Despite panning Texas Governor Rick Perry’s initiative to draw businesses from New York, Slate’s business and economics correspondent, Matt Yglesias offers sobering thoughts to growth starved states along on the West Coast and in the Northeast.
“…the Texas gestalt is growth-friendly because, quite literally, it welcomes growth while coastal cities have become exceptionally small-c conservative and change averse. But if New York and New Jersey and California and Maryland and Massachusetts don't want to allow the construction of lots of housing units, then it won't matter that Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Palo Alto, Calif.; and Somerville, Mass.; are great places to live—people are going to live in Texas, where there are also great places to live, great places that actually welcome new residents and new building.”
The entire country would benefit if states like California, New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey were to enact policies to compete with Texas, as Yglesias suggests.
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I would add that the
I would add that the increase in oil production in Tx of 1.1 million barrels per day have helped all around (since 2010). Both in directly providing jobs in the oil patch, as well as in revenues to the state from the severance tax. In the old days (1970s) a lot of the state services were paid for with the severance tax on oil and gas. Now local government is not getting as much of a share as it would like, except that the schools will for a while experience a windfall as the oil property values go up.
Compared to what?
But doing better than any other of the world's 20 or so largest 1st world economies, is it not?
Heck, to be a zone of economic resilience in the midst of stagnation and instability is quite an achievement.
The need for a great reset
Dave from NorCal
Re: your comment on "federalism not allowing these states to drag the others down with them". Did you not watch the trillions of stimulus dollars disappear down these same rat-holes? California is "solvent" because the Feds keep sending money to offset expenditures for which there are no state-generated sources.
state competition
It's a good thing that states can still compete with each other on things like taxes and regulation, because it enables individuals to vote with their feet. I'd like to see that competition made more complete by moving things like schools and welfare programs from the federal government to the states (where they're supposed to be under the Constitution anyway).
The left aren't going to give up those programs until economically forced to, but at least with federalism, they won't get to drag the rest of the country down with them.
It seem to be that you are
It seem to be that you are right. I think we are still living well with recent condition.