A New Hampshire Roadmap

One of the downsides to our first-in-the-nation presidential primary is the proliferation of political ads during Thanksgiving holiday football games. One of the most bizarre this year came from Democrat Tom Steyer.
Steyer justified his support for congressional term limits using the “diversity” canard. Apparently, better government requires more “women of color” in power. Coming from an old, white, billionaire seeking to replace the current old, white, billionaire in the White House is irony defined. If he wanted to walk the walk, he’d spend his cash supporting fellow Californian Kamala Harris.
The idea that the cure for what ails us is more race- and sex-based diversity in politics is idiotic. Ask the people of Baltimore if former mayor and current indicted ex-pol Catherine Pugh was the woman-of-color they needed to turn their city around. Ask Chicago voters if they are pleased with their choice for state’s attorney, woman-of-color Kim Foxx, after the Jussie Smollett fiasco.
No race or sex has a special claim on political ability or insight.
The most important ingredients for making good politicians are good ideas and the ability to implement policies based on those ideas. People of all shapes, sizes, colors, and both sexes are capable of being good politicians. But when your party doesn’t have good ideas and when your successful candidates manage to despoil most everything they touch (see Baltimore, Chicago, the state of California…), a bit of misdirection is your best option.
Democrats prefer sowing seeds of social division by claiming against all evidence that race and sex “diversity” in and of itself is a strength. It’s no way to run a country.
I hope a majority of my fellow NH voters aren’t fooled. To improve our situation, we should look at what proven winners do, and try to emulate it.
At his American Enterprise Institute Carpe Diem blog, economist Mark Perry recently published an analysis of state winners and losers in “Top 10 inbound vs. top 10 outbound US states.” Theorizing that people vote with their feet, moving to places with better opportunities, he attempts to answer the question: “What significant differences are there, if any, between America’s top ten inbound and top ten outbound states when they are compared on a variety of measures of economic performance, business climate, business and individual taxes, fiscal health, electricity and housing costs, and labor market dynamism?”
The good news is that NH wasn’t in the bottom 10. The bad news is that we didn’t make the top 10. But the data contains a roadmap of good ideas – things our legislators should use to improve our economic future.
The Empire State was the #1 outbound state – people really want to escape from New York. Many of them are going to Arizona, the #1 inbound state. Weather is undoubtedly one non-economic factor, but the Grand Canyon State also boasts much lower tax burdens, a better business climate, higher GDP and employment growth, and lower utility and housing costs.
Granite Staters can’t do anything about our weather, but we can and should demand that our legislators and governor work to make our state more attractive to those outward-bound Americans seeking opportunity.
A few tips:
1) Right-to-work states attract businesses. Seven of the top ten inbound states are RTW states; we should be, too. Nine of the top ten outbound states are forced-unionism states. Why are we with them?
2) Our tax freedom date is April 22, just one day ahead of the US average, making us 31 of 50. We can do better. Maine, at April 17, ranks 19th.
3) Our Forbes Best State for Business ranking is 34th. We took a hit for our regulatory environment. Massachusetts, at 19th, has a better regulatory environment than we do. Let that sink in.
4) Our Business Tax Climate ranking was 6th, mostly due to high marks for low individual income taxes and no sales tax. We took hits for high tax rates for corporations, property, and unemployment insurance.
5) We joined the top ten inbound states for measures of state fiscal health, mostly due to our taxes, revenues, and expenses being a low percentage of personal income. We have long-term solvency issues, however.
6) Electricity costs and median home prices – yikes! We pay the 6th highest electricity rates, and our home prices are $50,000 higher than the median of the top ten inbound states. If we want to attract and retain families, we need to address basic living costs.
7) We lag the best states in GDP and job growth, but our unemployment rate is lower. A tight labor market and poor growth prospects aren’t good for business.
To put New Hampshire on the map as a destination for domestic migration, all legislation next session should be judged on its ability to improve fiscal metrics, reduce regulations, encourage economic dynamism, and lower energy and housing costs. Concord needs to follow the leaders.

Ken Gorrell welcomes your comments at kengorrell@gmail.com