New Hershey Plant in Derry Township

[jtab4994]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

...

Generally speaking, you can't produce a GDP that big without lots of people.
...

That's not true. During the working class Yellow Vest riots in France, I was surprised to learn that most of that country's GDP comes from Paris, the center of banking and the bourse.

There are a lot of people in Philly, but only a tiny percentage, perhaps only 1% according to some sources, of rich people are generating all that GDP.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by jtab4994

That's not true. During the working class Yellow Vest riots in France, I was surprised to learn that most of that country's GDP comes from Paris, the center of banking and the bourse.

There are a lot of people in Philly, but only a tiny percentage, perhaps only 1% according to some sources, of rich people are generating all that GDP.

Um, who works for that 1%? Don't make me go all Karl Marx on you. Something tells me that GDP figure doesn't consist entirely of interest and money-management fees. Some of it comes from making stuff, and last I looked, we haven't turned all of that task over to robots. Then there are the people who sell the stuff that gets made.

And isn't Île-de-France the country's most populous département?

[jtab4994]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Um, who works for that 1%? Don't make me go all Karl Marx on you. Something tells me that GDP figure doesn't consist entirely of interest and money-management fees. Some of it comes from making stuff, and last I looked, we haven't turned all of that task over to robots. Then there are the people who sell the stuff that gets made.

And isn't Île-de-France the country's most populous département?

Don't look at me, it was Friends of Karl who came up with the 1% figure during the Occupy Wall Street days. Explain trickle-down to them.

The best thing we can do is to make sure everyone has a job, whether it's buying and selling crypto-currency from your Mom's basement on the internet or making chocolate candy at a new factory in Derry Township. Yes, one new factory is a good start but we need business leaders to bring back manufacturing from overseas. And we need politicians to approach it as a political issue, not an economic issue.

[trackstar13]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

That's true, but:

Many of those people live in counties that are also net recipients of state largesse.

Tom Ferrick wrote this article for the Pennsylvania Capital-Star last year that examined which counties were net "takers" of state money and which net "makers" of money for the state.

Great article and I particularly like the explanation of why Philadelphia receives so much in Pennsylvania tax dollars. It is always amazing to me that the people who shout the loudest about the "takers" are often those who benefit the most from the system. Local tax dollars are another issue entirely and in Erie we keep getting new "fees," like the sewer fee that is supposedly not a tax, but is going to be added to our bills for maintenance. Back to the point at hand, new factories like the Hershey Plant in Dauphin county, can help create jobs and move some of these counties into the "maker" list. It would be great to see additional manufacturing job growth in some of the rural counties in the Commonwealth and I'm hoping that Pennsylvania gets some additional high tech manufacturing jobs as well. I'm definitely jealous of the $100 billion Micron semiconductor factory being built in Clay, NY near Syracuse.

[bridge12]

Originally Posted by trackstar13

Great article and I particularly like the explanation of why Philadelphia receives so much in Pennsylvania tax dollars. It is always amazing to me that the people who shout the loudest about the "takers" are often those who benefit the most from the system. Local tax dollars are another issue entirely and in Erie we keep getting new "fees," like the sewer fee that is supposedly not a tax, but is going to be added to our bills for maintenance. Back to the point at hand, new factories like the Hershey Plant in Dauphin county, can help create jobs and move some of these counties into the "maker" list. It would be great to see additional manufacturing job growth in some of the rural counties in the Commonwealth and I'm hoping that Pennsylvania gets some additional high tech manufacturing jobs as well. I'm definitely jealous of the $100 billion Micron semiconductor factory being built in Clay, NY near Syracuse.

I admit I'm feeling a little left out on all the job announcements lately. It's clear they aren't political (some of the recent Biden announcements have been in red states like Tennessee and Ohio) but I'm a bit bothered by the lack of new "big" job announcements in PA. I think our best shot is the new ARPA-H HQ, which several cities such as Boston, Philly, and Austin are going after. I actually feel like Philly has a really good shot with this. It won't be the shot in the arm rural PA needs but I do think it still helps the state overall. I would love to see Erie land some new jobs - it's got the built environment, population, layout, and location. If anything, we should be targeting PA's small and mid-sized cities for new jobs which already have the existing infrastructure. Disappointed that most new jobs are in warehousing and distribution which sits miles outside of cities and boroughs.

[trackstar13]

Originally Posted by bridge12

I admit I'm feeling a little left out on all the job announcements lately. It's clear they aren't political (some of the recent Biden announcements have been in red states like Tennessee and Ohio) but I'm a bit bothered by the lack of new "big" job announcements in PA. I think our best shot is the new ARPA-H HQ, which several cities such as Boston, Philly, and Austin are going after. I actually feel like Philly has a really good shot with this. It won't be the shot in the arm rural PA needs but I do think it still helps the state overall. I would love to see Erie land some new jobs - it's got the built environment, population, layout, and location. If anything, we should be targeting PA's small and mid-sized cities for new jobs which already have the existing infrastructure. Disappointed that most new jobs are in warehousing and distribution which sits miles outside of cities and boroughs.

Great thoughts here and I agree that it would be nice to hear some bigger job announcements in PA. Erie county would have been a great location for Micron and a rural area not too far from the city would have potentially worked out similar to Syracuse. We have a tremendous amount of vacant space in the city and while there is some revitalization going on and near the bayfront, midtown and beyond still need a ton of work. Driving down 12th street by the giant, old factories that are either out of business or under-utilized is depressing and with the existing infrastructure Erie could host several more companies and people. The ARPA-H project sounds great and I hope it ends up in Philly.

[Tweb66]

I pretty much disagree with everything posted above. Job growth isn't judged by a big company's PR firm able to generate news. Overall,the PA economy is FAR stronger than that of Ohio by any metric you want to find. Being jealous of a new chip plant in Columbus misses the entire picture.


Though I amused by all the people saying its only in red states that these places are popping, as though its a damning statement against liberalism. Yeah, they are avoiding left wing politics by setting up ship in places like Austin and Columbus. I am glad everyone has gotten it all figured out.



Meanwhile in Philadelphia in just the past week Chubb and Lockheed Martin have both announces major expansions in the area. The Lehigh Valley continues to boom. South Central PA is doing pretty well too. And if you look at the fastest growing states, you will see right wing states like Texas and Utah, and left wing states like Colorado and Oregon. Economic growth can happen in many different ways, and judging the economy by a PR firm's media reach is a pretty poor way of doing so.