Forbes Magazine, home of the original listicle, has some news for us again: Miami's "gone from bad to worse, with no sign of recovery."
Oh, so they've seen Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami? Actually, no. It's the economy, stupid, and Miami is the best at being the worst:
Miami boasts a popular South Beach club scene, Art Deco Architecture, and perhaps the best Cuban food in the country. But residents don't have much else to celebrate.
More than three years after the economy started its downward slide, the Miami metro area, like a handful of Sun Belt cities, still hasn't begun to recover. Median home prices in Miami have fallen 38% since its market peaked in the second quarter of 2007; the city's 11% unemployment rate is above the national average and has grown more than most of the 40 cities we surveyed.
Uh-oh. Forbes backs up our first place finish with some pretty sobering numbers, which technically cover not just Miami but the Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach areas, too. So there goes our plan to flee somewhere within driving distance.
Change in New Building Permits, 02/07-02/10: -77.46%
Change in Unemployment, 01/07-01/10: 202.70%
Change in New Jobs Added, 02/07 - 02/10: -9.68%
Change in Median Home Price from Market Peak: -38%
Yep, sounds about right. We might also add
Business
Change in Baseball Scoreboards, 04/09 - 04/10: -100%
after the Marlins decided light bulbs are too expensive -- which would normally indicate further economic hell, but, you know, it's the Marlins.
So what do we do? Forbes doesn't offer any solutions, so maybe we just sit back, keep looking for jobs, and enjoy that Cuban food, because soon it could be the canned variety spooned into the loose confines of our ragged and sun-bleached clothing.
Or maybe this is Miami, and once again our clawed, shameless, indomitable form will crawl out of whatever abyss onlookers have assigned us. Here's pulling for the latter.
