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.
Start the Madison Fund as recommended by Charles Murray and beat the liberal elites at their own game by suing them for every possible little reason. Tie them up, force them to spend money to defend themselves, and bleed them until they begin to die a death of a thousand cuts.
Good idea. But the unions must be kept at bay.
We’re a RTW state now. Detroit municipal services are all unionized but it is legal to compete against them in many cases. Dan Gilbert runs a private shuttle service and there’s the Detroit Bus company. Water and electric are increasingly privatized.
Its a great town for sports. You have the Lions and Tigers right next door to each other and a new Red Wings arena under construction in the same complex. There’s INDY racing on Belle Isle and powerboat racing on the river. Roger Pensky says he dreams of bringing F-1 racing back too.
My money is on the rural people. At least they can hit what they shoot at.
I agree. And agree with the article. It’s basically major population centers VS more rural areas.
The red state/blue state thing is pie in the sky.
The real battlefront is the suburbs. The core of cities and the rural vote are settled. Win the suburbs to win elections. The suburbs are the real purple zones.
Reynolds v. Sims is generally ignored in the list of harms leftist majorities on SCOTUS have inflicted on the Republic. Admittedly Roe v. Wade was worse, but in terms of harm done, it’s a near run thing between Reynolds v. Sims and Wickard v. Filburn for second place.
The only fair way to to count one vote for each voter.
According to whom? That formula guarantees that the interests of cities always trump the interests of the countryside. There is a reason the Founders included anti-democratic elements (the Electoral College, equal representation of the states in the Senate without regard to population, an un-elected Supreme Court with life tenure). One vote for each voter ends up with the urban wolves voting to have the rural sheep for dinner.
You mean the major urban population centers do not have all the power, the control, the big money and control over the elections in the form of never ending reckless immigration?
If not, how has government become so massive, controlling and all encompassing? Is it those in rural areas who are creating all these country killing, government growing policies?
Ouch.
New York’s problem is actually a Washington Created problem 50 years old. You see most all of our states uses to have a legislative body called a state Senate that mirrored in both form and functionality the U.S. Senate thus giving the various regions of the state representation and thus also veto power in State politics.
The design and intent of which was to prohibit powerful cities from doing exactly what they are now doing in New York and Illinois killing off regional competition by crafting State level policy designed to cripple other economic regions of the state, or such as in the case of Chicago using the rest of the State as a piggy bank bail out mechanism for their own failed politician’s projects, rather than taking responsibility for their own actions. This like New York’s urban dominated policy is of course abusive and unfair to the rest of the state. But without a state senate problems and politics that should have remained local to the people who created them are now unjustly exported to innocent people who had nothing to do with them.
Used to be a time in NY when the GOP-majority outside the city could outvote them. Now it’s the city that drives the car, and they could care less about the rest of the state.
No, the fact that our polity is too democratic, with the baleful influence of urban populations is beyond dispute. The anti-democratic elements the Founders created, necessary to the health of the Republic, have been largely destroyed, first by the 17th Amendment, then by Reynold v. Sims that prevented states from having legislatures with an upper house not apportioned by population, though those I listed are still in effect.
My post was directed at another poster’s idea that simple majoritarianism is somehow a good idea.
My point was it seems the Electoral College didn’t seem to preserve or save anything. No? The elected just made things worse, year after year after year. And now they operate in a dictatorial manner in broad day light. They publicly flaunt it. Totally emboldened.
Just look at the state of affairs from top to bottom. America is literally dying and most of it is directly caused by our own government and the elected corrupt. They’ve even corrupted our very electoral process over the past 30+ years.
And it gets worse.
What a shame.
I’m glad, though, that upstate NY as a whole voted for Astorino. If we could dump NYC, it would tremendously help us all, including Binghamton.
Back in the day the rats took few counties upstate (or outside NYC, I know Westchester isn’t considered “upstate”) even when winning .
FDR won only 6 counties outside of NYC in 1936. Mondale won only 3 outside the city while losing the state in 1984.
Make that 7 for FDR.
Reagan holding Mondale to only three county wins outside of NYC in 1984 (Albany, Erie (Buffalo) and Tompkins (Ithaca)) wasn’t that surprising, given that Reagan carried the state. Ford was the one that proved how well the GOP use to run Upstate even when losing in the state as a whole: He held Carter to just three non-NYC county wins (Albany, Erie and Sullivan) even while Carter was carrying the state by 4.42% (had Ford carried it, he would have won the election).
As for FDR, the number of non-NYC counties that he carried in the state was 5 in 1932 (Albany, next-door Rensselaer (Troy), Franklin and Clinton in the North Country, and F’n Sullivan); 8 in 1936 (Erie (Buffalo),Monroe (Rochester), Clinton, Albany, Schenectady, Montgomery, Sullivan, and Rockland—that last one may not be deemed to be “Upstate” because it is borders Westchester on the west); 4 in 1940 (Erie, Monroe, Clinton and Albany); and 4 in 1944 (the same as in 1940).
Purge New York from the the Union
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.