Nemesis stalks the blue states, and so the wealthy flee

High-Earners Flee Blue States

"To be sure, there will always be some wealthy people who aren’t bothered by sky-high tax rates and soaring housing costs, and are willing to trade that for a hip cultural scene and a panoramic view of Central Park or the San Francisco Bay. But on the evidence of the past several years, the broad upper-middle class—including small business-owners, professionals, and other high-skilled workers—does not find blue-state government particularly enticing. One of the biggest drivers of this trend, in addition to higher income tax rates and regulatory red tape, is housing policy: Blue states enact more building restrictions, which have put family-friendly housing out of reach for broad swathes of the population.

The Kotkin and Cox data points to a dispersion of high-earners—and the investment capital they bring with them—away from the coasts, and toward less dense, less costly, and more conservative parts of the country. This ought to puncture the widespread illusions about the inherent superiority of the blue coastal model, and exert far-reaching effects on the geography of U.S. economic growth over the next several decades."

As wealth sifts, so will businesses, and then employees, and then the blues states will have more problems economically, while the middle prospers, Hubris always precedes Nemesis. And Nemesis stalks the blue states today.