Bg Chicago/Michigan rivalry?

**Ersby** · September 6th, 2004, 07:02 AM

So, a couple of days ago my girlfriend came back from work with a press release that had been sent to them from Chicago about how successful Chicago was business wise. (She brought it back to show me how packed full of Americanisms and management speak it was, and how was an Italian office supposed to understand it?)

Anyway, I read it through, and right at the end was a list of data about Chicago and how it was number one at this, best at that dum de dah.

The last one was that Chicago made more money than Russia, Switzerland and Michigan.

Michigan? Isn't that a bit of a step down from Russia and Switzerland. Did they run out of other nation states, or is this part of an ongoing rivalry between the two? Were the people writing that thinking "Ha ha! This'll show those Michiganites? We're the best?"

**Ersby** · September 6th, 2004, 07:05 AM

The title should, of course, be Big Chicago/Michigan rivalry. I'm a bit out of practise, you see.

**5Cats** · September 6th, 2004, 04:11 PM

We knw wht u meant.
Aren't English provinces competitive? Lord know your soccer rivalries are.

**Dan the Goob** · September 7th, 2004, 01:57 AM

Well first of all it's "Michiganders"

No big rivalry that I'm aware of. Chicago usually gets compared to New York, however it is #2 in most things, so they won't put that in the press release.

Obviously it is impressive (at least from their point of view) when 1 city does more than an entire state, but why they would pick Michigan over the other surrounding states I'm not sure.

**dwim** · September 7th, 2004, 08:47 PM

eh, sounds like something that usually happens in Dilbert comic strips...

**Dan the Goob** · September 9th, 2004, 05:46 AM

Of the other states in the Midwest, Ohio's gross product is higher than the city of Chicago, Michigan's is lower, but much closer than any of the others.