Miami Called Forbes' No. 1 'Most Miserable City' in America

Considering its penchant for appealing to a millionaire and billionaire readership, Forbes magazine has some nerve picking the nation's most miserable cities. But that's what its editors do. Every year.

And this year it chose as its No. 1 most miserable city in America ... Miami.

They used a formula, an index, that combines unemployment and inflation. In deciding what cities make the list, the editors base their take "on the things people complain about on a regular basis," looking at 10 factors for the 200 largest metro areas in the U.S.

Here's what the article in the latest edition has to say:

"Some (of those 10 factors) are serious, like violent crime, unemployment rates, foreclosures, taxes (income and property), home prices and political corruption. Other factors we included are less weighty, like commute times, weather and how the areas pro sports teams did. While sports, commuting and weather can be considered trivial by many, they can be the determining factor in the level of misery for a significant number of people. One tweak to this years list: we swapped out sales tax rates for property tax rates. Miami would have finished No. 1 under the old methodology as well (click here for more details about the criteria for the list).

"In Miami there is a growing divide between the top 1 percent and the rest of the metro area. Life is good for the likes of LeBron James and Latin pop crooner Enrique Iglesias, whos building a $20 million compound on a private island with girlfriend Anna Kournikova, but if youre among the 75 percent of households with an annual income under $75,000, it can be a hard place. The median home price is down 41 percent the past three years, sixth worst in the country, to $169,000. Its great news for first-time homebuyers; not so great for the 47 percent of homeowners in Miami sitting on underwater mortgages.

"A whopping 364,000 properties in the Miami area have entered the foreclosure process since 2008, according to RealtyTrac. The number of foreclosure filings slowed in Miami and across the country last year, but the housing market is far from a comeback.

"Miami voters are fed up. Last year 88 percent voted to throw Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez out of office in the biggest recall ever of a municipal government official. They were dissatisfied with property tax hikes he pushed though during Miamis real estate meltdown, while doling out raises to staffers at the same time. Miami residents were further outraged by the city and county covering 80 percent of the cost of the Florida Marlins' $634 million stadium set to open in April, despite the Marlins turning fat profits in recent years."

Gov. Rick Scott, working hard to promote the livability of all communities in the state -- but especially its metro areas where commerce thrives -- may want to respond to the Forbes article with a letter to the editor.

Governor, how about laying out some of the city's assets the story overlooked?
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