Something not so Zen.......

Forbes magazine this week has named my hometown the most miserable place to live in the United States. Cleveland, Ohio.

This came just after I made a point to go visit there to see a long time friend and go to a "reunion" for a club I played in during my high school years.

I miss the place a lot. Sure I am getting old, and looking at just the fonder memories of a rust-belt, smelly, has-been industrial town. Sure, the river burned. It defaulted on bonds. Had riots in the mid-60's. Has not seen a world series since 1954 (which the team lost...).

But I wandered through the art museum, endowed by such industrial giants as the Rockefellers. Saw examples of Rodin, Van Gogh, Renoir, and dozens of other priceless works. Across the street from the Severance Hall, that houses the Cleveland Orchestra, one of the best in the world.

I visited an old haunt, my favorite deli, Corky and Lenny's. Half pound corned beef sandwiches to die for. Real bagels. Pickled tomatoes. And when I said to the guy behind the counter, "I can't get here but once or twice a year. I miss it.", he thanked me for coming in.

And when I went to Davis bakery, a real place to get baked goods, and real Jewish rye, I told them the same story. And got the same thank you response.

What the editors of Forbes seem to forget is that people still live there. 450,000 of them. And in the metropolitan area, maybe 1.5 million more. People who live in Mayfield, Euclid, Richmond Heights, or Lakewood. All suburbs and cities in their own right. But when you ask them where they are from, they will say Cleveland.

The clinical, quantitative analysis that Forbes performed may have been factual, but does not pay homage to those who lived there, or give respect to those who still are there. And why should they? Because Cleveland is symbolic of the real strength on which this nation was built. The industries and people that made the city. Steel and automobiles. Thousands of immigrants, mostly from Europe who gave Cleveland its rich multi-ethnic diversity.

And those bad things that happened? The pollution? It was a result of heavy industry and our country's decision that do not account for externalized costs, like waste disposal and other environmental impact. These will be borne by someone else, not the generators. So the steel mills are gone and sadly, the jobs. But happily, the pollution is gone as well.

So Cleveland's woes are not its own. They were given to it by companies that used it up, and spit it out. They took no responsibility for the community. Senior executives in industry that ignored the world competition, and forfeit our future over the desire for short term gain over long term strength. And eroded the middle class and manufacturing.

To fix a place like Cleveland, we need to fix what we are doing about our economy. Manufacturing acts as a flywheel. Its inertia takes the abruptness out of economic cycles. It slows down and speeds up slower than services. It adds more value back into the economy in follow-up spending. It provides better jobs. So we need to endeavor to build back up manufacturing here in the United States. And focus on creating more middle class jobs. Many non-American car manufacturers make their cars here successfully. Honda, Toyota, and now Korean makers Kia and Hyundai. Even my Bavarian favorite BMW.

So, my hometown, once a great industrial city now has as its largest employer the Cleveland Clinic. Essentially one big hospital. What is wrong with this picture?

The "recovery" we are seeing is an illusion. If we go on believing that a services, retail based economy is sustainable, we will become a society of Lords and Serfs once again.