PBS Frontline: Dayton featured on "Left Behind America" (Columbus: lawyers, employment)

[WRnative]

I saw this while scanning the program guide for this evening:

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/f...ehind-america/

It will be interesting to see what is said, as it likely could apply to many Ohio cities (e.g., Springfield and Lorain), and, indeed, cities throughout the once industrial Midwest.

Here's my bet -- there will be no mention of the global value-added tax regime, and the incredible harm to America's manufacturers due to Congress' unwillingness to adapt our tax system to including a VAT.

There also will be no mention of how America's much higher health care costs, a burden on employers in the U.S., but paid for with a VAT indirectly in most of our economic competitors, disadvantages U.S. manufacturers.

Finally, there will be no mention of how trillions spent on foreign wars and our assumption of global policemen's role, rather than our domestic infrastructure, public education, etc., has crippled our economy.

[ferraris]

The accompanying article is worth a read. It's very interesting to me just how wide the gap between middle america and the coastal cities has become. In 1980 Boston salaries were only 6% higher than Datyon salaries.

It's true that there's a chasm not just between urban and rural, but between the chosen few growing cities and the decaying cities. Ohio has no shortage of cities that are being left behind in the new economy. Dayton, Toledo, Youngstown, and Akron, for sure. Even Cleveland to an extent.

[WRnative]

This recent NBC news story compared the Columbus and Ohio economies.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/pol...conomy-n904766

There was no mention of the significant multiplier effect that the Columbus economy receives as the state capital -- tax dollars from around the state fund state government, providing a steady inflow of funds to Columbus.

What was interesting is that Montgomery County voted for Trump in 2016 given his promises to boost the U.S. manufacturing economy.

[maus]

Great, you guys posted about this. I was about to post something under the Dayton subforum.

Here's a link to the article on ProPublica that accompanies the recent PBS Dateline piece from 9/11/18. I lived in Ohio years ago, but not in the Dayton area. I'm partial to Dayton somewhat since one of my best friends grew up in that area. I really hope that Dayton and other cities similar to it in the so-called Rust Belt can bounce back.

I haven't watched the Frontline piece yet. I plan to soon.

[Arya Stark]

It is obvious what happened. Obama and his goons in higher government diverted money to areas that would support them. Dayton would not.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by EmilyFoxSeaton

It is obvious what happened. Obama and his goons in higher government diverted money to areas that would support them. Dayton would not.

Where are you from -- Boston (looking at your posting history)?

Obviously, you're a good Republican if not a Trumpie by making such a statement.

E.g., you obviously have no understanding that Montgomery County is hard hit by the opioid crisis and that much of the funding that has been used to mitigate the crisis has come from the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), championed by Obama and a Democratic Congress.

Republican Governor John Kasich side-stepped Ohio's Republican legislature to implement Medicaid expansion in Ohio.

Trump and Congressional Republicans want to repeal Medicaid expansion, which John Kasich has warned would be a disaster for Montgomery and other hard-hit Ohio counties.

[Natural510]

Originally Posted by EmilyFoxSeaton

It is obvious what happened. Obama and his goons in higher government diverted money to areas that would support them. Dayton would not.

Check the timeline of when NCR, Delphi, GM, Mead etc closed plants and eventually left town before making an asinine partisan statement.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by ferraris

The accompanying article is worth a read. It's very interesting to me just how wide the gap between middle america and the coastal cities has become. In 1980 Boston salaries were only 6% higher than Datyon salaries.

It's true that there's a chasm not just between urban and rural, but between the chosen few growing cities and the decaying cities. Ohio has no shortage of cities that are being left behind in the new economy. Dayton, Toledo, Youngstown, and Akron, for sure. Even Cleveland to an extent.

This is a major problem everywhere.

I live in a small metro in Tennessee. Salaries here are generally low, even compared to low cost Midwestern cities like Cincinnati and Indianapolis. The cost of living, while low, doesn't make up for the low pay. If you do get a job here, you better hang on to it, as there's likely nothing else within commutable distance. The bottom line is that if you're not in Nashville, you're getting crumbs.

Flyover country has to figure out a way to get some sort of prosperity back. Jobs are consolidating in increasingly fewer metros.

[Natural510]

Originally Posted by WRnative

There was no mention of the significant multiplier effect that the Columbus economy receives as the state capital -- tax dollars from around the state fund state government, providing a steady inflow of funds to Columbus.

You know, I read this claim continuously on these forums, but if being a state capital were such a weighted boon for a city, why has it not benefited so many others like Albany, Trenton, Harrisburg, Springfield IL, etc?
Columbus' economy is helped by a number of factors, which include the state offices, OSU, their Fortune 500 companies, and not being a traditionally manufacturing-based employer.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by Natural510

You know, I read this claim continuously on these forums, but if being a state capital were such a weighted boon for a city, why has it not benefited so many others like Albany, Trenton, Harrisburg, Springfield IL, etc?
Columbus' economy is helped by a number of factors, which include the state offices, OSU, their Fortune 500 companies, and not being a traditionally manufacturing-based employer.

It's a fallacious argument, that would be laughed at by any economist, to state that Albany, Trenton, Harrisburg, and Springfield IL have NOT economically benefited significantly from being their state's capital. Please provide any evidence to support your claim. Candidly, I know little about the economies in those cities, even though I was in one of them this past summer and it didn't seem economically depressed.

I do know that Trenton once was a great manufacturing center. Its motto is "Trenton makes, the world takes," but I would be shocked if manufacturing employment wasn't a fraction of what it was a century ago when the motto first appeared. For all I know, Trenton would have an economy more akin to East Cleveland, once one of the wealthiest communities in Ohio, if it were not the state capital of New Jersey.

https://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/..._makeover.html

Trenton does seem to be doing better economically than most of the U.S., with much higher weekly wages in its Mercer County. Note that government provides over 25 percent of employment in the entire county, and likely a much higher percentage in just Trenton. Professional and business services are the second largest source of employment.

https://www.bls.gov/regions/new-york...ry_trenton.pdf

Trenton itself has a population of only 85,000, so I would be stunned if state government wasn't the large foundation of its economy.

As you noted, other factors influence the overall economic vitality of state capitals than just state government, but the state-wide tax dollars collected and spent very disproportionately in state capitals is a powerful economic base for all state capitals.

Just consider, as I've mentioned before, the thousands of high-paying jobs in Ohio's large pensions plans with their headquarters in Columbus. And, as with state government (think lobbyists, political consultants, Ohio Supreme Court, lawyers associated with state government, etc.), pension plans also require actuarial, legal, and investment services in addition to services such as IT required of any organization. Have you ever been in the Ohio Judicial Center to comprehend its size and number of employees?

Consider just the three C metros. Government employment in the Columbus metro is 16.9 percent of employment (this doesn't include education or health services, a separate category, so Ohio State likely is excluded), the Cleveland metro percentage is 12.4 percent, and Cincinnati 10.8 percent.

https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/...olumbus_oh.pdf

https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/...eveland_oh.pdf

https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/...cincinnati.pdf

https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics3_999000.htm

What's the tallest building in Columbus? The Rhodes State Office Tower. What is the third largest? The William Green Building, whose largest tenants include the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation and Ohio Industrial Commission, and likely other state agencies. The fifth tallest building in Columbus is the Vern Riffe State Office Tower. And you and others have the audacity to argue that Columbus doesn't benefit substantially from being the state capital?

Cleveland certainly may have greater governmental employment due to its larger mass transit systems, supported by LOCAL taxes (which have little multiplier impact, compared with state government jobs largely paid for by taxes collected in Cleveland, Cincinnati and elsewhere in the state). Ohio state government jobs likely are much better paid on average than local government workers, on average, in Cleveland and Cincinnati.

Everyone in the U.S. recognizes that the Washington, DC, is a massive beneficiary of being the national capital. Why can't Columbus boosters accept the patent reality that being the state capital is extremely positive for the Columbus economy?