Comparing Buffalo with Buffalo

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

Gotta love this gem in the Buffalo News: https://buffalonews.com/2018/08/23/f...-cant-keep-up/

John Slenker, the state Labor Department's regional economist in Buffalo, knows the local economy isn't growing as fast as the nation. But he argues that it is difficult to compare Buffalo with other places, or any two cities for that matter. Different locations, different climates, different populations all make the comparisons harder.

"We get hung up on comparing Buffalo with everyone else," he said. "I think we're better off comparing Buffalo with Buffalo."

LOL WAT?

It's not hard to compare Buffalo to other cities. It's hard to digest the results of the comparison but it's not hard to compare. There are reasons why even with a hot housing market, the nation's housing market is hotter. There are reasons why even with an unemployment rate at an 18-year low, the national jobless rate is a few ticks lower. There are reasons why even with job growth has been the strongest the region has seen this century, the job growth nationally has been more than twice as robust.

There are reasons that are as clear as night and day but New York State doesn't want you to look at those. Just be happy with whatever progress you're getting and keep punching those holes for Democrats every year like sheep.

[WNYresident]

We're doing well, by Buffalo Niagara standards.

Well I suppose if you keep the standards low that statement is true.

[WNYresident]

Our population, after decades of exodus, has finally stabilized. But we're not growing, as much of the rest of the country is, depriving us of the powerful economic stimulus that comes from having more people move in. Local economists estimate that the lack of population growth means that our job market can't grow by much more than a modest 1 percent a year.

I tend to disagree with that statement.

Having just "people" move into an area doesn't create a "powerful economic stimulus".

Local economists estimate that the lack of population growth means that our job market can't grow by much more than a modest 1 percent a year.

I wonder how they come up with this statement.

At this point we don't know if our population has stabilized. We know for a fact the Town of Cheektowaga still continues to lose population after years of Democratic control. If I am wrong on that fact I would like someone to tell me otherwise.

We also don't know if the City of Buffalo's population has stabilized. If it wasn't for the pro-active importation of refugees I believe they would have lost population over the last 10+ years.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

Having just "people" move into an area doesn't create a "powerful economic stimulus".

Population growth by people 'moving in' is absolutely an economic stimulus. 'Moving in' of course assumes they are not the lowest income bracket because those people are tied to the welfare system and it also infers the exclusion of refugee relocations, which are also tied to the welfare system.

Any able-bodied person willing to work moving into the region is a positive.

[grump]

It doesn’t make any sense to compare a dog turd with something better so let’s just compare it to another dog turd.

[WNYresident]

Population growth by people 'moving in' is absolutely an economic stimulus. 'Moving in' of course assumes they are not the lowest income bracket because those people are tied to the welfare system and it also infers the exclusion of refugee relocations, which are also tied to the welfare system.

Any able-bodied person willing to work moving into the region is a positive.

I agree with your statement and their statement should have been qualified as you did.

You also need jobs for those able body people. If 50,000 able bodied people showed up tomorrow and they all had enough money to buy a vacant home with 6 months living expenses in reserve unless there are jobs the money will run out.