Will Blue State Refugees Ruin Red States?
Actually, there’s less cause for worry than you think.
by Benjamin Powell
December 28, 2020, 10:36 PM
State-imposed lockdowns in California and other “blue†states have accelerated the already sizeable exodus of businesses and residents from their states. Texas, where I live and teach, has been among the main beneficiaries.
Each year since 2015, 100,000 more Californians have packed their bags for Arizona, Idaho, Texas, Utah, and other less restrictive, lower-tax, business-friendly states than have arrived in the Golden State. The same is happening on the East Coast, where thousands of former New York and New Jersey residents and business owners have fled to the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, and other more hospitable and affordable states. But many Carolinians, Floridians, and Texans are worried that blue-state migrants could change their states — and not for the better. They shouldn’t be.
For example, Oracle Corporation, the giant software and technology company, recently announced that it plans to move its headquarters from Redwood City, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley, to Austin, Texas. The announcement came just days after Hewlett Packard Enterprise, another leading technology firm, announced it was moving its headquarters from San Jose, California, to Houston. Similarly, Tesla, the electric vehicle manufacturer, whose sister company SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation) already has a major presence in Texas, chose Texas over California for its next big factory.
Most Californians fleeing to Texas are unlikely to have political preferences in sync with California’s granola set. They’re leaving the tarnished “golden state†for a reason.
When these companies move, so do many of their employees. U-Haul rental rates indicate the lopsided nature of the interstate migration. A 26-foot U-Haul truck costs $5,649 to pick up in San Francisco and drop off in Houston. If you’re moving in the reverse direction, that same truck rental costs only $1,712. The prices reflect the fact that demand for trucks exiting California is far greater than the demand for trucks headed there.
more
https://spectator.org/blue-state-refugees-ruin-red-states/
