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<p>Ipsos, a market research organization, recently conducted a poll to find The World's Favorite City.</p> <p>The company polled more than 18,000 people in 24 countries to find out the best cities to do business in, live in, and visit.</p> <p>Ipsos then tallied the responses to determine which global cities ranked the highest across all three categories.</p>

NEW YORK (AP) — Fast-food customers in search of burgers and fries on Thursday might run into striking workers instead. Organizers say thousands of fast-food workers are set to stage walkouts in dozens of cities around the country, part of a push to get chains such as McDonald's, Taco Bell and Wendy's to pay workers higher wages. It's expected be the largest nationwide strike by fast-food workers, according to organizers. The biggest effort so far was over the summer when about 2,200 of the nation's millions of fast-food workers staged a one-day strike in seven cities. Thursday's planned walkouts follow...

Violent crime reports rose in America for the first time in 2006, according to FBI statistics. However, the recent 1.2% increase belies a long-term trend: America is becoming a much safer country. To find out which parts of America are the safest, we looked at the FBI's latest report on crime and found cities with violent crime rates substantially below the national average. We only included cities with populations of more than 200,000 to exclude suburban areas. Many of the cities are repeat winners from our 2011 report on America's safest cities. Irvine, Calif. has been the safest city in...

"Redistributing" the Wealth

Singapore is currently the most competitive city in the world, beating out New York and London, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), which focuses on global research. However, says the EIU, by 2025, New York City will be number one. In order for a city to be globally competitive, it must have a large and growing economy, a good legal system, an inviting and productive culture, good infrastructure and it must have good policy on things that determine long-term stability and success, like the environment. The EIUÂ’s latest report attempts to identify those cities that, as of 2012, best...

Thursday, June 13, 2013 Little Brother in the Big City Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog 0 Comments When the big things start getting out of control, we start focusing on the little ones instead. Tackling small problems we can't solve is a good way to feel good about the big ones that we can't. Can't do anything about the nice young men from Nigeria, Somalia and Bangladesh who occasionally stop maxing out social welfare and working odd jobs to set off bombs in the London Underground or butcher a soldier within sight of his base? Just...

American households are under stress again, according to the latest consumer distress index by CredAbility. “Despite the growth in jobs and an improved housing market, our index shows that the average U.S. household has seen little improvement in the past year and took a step back in 2013’s first quarter,” according to Phil Baldwin, CEO of CredAbility. Baldwin is referring to the rise in payroll taxes at the start of the year, which has forced people to save more. CredAbility adds that 49 million people are still on food stamps, and nearly 12 million are still unemployed. American households on...

Which U.S. cities have the highest costs of living? The Council for Community and Economic Research recently measured the prices of common purchases in 307 urban areas to find the cost of the professional standard of living in each location. The index, its fifth edition, crunched more than 50,000 prices -- everything from grocery items to transportation to housing. The national average on the index is 100. Following is a look at each of the 10 most expensive cities in the United States.

Gallup is out with its latest batch of "well-being" data, and a new city has fallen to the lowest spot in the rankings. This year, Charleston, W.Va. ranked lowest on the pollster's index of well-being in metropolitan areas. It displaced Huntington-Ashland, W.Va.-Ky.-Ohio, which came in last place the previous two years. The index ranks well-being by averaging scores in six categories: Life evaluation, emotional health, work environment, physical health, healthy behaviors, and access to basic necessities.

Detroit for the fourth year in a row, is ranked as the "most dangerous city" in America according to Forbes online. The statistics indicate that Detroit suffered about 2,137 acts of violent crime per 100,000 residents. However, when we rank the extraordinary crime levels for each of these 'dangerous' cities, we noticed a startling trend in our quick research, and we weren't the only ones who noticed it, apparently. You see, each of these cities has one commonality being that each is also led by a Democrat Mayor, and these days you know what Democrat actually means.... "Liberal." Indeed, if...

Many qualities separate the best-run and worst-run cities. But perhaps the most important is access to jobs. The economies of the best-run cities fall into two categories. They either have a booming industry or are near other major urban areas that create employment opportunities. The worst-run cities simply do not have the same access to jobs. 24/7 Wall St.Â’s analysis of the best-run and worst-run cities demonstrates that encouraging businesses to prosper and create jobs is the most important function of local government.Read the Best-Run Cities in AmericaRead the Worst-Run Cities in America24/7 Wall St. has completed its first...

Forget Wal-Mart and skip your local gun show. The murderers of tomorrow will not be found wearing orange vests at your local sporting goods store. They won't have NRA memberships or trophies on their walls. You won't find them in America. Look for them in Obamerica. 67% of firearm murders took place in the country's 50 largest metro areas. The 62 cities in those metro areas have a firearm murder rate of 9.7, more than twice the national average. Among teenagers the firearm murder rate is 14.6 or almost three times the national average. Those numbers are from six years...

9. Chandler, Ariz. > Violent crime per 1,000 people: 2.86 (14th lowest) > Poverty rate: 8.2% (6th lowest) > Adult population graduated from high school: 91.5% (13th highest) > Credit rating: Aaa (stable outlook) > Population: 236,775 Chandler is one of the newest large cities in the U.S. The city was incorporated in 1951, but the population did not truly expand until very recently. In 1980, Chandler, which is located within the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, had a population of 30,000. Now, it has a population of 247,000. There are countless examples of cities that experienced this level of growth,...

Despite the global economic slowdown, Asia's cities are continuing to widen the perceived technological gap between its American counterparts. The juxtaposition is visible from the moment your feet leave the plane. Many of the airports in Asia's biggest cities are stunning, engineering marvels — and make those in the U.S. seem outdated. Has America's early leadership in technology and engineering evaporated? Or is it hidden at first glance? 1) The Shanghai Magnetic Levitation (Maglev) floats on magnets and is the world's fastest commercially operated train, traveling at speeds up to 268 mph. 2) Seoul's local government has launched a $44...

Four more years! Four more years! Reuters: ******** Retailers moving into old downtown buildings, an abundance of freshly planted greenspaces, and a stream of new jobs in Knoxville, Tennessee, are all signs to Mayor Madeline Rogero that for the last year prosperity has been blooming in her city. "We feel very good about how we're coming out of this recession," Rogero said. "We see new interest. We see new development that's occurring. We're optimistic that this recovery is going to continue." Knoxville is a member of a very small club. Three and a half years since the 2007-09 economic recession...

[snip] Under the ordinance, stores will be prohibited from offering customers plastic bags for carrying out purchases and will be required to charge a dime per paper bag. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2015, the price of paper bags will go up to 25 cent each. [snip] "Most of the comments I've gotten to date are not only supportive, but they are really enthused about it," said Moura, adding that the only complaint he's heard involves the paper bag charge. County officials are hoping as many of the bans will go into effect as possible by April 22, which is Earth...

Government programs designed to help the poor have destroyed generations of American families, schools, and culture. One would think that repeated bad economic news and the downgrading of families that inhibit job growth would lead people to find a better solution to help them out of their impoverished condition. Instead, they vote for the same type of politician who blames the wealthy, calls for tax increases, and wonders why poverty goes up, businesses move out, and crime and illegitimacy soar. The following ten cities have a great deal in common. The first thing is their poverty level. The second is...

New Yorkers love to complain about how expensive their city is, but a new study reveals that the Big Apple is more affordable for middle class families than places like Cincinnati, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, or Portland, Oregon. New York is the tenth most affordable major city for middle-income homes -- thanks to high median incomes and the city's expansive transportation system, according to a report by the Center for Housing Policy and Center for Neighborhood Technology. New York wasn't the only surprise on the list. The most affordable city, according to the study, was Washington, DC, which is another notoriously...

Four (4) US Cities made the top 50 most dangerous cities in the world and for various reasons but ostensibly for their dangerous murder rate level. I have highly excerpted this article. The entire list can be found at: http://www.businessinsider.com/most-dangerous-cities-in-the-world-2012-10?op=1 Looking at the top 50 most dangerous cities in the world here is the list of those US cities and who is leading them, you will most likely NOT be surprised: #48 Baltimore: Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake (Democrat) City has been led by democrats since 1967 #43 Saint Louis: Mayor Francis G. Slay (Democrat) City has been led by democrats...

Earlier, this year, a Mexican think tank — the Citizens' Council for Public Security and Criminal Justice — released a study ranking the world's most violent cities in 2011, and the results were astonishing. The 20 most violent cities were all in Latin America. The USA had some alarming scores too, led by New Orleans at 21. Other dangerous cities were located in Africa. None of the top 50 was in Europe or Asia, despite great unrest in those regions. The ranking is based on murder rate per capita in 2011.