The Best And The Worst Denominator

Last week we at PC Towers posted on the almost inevitable collapse of good governance in Black African (Such as Nigeria and South Africa), and the black diaspora countries such as Haiti, with corruption, nepotism, rampant crime, Islamic terrorism and civil unrest.

Cleveland Ohio In A Better Light

Well my attention was drawn this week to a recent study that suggested that many of the same issues of governance failure could be said to apply to black majority (usually Democrat run) cities in the US. 

They found that Cleveland, Ohio (D), which has only a 32%* white population (down from 90% in 1940), also has the country's second-highest poverty rate out of all the large cities. It also struggles with a crime rate that's 5.5 times above the state average, and 4.3 times above the US national average ... yet its police force is currently down 313 officers from where it was in 2020, despite a mayoral promise to increase the force. This combination amongst its other metrics results helps to make its citizens the most stressed in the U.S.

In fact, WalletHub (a credit company) who ran a study on the most and least 'stressed' cities in the USA, and used 39 metrics ranging from the cities unemployment rates, to the suicide rates, to compare over 180 cities across the U.S. This included the 150 most populated U.S. cities, to determine where the residents are the most and least stressed by their locations.

Obviously Cleveland came out as number 1 in the most stressed category, with the following 9 cities listed as the top ten most 'stressed':

1. Cleveland (D), Ohio (pop. 68% non white).
2. Detroit (D), Michigan (pop. 79.1% of City of Detroit proper are African American,whilst the  suburbs are still largely white majorities).
3. Baltimore (D), Maryland (pop. 62.5% African/American).
4. Birmingham (D), Alabama (pop. 73% African/American).
5. Philadelphia (D), Pennsylvania (pop. 64% Non White).
6. Shreveport (R), Louisiana (pop. 56% African/American).
7. Memphis (D), Tennessee (pop. 61% African/American).
8. Fayetteville (D), North Carolina (pop. 42% African/American).
9. St. Louis (D), Missouri (pop. split evenly between Whites and African/American at 43% each, with Asian/Hispanics at 9%).
10. Augusta (D), Georgia (pop. 55% African/American).

Only one of the top 10 in the listings is headed by a Republican, and none of the top 5. 

Each of these cities has big issues: For instance Detroit, where the city's residents are about four times more likely to be victims of violent crime than Americans living elsewhere. Similarly, Baltimore, Birmingham and Philadelphia also have high crime and murder rates well above the national average. Washington, D.C. was ranked as the country's most stressful area for work, whilst Cleveland topped the list for financial stress. Fresno, California, ranked at the top for family stress, and the study found that Detroit was the worst for stress due to health and safety issues.

A recent survey from the American Psychological Association has found that 75% of Americans feel stressed about violence and crime, second only to the 83% of Americans who are feeling stressed about the inflation/cost of living crisis (a temporary phenomenon, with US inflation falling fast to around 3% .... whilst crime and violence are always with them). 

Some commentators have said that these findings are hardly a surprise, as these cities are all where many of the residents live off of welfare schemes, paid for by an ever decreasing number of taxpayers. This fuels a never ending cycle of more welfare dependence, leads to more and higher taxes, and ever fewer taxpayers to pay for it. So each city caught in this spiral of having to increase its tax revenue by taxing those who are working even more, has to watch as so many more tax payers move to the suburbs outside the city limits e.g. As is happening in San Francisco .... no one used the term 'white flight,' but that's what this phenomena essentially is.

Of course its worth pointing out, that in most lists of the top 10 US cities to visit, the locations listed are usually also Democrat led as well. A typical visit list would feature cities such as these:

1. New York City (D), New York State, (pop. 69% Non White) ~ 38th most stressed.
2. Chicago, Illinois (D), (pop. 68% Non White) ~ 32nd most stressed.
3. Los Angeles, California (D), (pop. 69% Non White) ~ 48th most stressed.
4. San Francisco, California (D), (pop. 71% Non White) ~ 149th most stressed.
5. Washington, D.C. (D), (pop. 60% Non White) ~ 31st most stressed.
6. Miami, Florida (R), (pop. 86% Non White) ~ 50th most stressed.
7. Boston, Massachusetts (D), (pop. 55% Non White) ~ 121st most stressed.
8. Seattle, Washington (D), (pop. 65% White) ~ 158th most stressed.
9. Houston, Texas (D), (pop. 76% Non White) ~ 14th most stressed.
10. San Jose, California(D), (pop. 75% Non White) ~ 167th most stressed.

Many of these location, also have issues very similar to those in the most stressed list. e.g San Francisco, where the population is falling, with the population decline the worst amongst large U.S. counties between July 1, 2020, and July 2, 2022. While in 2022 there was also a 27 percent city office vacancy rate, as large companies/corporations continue to leave the city for cities such as Austin Texas, and states such as Florida.

Other cities or locations that might feature in any 'U.S. best' lists could be the smaller up and coming locations such as these: 

1. Charleston, South Carolina (D), (pop. 71% White) ~ 164th most stressed.
2. Aspen, Colorado (n/k), (pop. 95% White) ~ Not listed.
3. Santa Fe, New Mexico (D), (pop. 79% White) ~ Not listed.
4. Alexandria, Virginia (D), (pop. 50% White) ~ Not listed.
5. Savannah, Georgia (D), (pop. 50% White) ~ Not listed.
6. Greenville, South Carolina (R), (pop. 64% White) ~ Not listed.
7. Key West, Florida (D), (pop. 61% White) ~ Not listed.
8. Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. (unincorporated), (pop. 75% White - mean average most populated areas).
9. Palm Beach, Fla. (n/k), (pop. 91% White) ~ Not listed.
10. Wilmington, N.C. (D), (pop. 72% White) ~ 43rd most stressed.

According to the study, the least stressed cities were:

1. South Burlington, VT (D), (pop. 90% White).
   
2. Fremont, CA (D), (pop. 77% Non White).
3. Sioux Falls, SD (R), (pop. 87% White).
4. Overland Park, KS (Non Partizan), (pop. 84% White).
5. Fargo, ND (D), (pop. 90% White).
6. Lincoln, NE (Non Partizan), (pop. 85% White).
7. Burlington, VT (D), (pop. 86% White).
8. Bismarck, ND (Non Partizan), (pop. 90% White).
9. Rapid City, SD (n/k), (pop. 80% White).
10. Nashua, NH (D), (pop. 73% White).  

So, as all these locations are also in the main Democratic run cities/towns, its obviously not the fact that they are Democrat run that puts so many of the cities in the 'most stressed' list, particularly as most of those cities and towns placed in the 'U.S. Best' locations listings above, are also Democrat run. 

That leaves only the demographics of the locations, to to give a common denominator of the reasons for inclusion in the most and least stressed cities in America.

*All percentages rounded for ease of reading.