Leaving Minnesota

Today I learned that one of my favorite people to follow, the author Ann Bauer, is planning to move from Minnesota to Texas.  Ann is a rational voice who understands what has happened to Minnesota as a result of almost two decades of crazy Dem rule.  Unfortunately she simply can’t take it any more, and just from a financial perspective, moving makes immense sense.  But it is the loss of another person who could be a force for turning the state around.  I think many people in Minnesota are torn about how to respond to how expensive, crime-ridden and poorly serviced this state has become.  Large numbers have left, usually taking substantial taxable income with them.  Those who stay, like me, tend to get more frustrated by the failure of the Rep party to offer candidates that can end this nonsense.  We are getting close in the state legislature.

This story is replicated around the country in Dem-run states.  California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Connecticut and similar states have experienced immense migration out of the state.  You would think the governors and legislators in those states would be concerned but they just keep raising taxes, increasing regulations, making electricity and everything else more expensive, ignoring crime, decreasing educational attainment and otherwise creating a bad living environment.  It is an interesting dynamic to watch that so many people keep voting for the destruction of their living standards.  Minneapolis is on its way to becoming a dead city and if Dems had their way they would do it to the whole state.

If you want to understand, look at this presentation by Bill Walsh from the Center for the American Experiment, which has five charts explaining how badly life has deteriorated in Minnesota. The first chart shows that will spending per pupil has risen sharply in the state, reading and math proficiency has declined even more rapidly.  Minnesota’s crime rate has grown to the point where we are now above the national average.  But we are below average in GDP per capital growth, and again below the national average, for the first time in decades.  Our electricity prices are heading toward California’s, rising well above the national average due to whacked renewable energy nonsense.  And the last chart displays the large outflows of Minnesotans to other states.(CAE Charts)

So I understand why people leave.  Some of us feel pretty trapped–we have children and grandchildren here.  Others have houses and neighborhoods and friends that they don’t want to leave.  Some have businesses that they don’t want to sell or give up on.  It is a very sad and difficult situation.  And if things don’t change with the state elections next year, I would expect the out-migration to continue at even higher levels.  Give Ann Bauer a follow on X.