Nerd Wallet, WalletHub and all of the "Best Places for..." are misleading and, frankly, statistical BS. I covered the economy for a business publication. One day, I was working on an article using BEA and BLS data about the economy in Arizona. While writing, one of those "best places..." PR whacks popped into my inbox.
It directly contradicted the BEA data.
I did a little more research and then contacted an economist at Arizona State University's Cary School of Business. Sending him the data, he called, laughing.
"That crap they sent isn't research," he told me. "What they did was take a barrel of apples, a crate of oranges, a bushel of cucumbers, put it in a blender and said, 'I have potatoes.'"
He explained that these "lists" are not research, but data compilation. They take data generated from disparate samples for different purposes. Then they find a common denominator so that a rating can be generated for each datum, which is then added across the "criteria" to come up with a score.
The economist said that the results are completely and totally useless and meaningless.
Then I called the company and arranged to talk with the "researcher." The researcher credited with creating the list admitted that the economist was right; the data used were indeed from surveys of different samples for different purposes. The hardest part of his work, he told me, was finding a common denominator.
For this "ranking," he had used the square root of the average of the total divided in half.
Desperate for filler, news media jump on these "lists" as easy filler. In the past month, one publication ran three "best places to retire" over a couple of days, and each "best place" list was different, each being created by a different site.
Bottom line: these lists are designed to take one site's readers and put those eyeballs on another site's advertisers, with no compensation.
Like Greenville, SC my end of the state of NC has been on lots of those stupid lists much to the detriment of our areas. I can only assume those same areas have undergone similar large influxes of people who, by making such quick and different changes, hadn’t given much thought to what they would be moving into. Those lists really don’t do communities any favors.
The Supreme Court has lit the fuse to a gerrymandering war which Gov Landry of Louisiana kicked into high gear by suspending a primary election that was already underway just do the legislature could redraw their damn maps. He suspended an election so they can gerrymander further. Let that sink in.
Well, I just gotta say... I'm a Utah transplant. I'm from Maryland/Pennsylvania and drove my 40-foot converted school bus across the country and found a small town in Utah with 300 people and said, "yes, this is my home now." Bought a "real house" and ran for Town Council and won. And am now growing a very successful (so far) Airbnb cleaning business with a friend (the business owner).
Utah really and truly is an awesome place to live. Regardless of whether or not we want to agree with this "data", I've first-hand seen the benefits, incredible growth, and the well-being of residents in Utah and I'm staying here 😀
Can the Republican not win without rigging the electoral districts? Seems quite underhanded. But that is not unexpected, is it? I bet the Trump is very exasperated with Iran that it didn't just roll over and say scratch my belly when the US started things.
I do agree, the best place to start a business is where people are. But it also depends on what your business is. Trying to start a kayak business won't be too successful if there are no large bodies of water nearby. Selling ski equipment would be tough on the Prairies. Being successful means knowing your market.
Nerd Wallet, WalletHub and all of the "Best Places for..." are misleading and, frankly, statistical BS. I covered the economy for a business publication. One day, I was working on an article using BEA and BLS data about the economy in Arizona. While writing, one of those "best places..." PR whacks popped into my inbox.
It directly contradicted the BEA data.
I did a little more research and then contacted an economist at Arizona State University's Cary School of Business. Sending him the data, he called, laughing.
"That crap they sent isn't research," he told me. "What they did was take a barrel of apples, a crate of oranges, a bushel of cucumbers, put it in a blender and said, 'I have potatoes.'"
He explained that these "lists" are not research, but data compilation. They take data generated from disparate samples for different purposes. Then they find a common denominator so that a rating can be generated for each datum, which is then added across the "criteria" to come up with a score.
The economist said that the results are completely and totally useless and meaningless.
Then I called the company and arranged to talk with the "researcher." The researcher credited with creating the list admitted that the economist was right; the data used were indeed from surveys of different samples for different purposes. The hardest part of his work, he told me, was finding a common denominator.
For this "ranking," he had used the square root of the average of the total divided in half.
Desperate for filler, news media jump on these "lists" as easy filler. In the past month, one publication ran three "best places to retire" over a couple of days, and each "best place" list was different, each being created by a different site.
Bottom line: these lists are designed to take one site's readers and put those eyeballs on another site's advertisers, with no compensation.
You nailed it.
Like Greenville, SC my end of the state of NC has been on lots of those stupid lists much to the detriment of our areas. I can only assume those same areas have undergone similar large influxes of people who, by making such quick and different changes, hadn’t given much thought to what they would be moving into. Those lists really don’t do communities any favors.
The Supreme Court has lit the fuse to a gerrymandering war which Gov Landry of Louisiana kicked into high gear by suspending a primary election that was already underway just do the legislature could redraw their damn maps. He suspended an election so they can gerrymander further. Let that sink in.
Well, I just gotta say... I'm a Utah transplant. I'm from Maryland/Pennsylvania and drove my 40-foot converted school bus across the country and found a small town in Utah with 300 people and said, "yes, this is my home now." Bought a "real house" and ran for Town Council and won. And am now growing a very successful (so far) Airbnb cleaning business with a friend (the business owner).
Utah really and truly is an awesome place to live. Regardless of whether or not we want to agree with this "data", I've first-hand seen the benefits, incredible growth, and the well-being of residents in Utah and I'm staying here 😀
Can the Republican not win without rigging the electoral districts? Seems quite underhanded. But that is not unexpected, is it? I bet the Trump is very exasperated with Iran that it didn't just roll over and say scratch my belly when the US started things.
I do agree, the best place to start a business is where people are. But it also depends on what your business is. Trying to start a kayak business won't be too successful if there are no large bodies of water nearby. Selling ski equipment would be tough on the Prairies. Being successful means knowing your market.