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Blue State Exodus: Why the middle-class are fleeing for the hills
Forbes ^ | 11/3/2009 | Joel Kotkin

Posted on 11/03/2009 6:54:09 AM PST by SeekAndFind

For the past decade a large coterie of pundits, prognosticators and their media camp followers have insisted that growth in America would be concentrated in places hip and cool, largely the bluish regions of the country.

Since the onset of the recession, which has hit many once-thriving Sun Belt hot spots, this chorus has grown bolder. The Wall Street Journal, for example, recently identified the "Next Youth-Magnet Cities" as drawn from the old "hip and cool" collection of yore: Seattle, Portland, Washington, New York and Austin, Texas.

It's not just the young who will flock to the blue meccas, but money and business as well, according to narrative. The future, the Atlantic assured its readers, did not belong to the rubes in the suburbs or Sun Belt, but to high-density, high-end places like New York, San Francisco and Boston.

This narrative, which has not changed much over the past decade, is misleading and largely misstated. Net migration, both before and after the Great Recession, according to analysis by the Praxis Strategy Group, has continued to be strongest to predominately red states of the South and Intermountain West.

This seems true even for those seeking high-end jobs. Between 2006 and 2008, the metropolitan areas that enjoyed the fastest percentage shift toward educated professional workers and industries included nominally "unhip" places like Indianapolis, Charlotte, N.C., Memphis, Tenn., Salt Lake City, Jacksonville, Fla., Tampa, Fla., and Kansas City, Mo.

The overall migration numbers are even more revealing. As was the case for much of the past decade, the biggest gainers continue to include cities such as San Antonio, Dallas and Houston. Rather than being oases for migrants, some oft-cited magnets such as New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago have all suffered considerable loss of population to other regions over the past year.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bluestate; middleclass; taxes
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1 posted on 11/03/2009 6:54:09 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
Who the hell goes to Boston or Chicago looking for work these days?

Those rat-holes are in massive debt, and the taxes, fees, regulations and other democrat penalties are in full effect therein.

Those towns are a fool's paradise.

2 posted on 11/03/2009 6:57:18 AM PST by GI Joe Fan (GI Joe represents Real American Heroes, not a bunch of globalist drones.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Like a T-shirt I saw once said, it’s all fun and games till they call the cops.


3 posted on 11/03/2009 6:57:23 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (I am in America but not of America.)
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To: SeekAndFind

They shouldn’t have ANY California cities on that list (except maybe gays flocking to San Francisco regardless of their ability to thrive financially). The Golden State is turning brass and businesses are fleeing in a bid to stay financially stable.


4 posted on 11/03/2009 7:00:59 AM PST by originalbuckeye
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To: SeekAndFind

The problem is that this leaves the “hip” blue locations even more solidly blue, but the migrants to formerly thriving red locations tend to bring their failed liberal democrat policies with them as if to say “Wow, just thing how much more better you conservative locations would have been than the liberal locations if you had run the government with liberal policies.”


5 posted on 11/03/2009 7:01:24 AM PST by VRWCmember
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To: GI Joe Fan

obama’s aunt zeituni went to boston- but she wasn’t looking for work


6 posted on 11/03/2009 7:01:26 AM PST by silverleaf (Ours is the only country on earth with a ventriloquist dummy for President)
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To: SeekAndFind
I remember reading an article -- I think by David Brooks -- raving about Burlington, Vt. I stopped there and found myself thinking what a complete dump with crappy restaurants, poor parking, and unlike bookstores in Pa. and Delaware you needed a key to use the restroom.

Hippies not only stink they are screwups.

7 posted on 11/03/2009 7:04:14 AM PST by Tribune7 (I am Joe Wilson!)
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To: SeekAndFind
The terrible irony is that many liberals will leave their leftist hell holes for red states, bringing their catastrophic voting habits with them.
8 posted on 11/03/2009 7:05:55 AM PST by MBB1984
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To: SeekAndFind

The problem is, those that flee the “Blue States” come to the “Red States” but never stop to examine the reasons they left. The “Blue State” refugees continue to vote for liberal dims. The result is a state like NC or Florida becoming a “Blue State”.


9 posted on 11/03/2009 7:06:19 AM PST by The Sons of Liberty (FUBO - When 0bama Fails, Freedom Prevails!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Drive around any of the big cities in Texas and you will see lots of out of state plates. Not just the normal visitors from OK,ARK or LA. Starting to see more Wisconsin, Illinois, Cali, Arizona, New York, Ohio, Florida and New Jersey.


10 posted on 11/03/2009 7:08:16 AM PST by Texas resident ( Doing my part to piss off the heathen left.)
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To: The Sons of Liberty

I hope these people realize what caused their states to go broke and lose jobs.


11 posted on 11/03/2009 7:08:28 AM PST by scooby321
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To: SeekAndFind

It’s easy economics.

Blue states - tax the wealthy and give everything away, incourage corruption, punish incentive. Spend tax money on frivilous programs that have no quantitave means of measuring success.

Red States - run the state with fiscal responsibility as the primary goal. Programs are monitored and streamlined. Taxes are kept low, and businesses flourish.

So, when an economy hits a depression; we have the Blue States like California, New York and Michigan that are facing bankruptcy - while Red States like Texas and Utah are still doing pretty darn well.


12 posted on 11/03/2009 7:08:38 AM PST by Hodar (Who needs laws .... when this "feels" so right?)
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To: HiTech RedNeck
Like locusts they move in and influence local and then regional politics. Solid Red areas like Charlotte and Birmingham and shading towards purple as liberals from places like Baltimore, Philly and Long Island move there. What's left in the previous areas are yes trendy metro-sexual Sons and Daughters of rich parents who after sowing oats and getting married move and infect other areas. Those “Redeveloped” areas which are basically overpriced condos and Jamba Juice franchises revert back to crapholes as the kids move out and are replaced with illegals and the urban vampire class.
13 posted on 11/03/2009 7:10:01 AM PST by pburgh01
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To: The Sons of Liberty
Good examples. I can’t fathom why they would continue on this so-called idealistic view, as it is frought with unintended consequences—if they could see beyond their noses it would help.
14 posted on 11/03/2009 7:10:01 AM PST by Achilles Heel
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To: scooby321

They don’t.

Inherent in liberalism is a total blindspot for consequences and tradeoffs.


15 posted on 11/03/2009 7:10:02 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a humanist and a Satanist is that the latter knows who he's working for.)
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To: Texas resident
Drive around any of the big cities in Texas and you will see lots of out of state plates. Not just the normal visitors from OK,ARK or LA. Starting to see more Wisconsin, Illinois, Cali, Arizona, New York, Ohio, Florida and New Jersey.

Thats what I see in Kansas too. Only for a different reason. They're all Kansans but they tag their vehicles in other states to evade the criminally high personal property tax if they were to tag them in Kansas.
16 posted on 11/03/2009 7:12:07 AM PST by Overtaxed Patriot (Lock and load)
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To: SeekAndFind

Extremely important thread about blue/red results in the states:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2376250/posts?page=175

California vs. Texas: The Verdict Is In


17 posted on 11/03/2009 7:12:10 AM PST by txhurl (It's only a matter of time before FreeRepublic has this fraud's scalp on our lodge pole.)
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To: GI Joe Fan

Yeah,
I can see lots of Floridians retiring to Chicago.
Specially about November or December.


18 posted on 11/03/2009 7:12:43 AM PST by Joe Boucher
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To: pburgh01

EXACTLY!!!!

My neighborhood, in the suburbs of Philadelphia, is being infected by Democrats fleeing Philadelphia. Why are they fleeing Philadelphia? It has been ruined by Democrats!!!!


19 posted on 11/03/2009 7:14:25 AM PST by LeonardFMason
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To: MBB1984

“The terrible irony is that many liberals will leave their leftist hell holes for red states, bringing their catastrophic voting habits with them. “

Ain’t that the truth? We have two blue counties now in Utah because of these a-hoes. Flee their hellholes and immediately try to re-create the same thing elsewhere.


20 posted on 11/03/2009 7:16:37 AM PST by Seruzawa (If you agree with the French raise your hand - If you are French raise both hands.)
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