Should anyone have actually read anything posted herein, they'd know of my fondness for Memphis, TN.
That's irony, by the way. My sphincter actually clenches whenver i have to drive through this city.
Not a fan.
Anyhow, Forbes published their annual list of the 10 most miserable cities in which to live this week.
Memphis was #2.
Of course it was!
surprisingly, Chicago, the very place in which I'm writing this, ranked # 3.
I never really framed it in these terms, but I can see how we might have made the list.
the reasons Forbes listed are:
10+% unemployment
Highest Sales Tax in the nation
Crappy weather
Political skullduggery.
I would have also added highest gasoline prices in the continental US, and sick-high property taxes.
So, we're third. And the local papers (one of which in bankruptcy right now and just sold the Cubs- Natch) were up in arms about it.
"Look at this picture of a happy person bya new landmark on THE warm day we had the other day! how can we be a miserable place to live?"
Oh, well. If the long legged chick with the camera enjoyed herself outside last Saturday by the big bean, when it was sunny and 60 degrees out, Forbes must be full of sh*t.
Obviously, this is Utopia, and similar enjoyment could not have been found anywhere else on an unseasonably sunny and warm day after thre months of terrible winter.
Fleshing out the top 10 were some pretty obvious choices, and perennial favorites.
Flint - duh, it's Flint! haven't you been paying attention?
Detroit - See Flint. Plus - the mayor went to jail last year.
Cleveland - It's been decades since their river burst into flames. Not sure why it's still not a happy place. my guess it's been hit hard by industrial down turns.
Buffalo - bad employment, I'm guessing, plus the most severe winters of any city in the United States. Want to be unemployed AND buried in snow for five months straight? move to Buffalo!
I didn't read the entire article, so am not 100% on top of the criteria they based this on, so I don't know why Stockton CA was # 1, nor why St. Louis eked out some other sad place to make the top 10.
I do know that Chicago's #3 in misery, and I've been feelin' it the last few months.
Long, particularly miserable winter? check
tight job market? check
Wife's business not doing as well as it was a few months ago? check.
And my sick-high property tax bill's due in a couple of weeks.
Could be worse, though.
I could live in Memphis.
1 comment:
I have family that lives in Buffalo. I couldn't take all the snow that's dumped on them. My grandmother had to move to assisted living because the house she lived in is right on Lake Erie and people couldn't get to her during the winter storms. My childhood consisted of growing up in Metro Detroit and vacationing in Buffalo. Good experience for writing a travel guide to America's worst cities.
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