For all the liberal bashing of red states, they're the ones doing the best in the COVID recovery games. You've all heard the jabs from the snobby neo-Marxists that fill the ranks of the Democratic Party.
"If it weren't for blue states, Republican ones would go broke."
"If it weren't for us, these country bumpkins would starve."
"These red state folks are the real welfare queens."
There are many variants, but the theme is the same. We must all kiss the ring of the college-educated, wealthy, and whiter than Wonder Bread urban professional elite. If these places are so undesirable, then why is it that they're booming? Everyone is moving to red states because the economic climate is better. The weather is better as well. As the COVID pandemic has altered the workplace, employees fortunate enough to work from home are moving to red states because it's simply better to live. Now, that yields other issues, like these left-wing clowns trying to inject "woke" nonsense into the local political scene—but for now, take pride in the fact that GOP-led states are leading the economic recovery (via WSJ):
By many measures, red states—those that lean Republican—have recovered faster economically than Democratic-leaning blue ones, with workers and employers moving from the coasts to the middle of the country and Florida.
Since February 2020, the month before the pandemic began, the share of all U.S. jobs located in red states has grown by more than half a percentage point, according to an analysis of Labor Department data by the Brookings Institution think tank. Red states have added 341,000 jobs over that time, while blue states were still short 1.3 million jobs as of May.
Several major companies have recently announced moves of their headquarters from blue to red states. Hedge-fund company Citadel said recently it would move its headquarters from Chicago to Miami, and Caterpillar Inc. plans to move from Illinois to Texas.
To track each state’s progress toward normal since the pandemic began, Moody’s Analytics developed an index of 13 metrics, including the value of goods and services produced, employment, retail sales and new-home listings. Eleven of the 15 states with the highest readings through mid-June were red. Eight of the bottom 10 were blue.
Behind those differences is mass migration. Forty-six million people moved to a different ZIP Code in the year through February 2022, the most in any 12-month period in records going back to 2010, according to a Moody’s analysis of Equifax Inc. consumer-credit reports. The states that gained the most, led by Florida, Texas and North Carolina, are almost all red, as defined by the Cook Political Report based on how states voted in the past two presidential elections. The states that lost the most residents are almost all blue, led by California, New York and Illinois.
Analysts who have studied the migration attributed much of it to the pandemic’s severing of the link between geography and the workplace. Remote work allowed many workers to move to red states, not because of political preferences, but for financial and lifestyle reasons—cheaper housing, better weather, less traffic and lower taxes, the analysts said.
Blue states suffocate business with red tape, and the taxes are ridiculous. As a New Jersey native, it's no shock why the state ranks at the bottom regarding business climate. It's the worst. The only saving grace the Garden State has in this area is the proximity to the country's economic capital, New York City. That's why scores of companies either have a corporate headquarters or a significant warehouse in the Tri-State Area. Jersey would be like California, only poorer, if it weren't for that. Don't even get me started on property taxes. We lived in Morris County for 20 years. If my company gave me the option to be remote forever, I'd be Florida or Texas-bound too.
It's not that hard, liberals. Things become very attractive when you have a government that doesn't spend too much, tax too much, and has an overall pro-business attitude. Granted, I'd hope the left's moral superiority complex would prevent them from leaving their corrupt, diseased, and crime-infested hell holes called cities. Still, it appears legions of lefties are willing to jettison from their Whole Foods orbit.
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