Pittsburgh to Host the World in September (Homestead, Clark: homes, unemployment)

[AaronClark]

A Super Bowl or World Series – while possibly more profitable financially in the short term – would not capture anywhere close to the amount of global attention as this G-20 meeting will. This is what Pittsburgh needs more than anything else right now...international connections. This is FAR more beneficial than any sports function save for the Olympics or something similar.

[creepsinc]

Someone (two people, actually) started a thread to discuss the fact that Pittsburgh was chosen to host the next G-20 summit, and people are here arguing over hyphens and saying that it's nothing to get worked up over because (according to a yet-to-be-updated website) it's not a "real" summit. Why am I not surprised?

Let's talk about all the people still streaming out of the crumbling, borderline-Third World hellhole always and forever known as Pittsburgh. Or the Ravenstahl-led conspiracy to lead the world to believe we have a sub-8% unemployment rate that should be the envy of the country. The only real surprise is the absence (so far) of the usual suspects here, shutting their eyes tight and repeating the decades out of date mantra that it's over for Pittsburgh.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by AaronClark

A Super Bowl or World Series – while possibly more profitable financially in the short term – would not capture anywhere close to the amount of global attention as this G-20 meeting will. This is what Pittsburgh needs more than anything else right now...international connections. This is FAR more beneficial than any sports function save for the Olympics or something similar.

I absolutely agree. And the whole storyline is going to be Pittsburgh as a symbol of the possibility of economic renewal after crisis, so media people from across the world are going to be wandering around looking for things to add to this basic storyline. You can't ask for anything better from a marketing standpoint.

[JoeLeaphorn]

Originally Posted by AaronClark

A Super Bowl or World Series – while possibly more profitable financially in the short term – would not capture anywhere close to the amount of global attention as this G-20 meeting will. This is what Pittsburgh needs more than anything else right now...international connections. This is FAR more beneficial than any sports function save for the Olympics or something similar.

I couldn't disagree, more. A two-day conference in Pittsburgh in which nothing, visible, can occur will be a blip on the radar scope. This isn't the Yalta Conference, for Pete's sake, and even if it were, most people couldn't tell you where Yalta was. This isn't going to make Pittsburgh a destination and the fact that we have suffered less than most other cities in the US (but not all, for sure), is hardly a recommendation for a strategy for economic recovery.

We pay more, per family, in health care coverage than the citizens of Boston yet a McDonald's hamburger costs no more in Boston and you can't argue we get better health care. State and local stimulus packages have gone nowhere (the much touted Seagate facility in the Strip is closing next month). Our big industries are health care, which takes from the local community as much as it gives, and academia, where, according to most statistics, people are leaving as fast as they graduate.

This is pure politics. At least an Olympics leaves infrastructural improvements. This will be forgotten less than six months after it is over, except by those who like looking back because they have nothing to look forward to.

[creepsinc]

Originally Posted by JoeLeaphorn

I couldn't disagree, more. A two-day conference in Pittsburgh in which nothing, visible, can occur will be a blip on the radar scope. This isn't the Yalta Conference, for Pete's sake, and even if it were, most people couldn't tell you where Yalta was. This isn't going to make Pittsburgh a destination and the fact that we have suffered less than most other cities in the US (but not all, for sure), is hardly a recommendation for a strategy for economic recovery.

We pay more, per family, in health care coverage than the citizens of Boston yet a McDonald's hamburger costs no more in Boston and you can't argue we get better health care. State and local stimulus packages have gone nowhere (the much touted Seagate facility in the Strip is closing next month). Our big industries are health care, which takes from the local community as much as it gives, and academia, where, according to most statistics, people are leaving as fast as they graduate.

This is pure politics. At least an Olympics leaves infrastructural improvements. This will be forgotten less than six months after it is over, except by those who like looking back because they have nothing to look forward to.

Wrong again. The attention paid by international journalists is priceless, especially for a place like Pittsburgh, which has arguably the largest gap between perception and reality in the country. Most people (at least those who don't watch sports) have never even seen a picture of Pittsburgh. That's about to change. Sure, most of what it'll bring are intangibles, but I wouldn't discount the power of intangibles. Before a couple of grunge bands got big (forchrissakkes), Seattle was a backwater going through "hard economic times" every time Boeing, their one real industry, decided they had to do some layoffs. Is what Seattle is today (in fact, not doing all that great economically, go figure) a direct result of Nirvana and Pearl Jam? Of course not, but those few months of intense international attention sure helped. In kind of the same way Atlanta joined an exclusive club when they bought the Olympics (I couldn't help myself) regardless of whether they were equals of Barcelona or even L.A., the same goes for Pittsburgh joining the G20 host cities. Sorry, G-20.


Edit- and that's a bang-up example you used with the McDonald's hamburgers, which are pretty much the same price all over the country. Comparing Boston's rents or grocery prices or any number of other things would have gotten in the way of reality.

[JoeLeaphorn]

Originally Posted by creepsinc

Wrong again.
Edit- and that's a bang-up example you used with the McDonald's hamburgers, which are pretty much the same price all over the country. Comparing Boston's rents or grocery prices or any number of other things would have gotten in the way of reality.

We'll see who is wrong. Pittsburgh has hosted a lot of things, but the fact is that the economy depends upon more than a cool view from Mt. Washington. Even people who live here and go to school here, leave. You think a couple of photo ops is gonna change that? Moreover, the problem with Pittsburgh (and PA) is more than just an image of a smoky city (how many major metropolitan areas have you lived in, by the way). Pittsburgh and PA are business unfriendly and until that changes, not much else will. Especially not hosting the G-20.

Also, regarding Boston, the cost of health care in Pittsburgh is about 1.5 TIMES that in Boston, yet the cost of living in Boston is among the highest in the nation, much higher than Pittsburgh. So, why is health care here (which is no better than that in Boston), 1.5 times the cost?

We don't need cheerleaders we need leaders. And not for two days in September when the football season has started, the baseball season is ending, and how many people here care about how the IMF is funded?

[JoeLeaphorn]

Originally Posted by creepsinc

Edit- and that's a bang-up example you used with the McDonald's hamburgers, which are pretty much the same price all over the country. Comparing Boston's rents or grocery prices or any number of other things would have gotten in the way of reality.

PS. If you read a little, you'd realize that this is not my example. It is an example given by Princeton health care economist Uwe Reinhardt, who is the foremost health care economist in the world.

[creepsinc]

Originally Posted by JoeLeaphorn

(how many major metropolitan areas have you lived in, by the way).

Atlanta, San Francisco and Seattle. You?

[creepsinc]

Originally Posted by JoeLeaphorn

PS. If you read a little, you'd realize that this is not my example. It is an example given by Princeton health care economist Uwe Reinhardt, who is the foremost health care economist in the world.

So I don't read enough to happen across an article by Princeton health care economist Uwe Reinhardt (who I've heard is the foremost health care economist in the world). Joe Leaphorn FTW!

[dugdogmaster]

Where in the heck did you hear that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is one of the most unfriendly business environments? I've heard and read nothing but the contrary.

If you want links, sorry, I'm not taking the time to look them up. I have more important things to do tonight, i.e. root for the Pens! Wooooo!!!