| Introduction - Mercer Human Resource Consulting has | | | | cars. They have awful smog. Their cost of living is |
| released their 2007 findings. These are surveys which | | | | insane with many homes selling for over three million |
| rate cities according to certain criteria they elect to | | | | dollars. Their traffic jams are world class. Their public |
| use. They use New York City as a baseline with a | | | | schools are beyond bad, they are not safe. They have |
| rating of 100 for their surveys. Cities coming in under | | | | police with metal detectors in their schools. Then we |
| that are worse and over that are better. Mercer is a | | | | can get into drug addiction, gang violence, and on the |
| well-respected source of this information. | | | | list grows. How in the world could this be a nice place |
| Panama Standings for Quality of Living - Mercer uses | | | | to live beats me. So what is Mercer thinking anyway? |
| 39 criteria to determine quality of living. These criteria | | | | Panama Cost of Living - Panama has not made it into |
| include social, economic, crime, police, banking, currency | | | | the top fifty most expensive cities to live in. In 2007 |
| and related controls, censorship by the government, | | | | Panama ranked 124 out of 143, which is fairly low. San |
| personal freedoms, medical facilities, doctors and | | | | Paulo and Rio de Janeiro were the most expensive |
| pharmacies, education, transportation, public services, | | | | cities in Latin America with positions 62 and 63. |
| weather, climate, and other criteria. It is not based on | | | | Asuncion Paraguay continues to hold place 143 as the |
| the number of bars, restaurants, ballparks etc although | | | | cheapest place to live. Following closely is Buenos |
| these are factors in the equation. It is not a surprise | | | | Aires in position 139, Montevideo Uruguay in position |
| that Baghdad is the worst city in this survey with a | | | | 140 and Quito Ecuador in position 141. Mercer does this |
| score of 14.5. Zurich hit the number one spot for quality | | | | survey using 200 different criteria such as cost of |
| of life with a score of 108.1 and Geneva comes in | | | | husing, food, medical, transportation and so forth. |
| close with a score of 108. Vancouver and Vienna | | | | Discussion - Panama is going through a housing boom. |
| follow with a score of 107 tied for third place. Panama | | | | Most of the new homes are not yet completed or |
| comes in with a score of 82.9 situating it in 92nd place. | | | | occupied. This would mean they are not yet included |
| So mercer feels that there are 91 better cities to live in. | | | | into the study. If one puts a deposit on a home paying |
| For a frame of reference Budapest came in with a | | | | $3500 a sq. meter this is not a completed transaction |
| score of 90.2 giving is 74th place. Detroit came in 64th | | | | and thus would not be included in any statistics |
| place with a score of 96.1. Pittsburg came in with a | | | | concerning real estate prices which are based on |
| score of 99.7 giving it 52nd place. The craziest thing | | | | actual sales, not based on deposits. When these new |
| yet is Los Angeles, which came in with a score of 98.3 | | | | projects get certificates of occupancy then we will |
| giving it 55th place. Detroit, Los Angeles is extremely | | | | see the cost of living spike up sharply. Housing is the |
| dangerous place. Their homicide and violent crime | | | | largest expenditure one generally makes. This will then |
| rates are through the roof. In certain sections of Los | | | | rack Panama up there in the cost of living index. |
| Angeles the police go on calls in groups of four squad | | | | |