Meanwhile……you want to be productive and have
Post# of 123761
Like I said, the makers in this country, the 'economic engines', are primarily in large metro areas.
And once again, because of that....move your lips as you read....those massive GDPs provide the tax base that is yes, REDISTIBUTED mostly to lower GDP, lower tax areas of the country.
Main article: Economy of Chicago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Chicago
Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $670.5 billion according to September 2017 estimates.[179] The city has also been rated as having the most balanced economy in the United States, due to its high level of diversification.[180]
In 2007, Chicago was named the fourth-most important business center in the world in the MasterCard Worldwide Centers of Commerce Index.[181] Additionally, the Chicago metropolitan area recorded the greatest number of new or expanded corporate facilities in the United States for calendar year 2014.[182]
The Chicago metropolitan area has the third-largest science and engineering work force of any metropolitan area in the nation.[183] In 2009 Chicago placed ninth on the UBS list of the world's richest cities.[184]
Chicago was the base of commercial operations for industrialists John Crerar, John Whitfield Bunn, Richard Teller Crane, Marshall Field, John Farwell, Julius Rosenwald and many other commercial visionaries who laid the foundation for Midwestern and global industry.
Chicago is a major world financial center, with the second-largest central business district in the United States.[185] The city is the seat of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Bank's Seventh District. The city has major financial and futures exchanges, including the Chicago Stock Exchange, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (the "Merc" , which is owned, along with the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) by Chicago's CME Group.
In 2017, Chicago exchanges traded 4.7 billion derivatives with a face value of over one quadrillion dollars. Chase Bank has its commercial and retail banking headquarters in Chicago's Chase Tower.[186] Academically, Chicago has been influential through the Chicago school of economics, which fielded some 12 Nobel Prize winners.
The city and its surrounding metropolitan area contain the third-largest labor pool in the United States with about 4.63 million workers.[187] Illinois is home to 66 Fortune 1000 companies, including those in Chicago.[188]
The city of Chicago also hosts 12 Fortune Global 500 companies and 17 Financial Times 500 companies. The city claims three Dow 30 companies: aerospace giant Boeing, which moved its headquarters from Seattle to the Chicago Loop in 2001,[189] McDonald's and Kraft Heinz.
According to Site Selection magazine, the Chicago area has seen the most corporate headquarters relocation or expansion projects in the US for each of four consecutive years form 2013 to 2016.[190]
Caterpillar Inc. will be moving its global headquarters, with about 300 executives and staff and support personnel, to the Chicago suburb of Deerfield, Illinois, while its high-technology center is in Chicago, by the end of 2018.[191][192] The headquarters of United Continental Holdings, its subsidiary United Airlines, and its operations center are in the Willis Tower in Chicago.
Manufacturing, printing, publishing and food processing also play major roles in the city's economy. Several medical products and services companies are headquartered in the Chicago area, including Baxter International, Boeing, Abbott Laboratories, and the Healthcare division of General Electric.
In addition to Boeing, which located its headquarters in Chicago in 2001, and United Airlines in 2011, GE Transportation moved its offices to the city in 2013 and GE Healthcare moved its HQ to the city in 2016, as did ThyssenKrupp North America, and agriculture giant Archer Daniels Midland.[13]
Moreover, the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which helped move goods from the Great Lakes south on the Mississippi River, and of the railroads in the 19th century made the city a major transportation center in the United States. In the 1840s, Chicago became a major grain port, and in the 1850s and 1860s Chicago's pork and beef industry expanded.
As the major meat companies grew in Chicago many, such as Armour and Company, created global enterprises. Although the meatpacking industry currently plays a lesser role in the city's economy, Chicago continues to be a major transportation and distribution center.
Lured by a combination of large business customers, federal research dollars, and a large hiring pool fed by the area's universities, Chicago is also the site of a growing number of web startup companies like CareerBuilder, Orbitz, Basecamp, Groupon, Feedburner, Grubhub and NowSecure.[193]
Prominent food companies based in Chicago include the world headquarters of Kraft Heinz, Mondelez International, Ferrara Candy Company, McDonald's, Quaker Oats, and ConAgra.
Chicago has been a hub of the Retail sector since its early development, with Montgomery Ward, Sears, and Marshall Field's. Today the Chicago metropolitan area is the headquarters of several retailers, including Walgreens, Sears, Ace Hardware, Claire's, ULTA Beauty and Crate & Barrel.
Late in the 19th century, Chicago was part of the bicycle craze, with the Western Wheel Company, which introduced stamping to the production process and significantly reduced costs,[194] while early in the 20th century, the city was part of the automobile revolution, hosting the Brass Era car builder Bugmobile, which was founded there in 1907.[195] Chicago was also the site of the Schwinn Bicycle Company.
Chicago is a major world convention destination. The city's main convention center is McCormick Place. With its four interconnected buildings, it is the largest convention center in the nation and third-largest in the world.[196] Chicago also ranks third in the U.S. (behind Las Vegas and Orlando) in number of conventions hosted annually.[197]
Chicago's minimum wage for non-tipped employees is one of the highest in the nation and will incrementally reach $13 per hour by 2019.[198]
And...………….new construction continues unabated.
https://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php...p;page=407