The Decline of North Carolina (school, universities, tax)
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Really? You think that Metlife weighed the local political climate before plunging into the RTP waters? As long as the cost of living remains proportionately reasonable, the ability to tap into a steady, diverse and well trained talent pool exists (who will work for 20% lower wages) and the weather remains warm or mild ten months out of the year I'm thinking the relocation parade continues.
Epic droughts, deadly spiders and snakes and brown lake water haven't made the Triangle any less attractive and I doubt politicians will either.
It's completely naïve to believe that there will be zero consequences, and it's equally so to suggest that the good times will last forever. Booms end, and they always start somewhere. That remains true regardless of how you want to gloss over serious problems within your new home of choice.
Did MetLife look specifically at how NC votes on certain issues or whether they have a red or blue Governor? No, probably not. Down the road, if the state's climate changes such that fewer educated professionals are moving here and others that live her move out will what is happening politically in North Carolina have a trickle-down effect? Yes.
So... fewer bleeding heart liberals coming down here to preach about how much more enlightened they are...
No, this is the beginning of a new dark age for the state. It will last for quite some time. The Republicans have gerrymandered themselves into a permanent majority and nothing can be done about it.
Not really. McCrory's a one-termer and one of the houses will probably flip by 2018, both by 2020, maybe sooner if they manage to **** off enough people or devolve into factional infighting. The problem the Republicans face is twofold. The party infrastructure itself is only set up to rake in and spend tons of money. It's not built around maintaining long-term power, and a significant percentage of the current legislature is first and second-term members who either haven't yet or aren't interested in developing the kinds of relationships which lead to established power. We see the same playing out at the federal level where the House is a complete shambles and has accomplished practically nothing in the past four years.
It's one thing to take over in a wave election with millions of dollars pouring in against a demoralized opposition, it's another to keep hold onto that majority and actually govern.
And this is what annoys me most about all the transplants. They run from their progressive utopias because it's impossible to make a living with the high taxes, outrageous home prices, poor education and rampant crime only to come down here and vote for people that will only transform NC into what they ran from in the first place. Yeah this state is declining in a big way but not just because of the reasons in the article.
Maybe, just maybe, this is a great place for employment and family because it has been a relatively moderate to right leaning state for many years now; just not quite as right leaning as it seems at the moment.
Prices are higher in those areas for a very simple reason: They offer more quantity when it comes to quality of life. Their legacy infrastructure is expensive to maintain, an issue that the Sun Belt states like NC really haven't had to seriously deal with yet, but they will at some point. The Northeast has some of the most educated states in the nation, if not most of the top 10, so I'm not sure where you're getting poor education from. NC relies on these educated people to move there. Rampant crime? Where? In certain neighborhoods in certain cities? NC doesn't have crime in its cities? Crime is pretty much down almost everywhere.
Unemployment is 5th highest in NC, as has already been mentioned. No, it's not a great place for employment right now.
Prices are higher in those areas for a very simple reason: They offer more quantity when it comes to quality of life. Their legacy infrastructure is expensive to maintain, an issue that the Sun Belt states like NC really haven't had to seriously deal with yet, but they will at some point.
Most of the infrastructure costs for northeastern governments is in the form of individual compensation for government employees; they spend relatively little money on the infrastructure itself.
Anyway, there is nothing more obnoxious than a yankee telling everybody else how thankful we should all be that people like him moved here.
Give me a while to find some documentation and literature on this subject, and I'd be happy to offer my "That Angry Classical Liberal aka Modern Libertarian" take on it.
I doubt you need to do that. Absentee ballots heavily favor Republicans typically -- elderly voters and the military vote.
Yet are a lot easier to make fraudulent than an appearance in front of an election official to get a ballot, photo ID or no.
Not sure I agree that "classical liberals" are modern libertarians. Personally, the Second Treatise of Government makes a fine argument as to why we defer our mortal self-defense rights to the state. But I'll defer this if you can make a logical argument -- beyond a desire to tip the balance on electoral numbers -- as to why it's rational not to require photo IDs for absentee ballots.
yes, you're missing that i could not care less about the New York Times or its readers.
I imagine you're not the only one who would rather bury their head in the sand than take a serious look at what's becoming a serious image problem for the state. If NC doesn't want to move forward, there are plenty of other states that are.
Most of the infrastructure costs for northeastern governments is in the form of individual compensation for government employees; they spend relatively little money on the infrastructure itself.
Anyway, there is nothing more obnoxious than a yankee telling everybody else how thankful we should all be that people like him moved here.
Do you have a link supporting this claim?
There's not much more amusing than someone who thinks criticism of their state has to do with the ridiculous North vs. South bs.
Last edited by jbcmh81; 07-10-2013 at 02:49 PM..
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