An incredible piece that appeared in the Deseret News this past week shows how Democratic policies such as high taxes and overregulation are turning upstate New York into another debacle like Detroit.
The report focuses on Binghamton, a city once known as a powerhouse of industry but which is now marked by many of the same economic failings as the Motor City. For example, 31% of Binghamton residents live at or below the federal poverty line, a statistic lower than the same measure for Detroit, 38% of whose residents are at that level.
Via Deseret News:
Upstate New York is becoming Detroit with grass….
[A]ccording to the U.S. Census …. [a]verage 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.
Upstate New York is losing jobs, dollars, and people at a staggering rate, and the report places the blame squarely on uber-liberal New York City, whose residents “overwhelmingly support higher taxes, stricter regulation and bigger spending than the national averages.”
“Those policies are blamed for upstate’s economic woes by many in the region.”
The mindset between upstate New York and the city and Long Island are stark in their differences. Upstate New York overwhelmingly rejected Governor Andrew Cuomo and his Democratic policies this past election, with Republican Rob Astorino winning 42 counties to Cuomo’s 8.
The report concludes that upstate New York could flourish if it can only “get out from under New York’s tax-and-regulatory system.”
Cross-posted at the Mental Recession
