We should write all this down, so future generations don't make the same mistakes.
More proof that humans are not objective, data-driven, facts-based decision-makers.
I love living in the Last Free State in America, Florida. As all legal immigrants do, my fervor is more robust than some of the natives because I came here from the belly of the Marxist beast, the Peoples’ Republic of NewYorkistan. The never-ending stupidity of Democrats to tax their productive citizens until they leave is astonishing.
As the Democrat party lurches further into full Communist mandates, state by state, businesses are leaving to move to friendlier climes.
Ari Hoffman wrote a piece1 today about the results of his freedom of information requests from his home State of Washington, regarding the tax increases that are now pummeling the people. He found that the Governor and legislator had been provided ample warning by the business community that raising taxes would cause people to flee Washington, thereby reducing any tax receipts they were planning on getting from higher taxes.
Politicians are some of the stupidest people on the planet. Despite being told that layoffs and business closures in Washington would happen with higher taxes, they effectively shoved their fingers in their ears and refused to believe it.
By the time of the April 15 meeting at Starbucks headquarters, [Governor] Ferguson’s own staff had documented the scale of the company’s flight from Washington.
Two rounds of corporate and retail layoffs had affected nearly 1,300 Washington workers. Almost 40 stores had permanently closed.
Employment at Starbucks’ Seattle headquarters had fallen from roughly 3,750 workers in 2023 to about 2,800.
The records also showed [Starbucks CEO] Niccol identified public safety around Starbucks’ Seattle headquarters as a major concern.
That prompted another public-records request. Was Starbucks an isolated case?
It wasn’t.
T-Mobile had also written lawmakers warning that Washington’s expanded sales tax on advertising services punished companies for keeping headquarters jobs in the state.
“Companies headquartered in Washington, with marketing teams or decision makers located here, incur this tax,” CEO Srini Gopalan wrote. “Companies headquartered outside Washington do not.”
The company warned that the tax created “an unintended competitive disadvantage for companies that choose to headquarter and employ workers in our state.”
Lawmakers left the tax in place.
T-Mobile has laid off nearly 400 Washington employees while continuing to expand campuses in Kansas, Texas and Georgia.
Before meeting with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Ferguson received another briefing memo discussing obstacles to bringing the Seattle SuperSonics home.
Among the anticipated topics were the income tax affecting the recruitment of top players and questions about whether Seattle remained an attractive place for investors after prominent businesses and leaders relocated to Florida.
Major employers weren’t blindsiding the governor and lawmakers with announcements after decisions had already been made.
They were warning state leaders, in writing, that Democrats’ tax policy was making Washington less competitive.
The governor knew. His staff knew. Lawmakers knew.
The conversations were happening. The warnings were delivered. The concerns were documented.
The public simply wasn’t part of them.
Seattle-area startups raised just $2.7 billion across 163 venture-capital deals during the first half of 2026, down about 40% from $4.5 billion across 210 deals a year earlier.
Among the nation’s 10 largest venture-capital markets, Seattle fell from fifth to seventh in dollars invested and ranked last in deal count during that time.
Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Oracle and other Seattle-area tech companies have eliminated tens of thousands of Washington jobs since January.
Seattle office vacancy sits at roughly 37%, and statewide unemployment is 5.2%, a full percentage point above the national average.
Washington’s largest employers repeatedly warned state leaders that higher taxes would make the state less competitive.
Those warnings weren’t ignored because officials never heard them. They were ignored because they didn’t care.
And now Washington is paying the price.
Every Democrat-run state is following the same tax-us-into-bankruptcy playbook. The Democrats who used to argue for workers getting more of the free market pie are now being captured by the insane nutcases of the Democratic Socialists of America, who are just Communists with a more marketing-friendly name.
This madness is not inevitable. But if the bulk of Americans don’t put down their screens and quit watching TV for just a few hours a month to pay attention to local and national politicians’ antics, the continued slide of the USA will accelerate.
After fifteen years of research and modeling, I published my book on fixing the fiscal mess of the bankrupt corporation known as the United States of America.
I’ve sold many copies, but I see no evidence of a change in direction. DOGE was a good idea, but poorly implemented and half-assed. It made a few good changes, a few ham-fisted ones and then rolled up stakes and vanished like the mist at dawn.
Logic dies where Politics begins.
Benjamin Franklin’s warning about the Founders bequeathing us a “Republic, if [we] can keep it,” is rarely taken to mean, “A free country if you idiots don’t tax your productive class into bankruptcy or flight,” but it should be the primary meaning for us all today.
Democrats love jobs and hate job creators.
Once you grasp that, your voting choices should be a whole lot clearer.
https://nypost.com/2026/07/20/opinion/my-state-of-washington-ignored-warnings-about-tax-hikes-and-now-were-paying-the-price/
If there is any business that supports freedom, being able to operate without the heavy hand of government oppression, that would be the firearms industry. For the last few years, business has been very good for those making guns (probably because people are waking up and fearful of tyrannical government). What is that manufacturing sector doing with their increased profits? If you said expansion, you would be correct, but...
You see, since the War of Independence, the Northeast (MA., CT., NY) was the home of the great majority of gun makers. As you know, these are all very blue states. They are money-grabbing gun haters. They pass laws restricting these business and pass laws to steal more tax money from them.
In response, the firearm manufacturers, flush with increased profits, have all taken their business to southern red states. They have built large modern manufacturing facilities, easily expandable, in states where their business and money is highly appreciated. There are not any gun makers in the Northeast now, billions of dollars and thousands of jobs chased out.
Blue states are literally committing suicide.