Friday, July 31, 2009

Blue Man Crying

I enjoy the penultimate blue man Joel Kotkin's writing on urban development and architecture. This is an interesting piece he has posted on Blue State Demographics. A couple of tidbits to inspire you to read it:

When the recovery comes, job growth also is most likely to resurge first in the red states, while the blue states continue to lag behind. For reasons as diverse as regulatory policy, aging infrastructure, and high levels of taxation, blue states continue to be more susceptible to recessions than their red counterparts.
Hmm, "high levels of taxation" are bad?

These demographic and economic trends will have a long-term political impact. The net in-migration states—almost all of them red—will gain new representatives in Congress after the next census while New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and perhaps even California could see their delegations shrink.

In fact, amidst the Blue Man’s current political ascendency, the devolutionary process is likely to continue. Its roots are very deep, and will prove more difficult to reverse than media and policy claques suggest. In historic terms, blue states’ relative decline represents one of the greatest shifts of political and economic power since the Civil War.



Look, as a proud resident of a staunchly red state, I want to see all the states do well. But if you need an example of what works in economic policy, the contrast of economic health between the two regions is stark.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Quick data point: although there is indeed some interesting truth to the article, I believe you are missing a key data point in forming your thesis:

"The net in-migration states—almost all of them red—will gain new representatives in Congress after the next census while New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and perhaps even California could see their delegations shrink"

that in-migration is massively latino, and massively BLUE. I think that the GOP is in serious trouble when those in-migrations start turning those red states other (purpley-blue) colors based solely on raw racial demographics.

so... your predicted shift in political power may indeed happen -but it may be surprising to you which direction that shift ends up going. if just a few of those deep-south red states turn blue, the GOP will be out of strongholds to defend.

Food for thought...

Marty Heflin said...

Good point. However, once they experience the benefits that low taxation and more freedom bring in our more vibrant economies, they might become conservatives!