As kids, we used to refer to upstate as the Igloo. Downstate has been doing VERY WELL due to the stock market and real estate. Upstate hasn't been the same since the loss of the steel mills, textile mills, and other industrial concerns.
Here in WNY the two main private concerns going under - or at least downsized in a major way - are Delphi and GM plants. When they do, the area will undergo a crisis that has not been seen since the great depression. Then maybe the sheeple will wake up and kick out the Dems.
The Taylor Law is killing this state.
Upstate is nice, but dead. There is literally nothing to do and the popultation reflects it.
I went to the Adirondacks on a white water rafting trip last year and it looked like something out of National Geographic. however, the prices of houses and real estate were not that cheap that i would consider investing anything. That is why young people are leaving as fast as they can.