Live from Music Row, Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed CNBC Senior Correspondent Scott Cohn to the newsmaker line to defend his recent article claiming Tennessee is the ninth-worst state in the country to live in.
Leahy: We welcome to our newsmaker line, a very brave man – Scott Cohn with CNBC, wrote a story in which, wait for it, the geniuses at CNBC said, Tennessee is the ninth-worst state in the country to live in.
Of course, all of us in our listening audience know that Tennessee is the best state in the country to live in. Welcome, Scott. Thanks for joining us.
Cohn: Well, thank you for having me, Michael. Good morning.
Leahy: So you live in Santa Cruz, California, right?
Cohn: I do.
Leahy: California, according to CNBC, you say it’s a better place to live than Tennessee. Is that right?
Cohn: According to our data, it’s a better place to live than Tennessee. It’s not a great place to live. And I can tell you firsthand some of the issues out here with crime, air quality, and other things that we look at. So we all have our issues.
Leahy: Scott, in-studio, our all-star panelist, Crom Carmichael. Crom has a couple of questions for you. Crom, go ahead.
Carmichael: Yes, I’m looking at your 10-best list, and there’s one thing that kind of stands out, and that is most of the ones that are on the list are relatively sparsely populated. Vermont is number one. Maine is number two. Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota, they’re all relatively sparsely populated. Do you think that the low population factors into the results, or how your criteria and the population kind of fit together to make it more livable?
Cohn: It’s not something that we look at specifically, but for example, one of the factors that we look at is crime rates. And I guess in some of the less populated states, they may have lower crime rates.
Certainly, Vermont, which was the best in the category of life, health, and inclusion, this is our overall top-states-for-business study that we’re looking at.
And the crime rates are low, whereas Tennessee, it’s the third-highest violent crime rate in the country. That may have something to do with it.
It’s certainly not something that we look at directly, maybe coincidental, that the lower population might lead to a better quality of life based on our data.
Carmichael: I’m curious because when I watch TV, I see riots and people just breaking into stores in the middle of the day in Portland, Seattle, and Minneapolis. Yet those three states are all in your top 10.
But the crime rate in those states is not only skyrocketing, they’re burning down their major cities. We don’t have that here.
Cohn: Well, again, Tennessee has the third-highest violent crime rate in the country. That’s based on FBI numbers. Washington state’s crime rate is considerably lower.
Leahy: Scott, have you ever been to Tennessee?
Cohn: Absolutely I have. Many times.
Leahy: Really? You need to come back again, because that statement that it’s more violent here than in Seattle or Portland or Minneapolis is just laughable.
Carmichael: In Nashville, we have a lot of people moving from the states that are the best states …
Leahy: On your list –
Carmichael: … to Nashville. New Jersey is certainly one of the states that is hemorrhaging population. And I spoke with a guy who moved here from Portland about a year ago. He said, my family has had it with the violence in Portland and also taxes because Tennessee has no income tax. Do taxes play into your equation in any meaningful way?
Cohn: Let me put this in some perspective. This is a category within our broader study of America’s top states for business, which in an overall sense, Tennessee does very well. Tennessee ranks sixth.
And in other categories, like costs, the state does very well. In our workforce category, you’re right, there are a lot of people that are moving to the state.
But we also look at a category we call life, health, and inclusion, which is what this list that we’re talking about is based on. Essentially, quality of life. And in that area, Tennessee does poorly.
Leahy: Does poorly on the quality of life? You’re kidding, right?
Cohn: No, I’m not kidding.
Leahy: That’s a part of the problem with CNBC.
Carmichael: I’m really curious about the inclusion part, because when I look at New Jersey and Minnesota and Seattle and Portland, I see a lot of violence, I mean, burning of cities and looting of stores, and a mayor and a governor in those states that do nothing.
I mean, just do nothing to protect the law-abiding citizens. And so I’m really struggling because we live here all the time, and our prosecutor, for example, here in Nashville, if you break into a store and steal stuff and beat people up, they’re going to actually prosecute the person who did that. They’re not going to prosecute the store owner.
Cohn: It doesn’t mean that you didn’t get beaten up in the first place.
Leahy: What are you talking about? (Laughter)
Cohn: According to the FBI crime statistics – I’m just looking at data – the third highest violent crime rate in the country is Tennessee.
Leahy: Okay.
Carmichael: Let me say this, and I will then say that I will question the FBI data. I would describe it as in the Catholic Church, where you have minor sins and you have major sins.
It seems to me like major sins are the kind of violence and burning of cities that you see in some of your most livable states. Whereas in Nashville, you might have somebody who spits on the street or does something, and that counts equally bad.
Leahy: I would take a look at that data, because it’s not credible. Let me ask you another question, Scott. Did you look at something like this: weekly attendance at religious services by state? Is that a factor in your quality of life?
Cohn: It’s not.
Leahy: Why not?
Cohn: Well that’s a good question. I think we try and look at this because, again, its part of the broader top-states-for-business study. I think we’re looking at how a business is deciding what state to locate in and how would they look at the quality of life. And a closing argument could be made that looking at a more religious sort of environment might be a good place to find conscientious …
Leahy: So I suggest you add that because here in Tennessee, according to Pew Research, 51 percent of Tennesseans attend weekly services.
That is the highest in the country. New Jersey, which you guys think is a great place, is 35 percent; is 29 percent in Oregon. My argument, weekly church attendance is a good indication of the conduct of the people in that state.
Listen to the interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Scott Cohn” by Scott Cohn.
I had to go check my calendar. I thought that this was an April Fool’s Day joke. Well, it is a joke but that is par for the course for CNBC.
I like Mr Cohn is confusing the entire state with Memphis.
I do agree with LM, we’ve had enough of the influx of liberals. Nashville is crawling with them.
I believe they are weighing heavily all the crime in Memphis! Is it bad enough in Memphis to skew for the whole state? It’s pretty bad there so that could be the problem.
And there’s also the “someone in CA” telling US how bad it is to live here? Seriously?
I just looked over the article on MSNBC and would like to make the following comments. As was mentioned in the interview some of these listed top 10 states’ urban areas have terrible, un-punished crime, but the states themselves are very beautiful. Also worth noting is that most of them are very liberal. I perceive CNBC to be a bit left leaning given their affiliation with NBC and MSNBC.
To claim the list pertains to “Top States for Business” and listing Vermont as number one is a joke. Vermont’s legislators, through excessive taxation and environmental regulations have driven businesses out of the State. I witnessed this over the thirty years I lived there. That is unless you want a business based on tourism. Vermont has grown so expensive to live there that the majority of people moving there are wealthy liberal retirees. Businesses are struggling to find help because there is no affordable housing. While it is a beautiful state, its governance is a liberal nightmare.
I wouldn’t set foot in most of the listed states. And to claim that Tennessee is not a good state to live in is totally false. While there is crime in our major cities, like Nashville and Memphis, so is there in the listed top ten states metro areas. The CNBC article is nothing more than a biased tourist piece. As for Vermont, they have made their state a liberal Mecca that is now being flooded by more liberals. And the long time residents of all political stripes are not happy about it at all. Serves them right. We LOVE Tennessee!
Cohn’s right! Tennessee is a terrible place to live! So Mr. Cohn, please do all you can to spread the word to all your liberal California buddies- it’s terrible here- y’all need to stay where you are- don’t come here!
Amen! TN is the worst, Cohn was understating the case….please go back to the mecca of civilization in CA, NJ, NY and Illinois. Don’t come to TN whatever you do.
Give me Tennessee over California any day!
I say to CNBC Senior Correspondent Scott Cohn–HORSEFEATHERS!
I see these kinds of rankings (i.e., best city, best state, best whatever) all of the time in the national media, and I usually don’t waste my time with them. This is because any ranking is in the ‘eye of the beholder.’ My values are my own values, and I know what I like. One thing is probably pretty sure–I seriously doubt that my values will be anything close to what the values of those who control NBC or CNBC or MSNBC are! And you know what? I don’t care.