SNOW AND THE MISERY INDEX

According to Forbes, Chicago is the 6th most miserable city to live in.

Let's see:
Long Commutes (check)
Income Tax Rates (3% State Income Tax, check)
Superfund Sites (yikes)
Unemployment (not that I'm aware of)
Violent crimes (not yet)
Weather (oh yeah, check, check and triple check)

Of course, I post this after having to rise at 5AM to shovel another foot of snow off the driveway, so we can get out in the morning. That snow-blower at Lowes or Home Depot is looking mighty tempting at this point.

But what's with the hating on the Cubs? That strikes me as a bit of piling on. I don't get the impression that Cubs fans are too miserable at all. At least not those that attend Wrigley Field, how could you be? They obviously did not read my Wrigley Field post. Shoddy research Forbes.

Also, they fail to mention the seemingly mindless attachment to a predominantly Democratic (socialist) leadership in city government that has led to wastefully inept and blatantly corrupt political leadership. It's ingrained into the cultural fabric. And seemingly impossible to get out.

On the plus side, there is the so-called "Viagra Triangle" on the corner of State and Rush Streets, so named because of the high density of "eye candy" to be observed there. I have no personal knowledge of this phenomena, I heard about it from this guy, who knows someone, who used to work with this other guy, who told him about it. Really, I swear.

This does give folks like me a hook to hang our hat on, however. It is obviously not so much that we are inherently miserable people, it's the onerous environment we are forced to live in. Yeah, that's it. Thanks Forbes.
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No. 6
Chicago, Ill.
Rank

Commute times 144
Income tax rates 35
Superfund sites 107
Unemployment 108
Violent crimes 118
Weather 122

Misery Measure 634

Residents of the country's third-largest metro face
long commutes (31 minutes on average) and high violent
crime rates (619 crimes per 100,000 residents).
Another chief complaint: the bitter-cold winters. And
as for misery, nothing tops being a Cubs fan. The team
has not won a World Series since 1908, the longest
winless streak in baseball.

Ranks are based on the 150 largest metro areas.

Sources: Bert Sperling; Moody's Economy.com; U.S.
Census Bureau
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http://www.forbes.com/2008/01/29/detroit-stockton-flint-biz-cz_kb_0130miserable.html

America's Most Miserable Cities
Kurt Badenhausen 01.30.08, 6:00 AM ET

In Pictures: America's Most Miserable Cities
By This Author
Kurt Badenhausen


The Motor City grabs the top spot on Forbes' inaugural
list of America's Most Miserable Cities.

America's Most Miserable Cities
Misery is defined as a state of great unhappiness and
emotional distress. The economic indicator most often
used to measure misery is the Misery Index. The index,
created by economist Arthur Okun, adds the
unemployment rate to the inflation rate. It has been
in the narrow 7-to-9 range for most of the past
decade, but was over 20 during the late 1970s.

There also exists a Misery Score, which is the sum of
corporate, personal, employer and sales taxes in
different countries. France took the top spot (or
perhaps bottom is more appropriate) with a score of
166.8, thanks to a top rate of 51% on personal incomes
and 45% for employer Social Security.

So we decided to expand on the Misery Index and the
Misery Score to create our very own Forbes Misery
Measure. We're sticking with unemployment and personal
tax rates, but we are adding four more factors that
can make people miserable:
commute times,
weather,
crime
and that toxic waste dump in your backyard.

We looked at only the 150 largest metropolitan areas,
which meant a minimum population of 371,000.
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YEAH, YOU HAVE A NICE ****ING DAY TOO PAL.