[BickleTravis]

Originally Posted by Bang!

... and freer states like Texas don't charge any income tax. Comparing Vermont to Texas better demonstrates the range of options people truly have when choosing where to live. Comparing Vermont to Mass is like comparing the ugly step sisters to each other after Cinderella already left for the Ball.

I'd take Mass. over TX any day.
Boston vs. Dallas or Boston vs. Houston isn't very difficult.

I wonder what TX's education system is like?
TX is also the state where the case that eventually led to the Supreme Court's striking down anti-sodomy laws began. A state that wants to regulate the bedroom behavior of consenting adults is not a "free" place as far as I'm concerned, it's a theocracy.

[brattpowered]

Probably #1 on the "Giver Index" too.

[BickleTravis]

Originally Posted by brattpowered

Probably #1 on the "Giver Index" too.

VT? Probably not. Based on population, I'd go with CA.

[Bang!]

Originally Posted by BickleTravis

I'd take Mass. over TX any day.
Boston vs. Dallas or Boston vs. Houston isn't very difficult.

And some people are willing to travel for work while others are not. Some people are willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of their lives studying a profession while others are not. Some people are willing to risk everything on their greatest new idea while others prefer to flip burgers for someone else. Its all about what you want from life.

I agree, sitting on a green hill in Vermont esthetically beats the hell out of just about anywhere in Texas. But, where are you going to find opportunity in Vermont? Compared to Texas even Mass is a washed up has-been state in terms of economic opportunity.

Just remember that wherever you choose to go... Vermont will tax you unless you change your residence despite the state having absolutely nothing to do with whatever success you might make for yourself outside her boarders.

[BickleTravis]

Originally Posted by Bang!

And some people are willing to travel for work while others are not. Some people are willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of their lives studying a profession while others are not. Some people are willing to risk everything on their greatest new idea while others prefer to flip burgers for someone else. Its all about what you want from life.

I agree, sitting on a green hill in Vermont esthetically beats the hell out of just about anywhere in Texas. But, where are you going to find opportunity in Vermont? Compared to Texas even Mass is a washed up has-been state in terms of economic opportunity.

Just remember that wherever you choose to go... Vermont will tax you unless you change your residence despite the state having absolutely nothing to do with whatever success you might make for yourself outside her boarders.

This may be true. I don't know one way or the other.

The Boston area certainly has a very wide selection of well paying jobs.
Economic opportunity is not the be all end all for me. When Manny Ramirez signed with the Red Sox, AM radio types said he would "play in Siberia for a dollar more." It might be true of Manny Ramirez, it's not true of me. I'm looking for a balance of nice place to live/economic opportunity, I'm not looking to make the absolute most amount of money possible and hate where I live.
Vermont's problem is that it thinks it's better than it is. It's nice, but it's nowhere near nice enough to justify what it now costs to live here. That fact is evidenced by the amount of people (especially young people) from the state who leave at the first opportunity.

[Bang!]

Originally Posted by BickleTravis

Vermont's problem is that it thinks it's better than it is. It's nice, but it's nowhere near nice enough to justify what it now costs to live here. That fact is evidenced by the amount of people (especially young people) from the state who leave at the first opportunity.

Exactly, the problem is that there are not enough Manny Ramirez's left in the state. A hundred years of the the smartest, hardest working, most entrepreneurial and even the greediest have left the state with nothing but a bunch of Moochers left behind.

[arctichomesteader]

Originally Posted by Bang!

... and freer states like Texas don't charge any income tax. Comparing Vermont to Texas better demonstrates the range of options people truly have when choosing where to live. Comparing Vermont to Mass is like comparing the ugly step sisters to each other after Cinderella already left for the Ball.

Go get a concealed carry permit (TX doesn't allow open carry) in TX and tell me it's more free than Vermont. Don't get caught carrying a bowie knife down there either. TX also has high property taxes. About like NH, except NH is more free than TX in many ways.

[Bang!]

If VT is so free try shooting two thieves in the back after seeing them break into your neighbors house. Texas is serious about freedom. Just not the same kind of same freedoms Vermonters seem to care about.

[vter]

Way off topic