Forbes index is a pretty miserable<br> measure of Providence’s mettle

To the editor:
I can think of at least half a dozen cities – that I have actually lived in, not just passed through – that I will readily dismiss in favor of my beloved Providence (“Providence among ‘most miserable cities’,” Jan. 31, pbn.com).
The ranking system in Forbes Magazine’s “10 Most Miserable Cities” is hardly objective, and has many built-in prejudices, especially the assumption that high taxes are always inherently bad, and therefore cause misery.
Applying the “Tax Misery” component of the metric to the world’s most wealthy nations, Forbes has repeatedly listed France as the world’s most miserable country, based on consistently high taxes, including a personal income tax rate of 51 percent – which must be very miserable indeed for citizens receiving 100 percent cradle-to-grave health care, in a nation where welfare includes such basic necessities as museum tickets.
For some reason that must be impossible for Forbes to fathom, the French are not fleeing in droves. But should it surprise anyone that an organ with a fiscal mentality bordering on social Darwinism should find taxes more vexing than, say, dying painfully for lack of heath care because one cannot afford the predatory rates of the vultures who advertise “self-insurance” on telephone poles?
And let’s talk weather, too. I personally cannot stand Florida. I find the heat and humidity, well, miserable. I am uncomfortable when it gets above 70 degrees outside. I realize I am in the minority, but my personal “misery index” definitely follows a different course than Forbes’ assumptions. Anyway, if you are making enough money, then weather is not likely to be a major misery factor for you. Weather is more a misery factor for people who have no home.
Which brings me to my final point: This “misery” concept, as laid out here, seems to track more the sort of daily annoyances of the moneyed classes, rather than those with more pressing concerns such as leaking roofs and car problems that have to wait until the rent and heat are paid. Why not include factors for sushi bars per square mile, or Starbucks per capita?
I’m not dismayed to find Providence on a list of “most miserable” cities — or impressed. Forbes has made an irritating hobby of such dubious rankings, including Smartest Cities, Most Lustful Cities, Most Jealous, Vainest and more. This is fine for the sort of vapid fare found on Animal Planet, but that someone at an ostensibly serious financial publication gets paid to assemble these lists really does dismay me. I’d sure be less miserable if that were my job.
This is not only not meaningful information, it is practically the opposite. Something to keep in mind next time Forbes says anything about “creating value” or the like.