coast provincialism. Yes, he lives in Omaha (well, some of the time anyway and he considers it his home). Actually, I doubt even in Omaha if there would be a statistically significant difference w/o Buffet. They are not all packing meat there any more, in fact hardly anyone is doing that there any more. They are mostly doing the stuff eveyone does everywhere.

Why am I upset? I'm not upset, as much as amused. Yes, if you threw out enough counties, Beaver County, PA, a documented depressed area, would look good. You can manipulate statistics to make your area look the best. But you can't say, "throw out this city and that city and some other city and then we're the best". You have to go with what is, not what you want it to be. Someone else might come along and say, "throw out Montgomery County, they're too high end", or "throw out Philadelphia County, too many low income public aid recipients".

[BPP1999]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

OK, I'm ready to be a little sarcastic. Your statement about Warren Buffet is typical of the east coast provincialism. Yes, he lives in Omaha (well, some of the time anyway and he considers it his home). Actually, I doubt even in Omaha if there would be a statistically significant difference w/o Buffet. They are not all packing meat there any more, in fact hardly anyone is doing that there any more. They are mostly doing the stuff eveyone does everywhere.

Why am I upset? I'm not upset, as much as amused. Yes, if you threw out enough counties, Beaver County, PA, a documented depressed area, would look good. You can manipulate statistics to make your area look the best. But you can't say, "throw out this city and that city and some other city and then we're the best". You have to go with what is, not what you want it to be. Someone else might come along and say, "throw out Montgomery County, they're too high end", or "throw out Philadelphia County, too many low income public aid recipients".

You WAY misread my comment. I know that Berkshire Hathaway is from Omaha, but I'm sorry I don't know where Warren Buffet lives. My point is that a guy like that, wherever he lives, throws off the average. I'm not insulting Omaha. And don't call me provincial.

It's nice to know that someone who is trying to defend where he/she lives from attacks from Ryan (the poster) amuses you. Are you from Pittsburgh? Is this the real reason you're amused - because you don't like to see people who live around Philadelphia pointing out how much better off this region is than other parts of PA?

[Katiana]

OK, I apologize. My DH is from Omaha, some people from PA and elsewhere, think it's a state when he says that's where he's from. I don't think Buffet would throw off the averages there by much, if any. It's a big city, bigger in the city pop. than Pittsburgh. There are lots of people working there, and lots who are receiving social security, public aid, etc.

The point is, you shouldn't throw any stats out. Not Omaha's, not DC's, not NYC's. If Philly truly is an economic powerhouse, it should be able to compete with DC, NYC and Omaha.

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

The point is, you shouldn't throw any stats out. Not Omaha's, not DC's, not NYC's. If Philly truly is an economic powerhouse, it should be able to compete with DC, NYC and Omaha.

I agree with Pittnurse on this one. I'm as much of a proponent of the Philly area and its economic power as the next person, but I really don't see why it would be necessary to just take out NY and DC area counties for a comparative ranking. If anything, that lowers our economic standards in the sense that the high-earning counties in our metro area aren't as good as theirs.

What WOULD be interesting, however -- something that I'm baffled a lot of people don't focus on more as a way to determine an absolute value for "wealth" as opposed to ranking raw data -- would be to see how major metro areas compare in a normative ratio of earnings:cost-of-living. Someone making six figures in Manhattan and living in North Jersey versus making six figures in Center City and living in Montgomery County will be getting a lot less bang for their buck. That would definitely level the playing field, and, given the cost-of-living in New York and Washington, I'd be willing to bet that in terms of "purchasing power," we're about even.

[BPP1999]

It does compete with DC and NYC. It's just not the nation's financial capital, and it's not the nation's political capital. Once again, that's the only point that was trying to be made. Someone was defending the region from some anti-Philadelphia rant by someone from another part of PA. That's it.