FRB of Chicago: Chicago's Center Leads the Way? (house, employment)

[Vlajos]

From the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank. Quite interesting.

Midwest Economy: Chicago's Center Leads the Way?

[SmartGXL]

I would be extremely skeptical of any news article that the FRB publishes.

[Vlajos]

Huh? You don't trust the Federal Reserve?

[chet everett]

While I can understand skepticism about policy directions that come from the FRB Board of Govenors there is broad consensus that the core economic research that the regional FRBs engage in is some of the best data / analysis available. Fact is that Chicago has fared much better than other cities in the "rust belt", with a fairly encouraging trend toward higher compensation.

Of course the downside of this is the limited number of desirable neighborhoods tend to drive out lower income folks in the well known gentrification process, and even more troubling is the "waste land" effect of many neighborhoods that continue to have steep losses in employment and population. In such areas the current "stall" in residential redevelopment coupled with the CHA push toward scattered site housing the potential for folks to be pushed farther away from any employment really hurts the ability of people with kids to have a reasonable chance of working near enough to home and school to be around to supervise their children. Given the size of Chicago and the cutbacks in public transit these sorts of disparities are likely to get worse unless more of effort to improvement employment options in the worst areas are undertaken...

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by chet everett

While I can understand skepticism about policy directions that come from the FRB Board of Govenors there is broad consensus that the core economic research that the regional FRBs engage in is some of the best data / analysis available. Fact is that Chicago has fared much better than other cities in the "rust belt", with a fairly encouraging trend toward higher compensation.

Of course the downside of this is the limited number of desirable neighborhoods tend to drive out lower income folks in the well known gentrification process, and even more troubling is the "waste land" effect of many neighborhoods that continue to have steep losses in employment and population. In such areas the current "stall" in residential redevelopment coupled with the CHA push toward scattered site housing the potential for folks to be pushed farther away from any employment really hurts the ability of people with kids to have a reasonable chance of working near enough to home and school to be around to supervise their children. Given the size of Chicago and the cutbacks in public transit these sorts of disparities are likely to get worse unless more of effort to improvement employment options in the worst areas are undertaken...

Some good points. I think it's likely the US is beginning to see some sort of Europeanification of Metro areas. Close in city cores house the richest.

[Attrill]

Very interesting article. It definitely matches a lot of what I've been seeing in Chicago over the last 10-20 years. Some of things I found interesting:

the city has attracted a population of educated, mostly young, working adults. Owing to in-migration, the city’s 25-34 year old population now has a higher four-year college attainment rate than the suburbs. Residential neighborhoods in the city (and the downtown itself) have especially shifted toward young and college educated households, who have invested heavily in housing and housing rehab. In the process, Chicago’s manufacturing orientation has transformed to service jobs in the business services, finance, education, and health care sectors.

In the early 1990s, the city’s unemployment rate exceeded the metropolitan area’s by over 2 percentage points. By the end of last decade, the gap had narrowed below a single percentage point....gains in both payroll employment and in payroll earnings have been confined to Chicago’s central area while, on average, both jobs and payroll have declined over the same period in the outlying city area.

I think this reflects what has happened in most older cities that survived the urban exodus of the 70's and 80's.

Originally Posted by SmartGXL

I would be extremely skeptical of any news article that the FRB publishes.

You don't trust data from the Vice President and Director of regional research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago?!?! Who do you trust? Glenn Beck?

[Chicago South Sider]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Huh? You don't trust the Federal Reserve?

I don't trust them. Why would anybody trust them? Most people don't even know what the Fed is.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Chicago South Sider

I don't trust them. Why would anybody trust them? Most people don't even know what the Fed is.

Wow

[SmartGXL]

Well, I was being slightly facetious, and yes, the report is probably somewhat correct, but yes, I do not (automatically) trust anything that the FRB says.

What is the Federal Reserve Bank?

A lot of people think that it is a government agency of sorts, but the reality is, the Federal Reserve Bank is neither 'Federal' nor does it have any 'reserves'.

It is actually a privately-owned business that parades around as a government agency. If anything, it is a VENDOR to the government, that has been granted the money-creation license and monopoly by Congress. It is true that the FRB has been granted some level of quasi-government power.

Ook, so who are the owners of this privately-owned business?

Well, officially, the FRB is actually owned by its member "branches" (the FRB NY, FRB Chicago, FRB Dallas, FRB San Fran, etc). The 12 member branches are the official shareholders of the FRB. They elect the board of directors.

Ok, so then who owns the Branches? Simple. The BANKS (Chase, Bank of America, etc) that the branches "regulate" ARE THE SHAREHOLDERS OF THE BRANCHES! This is a HUGE conflict of interest.

And, so who owns the banks? Well, they are almost all publicly traded, but for most banks, most of the shares are owned by a small group of families. They own enough of the banks shares, to give them a controlling interest in the bank.

Therefore, the families who own the banks, run, both DIRECTLY and INDIRECTLY, THE ENTIRE ECONOMY THRU THE FEDERAL RESERVE CENTRAL BANKING SYSTEM!

That is the real power structure in this country. The wealthy families run this country, thru their central banking system. And, as we know, the FED pretty much tells congress and the president how to run the country. You can be liberal or conservative as you want, and vote for whomever you want, but at the end of the day, the bankers run the show.

[Vlajos]

ok