R.I. exodus: Losing the young, ambitious

The Providence Journal ^ | Tuesday, January 2, 2007 | Mark Arsenault

[devane617]

Here in Texas it is on the municiple level. Each small town has its own school district. However, in Georgia, where I lived before Texas, and in Florida, where I lived from 2002-2005, it is on the county level as you mentioned.

[Kozak]

I don't see the spending end. Almost none of it affects me. I see the tax end. And beleive me that I feel in a very painful way.

[OBone]

The new state minimum wages go as high as $7.50 an hour. And businesses will either raise their prices, stop hiring people at all, increase robotization of their production lines, or close their doors and relocate to other states.

Perhaps you were not aware that the city of Providence decreed it's minimum wage required of any firm doing business with the city to be $12.50 (if I remember correctly) the so-called living wage that was spreading through the PC community across the country. I don't remember if this was under the Cianci regime or the Ciciline regime. Of course, it was the tax payers who paid it.

OB

[OBone]

Having gone through high school attending The Academy of Richmond County '45-'49 (public high school, w/ROTC unit and Junior College component)kids were bused in from all over Richmond County into the city. In those days there was an all girls public high school, the academy was all boys except for the Junior College component. My class was the last class to graduate as all boys, the following year the girls high school was made into a middle school and the girls were sent to the academy (I don't know if they had to take ROTC or not) In my years, it was a requirement (we had a Army Major, LT, and Sgt stationed for duty at the school). Twice a week we had to take a class known as MS&T, Military Science and Tactics. In those days, you either learned or repeated.

OB

[Constitution Day]

My concern is that these "people leaving" are Democrats who have fouled their own nests and now are migrating to other states where they will continue to vote Democrat and screw up those states for everybody else.

Yeah, like my lovely home state of North Carolina!

[Redleg Duke]

Once, Rhode Island was famous for freedom, independence and the encouragement of exploration and growth...but that was in the 17th century.

[Kozak]

Arizona, California, Delaware, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina and Pennsylvania—are raising their minimum wage. The federal minimum is $5.15 an hour. The new state minimum wages go as high as $7.50 an hour. And businesses will either raise their prices, stop hiring people at all, increase robotization of their production lines, or close their doors and relocate to other states. Economics 101, again.

You forget "hire more illegals off the books".

[Kozak]

Yeah, like my lovely home state of North Carolina!

Help is on the way. My wife and I will be coming to NC in July. Two more members of the VRWC.

[Constitution Day]

Cool! What part of the state?

I live in the eastern part - near Rocky Mount, which is about 60 mi E of Raleigh.

[Zack Nguyen]

My mother-in-law has operated a guest house in Newport for 30 years, maintaining the 'summer cottage' with proceeds from the business. The state is forcing her into bankruptsy. New fire code (Station House fire fallout....$100,000+ for sprinklers...that don't ruin the historic pinache of the place), building code restrictions that force her into highest-cost restoration, fuel taxes, and property taxes that are, annually, more than the appraised value of my home. The property is valuable...but there's a slim profit margin. Then there's the scammers who claimed injury...insurance cancelled after settlement...new policy at twice the cost. The planning board says she's gotta paint the place every three years.

That's awful. Leftists will never be pro-business unless reality forces them too.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Once, Rhode Island was famous for freedom, independence and the encouragement of exploration and growth...but that was in the 17th century.

Eighteenth, too. Rhode Islanders might have even spilled the first blood of the American Revolution.

[Kozak]

Moving to the beach. Wilmington /Topsail Island.

[Constitution Day]

Nice!

My friend has a house in Surf City. Great area!

[Tailback]

If a per-capita government expenditure is high, where do you think the money comes from? In Oregon the government likes to raise fees instead of taxes. System development fees, infrastructure fees, environmental impact fees, higher permit fees etc etc ad nauseum. A tax is a tax is a tax in my book. If the government is making me pay then it's a tax.

You are certainly affected by this because when system development fees raise the cost of building a house, prices of all homes go up.

[Zack Nguyen]

Liberals know, in their heart of hearts, they cannot build a "sustainable" society without enslaving high-energy, high-output people, who by their creative abilities become "rich". Everyone knows the "rich" are not paying their "fair share", and must "give back" to society to address "underfunded needs", which of course only exists because the "rich" have oppressed the poor.

Well said!

[MinorityRepublican]

That explains why Pennyslvania is no longer a swing state and is now solidly a 'rat state.