Will Liberal Cities Leave the Rest of America Behind?

The New York Times ^ | April30,2014 | Thomas B. Edsall

[Hojczyk]

How can governments adopt substantial, effective policies in order to benefit the poor and the working class when corporations, the affluent and owners of capital can pull up stakes and relocate with ease?

Standing in opposition to these adverse trends, a wave of newly elected mayors from New York to Seattle has taken office committed to deploying the power of city government and aggressive wage and tax policies to attack inequality and revive social and economic mobility.

These outspoken mayors have generated a growing optimism on the Democratic left that local officials can restore support for government activism. Mayors and city councils, in this view, can lead the drive to improve the prospects and living conditions of those in the bottom third of the income distribution. There is no question that demographic diversity and a solid stratum of high net worth taxpayers in key cities provide fertile ground for liberal politics. The larger question is whether the current left-leaning urban agenda is restricted to small elite of well-off municipalities with substantial resources. If so, the cities equipped to finance major enhancements will leave their less well-off counterparts sinking ever deeper in the hole.

[Biggirl]

No, it will be outside the liberal cities that will leave the liberal ciites behind.

[Izzy Dunne]

when corporations, the affluent and owners of capital can pull up stakes and relocate with ease?

Crap - I never thought of this.

They're going to make rules about when corporations may and MAY NOT leave.

[bkepley]

bon voyage

[dblshot]

The problem is too much government action and the liberal cure is more of the same.

[WashingtonSource]

Marxist Delusion on Parade

[Mr. K]

Now they are complaining that people don’t live in cities?

AGENDA 21

[MrB]

Yes, by all means! Leave us behind!

While you’re at it, BUILD WALLS around your cities to make sure we can’t hitch a ride!

[C. Edmund Wright]

this famed NYT columnist is a blithering idiot.

[cuban leaf]

Yeah. Detroit has left us all behind.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The problem with killing the rich and taking their stuff is that you can only do it once.

[Izzy Dunne]

How can governments adopt substantial, effective policies in order to benefit the poor and the working class when corporations, the affluent and owners of capital can pull up stakes and relocate with ease?

Maybe it's like a marriage. You don't get to dictate things all by yourself - you have to think about what's best for the other person too.

[SMARTY]

Right.

They’ll have to eat, access manufacturing and construction, etc.

Like ANY of that goes on, on any scale, in the urban sewers where Liberals have control.

[blackdog]

An example with a 20 year time line please?

What an idiot.

[dartuser]

From the article ... with commentary ...

There is no question that demographic diversity (lost of Democrat voters) and a solid stratum of high net worth taxpayers (the rich) in key cities provide fertile ground for liberal politics (take from those rich and give it to the poor).

[Vigilanteman]

Libtards never learn. The repeated failures of Marxist redistributionist policies are because the right people aren't in charge of running them, not because the policies themselves are fundamentally flawed.

[MrB]

In a marriage, there’s an inherent legal contract, plus a divine obligation.

However, if these cities/states want to keep businesses in their locations, be business friendly. That means reasonable regulation and taxation.

[C. Edmund Wright]

Does this academia nut retard not realize that he destroys his own thesis with his own lead?

[MamaTexan]

They're going to make rules about when corporations may and MAY NOT leave.

LOL! Good luck with that!

That's the really neat thing about corporations. they live and die with the filing of a form, so close it up, leave the city, and open up again elsewhere under another name.

Problem solved. :-)

[Izzy Dunne]

The declining ability of the American political order to deliver a steadily rising standard of living to the vast middle and working classes

Willfully obtuse, he is.

The "steadily rising" standard of living DID NOT COME FROM THE POLITICAL ORDER !!