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Oh yeah, and Yahoo, E-Bay, IBM, and that little company that uses an Apple as it's logo. Without the pioneers in Silicon Valley, this whole discussion board wouldn't even be around.
I think that saying TX is green is the overstatement of the century.
Is it? Just keep an eye on the next decade. Texas is going green, and rapidly at that. Unlike California though, our private businesses will be incentived to go green, not penalized for doing business the same as they always have. That's the way pro-business Texas works. Dangling carrots have always worked better than slapping wrists. Positive reinforcement works on more than just your dog.
And, for the poster who suggested Texas' wind power will not be transferrable to the rest of the country simply due to current grid limitations doesn't fully appreciate the scope of plans now being discussed in Austin and DC. If the out-of-work wildcatters get their way, they'll break ground on energy conduits to the rest of the country before the decade is out. Mark my words on that. Anyone who thinks Obama's green push is "change" is sadly mistaken. It's politics as usual. The Houston and Dallas based corporations want this as much as the patchouli smelling tofu eaters in San Francisco. Oil won't last forever, and the largest companies in the world (revenue based) won't let loose their dominance on the energy market. Now, they've gotten the government to commit to footing the bulk of the bill. The energy provision of the stimulus bill alone commits half a billion dollars to shovel-ready grid projects, and this isn't even long-term budgeting.
SF has a strong case for a rank of #5 if you include San Jose, Palo Alto, Oakland, etc.: its home to hightech industries (Google, Apple) and first rate universities. Boston makes a reasonable case too: medicine, first rate universities.
That said, I sense a certain amount of anti-sunbelt bias. (The argument that places like CNN/TBS/TNT don't count because they could elect to go somewhere else is particularly silly. That could be said about virtually any institution).
Others have identified why it matters that Atlanta hosts so many Fortune 500 companies, hosted the Olympics, and is home to a number of first-rate schools. In addition to these facts:
Medicine: The Center for Disease Control (CDC), headquartered in Atlanta, is certainly nothing to sneeze at. Atlanta is also the headquarters of the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association.
Television: I hate to be redundant, but Atlanta's imprint on Cable TV is as large as any city outside of NYC and LA: CNN, TBS, TNT (how many of you watched the NBA playoffs on TNT last night?), Cartoon Network, TruTV (the old Court TV), Weather Channel. Further, as noted, CNN in particular has an international news presence second only to the BBC.
Transportation: World's busiest airport.
Culture: Turn on the radio. Outside of LA and NY, no other city in discussion for the #5 spot comes close to being as important to music today as Atlanta. Based in Atlanta: Usher, Ne-Yo, Akon, T.I., Ciara, T-Pain, Outkast, Keri Hilson. And before someone says, "I've never heard of them," I'll say this: of the top six billboard songs right now, three feature different Atlanta-based artists. All but one of the artists I just listed (Outkast) have songs in the top 25 right now.
I'd also note that Dallas, Houston and Atlanta all have added about 1 million people to their populations in the past 9 years. So while all three had very strong comparative GDP numbers in 2005, I suspect they'd rank even higher if a more recent ranking were it available.
All very true, just to note, Atlanta ranks 5th in the number of Fortune 500 companies headquartered there. Off the top of my head are Coca-Cola (where would Buffet be without those Coke stocks :-), UPS, Home Depot, Delta, and Rubbermaid among others.
Besides those companies that are headquartered in Atlanta are those that have a significant manufacturing presence or have chosen Atlanta to house a large division of the company like General Motors and AT&T.
And while companies may perform badly, it doesn't take away their significance to our lives and the economy. Plus I wonder how strong of a financial capital New York would be without the strength of companies that provide Wall Street its capital (rhetorical question of course).
I was going to mention the CDC, surprised that no one had mentioned it earlier, considering how vital they are to America's public health (unless of course folks don't mind vulnerability to anthrax).
Also, people don't think about Atlanta when it comes to history, but Atlanta was one of the epicenters of the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King was born and bred (and educated) here. I'd really like to see where this country would be without the contribution of Atlanta to civil rights.
I think it would be fair to rank Atlanta 5th, particularly because of its diversity in contributions.
Another way to look at this thread is how the country would fare if the city vanished. I think D.C, Atlanta, and the Bay Area are the scariest. Imagine losing our defense and government (D.C), vulnerable to bio-terrorism and a strong transportation hub to get away (ATL w/ the loss of the CDC and Hartsfield-Jackson airport) and losing technology (obviously the Bay). We've seen how we've fared without the strength of Wall Street (lost jobs etc.); however I wouldn't die if we lost a Picasso or financial firms lost money (as in New York). Based on survival, I'd think we'd be in chaos without those three aforementioned cities.
Last edited by bizchick86; 04-21-2009 at 03:46 PM..
All very true, just to note, Atlanta ranks 5th in the number of Fortune 500 companies headquartered there. Off the top of my head are Coca-Cola (where would Buffet be without those Coke stocks :-), UPS, Home Depot, Delta, and Rubbermaid among others.
Besides those companies that are headquartered in Atlanta are those that have a significant manufacturing presence or have chosen Atlanta to house a large division of the company like General Motors and AT&T.
And while companies may perform badly, it doesn't take away their significance to our lives and the economy. Plus I wonder how strong of a financial capital New York would be without the strength of companies that provide Wall Street its capital (rhetorical question of course).
I was going to mention the CDC, surprised that no one had mentioned it earlier, considering how vital they are to America's public health (unless of course folks don't mind vulnerability to anthrax).
Also, people don't think about Atlanta when it comes to history, but Atlanta was one of the epicenters of the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King was born and bred (and educated) here. I'd really like to see where this country would be without the contribution of Atlanta to civil rights.
I think it would be fair to rank Atlanta 5th, particularly because of its diversity in contributions.
Another way to look at this thread is how the country would fare if the city vanished. I think D.C, Atlanta, and the Bay Area are the scariest. Imagine losing our defense and government (D.C), vulnerable to bio-terrorism and a strong transportation hub to get away (ATL w/ the loss of the CDC and Hartsfield-Jackson airport) and losing technology (obviously the Bay). We've seen how we've fared without the strength of Wall Street (lost jobs etc.); however I wouldn't die if we lost a Picasso or financial firms lost money (as in New York). Based on survival, I'd think we'd be in chaos without those three aforementioned cities.
Atlanta was also one of the epicenters of the Civil War.
Atlanta was also one of the epicenters of the Civil War.
Yeah, I chose to focus on our "contributions" ;-).
If we're gonna take it back though, Atlanta (or at least GA) is also home of the cotton gin. We might all be wearing nasty polyester if it wasn't for the A, lol.
Oh yeah, and Yahoo, E-Bay, IBM, and that little company that uses an Apple as it's logo. Without the pioneers in Silicon Valley, this whole discussion board wouldn't even be around.
I like that. Good point. Very true. Im using dell right now, which is a product of Austin TX, or should I say Round Rock. But im at a library, at home I use Acer, what city is Acer? But anyway, I think SF should definately win the 5th spot.
Oh yeah, and Yahoo, E-Bay, IBM, and that little company that uses an Apple as it's logo. Without the pioneers in Silicon Valley, this whole discussion board wouldn't even be around.
Mountain View
Santa Clara
San Jose
San Jose
Cupertino
Houston and Dallas has influence into surrounding states as well. Dallas has Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas, while Houston has Louisiana. Dallas loses influence once you get out of north Texas, possibly once you get by College Station.
Last edited by blkgiraffe; 04-21-2009 at 05:27 PM..
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