It's Easy to be Cynical

It's easy to be cynical about our city. When I saw a Forbes headline reading, "Cities Where The Recession Is Easing", I was sure my hometown would rank close to the bottom if not on the very bottom. Imagine my surprise when number ten popped up with a picture of Union Station.

To be clear, we're talking here about the Kansas City metropolitan statistical area, which is the Federal government's definition of what constitutes the "Kansas City Metropolitan Area". One other thing you should know. Changes in the gross domestic product for the local MSA usually looks like changes in the gross domestic product for the state of Kansas. In other words, the graphs have the same general shape. This suggests, as if it's a surprise to anyone that it's Johnson county and Wyandotte county that are driving the area's economy. (I occasionally spend time looking through the Fed's economic data. I haven't found anything that shows me KCMO proper. If somebody knows where to find that information, please post in a comment.)

What does that mean for Kansas City, Missouri? I see this as inspiration. If Kansas City, proper can come into its own, we could become one of the best metropolitan areas in the country.