Seattle-Area Economy Punches Above Its Weight . . . Compare That With Phx-Mesa

Your MesaZona blogger published a post just a few days ago asking if City Manager was punching-above his weight-class or was he only hitting Mesa taxpayers under-the-belt in a shake-down to rob out-of-pocket money from the public to go into more increasing public debt service obligations to fund more and more fields of schemes to benefit the private wealth creation of deep-pocketed millionaires. We are starting to realize that here. At the same time, Jon Talton who lives is both Phoenix and Seattle can see some drastic fundamental differences in the two cities. 
The Seattle-area economy punches above its weight — and that’s a huge strength
by Jon Talton    Special to The Seattle Times

May 3, 2019 at 6:00 am Updated May 5, 2019 at 11:11 pm 

" . . . this is only a start in explaining why Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue enjoys one of the strongest economies in the nation. How strong? Per capita gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, was nearly $81,000 in 2017. That compares with $61,000 in San Diego and $63,000 in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Larger Phoenix lagged in at $45,000.

Median household income in King County was $83,571 in 2017, far above the national average of $57,652.
This makes for more expensive housing, yes. But the same economy provides the taxes and philanthropy for an extremely generous social-safety net by American standards. It ensures wider opportunity and ladders up than in most metros.
Here, briefly, are the other reasons the Seattle-area punches well above its weight:
YOU CAN READ MORE DETAILS USING THIS LINK > Seattle Times

• Bay Area North
• Concentration
• (Other) Fortune 500 headquarters
• Health
• Maritime
• Military
• Trade
• Transportation and logistics
• Tourism
• Universities
• Venture capital and startups

You can see how many of these elements feed off each other, making for a remarkably strong, resilient and diverse economy. And I’m sure I missed some things.
Other places I’ve worked had easy shorthand for their economies. Charlotte: banks. Denver: The business center of the West. Phoenix: tourism and housing. Cincinnati: Procter & Gamble. San Diego: tourism, some research and the Navy. Houston: oil.
Seattle is different. It defies easy generalizations, and that’s a remarkable strength. No wonder we lead in the competition for two coveted elements that can go anywhere: talent and capital.
This took generations to build and still can’t be taken for granted. But if you’re new to town and can’t easily get your arms around the place, this is a big reason why.