Kansas Job Losses (Wichita, Topeka, Mission: mortgage, hotel, dorms)

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by augiedogie

This thread just goes to show how skewed and deceived people are by the media. I've seen tons of articles on Yahoo about how bad Kansas is. They make it sound so bad that its about to go belly up. Apparently, some here bought into that and spread it around, as though you can get the truth from the MSM. Well, here's the govt. numbers. (Yes, we all don't know if they're accurate, but its the best we have BLS)

Kansas has the lowest unemployment they've had in 10 years and by far more people working than 10 years ago. I thought they were all going down hill?? Face it, the MSM hates them because the leaders are Republican, cut taxes and now they're growing just fine. Sadly, most people are just tools of the MSM.

Bureau of Labor Statistics Data

U6 unemployment data paints a more accurate picture. Regarding low UE rates, that is true for many rural states that have low populations that have a larger ag based economy comprised of a plurality of the total counties within a state. BLS data does not directly factor in migration between states, impacting total workforce. Total new job growth in percentage terms has not been good at all over the past year in many states including Kansas. However, many other states have seen 2-3% total increase in employment as well.

[Mathguy]

Weird, now that KS has a month of jobs growth we have the republicans showing up touting it and the democrats are ignoring it or saying it's not the right measure.

You sure this doesn't belong in the politics forum?

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

Weird, now that KS has a month of jobs growth we have the republicans showing up touting it and the democrats are ignoring it or saying it's not the right measure.

You sure this doesn't belong in the politics forum?

How familiar are you with economic performance of most areas of Kansas outside of JOCO?

[empires228]

I mean Lawrence, Manhattan, Junction City, Salina, and Garden City all seem to be booming. Topeka is an embarrassment as a city.

[Mattks]

Originally Posted by empires228

I mean Lawrence, Manhattan, Junction City, Salina, and Garden City all seem to be booming. Topeka is an embarrassment as a city.

I don't understand all the hate towards Topeka. I've lived here most of my life and don't feel it's too different from most other cities.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

How familiar are you with economic performance of most areas of Kansas outside of JOCO?

Ah yes is this the start of the oft used "lets exclude JOCO" argument or dismissing JOCO because it just gets jobs by giving out corporate incentives? It's like complaining that a second baseman you don't like sucks if you take all the doubles they've hit out of the statistics.

Kansas isn't doing great, it isn't doing terribly.

With Brownback and his policies in office, you and others have a strong politically vested interest in making sure that things are presented as badly as possible. I understand that and even moderate independents like me don't like Brownback. However you guys often go way over the top in your zest for smashing anything tied to Brownback. Tell me I'm way off base here?

In response to your question, there are broad national trends like rural depopulation due to agricultural mechanization and consolidation as well as impacts to the always volatile defense\aero industries.

In general JOCO is doing wayyy better than the rest of the state, so what is your point? The surge in oil & gas has masked similar issues in other states.

[thriftylefty]

Even if Kansas had moderate growth it would still be bad. Brownback has made Kansans pay a high cost for whatever numbers he can post. If Kansas ended up in the middle of the pack it will always be balanced by the cost, so a state that has not done as well as Kansas but does it with out the cost, still beats Kansas in the absolute value of its gains.

[empires228]

Originally Posted by Mattks

I don't understand all the hate towards Topeka. I've lived here most of my life and don't feel it's too different from most other cities.

It's definitely different from it's peers. There's no major tourist attractions for one. The mall is tanking fast and Simon dumped it into a spinoff company for their failing properties, the zoo is small, underfunded, and has had accreditation issues in the past, the racetrack isn't viable, there are large sections of nothing but blight, especially around Washburn and White Lakes. I mean there's also the horrible police department that would probably be decent if they weren't understaffed with the amount of crime there. My sister boyfriend used to live across from washburn in a newer complex with retail and dining on the lower level and his car was broken into several times during broad daylight and no one ever reported it. The second to last time they smashed all of his windows and the last time they just ripped the whole door off. The police didn't care as they were swamped trying to deal with a murder/arson case a few blocks north and didn't have time for such a small case in comparison. I'm in Topeka enough to know that the mall at times isn't some place you want to be alone. There are times where the methheads, high school dropouts/kids ditching from Topeka West, and the hoodrats are the majority of the people walking around, and they sure aren't shopping! The only thing we can't blame on the mall not being desirable and being perceived as not safe by a lot of people is the loss of Macy's, who inherited a store that they didn't want and closed the minute the lease came up because unlike the Omaha store they didn't have an immediately interested tenant to take over for them. I mean Towne West in Wichita and Aurora Town Center in Aurora, Colorado were both spun off by Simon too and despite by being plagued by similar issues (Aurora despite having all of its anchors really isn't safe and they prove that time and time again) still have a better tenant mix. Some other chains in Topeka also have fairly rundown or dated stores compared to other towns in the state like Orscheln's, JCPenney, Target, Sutherlands, and Gordman's.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by thriftylefty

Even if Kansas had moderate growth it would still be bad.

The theme of the thread summed up in one line. Well done.

[thriftylefty]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

The theme of the thread summed up in one line. Well done.

If I shot myself in the foot would people be saying a year later,"he's doing great, but he walks with limp!"

You might say Brownback slept on the proverbial casting couch,