3 ms·

The Detroit/Warren/Dearborn MSA has a higher GDP than San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara MSA and is home to ~4 million people. Don't be confused by articles highli

The Detroit/Warren/Dearborn MSA has a higher GDP than San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara MSA and is home to ~4 million people. Don't be confused by articles highlighting specific neighborhoods or old factories, there is a ton of economic activity. There are obviously some huge problems trying to provide government services for the same land area with a shrinking population, especially following a large recession, but "Won't have a viable economy" is silly given the number of companies in the area.

skadamou 9y ago
I think you make a good point. You shouldn't write off the whole Detroit area because of a few articles about specific neighborhoods. But Detroit/Warren/Dearborn essentially have the same GDP as San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara yet twice as many people live in the Detroit area https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NGMP19820 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NGMP19820 https://www.bea.gov/regional/bearfacts/pdf.cfm?fips=19820&areatype=MSA&geotype=4 https://www.bea.gov/regional/bearfacts/pdf.cfm?fips=19820&ar... https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NGMP41940 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NGMP41940 http://www.bestplaces.net/metro/california/san_jose-sunnyvale-santa_clara http://www.bestplaces.net/metro/california/san_jose-sunnyval...
- mikeyouse 9y ago
  That only strengthens my point though -- The original commenter said we should just pay everyone to leave since there's no hope of sustaining an economy there. If you can pay 4 million people to leave, you can pay to fix whatever services they are lacking -- and then you'd have 4 million people in a area with hundreds of large companies and good government services!
dionidium 9y ago
This is why I constantly hammer the point about comparing cities using MSA figures. Focusing on “Detroit” or “St. Louis” or “Cleveland” or whatever without understanding their place in their respective regions and how much activity surrounds them only misleads. A failure to understand this leads to all kinds of confused and nonsensical beliefs about rust belt cities and ultimately to casual, confident assertions that can only be described as absurd (like the one you’re responding to).

skadamou 9y ago

I think you make a good point. You shouldn't write off the whole Detroit area because of a few articles about specific neighborhoods. But Detroit/Warren/Dearborn essentially have the same GDP as San Jose/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara yet twice as many people live in the Detroit area https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NGMP19820 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NGMP19820 https://www.bea.gov/regional/bearfacts/pdf.cfm?fips=19820&areatype=MSA&geotype=4 https://www.bea.gov/regional/bearfacts/pdf.cfm?fips=19820&ar... https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NGMP41940 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NGMP41940 http://www.bestplaces.net/metro/california/san_jose-sunnyvale-santa_clara http://www.bestplaces.net/metro/california/san_jose-sunnyval...

mikeyouse 9y ago
That only strengthens my point though -- The original commenter said we should just pay everyone to leave since there's no hope of sustaining an economy there. If you can pay 4 million people to leave, you can pay to fix whatever services they are lacking -- and then you'd have 4 million people in a area with hundreds of large companies and good government services!

dionidium 9y ago

This is why I constantly hammer the point about comparing cities using MSA figures. Focusing on “Detroit” or “St. Louis” or “Cleveland” or whatever without understanding their place in their respective regions and how much activity surrounds them only misleads. A failure to understand this leads to all kinds of confused and nonsensical beliefs about rust belt cities and ultimately to casual, confident assertions that can only be described as absurd (like the one you’re responding to).