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I think when people consider states with lot of regulations, they invariably think about liberal states that have a lot of land use and zoning regulations to prevent growth. Places like California, Oregon, and Vermont come to mind. But there are plenty of politically conservative states that regulate their citizens in absurd ways. Take the conservative state of Georgia where I currently live. The governer and many in the state legislature absolutely refuse to consider repealing an existing state law that prevents people from buying liquor at a store in Georgia on Sundays (drinking at bars is OK though). ....
Many so called liberal states have these laws too. For example, in NY you cannot sell wine and liquor in a grocery store, and sales on Sunday are highly restricted.
Interesting summary of NY. Certainly would not encourage me to live there:
"New York is by far the least free state in the Union. It has also experienced the most interstate emigration of any state over the last decade. New York has by far the highest taxes in the country. Property, selective sales, individual income, and corporate-income taxes are particularly high. Spending on public welfare, hospitals, electric power, transit, employee retirement, and “other and unallocable” expenses are well above national norms."
"On personal freedoms, gun laws are extremely restrictive, but marijuana laws are better than average, while tobacco laws are extremely strict, and cigarette taxes are the highest in the country. Motorists are highly regulated, and homeschool regulations are excessive, but nondrug victimless-crimes arrests are low. New York has the strictest health-insurance community-rating regulations in the country, which have wiped out the individual market. Mandated coverages are worse than average but were actually cut back substantially in 2007–2008. Eminent domain abuse is rampant and unchecked."
I live in WA; we are quite a mixed bag. We are solidly blue; a recent poll showed Obama up by 20 points here. Eastern WA (other side of the Cascade mountains) is pretty red, but Seattle-Tacoma-Everett controls the state. However there is a fairly strong old-West libertarian streak, even in Seattle. There is no state income tax, and many efforts to enact one have been stomped down by voters. The latest one, run by Bill Gates' dad in 2010, was rejected by WA voters 65-35.
We have liberal (as in free) gun laws. A non-felon can get a CCW permit by simply filling out less than 5 minutes of paperwork. A few years ago there was a ballot measure to impose a bunch of gun control regulations and it lost 71-29.
OTOH we have the highest minimum wage of the 50 states, close to the highest gas tax, and lots of red-light cams. The liberals have especially been able to turn transportation into a profit center for them in various ways. Car tabs, gas tax, even part of our sales tax is dedicated to mass transit. As a result, we are always in the top 5 list for traffic congestion.
?? Gimme your opinion my fellow American Citizens.
Oh sweet California of course, which . ..is also the largest driver of Revenue (13% of US GDP compared to next highest Texas 7%)
though the reason is simple. . .even the most socialist state in this union isn't even close to "socialisim" and the free enterprise and personal motivation has driven this country forward: Apple, Facebook, Google, etc
So being the top socialist is like saying, which state is the most "Nazi". . (Arizona)
Hmm, someone should of told New York people are leaving. . .
you have to love people's fictional facts
"The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of New York was 19,465,197 on July 1, 2011, a 0.45% increase since the 2010 United States Census." - Wikipedia New York (State)
If you read more you would find its the 3rd largest economy, is at parity with the gdp growth in the united states, and if it was a country it would be 17th in GDP (right behind turkey)
My guess on the emigration point. . I would say they may be right. Lots of people move out of New York. . .the problem with ranking by numbers is a lot of people LIVE in New York. Its very easy to keep a Job in New York and move to CT, PA, or NJ. So percent emigration or net immigration would be more reliable.
lies lies and misleading staticists my guess
Here is a novel idea
Government regulation and state power grows with the state's importance to the union (GDP). .I think thats reflected in the numbers . . .
States with nothing to lose and want to encourage business get pretty lax. States like NJ, Calif, and NY are less interested in that. . .they want to keep their people happy. Not a job problem.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roadking2003
Good link, and no surprises there.
You can't even buy a large soda pop in NYC.
Interesting summary of NY. Certainly would not encourage me to live there:
"New York is by far the least free state in the Union. It has also experienced the most interstate emigration of any state over the last decade. New York has by far the highest taxes in the country. Property, selective sales, individual income, and corporate-income taxes are particularly high. Spending on public welfare, hospitals, electric power, transit, employee retirement, and “other and unallocable” expenses are well above national norms."
"On personal freedoms, gun laws are extremely restrictive, but marijuana laws are better than average, while tobacco laws are extremely strict, and cigarette taxes are the highest in the country. Motorists are highly regulated, and homeschool regulations are excessive, but nondrug victimless-crimes arrests are low. New York has the strictest health-insurance community-rating regulations in the country, which have wiped out the individual market. Mandated coverages are worse than average but were actually cut back substantially in 2007–2008. Eminent domain abuse is rampant and unchecked."
New York's "socialism" is more about public unions stranglehold on the taxpayer through government than an extensive social safety net. It's about a minority group of current and former cops, teachers, firefighters, MTA employees, etc, who have excellent pay and even better pensions, usually with little or no input from the worker, funded by very high state tax and absurd and regressive property taxes.
So, if you're a cop or teacher, you love it. If you're the guy managing the local Supermarket or Wendy's, you're getting crushed and probably looking to get out of here.
Eventually the system will collapse in on itself...once all these baby boomer cops and teachers start retiring, there won't be enough people actually working and earning decent money to fund their pensions. Realize that cops and firefighters retire after 20 years, and teachers after 30, with half pay on already high salaries, and no penalty for leaving the state. So if these people all live to 85 and started working at 25..you have 60 years of taxpayer funded, tax free income. They move to Florida or NC and don't even have to pay property taxes here.
And for all those taxes, you don't even get single payer government health insurance like you do in Europe. Out total tax burden here in New York rivals many European nations.
Hmm, someone should of told New York people are leaving. . .
you have to love people's fictional facts
"The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of New York was 19,465,197 on July 1, 2011, a 0.45% increase since the 2010 United States Census." - Wikipedia New York (State)
If you read more you would find its the 3rd largest economy, is at parity with the gdp growth in the united states, and if it was a country it would be 17th in GDP (right behind turkey)
My guess on the emigration point. . I would say they may be right. Lots of people move out of New York. . .the problem with ranking by numbers is a lot of people LIVE in New York. Its very easy to keep a Job in New York and move to CT, PA, or NJ. So percent emigration or net immigration would be more reliable.
lies lies and misleading staticists my guess
You should know about misleading statistics. The web site measured 2007 - 2009 and the net migration was -8.9 %. Nothing misleading about that. Do you understand the difference between migration and population growth? If so, why are you quoting population growth?
Quote:
Government regulation and state power grows with the state's importance to the union (GDP). .I think thats reflected in the numbers . . .
Hmmm.... would that explain why the #2 (TX) and #4 (FL) GDP states have so much more freedom than tiny GDP states like LA, HI, Alaska, RI, VT, etc, etc? Maybe you have it backwards.
Quote:
States with nothing to lose and want to encourage business get pretty lax. States like NJ, Calif, and NY are less interested in that. . .they want to keep their people happy. Not a job problem.
Your model is seriously flawed. Try looking at the stats for GDP and Freedom next time.
I'm quite surprised by Alaska's ranking on here, what with its reputation for rugged individualism and take-it-or-leave-it attitude about government.
Here's your answer;
Alaska’s big problem is fiscal policy. Over a quarter of the state’s workforce is employed by state or local government, and that figure does not include federal employees. Alaska has the highest debt and government spending to personal income ratios in the country. However, Alaska does extremely well on personal freedom, scoring fifth on our ranking. Reasons for its score include fully legalized possession of small amounts of marijuana (accomplished through a court ruling), the least-restrictive gun laws in the country, strong asset-forfeiture protections, recognition of same-sex domestic partnerships, and possibly the best homeschooling laws in the country. On economic regulation, Alaska does poorly on labor law, occupational licensing, and eminent-domain reform but relatively well on health-insurance regulation.
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