This image is courtesy of Visualcapitalist.com
Just starting off with a general overview, it's very clear to see where the most value is produced in the US:
#1) California
#2) Texas
#3) New York
#4) Florida
#5) Illinois
#6) Pennsylvania
#7) Ohio
#8) Georgia
#9) Washington & New Jersey
#10) North Carolina
So, what do you notice about all those states listed above?
They all have had dramatically changing population demographics in the past 10 years. Since 2019, there has been a large influx of people leaving California, New York and Illinois, and moving to Texas and Florida.
This is just a basic fact, but why? If those states are so financially and economically-productive, why are people leaving? The answer probably won't shock you if you've been paying attention over the past 20 years.
Taxes. California has the highest state income taxes of that list. California's state government is in perpetual debt, and its deficits are only increasing as time goes on and people leave the state for good.
We have already seen the Californian residential real estate market begin to cool off in places, and that's only going to lead to further declines in tax revenues collected by the state.
California is an unsustainable place, where basic costs of living far exceed most residents' income. It's no wonder that it's a failed state, after all, its government and kowtowing to insane social policies took it to this point.
Ok maybe the meme is a little inaccurate..I mean, I'm sure there are people outside of Long Island that pay taxes..maybe.
But what about New York? The Big Apple! Supposed to be a fabulous place where dreams are made into reality. Except, that's just an idealized image of New York state sold to tourists in an attempt to paint a positive picture of what the state truly is.
NYC is more jam-packed with people than almost anywhere in North America (Mexico City is still #1). But the bigger problem is that New York has been completely overrun with violent crime and a homeless population that has taken over large parts of the city. NYC is no better off than Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, or Seattle, it's just on the East Coast, so it's looked at differently.
Why are so many people leaving New York when it's clearly so productive? Well, that productivity is misleading, because Wall Street is located in New York state, and all its financial engineering and illicit activity is included in the official numbers.
People don't want to fear for their safety while they ride the subways to work and commute home late at night. People also like guns, and New York City has effectively banned handguns, which, to be fair, has NEVER backfired anywhere it's been enacted (see examples like Chicago, Washington DC and Detroit - EXTREMELY safe places, especially for late nighttime strolls :D).
To those of you who don't know the names and faces of the 50 governors of the US, this is Gov Pritzker (that's the polite way of spelling his name). As the meme suggests, he is the biggest reason why Florida's population continues to swell with Illinois' former residents. Why? Because he has single-handedly helped run Illinois' economy into the ground. He has helped oversee the implosion of the city of Chicago into a wasteland plagued by gang violence and daily murder.
You might say that's unfair! He's just the governor, he doesn't have THAT much power!
Well, you'd be wrong, because the governor of Illinois is a member of a well-known mafia family that has controlled much of Illinois' state politics for generations. His family has helped run the burgeoning legal cannabis industry into the toilet. Illinois could have positioned itself as the hub for legal cannabis in the old Rust Belt and Midwest, but it isn't.
Illinois has some of the highest prices per oz of cannabis in the entire world! How come?
Easy: greed. Not only are their taxes incredibly high, but they have few competitors within the state to truly bring prices down. Green Thumb Industries (of Cypress Hill fame) and Cresco Labs were the two biggest Multi-State Operators (MSOs) in the US that operate in Illinois. Let's just say neither company is really growing their revenues in the state, because, that's what happens when there's no competition, prices aren't competitive, and people won't pay them.
The black market is thriving in Illinois now, and it is a distribution hub for cannabis in the US, but not of the "legally-regulated" variety.
What does this have to do with Florida, though? Well, why would anyone want to live in a state that takes a chunk of their income for state taxes on top of the already-extortionist federal income tax, provide no public goods, enable rampant gang violence and capital flight?
They don't and so they move to Florida, where the weather is mild all year round, there's beaches to retire at, and there's far less violent crime than Chicago.
Oh, and the governor of Florida is conservative, not a liberal.
This might seem to be a stretch, but the truth is, California, New York, and Illinois are all bleeding people dry, so they're packing their bags and moving to "greener" pastures.