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The US is "top tier" only because it is one of the 30 or so developed industrial economies, and bigger than any other five of them put together. But per capita, the US doesn't rank at or near the top in any category that anyone would be proud of, and ranks last in some.
The US is ranked near the top in a lot of categories such as income, higher education, housing prices, entertainment industry etc. There are some things that suck but that's the same everywhere.
These global city rankings are almost always full of **** because 99% of the time they have retarded methodology. The lists often look like they were pulled out of the ass of some bored blogger who's been to like 5 countries and say they have travelled the world. They are utterly meaningless.
As I said, I'm not opposed to all rankings, some are informative, fun or maybe just a thing to measure where your country stands, like police brutality, which was discussed in another thread.
My critique was against this endless bickering about which is number one or number seven of global cities. "NYC is #1. No, London is! No, Tokyo is! No NYC is #1, Tokyo is #2" etc. That is my question: who cares and what's the point.
This kind of complaint belongs more to the forum about 3 or 4 years ago when all the London versus New York versus X threads came and went. Sure, you still have the occasional person who says something based on civic pride, but it's kind of anachronistic now.
The arguments you see today are, for example, whether Seoul belongs among a top 7 of global cities, or if Asian cities can now be counted among the likes of New York or London. That doesn't necessarily imply tribalism or a city versus city mentality.
People are tired of the London versus New York debates. They've heard all the arguments, come to their own calcified conclusions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Warszawa
These global rankings are usually a D-measuring contest. I can imagine why they're so popular. But on the other hand no one city can fit everyone's needs. For some people Number. 1 might be NYC, for some people it might be Paris, for others it may be Tokyo, for a few cerebrally challenged individuals it may be Bradford...This is always the case when a list is based on subjective agenda
If these rankings (we're talking about the ones by JLL, KPMG or similar) were all subjective or irrelevant, like one or two commentators are making them out to be, then you won't have top tier accounting firms wasting time and money on compiling them.
Some don't seem to understand that a lot of competent people scrutinize these rankings and a lot of money changes hands as a result of information in them. You don't risk losing that kind of influence over sloppy data analysis or a nationalistic agenda.
A better argument you can give is that they may have undisclosed vested interests. But even then, the least they are is irrelevant.
Last edited by Hightower72; 02-08-2018 at 01:22 AM..
So, the US is a great country for skilled professionals, like doctors who take advantage of the unregulated medical-industrial complex and the skyrocketing medical cost to pay for those incomes.. What about the rest of us?
I wasn't making any such argument. I was only responding to the claim that "The U.S. isn't #1 in anything relative to Europe".
At the very least, the U.S. has the highest salaries for skilled professionals. It's generally considered to have the best opportunities for high skill workers. A skilled professional in NYC generally makes much more than in London or on the Continent.
The US is "top tier" only because it is one of the 30 or so developed industrial economies, and bigger than any other five of them put together. But per capita, the US doesn't rank at or near the top in any category that anyone would be proud of, and ranks last in some.
A tug-of-war is going to be won by the side with the most people pulling the rope.
USA is big, both in size and population, among developed countries. So there is going to be a diverse population and inequality. There is a lot of immigration - some skilled ones that help boost the economy and illegal immigration that can ( not always) drain the economy. So we can never be the 1st place in all areas. It is impossible.
Trying to compare USA to small homogeneous countries like Norway and Sweden that have small population and lucky strikes ( oil for Norway) does not mean that they will remain the same when their resources dry up and they grow in population with influx of impoverished refugees.
USA is what it is, and still a great place to live. The weather ranges from bitter cold to wonderfully warm and you are allowed the freedom to choose according to your liking and comfort. I would rather be here than any cold Nordic place, whatever their happiness index may indicate it to be.
This has been going on for years, and I simply don't see the point. Why is it so important to some people to rank cities like NYC, London, Paris, Tokyo, Shangai, Sao Paulo, Bradford and others?
I understand some people like rankings, but seriously... Yawn!
You made sense till you brought in Bradford
That place was a dump when I briefly lived there in the 80's. It is still a dump today and from what I hear, it has gotten worse. I will gladly take Helsinki in January over Bradford
Trying to compare USA to small homogeneous countries like Norway and Sweden that have small population and lucky strikes ( oil for Norway) does not mean that they will remain the same when their resources dry up and they grow in population with influx of impoverished refugees.
Sweden isn't particularly homogeneous. And I don't see why you can't compare small countries to large countries.
Sweden is booming right now, BTW. It seems to be doing very well with integrating refugees (not so sure most are "impoverished"; Syria was more a middle income, fairly educated country before the war).
That place was a dump when I briefly lived there in the 80's. It is still a dump today and from what I hear, it has gotten worse. I will gladly take Helsinki in January over Bradford
Actually a superpower like China would be fun to talk about. but yes i know this is a pretty much a western site.
Not going to be a super power in decades.
The reason Europe is used to compare is that average European citizens in many ways have higher living quality. Yes, USA is no 1. But most of the benefits go to the ruling class of the country. What does the most powerful military mean for average Americans? You need to pay a lot of taxes for the global military presence but college education is expensive, healthcare is unaffordable. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see children starving in the US in 2018!
NIn fact, it’s not uncommon to see children starving in the US in 2018!
You're being silly. There are no children starving in the U.S.
Yes, the U.S. has more inequality than W. Europe, BUT, the gap is closing and the U.S. is richer overall. Median incomes in U.S. are still higher than in Europe (i.e. average Americans have higher salaries than average Europeans).
You're being silly. There are no children starving in the U.S.
Yes, the U.S. has more inequality than W. Europe, BUT, the gap is closing and the U.S. is richer overall. Median incomes in U.S. are still higher than in Europe (i.e. average Americans have higher salaries than average Europeans).
The poverty rate here is like 20%, and with further cut in education funding(worst in the nation), many poor kids in public schools don't have adequate lunch. I personally a teacher who brings food to the class because she hates to see children starving.
Not surprisingly, teachers aren't paid well here either. Many teachers moved to Texas or other neighboring states for more livable pay.
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