Category: Politics, Power, and Governance

Q: “WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE BLUE STATES OF THE NORTHEAST?”

Let’s start with Connecticut:
The Good: if you live in the non-urban green zones in CT that are still remnants of the pre-war economy, or if you live in Fairfield county, which is a tax haven for NYC, it’s a beautiful countryside in all four seasons.

The Bad: However, other than that, there is a lot of bad. Connecticut is effectively bankrupt. The state employee pensions are unfunded, unfundable and unpayable. The Government has driven every business out of the state that isn’t military. The tax policy alone, the power of the unions, the decline of the cities made it impossible to recruit talent combined with failure to produce enough housing that drove up the cost of living, combined with exhaustively open immigration that drove down wages, combined with the general failure of post 1970 education drove not only business but people out of the state as well. The most valuable people, those who are able to obtain a STEM education, or employment under a higher quality of life, leave Connecticut at the first opportunity. The people are generally considered nihilistic. Connecticut is the second worst state for Starting businesses, and tech biz is almost impossible. (Otherwise I would have built not one company in CT and eleven in other states). Everyone who CAN leave DOES leave. Every business that can leave does leave.

Fairfield county is the only reason the state economically survives. Otherwise the state would fiscally collapse. Everything along 91 and 95 for three miles around it is a slum all the way down to Fairfield County. The most dangerous cities in Connecticut are Hartford, New Haven, Waterbury, New Britain, and Plainville. Hartford’s overall crime rate is 81% above the national average, with a violent crime rate 180% over the national average. Other dangerous cities in Connecticut are Bloomfield, Derby, New London, East Windsor, and East Hartford.

The Connecticut river valley until WW2 was one of the best places to live in human history – comparable only to the Loire Valley in France.

Why? Because Yale, Trinity, and Wesleyan, combined with New England Women as the origin of Progressivism, were at least positive movements, but combined with the pre and postwar labor movement, and especially the 1960s leftist movements, adopted more soviet policy than any other state in the union.

But unlike MA, which had to reform because of the shock of losing the technology industry to california, CT did not reform. And the public keeps doubling down. And demographically, and because of demographics, economically, and because of economically, politically, there is no chance it can be corrected.

So until the Federal Government creates the possibility for States to go Bankrupt and renegotiate their contracts and debts (particularly with state employee unions), CT will follow other dying regions. With the top most indebted states being In order (Mass, CT, RI, NY NJ, NH, VT, Illinois, Maryland, Delaware).
In other words Blue = Debt.

So all the northeast’s blue states are dying. If so then why don’t they know it? What’s wrong with the people of the northeast?