Tampa #2 on Forbes.com Top 10 U.S. Cities in Economic Freefall

[GiantRutgersfan]

I really dont see how Tampa/florida can fail...

It already is a major city. Combine that with great weather and a somewhat competent government, and low housing prices, I dont see why it wouldnt be ok in the future....

[housingcrashsurvivor]

unable to edit so correcting first link of prior post here...

List of U.S. states by GDP per capita (nominal) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://tinyurl.com/33dln9 - broken link)

Originally Posted by vaughnwilliams

I'm blinded by the amount of numbers in the links. Somehow I get a feeling these numbers are kind of skewed-for example, D.C. is number 1 in GDP. Don't you think their ranking is due primarily to government spending? I don't believe D.C. exports many durable goods. And if I remember right, the GDP isn't necessarily a great measure of the citizens standard of living, for instance, the 2008 chart. A substantial part of 2008's GDP probably came from hurricane repairs...

I don't know how the numbers might have been skewed significantly, but even if so, I'd tend to think then that they'd all be skewed similarly and therefore still useable. As you note, rankings possibly change somewhat each year depending upon events at the time, but also probably one time events do not drastically alter longer term trends & conditions.

Also surprised to see DC rated number one, could be government spending but they've always that and so you can see that in 2004, when all the states were doing pretty well, they held the same #1 ranking. Florida's big hurricane repairs would have come in 2006 as we had a series of Hurricanes late 2005 including Wilma.

2007 season (which could have skewed 2008 numbers as you note) was actually relatively mild.



Also, GDP does not just measure exports as not all economies are entirely export-based but it is often used to judge standards of living, particularly in comparing different areas. Not that wealth is necessarily spread evenly across the board within each area, but certainly there must be wealth to share at all.

Originally Posted by kbrkr

The bottom line is Florida offers some of the highest "quality of life" in the US.

True that.

[Spongedaddy]

There is some good food for thought in this posting...so thanks.

However...with that said, it bothers me that citing Wikipedia is becomming a tech meme on discussion forums: News: A Stand Against Wikipedia - Inside Higher Ed

"The frustrations of Middlebury faculty members are by no means unique. Last year, Alan Liu, a professor of English at the University of California at Santa Barbara, adopted a policy that Wikipedia "is not appropriate as the primary or sole reference for anything that is central to an argument, complex, or controversial." Liu said that it was too early to tell what impact his policy is having. In explaining his rationale -- which he shared with an e-mail list -- he wrote that he had "just read a paper about the relation between structuralism, deconstruction, and postmodernism in which every reference was to the Wikipedia articles on those topics with no awareness that there was any need to read a primary work or even a critical work."

Wikipedia officials agree -- in part -- with Middlebury's history department. "That's a sensible policy," Sandra Ordonez, a spokeswoman, said in an e-mail interview. "Wikipedia is the ideal place to start your research and get a global picture of a topic, however, it is not an authoritative source. In fact, we recommend that students check the facts they find in Wikipedia against other sources. Additionally, it is generally good research practice to cite an original source when writing a paper, or completing an exam. It's usually not advisable, particularly at the university level, to cite an encyclopedia."

Ordonez acknowledged that, given the collaborative nature of Wikipedia writing and editing, "there is no guarantee an article is 100 percent correct," but she said that the site is shifting its focus from growth to improving quality, and that the site is a great resource for students. "Most articles are continually being edited and improved upon, and most contributors are real lovers of knowledge who have a real desire to improve the quality of a particular article," she said."

[housingcrashsurvivor]

[response to threadjack] Frankly, unless I've paid for his course and am dependent upon his grade, I could care less what some retentive professor desires. Certainly for more serious work, you'd want to verify sources & confirm conclusions independently with alternate sources to form whatever consensus of opinion makes you comfortable enough to state a "fact" or voice a somewhat educated opinion based on some semblance of actual evidence. However, it is a perfectly good source for standard conversation, nevermind online chat. And so convenient too. Personally, I love the almighty Wiki.

Perhaps you'd prefer I quote Britannica instead...

Wikipedia:Errors in the Encyclopædia Britannica that have been corrected in Wikipedia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[/threadjack*]

* Netiquette - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The points most strongly emphasized about USENET netiquette often include using simple electronic signatures, and avoiding multiposting, cross-posting, off-topic posting, hijacking a discussion thread, and other techniques used to minimize the effort required to read a post or a thread."

[Spongedaddy]

Originally Posted by housingcrashsurvivor

[response to threadjack] Frankly, unless I've paid for his course and am dependent upon his grade, I could care less what some retentive professor desires. Certainly for more serious work, you'd want to verify sources & confirm conclusions independently with alternate sources to form whatever consensus of opinion makes you comfortable enough to state a "fact" or voice a somewhat educated opinion based on some semblance of actual evidence. However, it is a perfectly good source for standard conversation, nevermind online chat. And so convenient too. Personally, I love the almighty Wiki.

Perhaps you'd prefer I quote Britannica instead...

Wikipedia:Errors in the Encyclopædia Britannica that have been corrected in Wikipedia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[/threadjack*]

* Netiquette - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The points most strongly emphasized about USENET netiquette often include using simple electronic signatures, and avoiding multiposting, cross-posting, off-topic posting, hijacking a discussion thread, and other techniques used to minimize the effort required to read a post or a thread."

I think the OP doesn't mind questioning the accuracy of sources used in discussing the topic.

[housingcrashsurvivor]

Ya. Not my point though. Was just another Wikitunity. My apologies for rubbing it in*.

*http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...term=rub+it+in

[cooljoebay]

Originally Posted by kbrkr

You can analyze the number until your blue in the face. The bottom line is Florida offers some of the highest "quality of life" in the US. Sure there is Governmental dysfunction, unemployment, housing issues, economic instability, etc. etc., but at the end of the day you have a higher quality of life than most US residents.


Al

This is the kind of information I look for. Through all my research lately, it looks to me like living in Florida is no worse than living in Kentucky. Now KY has a lot of slums that don't care how they live and their contentment helps keep the state in the gutter as far as quality of living is concerned.

Whenever I look at rental property prices in Florida, I see the same thing I see in KY. Except KY has nothing but trees to look at. But anyone with common sense can see that Florida has a lot more to offer as far as opportunity and quality of life COMPARED to Kentucky. Yet, people continue to pick on Florida without including many northern states that could be regarded as "sh_itt-holes" in comparison to the Sunshine State. It seems to me that much of the picking on Florida derives from politics. Let's not forget the state has been a victim of election fraud more than once in the past 10 years. But notice it swung more in their favor the last time around. Can anyone say resentment?