Is Richard Florida full of S***?

**illwill** · July-09-12, 11:53 PM

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/job...s-metros/2233/

I don't take this guy to seriously. I compare him to a tabloid journalist. He'll always have a job by creating his own stories.

**Gannon** · July-10-12, 12:33 AM

Originally Posted by illwill

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/job...s-metros/2233/

I don't take this guy to seriously. I compare him to a tabloid journalist. He'll always have a job by creating his own stories.

Well, he is wrong on simple things which should've been caught in editing...so I distrust his conclusions!

Ten years ago, the metros with the very lowest concentrations of the creative class were small, mostly tourist destinations. That is still the case today: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Dalton, Georgia; Ocala and Naples, Florida; Ocean City, New Jersey, and manufacturing towns in the old Rust Belt, like Elkhart, Indiana; Sandusky, Ohio; and Michigan City, Michigan, all cluster at the bottom of the list. Houma, Louisiana, an oil town, ranks near the bottom as well. Las Vegas had just 22.7 percent of its workforce in the creative class, placing it in the bottom 10 of all U.S. metros.

Michigan City is in Indiana. Barely, but it ain't in Michigan.

**Hermod** · July-10-12, 04:05 AM

Originally Posted by Gannon

Well, he is wrong on simple things which should've been caught in editing...so I distrust his conclusions! Michigan City is in Indiana. Barely, but it ain't in Michigan.

Maybe some editor changed it from Indiana to Michigan to match the city name and the author had it right originally.

**iheartthed** · July-10-12, 07:33 AM

He defines creative class as everything but manufacturing? That's a very creative definition.

**Gannon** · July-10-12, 07:37 AM

Originally Posted by Hermod

Maybe some editor changed it from Indiana to Michigan to match the city name and the author had it right originally.

Actually, it was a joke calling out those who throw out entire theories and such due to simple mistakes. I've got to use those smilies more often, I guess.

I'll need to read his whole tome, it'll be curious to see if he ever says he was wrong on anything. He spoke SO definitively when we all paid big money to see him at Orchestra Hall...how many years ago was that?!

Rockstar Economist, indeed.

I LIKE that he is sticking his neck out attempting to define the changes in society WHILE they are changing, though. Most of academia won't touch a thing while it is still morphing and growing...they can't isolate the stasis in it, heh!

Cheers!

**illwill** · July-10-12, 08:53 AM

Originally Posted by Gannon

I LIKE that he is sticking his neck out attempting to define the changes in society WHILE they are changing, though. Most of academia won't touch a thing while it is still morphing and growing...they can't isolate the stasis in it, heh!

I agree with that statement Gannon.

**DetroitPlanner** · July-10-12, 08:59 AM

Richard Florida is a snake oil salesmen. Most of his creative class cities are creative because they are stable environments, smaller cities that rely on enormous state government work forces or universities. Its easy to be creative when you husband/wife has a good paying job and excellent benefits.

**Brich** · July-10-12, 11:36 AM

This is a critique of Florida's creative class that came out recently:

http://thirtytwomag.com/2012/06/the-...reative-class/

**ghettopalmetto** · July-10-12, 11:52 AM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

Richard Florida is a snake oil salesmen. Most of his creative class cities are creative because they are stable environments, smaller cities that rely on enormous state government work forces or universities. Its easy to be creative when you husband/wife has a good paying job and excellent benefits.

Or is it the converse? I would argue that creative people help stabilize a city, and that creative people tend to have better-paying jobs.

The people of which Florida writes are the people who can choose to live wherever they want. What, then, do you think motivates their choices? Are the brightest people going to seek out places with a "woe-is-me, life sucks" attitude, or a place with a bit [[or at least the possibility) of civic self-esteem and quality of life?