Personal Finance Daily: Best cities in the world for quality of living

Personal Finance Daily NOVEMBER 30, 2011 Best cities in the world for quality of living By MarketWatch Don't miss these top stories: Best cities in the world for quality of living The tax mess deepens Private-sector jobs rise 206,000 Gold likely to be higher at year's end Are you getting a little tired of those "Best of" and "Top 10" lists? OK, we are, too — and we get a lot of them in our email inboxes. But when an interesting and well-done survey comes along, we want to share it. Today, we have a slide show highlighting the results from Mercer's annual Quality of Living Survey. While "quality of life" can be highly subjective, Mercer looks closely at many factors, including economy, recreation, education, employment, safety and real estate and then grades hundreds of cities around the world to help determine which major cities have the best quality of living. You may like your own city best, or you may not like big cities at all. But it's interesting to see the results of this survey. The cities that top the list are mostly in Europe. Canadian cities score very well for safety. Top of the list? Vienna. Bottom: Baghdad. The highest ranking U.S. cities are Honolulu and San Francisco. What do you think? These are great places to visit, but would you want to live there? — Anne Stanley , Managing Editor, Personal Finance Best cities in the world for quality of living See our slide show of some of the highlights of the Mercer 2011 Quality of Living Survey. Worldwide, the city with the best quality of living? Vienna. Baghdad is at the bottom of the list of more than 200 cities. Honolulu tops the U.S. rankings. Read more: Best cities in the world for quality of living. The tax mess deepens Epic failure in Washington is causing epic uncertainty for taxpayers. Congress's special 12-member deficit-cutting committee failed to agree on even a broad outline for addressing the U.S.'s fiscal woes. It marked the third year in a row that taxpayers headed into December with major tax-code issues unaddressed. Read more: The tax mess deepens. ECONOMY AND POLITICS Private-sector jobs rise 206,000: ADP Private-sector-payroll growth sharply accelerate in November, led by the service-producing sector and small businesses, according to the ADP employment report released Wednesday. Read more: Private-sector jobs rise 206,000. Fed, central banks slash dollar borrowing costs The U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and other major central banks move Wednesday to bolster existing currency swap lines in an effort to ease rising market tensions. Read more: Fed, central banks slash dollar borrowing costs. Third-quarter productivity lowered to 2.3% U.S. workers were not as productive in the third-quarter as originally believed. Read more: Third-quarter productivity lowered to 2.3%. India's economic growth slows to 6.9% The Indian economy grows at its lowest rate in more than two years in the quarter ended in September, as high interest rates to contain inflation and a deteriorating global environment take their toll. Read more: India's economic growth slows to 6.9%. INVESTING Fed bails out Europe while ECB dithers The Fed steps in while Europe policymakers still dither over what to do to save the region, writes Steve Goldstein. Read more: Fed bails out Europe while ECB dithers. America still makes the pants that made America Round House workwear in Shawnee, Okla., is a company that refuses to say America can't make anything anymore, Al Lewis reports. Read more: America still makes the pants that made America. IMF rescue of Italy will spark global uprising The dilemma in the euro zone remains the same as it has been for months. Either Germany pays for the bailout, or the thing gets broken up, writes Matthew Lynn. Read more: IMF rescue of Italy will spark global uprising. A new era of Wall Street transparency U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff is renowned for his tough stance against Wall Street crimes, and may be ushering in a new era of transparency on Wall Street. Read more: A new era of Wall Street transparency. Gold likely to be higher at year's end One month ago, Mark Hulbert reported the gold-market bullishness had dropped to its lowest level in two-and-a-half years. With gold only modestly higher since then, he takes a fresh look at the sentiment picture. Read more: Gold likely to be higher at year's end. Get the latest news on our mobile site: http://www.marketwatch.com/m MarketWatch has sent you this newsletter because you signed up to receive it. To ensure you receive this newsletter in the future, please add marketwatchmail.com to your list of approved senders. Sent to: kumaresan.selva.blogger@gmail.com Unsubscribe | Subscribe Copyright 2011 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved. 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