Is Baton Rouge the Best, the Worst or What?

Is Baton Rouge the Best, the Worst or What?

By Woody Jenkins, Editor, Capital City News

According to the experts, Baton Rouge and in fact the entire State of Louisiana are either the best possible place in America to live and work or the worst, and there seems to be little in between.

Consider this: Baton Rouge is the 4th Happiest City in America and the 3rd Best City to Retire in the nation. Too bad it is located in the Saddest State with the Highest Murder Rate in America.

Louisiana is full of quirks.  We are the state with the Highest Church Attendance (tied with Alabama and South Carolina) and the 4th Most Courteous State.  Unfortunately, we have potty mouths!  According to the Marchex Institute, we have the 4th Foulest Language in all 50 states.

We are No. 1 in Natural Gas Reserves, which represents great wealth and the 4th Most Obese people in America.  Perhaps with all this wealth, we don’t have to exercise.  Indeed, we do not exercise and are the Most Sedentary Population in the 50 states (now that’s saying something!).

While we are good about attending church (58 percent attend regularly), we are not so good about attending school and have the 4th Worst Graduation Rate in America (83 percent), perhaps because we have the 2nd Worst Public Schools in America.

We have a great business climate!  We are the Best State to Start a New Business and indeed we are the 5th Most Business Friendly State in America.  Perhaps that’s in part because we have the 2nd Lowest Property Taxes and are the 5th Lowest Taxed State in the country!

Unfortunately, we apparently don’t take advantage of our great business climate and low taxes, because we have the 2nd Highest Rate of Poverty in America!

This may be the reason we are the 10th Most Miserable State in the nation and the Saddest State. It could be that we have the nation’s Highest Murder Rate because we have the nation’s Worst Drivers and 4th Dirtiest Mouths.  Bad mouths and road rage can get you killed!

At least we are a great place to retire!  Everyone agrees on that!  Forbes says Louisiana is the 2nd Best Place to Retire in America and Liveability.com says Baton Rouge is the 3nd Best City to Retire!

Retirement is a great option, because it could allow us to do what we apparently do best.

We can sit around (Most Sedentary State) and eat (4th Most Obese State) while we curse (4th ugliest mouths) our bad public schools (2nd Worst Schools in America) and our rotten politicials (Most Corrupt in America)!

Most of us who live here and love it can console ourselves that most of these ratings are based on statistical models that may or may not reflect the reality of our day to day lives.

As for me, I agree with Liveability.com who declared Baton Rouge to be the 3rd Best Place to Retire in America!

Here’s why, according to them:

• Low taxes

• Warm weather

• Great cultural activities

• LSU

• Great music

• Great food

• Excellent medical facilities

They neglected to mention the most important of all: Great people!

I’m happy too with Louisiana’s open carry law, which allows me to carry my pistol right here on my holster in case somebody decides to be “unfriendly.”

At least we can all agree on one thing:  We are indeed the Flattest State!

Here’s the Good News…

Louisiana: No. 1 in Church Attendance

Source: Forbes – Tied with Alabama and South Carolina

Louisiana: No. 1 in Natural Gas Reserves

Source: Dept. of Energy

Louisiana: No.1 Best State to Start Business

Source: Forbes – One of four states with A rating

Louisiana: 2nd Best Place to Retire

Source: Forbes

Louisiana: 2nd Lowest Property Taxes

Source: Forbes

Baton Rouge: 3rd Best City to Retire

Source: Liveabilty.com

Baton Rouge: 4th Happiest City in America

Source: Harvard reseachers

Louisiana: 4th Most Courteous State

Source: Marchex Institute

Louisiana: 5th Lowest Taxed State

Source: The Tax Foundation

Louisiana: 5th Most Business Friendly

Source: Thumbstick.com

Here’s the Bad News…

 Louisiana: No. 1 Highest Murder RateSource: 24/7 Wall Street

Louisiana: No. 1 Most Corrupt State

Source: Huffington Post

Louisiana: No. 1 Saddest State

Source: Twitter

Louisiana: No. 1 Worst Drivers

Source: Time Magazine

Louisiana: No. 1 Most Sedentary Population

Source: Trust for America’s Heath

Louisiana: 2nd Worst Public Schools

Source: Huffington Post

Louisiana: 2nd Highest Rate of Poverty

Source: U. S. Census

Louisiana: 4th Most Obese in America

Source: USA Today

Louisiana: 4th Worst Foul Language

Source: Marchex Institute

Louisiana: 10th Most Miserable State

Source: USA Today

Twitter Digg Delicious Stumbleupon Technorati Facebook Email

No comments yet... Be the first to leave a reply!