Is it my turn to complain?
Today I was on the U.S. News and World Reports website and learned that Seattle ranks Number 2 in the Top Ten Cities with Debt. Yes, this is a wonderful way for me to get more depressed about the state of the U.S. economy. Sure, Number 2 is pretty good but I always like it better as Number 1. On a side note: Seattle’s traffic is only the 9th worst in the nation (and we tied…tied with Philadelphia…we didn’t beat them…we tied). However, we did move up one spot from last year! Oh yeah! When can we be Number 1 in worst traffic?
One could say that I like to find the negative in things. I would much rather prefer to say that I am a realist and that I enjoy reading (and learning) so that I can complain more. Why be uninformed?
How can I not be depressed with today’s economy? Washington State has a $1 billion budget shortfall that it needs to make up for. Reuter’s reports that Fitch Ratings might lower Washington State’s credit rating which in turn will cause the interest rate for money Washington State borrows to cost more and when Washington State issues bonds the interest rate it must pay out will be higher.
Getting back to the issue at hand, we see that the debt was defined as average debt per person (excluding home mortgages). Sadly, this was written back in 2010 so I have to wonder if it is better or worse now that we are in 2013. And I would like to say that while the government says the recession of 2007 is over, it really feels like it is still here in 2013.
Here’s a list of the top ten most indebted cities:
Baltimore
Philadelphia
Other bad news: The nation’s unemployment is 7.9%. According to the Washington State’s website, in 2011 it was 8.9% (while Washington State was at 9.2%) http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/planning/wtp/datalibrary/Economy/UnemploymentbyCounty.htm
Strangely, the Washington State website didn’t have 2012 numbers but I found that The Seattle Times had our unemployment rate for December 2012 at 7.6%. http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020144459_apwawashjobless1stldwritethru.html
On a much brighter note I learned that Lynsi Torres is the 30-year-old owner and president of In-N-Out Burger and is worth a reported billion dollars. Sure, I won’t meet her or even marry her but I can now sleep better knowing she is out there with her 3rd husband and a fabulous fortune.
As always, your comments are welcome!
Kevin Hellriegel's Blog of Worthless Advice 