Friday, December 16, 2011
Wonk Study: Metro Atlanta among weakest metro regions in country
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 11:34 AM
The Brookings Institution, one of dem lib'rul think vehicles in Washington, D.C., that churns out studies about social utopianism, has released its quarterly rankings of 100 metropolitan areas in a post-Great Recession America. And metro Atlanta is not looking good.
According to Brookings, metro Atlanta is among the "20 weakest" regions (PDF) in terms of unemployment levels, foreclosed properties, gross metropolitan product, and housing prices. We're even lagging behind Las Vegas. Charlotte, N.C., metro Atlanta's supposed rival, isn't faring much better than us. Some headscratchers — i.e. Detroit, Phoenix, and Provo, Utah — lead the list.
Perhaps most telling is a graph that shows metro Atlanta unemployment levels immediately just before and after the four previous recession periods. In 1981, Atlanta and its suburban neighbors started adding jobs fairly quickly after the recession ended. It took more time for metro Atlanta's unemployment levels to recover after the 1990 and 2001 economic dips. Since the most recent recession ended, we've continued to shed jobs.
- Brookings
- The yellow line is the most recent recession
Comments (6)
Showing 1-6 of 6
How can this be? Doesn't the Metro Area Chamber of Commerce tell us the Chamber has done--and continues to do-- a great job? Who's to blame since it can't be Shirley Franklin, can it?
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Well it seems that Atlanta is paying the consequences of deciding to erect itself in the middle of a backwards ass state.
No plans
No support
No hope
This is just starting to manifest itself, just wait.
Once I can sell my underwater house...not any time soon unfortunately.
We have sprawled and built without strategic planning, organizing and thinking. We build one neighborhood, designate it as a "HOT, COOL" area, so everyone wants to flock to it, thus effectively killing a vibrant area as we shift the economics to the new area. Then, the cycle repeats. Look at Mableton, Fulton Industrial, South Downtown Atl, Greenbriar, Union City and others.
Then, in cases like North Fulton and Gwinnett, we let any and everyone build whatever and then we want to come back and try to get it organized. In midst, we have the nerve to be upset when developers asked to be grandfathered in as their plans were already being developed. Then, we spend millions in court fighting them and ultimately lose. Sound familiar?
Thanks to the advent of the internet, commerce has evolved permanently. Computers and technology are doing the workload of humans thus eliminating positions that were once available for hire. Some occupations are becoming dated such as a newspaper delivery driver. More people are reading news online.
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