Printer friendly version

May 10, 2004

Accepting RI's Burden

My wife and I would like to buy a house in Rhode Island in the not-too-distant future, but honestly, if she didn't have a large family all within a fifteen mile radius, here, I can't say I'd be inclined to choose Rhode Island over some other shoreline state. Tom Coyne of North Kingstown expresses a central reason:

For too many years, Rhode Island's elected "leaders" have focused on the redistribution of income, rather than on its production by the private sector. The bill for this is now coming due. Unless more radical budget reforms are soon undertaken, the state's decline will accelerate, and all of us -- poor and rich, young and old, public and private, Democratic and Republican -- will suffer.

As Coyne details, Rhode Island is attracting poor people, has a high percentage of elderly citizens, supports a disproportionately large public sector, gives public employees excessive benefits, and through high taxes and business-unfriendly policies is driving out the private sector. Throw into the mix the ridiculous prices of middle-class-grade housing, and it isn't a very hospitable place to begin a family. Between the definingly liberal politics of the state and the region, the corruption encouraged by monolithic institutions, and the huge voting blocks looking for handouts, there is very little reason for optimism.

A large family, a nearby ocean, and an interesting landscape only have so much pull, even for a stubborn fella like me.

Posted by Justin Katz at May 10, 2004 1:43 PM
Government
Comments

"Rhode Island is attracting poor people, has a high percentage of elderly citizens, supports a disproportionately large public sector, gives public employees excessive benefits, and through high taxes and business-unfriendly policies is driving out the private sector"

That's a pretty apt description of the country at large, don't you think?

Posted by: Vigilance Matters at May 10, 2004 3:52 PM

Your're young -- go south, young man.

(Sung to the tune of the 'Beverly Hillbillies', South Carolina is the place you oughta be.

Really, though. I'm in Buffalo so this is somewhat objective advice -- South Carolina has no state income tax and is probably the most conservative state in the east.

And its coastline is beautiful. Myrtle Beach, Charleston, and Hilton Head (and points in between) offer a pretty nice and not-so-costly environment. It is hot, though.

Posted by: Craig Howard at May 10, 2004 10:15 PM

Yes, come south! It may be hot, but you'll never have to shovel snow again either!

Posted by: Timbeaux at May 11, 2004 10:09 AM

Vigilance,

We've just perfected it, up here in New England.

--------

Craig,

I would; really I would. Perhaps one of the larger errors in judgment from my younger years was in heading out to Carnegie Mellon, in Pittsburgh, rather than down to the University of Virginia (in the state of my birth). But something in New England's history and character calls to me... a call that is not nearly so significant as the threats of bodily harm should I move my mother-in-law's daughter across the country.

-----------

Timbeaux,

Odd as it may sound, I kinda like shoveling snow. Shoveling liberal-state B.S. is a different matter

Posted by: Justin Katz at May 11, 2004 12:56 PM