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NOTE: THIS IS A BRAND NEW BLOG FROM THE TWISTED MIND OF THE MIGHTY SWORD. IT'S NOT GONNA BE FUN (except for me, anyway), NOR WILL IT BE PLEASANT. FOR YOU WHO SWEAR BY THIS CITY, AS WELL AS THIS STATE, YOU MAY WANT TO A.) BRING A GARBAGE PAIL IN WHICH TO PUKE IN, OR B.) READ A MORE POSITIVE/PLEASANT BLOG CONCERNING THESE SUBJECTS! SINCE IT'S NEW, THE FIRST POST, AS IN ALL OF MY BLOGS, WILL BE THE LONGEST. THEREFORE I WILL BE WRITING IT IN PIECES, SAVING, PUBLISHING, THEN COMING BACK AGAIN. IF IT DOESN'T SEEM DONE, THEN IT'S NOT DONE.
Hey kids! Never thought you'd see me over here didja? Hehe. Well, come on in. Please wipe yer feet. Grab some fresh made popcorn. That's the way. Now, pull up a chair, and enjoy my story. For those of you just joining in, I write a rather good blog (or so I'm told...I could be horribly wrong) on the other side of this site called "America's Deadly Sins". It, not unlike the plans I have for this one, will never be all that nice, never all that sweet, and definitely, without question NOT kind. Everything you see here is cut and dried, as honest and straight up as I can make it, and it is, undeniably, the truth. All opinions, of course, are my own, but will be backed up as much as possible by data, pictures, etc., and will be up for debate, should you leave comments. Unlike the other blog, I will be going out of my way to give credit where credit is due. I'm not a guy with a lot of time (considering this country is on it's way to becoming a distant memory), so it's been hard to give ALL credit. In this one, I will...most certainly.
That other blog, by the way? http://themightyswordamericasdeadlysins.blogspot.com
The Mighty Swords Credentials: I've lived in Des Moines since 1975. In Iowa since 1968. I have plenty of schooling, and a 147 I.Q. I am not a felon, a major criminal, a moron, nor am I a fool. My other blog, since March, has garnered 5,318 followers, including Senators, Lawyers, Models, Patriots of every political view, Musicians of every type, Campaign managers, Editors from CNN, Politicians, Comedians, Military types...you name it. And the best part? I didn't ask for a single person to follow me, nor did I pay a single dime for anybody. What's more, I never solicited, asked, or begged for even one. They saw. They read. They followed. Simple as that. I don't advertise either, to drive anyone to that blog. I must be doing something right, with nearly 302,000 Google Plus views and upwards of 49,000 Blogger views...in 12 countries circling the globe.
See, the deal is, that Iowa...no, no more importantly, DES MOINES, Iowa, is ranked pretty high in this state, and in our country too! Makes a citizen proud to be here, it does...or, at least, it SHOULD!! Let's rattle off the numbers, shall we, per whatever weirdo unknown companies they're using to come up with these ranks. We'll begin with what's probably due to be my favorite of all of these ranks, the first one, Economic Strength.
The number? Ooo, I just know our founders would just be plumb proud of this one...
#1 - Metro for Economic Strength. This city. Of all. The cities. In this country. Is. #1. In Economic Strength. Right. I'm sorry, who's the collector (as well as the respected publisher) of this particular data again? Policom Corporation. 2014. Sorry folks. Never heard of ya.
OK, well, let's begin with the list of everything I'm going to be referring to in this new blog of mine, since this would be the most glaringly obvious flaw in the overall logic of displaying a list like this. Huh? Ohhhhh......Now I know what I just said! What I said was, THIS LIST IS BOGUS!!!
I'm pretty sure that I won't be finding this list anywhere but on the City of Des Moines website, except maybe on the State of Iowa website. If we were to send a copy to the Government, we might take things too far. They might have to investigate these findings for themselves. See, just about every ranking, you may notice, has a different listing as to who comes up with these numbers, with the obvious exception of Forbes Magazine, which is listed five or six times. There's something that just HAS to click, in the mind of practically anyone who would sport an intelligence level of more than 6th Grade. Not only is this list BOGUS, it's BIASED!! Yes, that's right, biased, one-sided, leaning towards the left or the right...you get the idea.
What about last year? The year before? And who is this company, exactly? What's their track record, as far as being right and wrong? What about the remainder of this data? How many years has this company been in business? Let's find out, shall we?
OKOK...they've been in business 19 years. That's a good start. For those of you that would like to follow along, you may.
http://policom.com
They are, however, an INDEPENDENT "Economic Development Consultant". I'm not a true fan of that word, INDEPENDENT. Independent to me equals CORRUPTIBLE. It also means NON-REGULATED. This means that I could, feasibly pay you for good results, and that the company could feasibly take that money. But hey, who's counting? I'll move on from that one.
Then there's the fact that they're in Florida, nearly 1500 miles away. I have to wonder how many of their reps live in Iowa. I don't know, exactly, but I'd sure like to find out. If it wasn't anyone in Iowa, how long did they spend in Iowa to collect their data, and what's the amount of give and take with their accuracy? What are their sources? I'd like to know these things. How about the rest of you?
The answer, by the way to the previous question, is one. One person. Oh, and not just one person; one person who has also evaluated 700 other economies as well. He's also the presenter of these reports. He does 700 reports on the economy every year. That's a lot for one guy. I'd say, considering the average time would be around 2 weeks per report, that his margin for error, whether documented or not, is pretty large. Before he did these findings, the man was the VP for a large land development company in Florida, for seven years. I don't really know about the rest of the world, but I'm most certainly not trusting of too many land developers. Why, I can't really say. Might have something to do with people who sell ocean-front property in Arizona, or who sell the government toxic waste dumps so that they can make Army bases on them, then let a town build up next to it without telling them what the dangers are, then shuffle through and allow hundreds of naive military entrants to train there, for almost 30 years....Oh, yeah, I trust land developers all right. Just the kind of guy I want giving me economic data (for more on that military base, which I served on for 6 months, Google Ft. McClellan, AL, or Aniston, AL, the town that cropped up next to it. Be sure and look for what they've done for the veterans that trained there, over the years).
Oh, but that man has HUNDREDS of loyal clients in his list. Among these? For Iowa? There are only two. If nothing else on earth will make you skeptical of this guys data, then nothing will. They are: The Iowa Banking Association, and Iowa Professional Developers. And, those results are OUTTTTTTA THERE!!!!!! 'Nuff said, and good luck convincing me of the truth of those results.
I'm done with this company. Let's go on. What about last year, who was the number one Metro For Economic Strength for last year? I don't really know. Nor do I care to look. See, I think the whole thing goes something like this.
If there's a promising metro area that's just not bringin' it in like it used to? I think that the City Councils in these areas go on a hunt for companies that will lie to boost their numbers, or that they can pay for better numbers...or at the very least will SAY that their numbers are good. I think just the one I mentioned is more than enough proof of that.
Now, being a 37 year resident of this town, I think, more than qualifies me as an expert on the "Economic Strength" of Des Moines Iowa. Here then, are my own personal results, which I imagine are at the very least 50% more accurate than Policom's results.
Since I've been here, I have never had a corporate position in this town's main business, insurance.
Since I've been here, in Des Moines, I have never held a corporate position, for ANYONE.
Since I've been here, in Des Moines, I have never EVER gotten a job from Iowa Workforce Development.
Since I've been here, in Des Moines, I haven't been able to get a job ANYPLACE, since 2002.
Since I've been here, I have never made more than $10.00 per hour.
Since I've been here, just about every friend I've had is now gone.
Since I've been here, just about every business I've ever remembered that was here in 1976 (with a few notable exceptions - Mostly banks, insurance companies, one versatile and smart publishing company, Meredith, and one clothing Department store, Younkers) Is gone, moved away, or closed it's doors, permanently.
OK, well, so what kind of a person am I? Sure, I've been in trouble a couple of times (that I was caught for). I have a shoplifting charge...from 2002. I have a misdemeanor prostitution charge (funny story, that one) from 1986. And last, I have a drug possession charge from 1982 (which was from an incident in 1979, another funny story). The first two charges have never ever affected my being hired for a position anyplace. The last one, however, the shoplifting charge, has stopped me from getting hired anyplace for 11 years. I have plenty of experience in an awful lot of fields, and I have nearly two college degrees (I didn't get to college until nearly 2010. My hatred of colleges and education systems is multi-pronged in its complexity, and so is the dependency of this city of those degrees. It would take entirely too long to beat it over the head now. I do relate much about that in my other blog, listed above).
I'm jobless, very nearly homeless, I have no cash to speak of, so, of course, I have nothing better to do with my time, these days, but blog about the state of the nation, and the condition of my home of nearly 37 collective years. Do I believe in the Economic Strength of this city? HELL no. Every time I move away, I can usually get a job in 3 days or less, make a lot more than $10.00/hr., and live quite well. As soon as I come back, my life goes right down the tubes, I can't get a job to save my ass, and all I can think about is where I'm going to move away to next. So as long as things remain the way they are, then watch out; because my plan will be to single-handedly prove Des Moines, Iowa to NOT BE the place to live in this, or any other century. Am I bitter? Sure am. Full of hate and revenge on its businesses and people? Damned straight. Wrong about any of it? I doubt it.
I will be going through the ENTIRE list of the rankings concerning this city. After that, I plan to rip apart each and every thing about this city that's idiotic, criminal, or just plain wrong. If you stay, well hallelujah, welcome to the land of truth and honesty. If you'd like to, however, scoff and walk off...well, good luck. Lemme know how your life works out for you in a few years. Add to that, we'll always welcome you back over here with open arms, once your opinion is more in line with ours. :D
