Best state to visit in the USA

On Sat, 1 May 2004 08:23:39 +0000 (UTC),
(Vitaly Shmatikov) wrote:
Not to me, but to someone else...
Look, dude, when you felt that my point was insufficiently supported,
you demanded (rather rudely, too) that I provide supporting data.
I complied. You, on the other hand, made a ton of patently ridiculous
claims about NYC (net donor of tax money - yeah, right), but refuse
to post a single number related to NYC.


Apparently a number of people believe that's true....

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/h...ng_enemies.htm

"Yes, New York perpetually has what is known as a "balance of
payments" deficit with Washington, because the city sends far more in
taxes to the federal government than it receives in federal spending."

www.nycp.org/pr/pr05_30_02.pdf


http://tinyurl.com/2lh2b
"In recent decades, a structural imbalance of both responsibilities
and payments has developed between the federal, state and city
governments. Just last year, New York City sent Washington $6.3
billion dollars more than we got back… and we sent Albany $3.5 billion
dollars more than we got back."


One explanation (from a conservative organization) was that the DOD
spends $45 per capita in NYC versus about $750 per capita nationwide.
(The Post says that's because NYC doesn't support the US military...)

Dick Locke wrote:

One explanation (from a conservative organization) was that the DOD
spends $45 per capita in NYC versus about $750 per capita nationwide.
(The Post says that's because NYC doesn't support the US military...)

Perhaps NYC just needs more military bases. Maybe it can be used for
urban warfare training. I don't think NYC is anti military. Look at the
wonderful parades they have held in honor of the military.

On Sat, 01 May 2004 20:46:37 GMT, mrtravelkay wrote:

I think his point was that from your view immigrants are the underclass.
In my experience, legal immigrants tend to be of above average incomes
and education.

San Fran has one of the highest education levels of any city in the US
and also one of the highest percentages of the population that is
foreign born, which ought to be very close to the percent that is
immigrants. It's in the high 30's, IIRC. I wonder if there is a
nationwide correlation.

Cyrus Afzali wrote:


G.E. is headquartered in Manhattan

The headquarters are in Fairfield, CT.

Brian wrote:

Cyrus Afzali wrote:



G.E. is headquartered in Manhattan


The headquarters are in Fairfield, CT.

I agree, Cyrus is incorrect, but the reason it is Fairfield is due to
the proximity to NYC.

mrtravelkay extrapolated from data available...



Brian wrote:

Cyrus Afzali wrote:



G.E. is headquartered in Manhattan


The headquarters are in Fairfield, CT.

I agree, Cyrus is incorrect, but the reason it is Fairfield is due to
the proximity to NYC.

....but like dozens of other corportate HQ, out in a nice comfortable fur-
piece suburban region, where living is comfortable, the attractions and
services of the big city are accessible, but you don't have to put up with
all the ****.....

TMO

Cyrus Afzali extrapolated from data available...

On Tue, 04 May 2004 09:40:10 -0500, Olivers
wrote:

mrtravelkay extrapolated from data available...



Brian wrote:

Cyrus Afzali wrote:



G.E. is headquartered in Manhattan


The headquarters are in Fairfield, CT.

True enough, I should have double-checked that. That said, if you look
up the employment headcount at Fairfield and compare that with NBC and
other city-based functions, the numbers won't look that different.

And successful economic policy isn't about cramming the most jobs into
a place, it's successfully matching the jobs you acquire with the
talent base available. Many daily events in NYC, such as the NYSE,
Mercantile Exchange, etc., are tracked closely, worldwide on a daily
basis. You can't say that about Dubuque, Iowa.


I'm sure that Warren Buffet's capacity to "track" from his small HQ and by
his tiny staff in Omaha, NE (not much different than Dubuque) is as good as
he needs it to be, and in his eyes far more comfortable than having to live
on the Upper East Side and travel to Lower Manhattan.

The number of major US companies which have moved their corporate HQs or
principal adminstrative offices outside NYC is long (and unending it
seems). Having lived there for a brief spell early in my working life, I
love the place, and revisit with some frequency.

.....But in all honesty, all the attractions, allure, etc. (with the
exception of access to restaurants and variety food markets) are far more
than offset by the basic and unending inconvniences which are integral
ingedients in urban life. On my last visit, we stayed in a friend's son's
"million dollar condo", a very basic and modestly well located 2BR
apartment of less than 1000 square feet in an old renovated building,
little more than the space of my home office and library (and I hardly a
rich tycoon). Along with the investment, the monthly "nut" brought the
cost of ownership (not counting principal, simply taxes, fees and interest)
to somewhat more than the equivalent costs to own and maintain a
comfortable rural estate or a urban home counted as lavish in most
perspectives. While I live in a "cheap" housing market, a 100 miles from
the nearest "big" metroplex and another good sized burg, my access to those
cities is certainly less complex, more convenient and almost as quick as
access to Manhattan is for many of those who work there. Golf, hunting,
fishing, etc. are incomparably more easily and quickly accessible for me.
While the restaurants of Dallas, Austin or Houston come up short when
compared with those of NYC (at least in numbers and some aspects of
variety), that gap has narrowed so rapidly as to be within a few years of
ending. Those corporate offices out in Plano, North Austin or Houston and
the demands of their tenantry have acted to bring more and more of the
quality and variety traditionally available in NYC out to the "sticks".
Certainly, with a few "niche" exceptions, there's hardly a NYC retail
outlet selling producs not available if far suburbia (or on the 'net). The
theater, you say? How many New Yorkers either can afford or actually spend
regular evenings at live performances? In my experience, it's the tourists
and business visitors who fill (or leave empty) the seats. Sure, I would
love to go more often, but not enough to sacrifice comfort and other
equally rewarding pastimes to do so.

I applaud the willingness and adaptability of folks like Cyrus who select
the NYC/Manhattan choice from the menu. They are hardier souls than I,
willing to put up with assorted crap and routine discomfort to enjoy
whatever it is that makes their pleasure meter wiggle (or their earnings
clock tick). But the days when you had to libve in NYC to make more or big
money are long gone, and while I wouldn't relish living in Dubuque, I
suspect that there are a few execs there whose corporate performance is
tracked in NYC and other business centers and whose paychecks are
equivalent to and go a Hell of a lot farther than their equals in the City.

Come to think of it, even here, come midFebruary my damn golf course is
over-run with the Irish owners of a local enterprise timing their
inspection visits to our sunny days and warmer/dryer morning tee times than
prevail in Eire in February. They do come less frequently or of lower rank
in August.....

TMO