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Manufacturing, high-tech, business & finance, medicine, printing, media, transportation
Chicago has a strong presence in soo many industries, some industries it completely dominates, others not too much, but neverhteless...it does have strong presence. Chicago is just all over the board...while LA lacks one area big time and that is business & finance. There are no powerful financial institutions in LA and not many corporate headquarters. LA is pretty industry dominated with huge port...but no major financial impact.
In fact, LA is a pretty unattractive place for corporations to be headquartered (I forgot why) and thus many of them are branch businesses. I'd like to think that business & finance is a significant chunk of what defines a city's importance.
Manufacturing, high-tech, business & finance, medicine, printing, media, transportation
Chicago does not 'dominate' any of these industries.
Its more of a regional hub for these industries but it doesnt really 'dominate' the way NY does finance, the way Houston does energy, the way SF does high tech, the way LA does entertainment.
Don't get me wrong, I agree with your assessment that as a business address, Chicago is above LA. Its a very busy bee-that's for sure.
Chicago does not 'dominate' any of these industries.
Its more of a regional hub for these industries but it doesnt really 'dominate' the way NY does finance, the way Houston does energy, the way SF does high tech, the way LA does entertainment.
Don't get me wrong, I agree with your assessment that as a business address, Chicago is above LA. Its a very busy bee-that's for sure.
But outside of business? I don't think so.
Obviously that's my personal opinion.
Outside of business, Chicago still makes a very powerful presence. It has the 2nd largest manufacturing sector, one of the largest high-tech work-forces, 3rd largest media market, 4th largest GDP in the world, the center of transportation, and a center for events & fairs. Chicago has a powerful presence with medicine and science...so many national events are held there. Hell, I am majoring in neuroscience and guess where the national neuroscience society hosts annual conferences? You guessed it, Chicago.
Chicago does dominate something very important...commodity trading. It is virtually a world monopoly in that regard and there's so much money being played there.
Outside of business, Chicago still makes a very powerful presence. It has the 2nd largest manufacturing sector, one of the largest high-tech work-forces, 3rd largest media market, 4th largest GDP in the world, the center of transportation, and a center for events & fairs. Chicago has a powerful presence with medicine and science...so many national events are held there. Hell, I am majoring in neuroscience and guess where the national neuroscience society hosts annual conferences? You guessed it, Chicago.
Chicago does dominate something very important...commodity trading. It is virtually a world monopoly in that regard and there's so much money being played there.
In fact, New York does NOT dominate finance. London rivals it. Finance is a broad term, specifically New York dominates stock trading, while London has more int'l banks, dominates hedge funds related business and it has a far larger insurance market than NYC, and last but not least, Chicago dominates derivative markets.
Don't get me wrong, I have no clear answer to Los Angeles vs Chicago...it is THE toughest and most mind-wrecking discussion I can ever engage in because really both cities equally qualify for being America's 2nd city. What makes it so hard is that both cities have a completely different image and completely different impacts. Sometimes, it feels just right to put LA in that 2nd place spot because of sheer size, popularity, and for a myriad of other reasons...but then there's Chicago, lesser known, showing staggering statistics that proves it cannot be ignored and demands that spot too. It's tough and I usually defend Chicago because its lesser known and people overlook it so much.
LA vs Chicago is like Cultural/Entertainment vs Business & Finance. How can you compare and how can you approach? It results in never-ending discussions back and forth.
Don't get me wrong, I have no clear answer to Los Angeles vs Chicago...it is THE toughest and most mind-wrecking discussion I can ever engage in because really both cities equally qualify for being America's 2nd city.
Riiiight! Pick the 2nd largest city, or pick a random city that's half the size?
And you would agree that Detroit qualifies as a 2nd city too?
Because Detroit is MUCH closer in population to Chicago than Chicago is to LA, yet for some reason you claim Chicago is competitive with LA...
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