OT: California and Wall Street Are Back
Papi_Chulo
Miami, FL (or the nearest big-booty club)
The Best Performing Cities Index from the Milken Institute may have a familiar ring to it.
The country's top metro area in 2012—based on jobs, pay and technology—is San Jose, Calif.
"Silicon Valley is Back!" the report's cover page declared. It has been over a decade since the region ranked first on the index. Last year San Jose ranked 50th out of 200 large metropolitan areas.
(Read More: Most Affordable U.S. Cities.)
The Milken Institute reported that for every job added to the tech sector, five outside jobs were created.
Coming in second place on the index is Austin, Texas, another hub for tech innovation. The Institute said
Texas metro areas remained strong performers in 2012, "but did not dominate as much as they did in recent years." It claimed a few regions in the Lone Star state lost ground for, among other reasons, "softness in the natural gas boom."
New York made a huge jump of 64 spots on the index to come in at #11. "As the financial industry stabilizes, other sectors are surging: nearly 500 start-ups have been funded since 2006, and film production has grown 31 percent over the past five years."
(Read More: America's Top States for Job Creation.)
One of the biggest surprises, said Milken Institute chief research officer Ross DeVol, is the rebound in manufacturing in America's heartland. "Among this year's biggest gainers in large metros are Holland-Grand Haven, Mich., leaping 108 slots to #40." Other "hotspots" moving up dozens of slots include Minneapolis-St. Paul, Gary, Ind., Warren, Mich., and Indianapolis.
The index does not take into consideration quality-of -life issues like commute times or housing costs, believing instead that the focus on jobs and wages are better reflections of economic growth and its "critical importance to community vitality."
(Read More: The World's Best Places to Live.)
Nothing may show the recovery is moving along better than the index's top pick being a city in hard-hit California. "People expect tech to be one of the most dynamic sectors of the economy," said DeVol, "and it was."
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100388677
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I know all those cities apart from the two cities down in the Antipodes, Sydney and Aukland. Six of the cities are German-speaking cities in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland. IMO, those six cities are all sterile and soul destroying places, particularly Dusseldorf. You would be hard pressed to find any city that is more smug and stuffy than that benighted burg. Allied Air Forces should have dropped many more bombs on that place during WW II. There is too much residue of Nazism in German cities for me, even in Vienna and Zurich as well.
Now, Copenhagen and Vancouver are places that I enjoy very much, even Geneva is a sweet place (but that 'ville' is really a French city). I could live happily in any of those three cities.
(We have lots of Venezuelan and Columbian girls too.)
Sydney is a lovely place I wish I could visit more often and I'm sure Auckland is much the same.
The one I don't get is Vienna, I wasn't really blown away about the city or the people.
Mostly, I just don't like Germans. I find them arrogant, stubborn, conceited, hard-headed, and racist. Munich has too much Nazi resonance for me. That place was Hitler's spiritual home. Vienna was his birthplace.
My old man was in the Canadian Army for 5 years during WW II, spending over 3 of those years in combat killing Germans. To my mind, Pop didn't kill enough of the Nazi bastards.
Our world would be a much better place if 70,000,000 Krauts had been exterminated in 1870.
I regard the Japs with as much disgust as I have for Krauts. To this day the Japs have taken no responsibility for their collective bestiality in China, Mongolia, southeast Asia, and the East Indies from 1936-1945. They are just as racist and just as arrogant as the Krauts. To this day Japs venerate the memory of the war criminals Hirohito, Yamamoto, and the whole clique of rabid animals that led the country 70 and 80 years ago.
There is a strong possibility that during my lifetime I will be able to laugh at the festering pit of a collapsing Japanese nation as its demographic and debt bombs explode in the faces of those ignorant, arrogant racists.
also @tumblingdice,
Your ignorance of Canadian military history is not unexpected. Never forget that we kicked your asses in the War of 1812; we burned Washington DC to the ground. During WW I Canadian troops were just about the best combat troops on the Western Front, holding firm during the first gas attack at Ypres when all other Allied troops ran, leading the breakthrough at Vimy Ridge in 1917, the first decisive defeat of the German Army. To this day I do not think that the US Army has ever fought a battle involving the use of poisonous gas. IMO, Sir Arthur Currie was the outstanding Allied general of WW I. Your American troops didn't arrive at the front lines until 1917 and were mostly just untrained useless cannon fodder. The two highest scoring air aces of WW I were Canadians - Billy Bishop and William Barker.
A very similar tale took place in the European theatre of WW II. The US forces had one competent fighting general, Patton, but otherwise it was the same story as in WW I - poorly trained troops led by useless generals. British and Canadian troops shouldered the majority of the combat in Italy, driving out the Krauts. On D-Day the Canadian Army was the only army to achieve (and exceed) its objectives despite 50% casualty rate, second highest casualty rate of the five D-Day beaches. Canadian and British paratroops were the only airborne troops to achieve their D-Day objectives. Canadian generals were screaming at Eisenhauer for reinforcements and materiel so that the Canadians could pursue the Germans with bloodthirsty vigour. Eisenhauer was more concerned with the hopeless American troops twiddling their thumbs on Utah and Omaha beaches and with the useless airborne troops of the 82nd and 101st wandering around the Normandy countryside like headless chickens. Read Eisenhauer's memoirs. He considered the Canadians to be the best combat troops under his command during WW II.
From where I stand the performance of American armed forces in combat is rather pathetic. The only war where Americans have been on the winning side without allies is the 1861-1865 war. You HAD to win that one - you were fighting yourselves. I do not count silly skirmishes with Philippines, Cuba, Panama, Grenada.
I admire your political leaders in WW II. Roosevelt and Truman were superb. Canadian political leadership was pathetic during WW II as were the generals in the Canadian Army, less so during WW I.
On a personal note, my old man's armoured regiment in WW II saw more combat than any other allied armoured regiment on the western front. Russian armoured regiments in the east saw even more combat.
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End of the farmerart history lesson.
As for the burning of DC during the war of 1812. Slightly misleading since it was British troops who did that. Canada dud do a good job holding Americans at bay though during the war until the Brits were freed up from dealing with Napolean.
As to the history "you" did not kick our asses in 1812, professional BRITISH Marines beat untrained militia and then failed to take, the significantly more important, Baltimore.
In 1917 America had, give or take, 300,000 troops. In a year we mobilized a million, got them to Europe and broke the Germans backs.
WWII was the same story. An ill-prepared American military turned the tide, thought more credit probably goes to the Russians (the true masters of cannon fodder) than maybe anyone else. While the Canadians certainly distinguished themselves, in no way can you compare their contribution militarily or materially with the U.S. As far as D-Day, your statements about Utah and Omaha are flawed. Though I do agree that the airborne was a utter failure and one of the biggest clusterfucks of the war.
What war have the Canadians won without allies? Have the Canadian fought a war without allies?
"An ill-prepared American military turned the tide, thought more credit probably goes to the Russians "
WTF? Sorry, dude, Russia had it in the bag on their own and didn't need American help. They had it won sometime in Oct/Nov 1941 when the Germans failed to press Typhoon and capture Moscow. (Even if they had captured Moscow I don't think the war would have been over. Would have needed Leningrad too, which I think was a bridge too far.)
Now the Russians didn't know they had it won until after Stalingrad. Through 1941 and before Stalingrad they were putting out peace failures to the Germans, but that all stopped after Stalingrad, when it was game over, and especially a no-brainer after Kursk.
Only reason why the US even landed in Europe was not because Russia needed the help but to prevent a complete Bolshevik country of the continent. Good thing the US had the atomic bomb too, else I'm sure Staling would have taken on the US after he was done with Hitler. Now that would have been interesting fight (assuming no atomic weapons)! Russia infantry and tanks were definitely superior, but good US airpower and the US economy behind it.
Sorry, you are completely wrong about the war in Europe. The course of the fighting in Europe was etched in stone before the USA had even entered the war. That etching took place in June, 1941 when Hitler sent his troops into Russia. The war in Europe was won by the Russian Army, British brains, Canadian (and Commonwealth) natural resources, and US industrial production. A good part of US military armament production was substandard (viz, Sherman tank, B-17, Liberty ships, etc.). The magic of US manufacturing that could produce such huge quantities of armaments was the most significant American contribution to victory in Europe. Your generals and troops were substandard. Your political leadership was superb. Roosevelt deserves the same reputation as Churchill enjoys, with Truman not far behind. That mild-mannered clothing salesman from Missouri had the balls of ten elephants. Can you even imagine what could have happened if Truman had not been around when that glory-hungry fool, NacArthur, lost his marbles in Korea?
If Eisenhauer had poured men and materiel onto Juno beach to take advantage of the Canadian Army breakthrough, the Canadian Army could have wheeled to the west attacking the Germans defending Utah and Omaha. 500,000 German troops would NOT have escaped at the Falaise Gap. The Allies would have turned east much sooner faced with significantly fewer German troops in opposition, reaching Berlin long before the Russians. Perhaps the Iron Curtain would have been 1000km further east if Eisenhauer had been a real fighting general not just a politician brilliant at logistics. How much the course of world history in the 20th century could have changed if US generals and US troops had been a real fighting force!
Geopolitically in the 1940s, Europe was EVERYTHING. The war in the Pacific was a minor skirmish.
Regarding Canada's WW II contribution - over 10% of Canada's population was in uniform, twice the percentage in USA. Canadian civilians bought into the war effort much more readily than did Americans. Rationing of all consumer goods was in force in Canada until well after VE Day. How about in USA?
Your shibboleth about the sack of DC during the War of 1812 is just that. Hundreds of Canadian militia accompanied the British regulars marching down the east coast.
Canada has never declared war on another country. The only country that has ever invaded Canada is....USA. We fought back.....and kicked your asses!
DC was sacked by British troops, the majority royal marines who sailed from the South. The remainder were also British troops under a Brit general. They also had some freed slaves who were "American". Even still they failed to take Baltimore, failed at New Orleans, and failed at Plattsburgh. That's why the Brits didn't get anything they wanted at Ghent and ended up paying the Americans.
But still. It was Brit regulars not Canadian militia, the "Militia Myth".
"We could go back and forth about the war in Europe forever..."
But you won't because you realize you lost this one? Too funny! Yes, it was the Russians who won it. Duh!
And last time I checked Tiredtraveller they weren't exactly throwing out a welcome mat for newcomers, so don't hold your breath waiting for an invite to live there.
California? LOL If you are on food stamps or speak Spanish they love ya!
Fight the white oppressor power, man! Just wonder whats going to happen when they run out of money like so many other areas with that thinking.
They'll do what they've done before ala Jerry Brown- they'll raise state taxes again. Duh.