Pennsylvania Ranked the 41st Best State (Philadelphia, Erie: city hall, school district, utilities)

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by PhilliesPhan2013

When Philadelphia County--one of the nation's only $100.0B+ GDP counties--alone produces about 1/6th of the Commonwealth's GDP,

And how much of that is dependent on other parts of the state? Comcast for example?

PA would die without its cities,

And you would die without the rest of the state.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

And how much of that is dependent on other parts of the state? Comcast for example?

I mean how much of Seattle's rapid growth via Amazon, Boeing, Nordstrom, Microsoft, etc. is attributable to consumer spending globally---not just in Seattle? How much of Northern Virginia's rapid growth via the incestuous relationship between the Federal government and contractors (especially DoD) are attributable to Federal tax revenues from the entire nation---not just in Northern Virginia? How much of Monroe County's tax revenues reaped from Sanofi Pasteur in Swiftwater are dependent upon how much money people in other areas spend to fill Sanofi Pasteur's coffers to keep it thriving? Ever shop at Walmart? You're helping Northwest Arkansas. Ever shop at Target? You're helping Minneapolis.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

And how much of that is dependent on other parts of the state? Comcast for example?

And you would die without the rest of the state.

Comcast isn't dependent on the rest of PA... its one of the worlds largest corporations....

And the second part is simply not true. If you were to draw a vertical line through PA at Harrisburg, you really think the Eastern half of the state would die without the Western half? How?

To be clear, I am not advocating for a split or making it an East vs West debate, BUT the entire Philadelphia area, Lancaster County and the Lehigh Valley on the Eastern half of the state, that is 2/3+ of the states economy and wealth, you claiming that Eastern PA (specifically SEPA) would die without Western PA is absurd... How???

Its frustrating when people from rural/Western PA deny how vital the Philadelphia area is to the state, and the state of PA relies more on the Philadelphia area than the other way around, the facts are there and its been proven.... (not meant to insult Pittsburgh).

Its sad there is animosity toward the states biggest city and metro, hopefully the attitude changes one day.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I mean how much of Seattle's rapid growth via Amazon, Boeing, Nordstrom, Microsoft, etc. is attributable to consumer spending globally---not just in Seattle?

Exactly, if you want PA example a Texas company is drilling gas in PA and selling some of that gas to NY. The pencil pushers in the Texas HQ building certainly contribute to that revenue stream but the bulk of that economic activity is occurring here and in NY.


I've argued this in the past about people using basic revenue or tax revenue figures, you can't do that. If you were going to do this fairly it's an extremely complex calculation.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by cpomp

Comcast isn't dependent on the rest of PA... its one of the worlds largest corporations....

I didn't say they were wholly dependent on the rest of PA, the point is a significant part of their revenue is derived from the rest of PA. If you were going to make fair comparison you cannot attribute all of that to Philly.

And the second part is simply not true. If you were to draw a vertical line through PA at Harrisburg, you really think the Eastern half of the state would die without the Western half? How?

If you were draw some border around the more uban areas creating libtopia cutting them off from conservatopia.... My first question for you is where are you going to gas and coal to create the power required for those cities? Milk, eggs and beef? Numerous other resources?

Conservatopia would also suffer because they have lost a significant revenue stream for their products but alt least they will have warm homes and be able to turn the lights on. Rural and urban economies are dependent on each other.

you claiming that Eastern PA (specifically SEPA) would die without Western PA is absurd... How???

At no point did I claim anything like that, I'm from NEPA... Any East/West arguments are just as ridiculous as the rural/urban ones.

[trackstar13]

“And few places have higher student debt than Pennsylvania. Average debt per student in the commonwealth is $36,193, the highest in the country, compared to the national average of $28,288.”

Pennsylvania really needs to get higher education costs under control and it is embarrassing how expensive our state universities are in this state.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/college-g...175101777.html

[trackstar13]

“According to Wolf, 78 percent of Pennsylvania's population live in communities that have city or community police agencies. He says the other 22 percent get an unfair break.”

I think Pennsylvania needs a better funding model for police and it is truly sad that the governor has been forced to propose this potential state police fee because some communities are taking advantage of state police protection without paying their fair share.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/wnep.co...ction-fee/amp/

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by trackstar13

I think Pennsylvania needs a better funding model for police and it is truly sad that the governor has been forced to propose this potential state police fee because some communities are taking advantage of state police protection without paying their fair share.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/wnep.co...ction-fee/amp/

That's the tip of the iceberg. The fundamental problem with PA government is the unsustainable and absurd amount of fragmentation for public services, period. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that it's the single biggest impediment to progress across the state.

My hope is that when the Millennial generation begins to take more and more control, there's going to be a seachange in how government is administered. Regional cooperation and even *gasp* consolidation has to take place.

It's the only way forward if many townships/boroughs/cities want a future in any sense of the word.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by trackstar13

“According to Wolf, 78 percent of Pennsylvania's population live in communities that have city or community police agencies. He says the other 22 percent get an unfair break.”

I think Pennsylvania needs a better funding model for police and it is truly sad that the governor has been forced to propose this potential state police fee because some communities are taking advantage of state police protection without paying their fair share.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/wnep.co...ction-fee/amp/

I don't disagree they should pay something but some of those communities call the state police and they get their up to 30 minutes later assuming they are already doing something. Secondly they would be patrolling those areas with or without local police.

[Pilot1]

Agriculture is the second largest industry in PA. They aren't doing any of that in cities. I can live without cable. I can't live without a fairly priced, and available food supply.