There’s a secret that corporate America, the GOP, the DLC, MBA programs, and the Clinton Campaign don’t want you to know…
First, meet Mercer, the world's largest human resources consulting firm, headquartered in New York City, with more than 20,500 employees in offices in 40 countries. Mercer ranks the world’s “most livable cities.” James321 has an excellent diary on their most recent ranking — pointing out that not one of the 23 cities are in the USA. That kinda hurts.
Mercer’s website front-page story is this: “Mercer’s 18th annual Quality of Living survey looks at the key factors for multinationals to consider when sending expatriate workers abroad, providing valuable data, hardship premium recommendations, and quality rankings for 230 cities worldwide. “
So if the US wants to improve the quality of life for our citizens (not to mention attracting top multinational businesses), how might we get some of our cities on that list?
Here’s the secret: of the 23 cities on that list, at least 21 of them are in countries which have elected Social Democratic governments at one time or another.
One of the two exceptions is the rich but tiny duchy of Luxembourg (population 525,000, total area 998 square miles, e.g. 32 x 32 miles) -- not much of a model for us.
The other (partial) ‘exception’ is Canada, which has never elected a national democratic socialist government, but has elected social democrats as governors (premiers) of 9 out of 11 Canadian provinces (including all three which include a "top 23 livable city”). (In New Brunswick they came in 2nd, in Newfoundland 5th.)
Here is the full List of Countries with one or more of the “World’s Top 23 Most Liveable Cities,” in rank order, as determined by Mercer HR consulting, and their D.S. status:
Elected a Social Democrat govt? |
23. Canada |
Yes |
|
22. Australia |
Yes |
|
22. Belgium |
Yes |
|
20. Sweden |
Yes |
|
20. Luxembourg |
|
No |
18. Germany |
Yes |
|
17. Canada |
|
No (but 9 provinces) |
16. Australia |
Yes |
|
16. Canada |
|
No (but 9 provinces) |
14. Switzerland |
Yes |
|
13. Germany |
Yes |
|
12. New Zealand |
Yes |
|
11. Netherlands |
Yes |
|
10. Australia |
Yes |
|
9. Denmark |
Yes |
|
8. Switzerland |
Yes |
|
8. Switzerland |
Yes |
|
7. Germany |
Yes |
|
6. Germany |
Yes |
|
5. Canada |
|
No (but 9 provinces) |
4. Germany |
Yes |
|
3. New Zealand |
Yes |
|
2. Switzerland |
Yes |
|
1. Austria |
Yes |
|
Gee, d’ya think there’s a pattern here?
Do ya think there’s a way to help get some US cities on this list?