Blue State Exodus

Blue State Hip and Cool losing out lately--the narrative is shifting RED. Joel Kotkin, Forbes. Why the middle-class are fleeing for the hills:

This seems true even for those seeking high-end jobs. Between 2006 and 2008, the metropolitan areas that enjoyed the fastest percentage shift toward educated and professional workers and industries included nominally "unhip" places like Indianapolis, Charlotte, N.C., Memphis, Tenn., Salt Lake City, Jacksonville, Fla., Tampa, Fla., and Kansas City, Mo.

The overall migration numbers are even more revealing. As was the case for much of the past decade, the biggest gainers continue to include cities such as San Antonio, Dallas and Houston. Rather than being oases for migrants, some oft-cited magnets such as New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago have all suffered considerable loss of population to other regions over the past year.

Could this have to do with The One losing his pull? Families are "key to long-term urban revival" and they are leaving. His supposed uniter, post-partisan charm has palled. Losing jobs in Chicago, his hometown. Gee, what else is going on? Hmm, mmm, mmm.

Over the past decade, while its population grew by only 7%, Illinois' spending grew by an inflation-adjusted 39%. [snip]

Massive public spending increases over the past decade in California, New Jersey, Illinois and New York have gone overwhelmingly into the pockets and pensions of public employees. It certainly has not flowed into such basic infrastructure as roads, bridges and ports that are needed to keep key industries competitive.

Exodus. Yes we can.