Posted on 04/11/2015 12:31:44 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
As a resident of the upstate portion of New York (not the Big Apple) I have written frequently about the depressing, negative effects which liberal tax and spend policies combined with strangling regulatory burdens have had on the state, as well as the economic death spiral which has followed. Many of the complaints I hear from residents of the more rural, upstate region center on the unbalanced power held by New York City and the complete disconnect between the government and the more conservative, rural communities to the north and west. But even as a person studying and experiencing these effects first hand, I don’t think I ever grasped the full impact of this disparity in the way it’s spelled out by William Tucker of the American Media Institute.
Upstate New York is becoming Detroit with grass.
Binghamton, New York — once a powerhouse of industry — is now approaching Detroit in many economic measures, according to the U.S. Census. In Binghamton, more than 31 percent of city residents are at or below the federal poverty level compared to 38 percent in Detroit. Average household income in Binghamton at $30,179 in 2012 barely outpaces Detroit’s $26,955. By some metrics, Binghamton is behind Detroit. Some 45 percent of Binghamton residents own their dwellings while more than 52 percent of Detroit residents are homeowners. Both “Rust Belt” cities have lost more than 2 percent of their populations.
Binghamton is not alone. Upstate New York — that vast 50,000-square mile region north of New York City — seems to be in an economic death spiral.
The fate of the area is a small scene in a larger story playing out across rural America. As the balance of population shifts from farms to cities, urban elites are increasingly favoring laws and regulations that benefit urban voters over those who live in small towns or out in the country. The implications are more than just economic: it’s a trend that fuels the intense populism and angry politics that has shattered the post-World War II consensus and divided the nation.
That comparison between the city of Binghamton and the wreckage of Detroit is a true eye opener, but it’s not the only such story in the non-city portions of the state. IBM was once the powerhouse of employment in the greater Binghamton area, employing more than 16,000 people as recently as the late 1980s. Today the entire complex has been sold to local developers and the computer giant employs a few hundred people (many of whom are contractors) renting out a tiny portion of the old complex. Kodak employed 62,000 people in Rochester during the same period as IBM’s heyday. Today there are roughly 4,000 workers. Xerox and Bausch & Lomb were also huge employers there but are now largely (or entirely) gone.
These stories are repeated over and over again in cities and towns across the upstate region, so it’s more than coincidence. Tucker ties it all together.
The economic woes of the Empire State trace back to Albany, and a state government that is legendary for its ability to tax and spend. Strict election laws insulate incumbents of both parties, making the state legislature the longest-tenured in the nation. Petitions to put insurgent candidates on the ballot require tens of thousands of signatures and are regularly rebuffed by the courts on technical grounds. Ballot initiatives that have led to tax reform in other states are not permitted. Politicians are protected from voters and have built a spending machine unmatched in virtually any other state. New York, despite its shrinking population, spends more money than all but a handful of states.
The primary example is Medicaid. New York is the only state that forces its cities and counties to help finance Medicaid. As a result, for every dollar appropriated by Albany, Washington contributes two — and New York’s local governments must kick in a fourth.
Pay particular attention to the section on Medicaid highlighted above because it’s a fight which is raging in states across the nation today. The effect here has been nothing short of devastating. From the top down perspective, as Tucker documents, the state of New York spends more than twice as much money on Medicaid as California while serving less than half the number of people. The “revenue sharing” scheme put in place by Democrats from the city has left some places like Chenango County with fully one half of their property tax income going to Albany just to pay for Medicaid. If you think half is bad, Erie County – home to the Buffalo Bills – sends every dime of their property taxes to Medicaid and they are essentially bankrupt.
Returning to the initial premise of this piece, we’re not seeing a red state vs blue state problem here. It’s large, liberal cities run by high spending Democrats using their numeric advantage to pass policies which bleed smaller, more rural areas to death. It takes place in many states other than New York, too. Pennsylvania is a study in two countries, really, with the urban centers of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh constantly at war with the rural land known as “Pennsyltucky” stretching between them. I’m sure you can find more examples in your own back yards.
But what is the solution? There have been debates raging for years in the Empire State about finding some way to split off New York City as its own state or allowing portions of upstate to secede and sign on with somebody else. But as long as the cities hold the numerical edge on the votes in the state government, there’s not much that anyone can do. It’s a culture war over a way of life and the economic realities of wildly different societal climates. And there’s no end in sight.
No, it’s sane vs. insane.
Probably, actually must be somehow.
Their kids on the school bus are proud to tell other kids they get free breakfast and lunch. They get all their food on welfare because my teen oldest boy works as a cashier so we know. One daughter was telling the neighborhood kids that her dad signed up for college but does not go but got a pick up truck,. Not sure how that works. The house they have rented has gone to the worst looking house in the neighborhood. Junk outside, windows dirty, blinds all broke for their dog and all they ever do is sit outside smoking.
When they first moved here they kept calling the Sheriff dept about they are being racially harassed in their words “ I am white married to a black guy living in the south”
Agreed
It’s because it’s all been orchestrated and corrupt to fit the design. The only fair way to to count one vote for each voter. Whoever gets the majority of those votes wins.
It’s simple, basic and extremely hard to manipulate, sway or corrupt.
It’s why we don’t have that system.
James Wilson suggested that at the Constitutional Convention. He couldn't sell it to Madison or Hamilton, so he invented the Electoral College instead.
Meanwhile, several states have legislation which would afford their electoral votes to whoever wins the popular election without regard to who actually wins the vote in the state itself!
South too... Just a little further...
When the democrats were in control of Michigan they were pushing the interstate voting compact. Fortunately its dead meat here now.
America would have become socialist 70 years ago with direct election of the president. In one way, you are correct; you can’t cheat an honest electorate or ultimately protect people from themselves.
The fading cities of upstate New York are relics of an age when those locations were actually important in industry. Cities like Buffalo, Rochester and Binghamton became industrial hubs because they could supply water for industrial processes and were located along navigable waterways and/or major railroads.
Once those assets were no longer necessary to support industry (access to cheap electricity and major ports is more important to most industries today), a lot of those cities really lost the "advantage of place" they once had. It's a scene you see repeated all over the Northeast and through the Rust Belt states.
Agree with that; my town is about 87% conservative but we are overwhelmed by the big cities around us. We are in California, but Sacto, SanFran and LA are the big wellfare districts with the votes.
It is not. It is constitutionalist versus progressive.
If that predominates city v country, fine, but it is stereotyping.
Red areas get to vote for one of the chosen.
JMHo
The Civil War was similarly arguably state versus country.
But I also think that citizens would like to make the Constitution work if they were brought up to speed on what it’s supposed to do; divide state and federal government powers, the states, not the constitutionally humbled feds, having the lion’s share of government power to serve the people.
Seriously, conservatives need to find a way to thrive in the cities. We may have to establish our own neighborhoods in every metropolitan area.
There are big changes going on in Detroit. Downtown is booming mostly due to big money like Dan Gilbert and Quicken and the hipsters who have a libertarian bent. Lots of construction going on after the creditors got prime real estate as part of their bankruptcy settlement.
A while back I watched a Detroit chamber of commerce conference online and a lot of the outside business interests were talking about the rising cost of doing business elsewhere VS Detroit. They’re also concerned that many other cities are heading down the same path that got Detroit to where it is. They seemed to think that Detroit will be in much better shape in the future than many other cities.
The closer to downtown the better it is.
Every major city is THE cancer that sucks the life-blood from surrounding areas. It needs to change! By district or even county would be a good start.
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