I am fascinated by the spectacle of the deep blue states like California and New York. These places are something like 60% Democrat, 40% Republican so there is no meaningful hope of conservative policies being enacted. Even when they elect a Republican as governor it’s with a Democrat super-majority in the legislative houses. So, nothing will change the social policies and even the ruinous fiscal policies can only be tweaked slightly because the public sector unions won’t allow their gravy trains to be interfered with and these entitlements make up an enormous part of the state’s fiscal burdens.
And with all that said, it looks like the days of reckoning may finally be upon these places. I watched the New York State Governess Hochul begging former New York billionaires who’ve moved to Florida to forgive her and her exorbitant business taxes and ruinous environmental policies and absurd energy costs and come back to New York. Pretty please with sugar on top. This was during an interview on Politico about the eroding tax base and its impact on the progressive agenda that New York City Mayor Mamdani was proposing and for which he needed Hochul to approve even more ruinous increases in taxes on corporations and the wealthy. She tried to explain to the doofus from Politico that places like Florida and Texas don’t have state income taxes and lure corporations like J P Morgan and Tesla out of New York and California by letting them keep most of their money in exchange for bringing jobs and prosperity to their neighborhoods.
And I noted that the two highest ranking candidates in the field for the California governor’s primary are both Republicans. And since they’ve combined all parties in the primary and then allow only the two highest vote getters into the general election it’s possible that no Democrats will get on the ballot. Now of course the Democrats in a place like California will do whatever they have to do to rig the election so I’m sure they’ll have a Democrat on the ballot.
But that’s neither here nor there. The interesting situation is that both of these states (and several other deep blue states) are staring down a complete fiscal meltdown of such mammoth proportions that junk bond status for their state debt is the least of their worries. And honestly if the Republicans had any brains at all they would refuse to even run any candidates for state office at all. They should just walk away and let this catastrophe hit their states right between the eyes. There are so many facets of their situations that are dysfunctional that the next four years may finally wipe out all trace of credibility for the Democrat party. With the banks leaving New York and the tech companies abandoning California I foresee all those public union retirement funds going completely unfunded very soon. And with all those baby boomers retiring it will sound like a convention of scorched cats outside the offices in Sacramento and Albany for the foreseeable future.
So, Republicans, get wise to the situation and just step back and watch these bozos get what’s coming to them good and hard.
I saw excerpts from the interview, talk about the theater of the absurd. Other than her need, no reason at all was presented that the “high net worth individuals” should return to NY State. I thought that by now the fundamental response to finding oneself in a hole is to stop digging would be understood by all. When it comes to business propositions, I would think that, “I need for you to come to our state and pay for all our generous welfare programs, pretty please” would rank well below the merely laughable, down to the level of jaw dropping… Read more »
Actually, I read it as even worse than that. I read it as “Come back to NY and pay for all of our existing welfare programs and the ones we plan to add once you come back. Oh, and don’t worry about hiding your income, we’re going to take 5% of your net worth every year.
C’mon, show your state spirit! Write that check!”
All she needs to finish this Comedy of the Absurd would be a Harlequin’s costume and a little net cup to collect ducats from the audience.
And when Mr. Brault said Harlequin and I saw the capital H I went straight Harley Quinn. And the thought of Ms Hochul in those costumes was, shall we say, unpleasant. I am now fishing around for my King Size bottle of mind bleach.
I did not need that image.