Nearly 1,000 People Move From Blue States to Red States Every Day. Here’s Why.
每天将近有1000人从蓝州搬到红州,这自有缘由。

The so-called “progressives” love to talk about how their policies will create a worker’s paradise, but then why is it that day after day, month after month, year after year, people are fleeing liberal blue states for conservative red states?

那些所谓的“进步人士们”喜欢谈论他们的政策将如何创造出一个工人的天堂。可是,为什么日复一日,月复一月,年复一年,人们总是在从自由派的蓝州逃到保守派的红州去呢?

The new Census data on where we live and where we moved to in 2014 shows that the top seven states with the biggest percentage increase in in-migration from other states are in order: North Dakota, Nevada, South Carolina, Colorado, Florida, Arizona, and Texas. All of these states are red, except Colorado, which is purple.

2014年最新人口普查中关于居住地和搬迁地的数据显示,按照迁入量增长的百分比计算,有他州居民迁入的前七大州依次是:北达科他,内华达,南卡罗来纳,科罗拉多,佛罗里达,亚利桑那和德克萨斯。这些州中除了科罗拉多是紫色以外,其他都是红州。

Meanwhile, the leading exodus states of the continental states in percentage terms were Alaska, New York, Illinois, Connecticut, New Mexico, New Jersey, and Kansas. All of these states are blue, except Alaska and Kansas.

同时,以百分比计算,大陆州中主要的外流州是:阿拉斯加,纽约,伊利诺伊、康涅狄格,新墨西哥,新泽西和堪萨斯。这些州中除了阿拉斯加和堪萨斯外,其他都是蓝州。

The latest Rich States, Poor States document (which I co-author), published by ALEC, the state legislative organization, finds that nearly 1,000 people each day on net are leaving blue states and entering red states. This migration is changing the economic center of gravity in America—moving it relentlessly to the South and West.

最新的《富州和穷州》报告(我是合著者),由专注各州立法的美国立法交流委员会(ALEC)出版,发现每天离开蓝州进入红州的人数净值接近1000。这一迁徙正在改变美国的经济重心,使之持续不断地向南、向西转移。

Travis Brown, the author of the indispensable book “How Money Walks,” shows that two of the leading factors behind this movement of human capital are 1) whether a state has a right to work law (half of the states do) and 2) how high the top income tax rate is in the state. Nine states have no income tax today, and they are creating twice the pace of jobs as are high-income tax states.

特拉维斯·布朗写作了一本不可或缺的书:《钱如何走路》。他指出,在人力资本的上述流动背后,有两个主要的影响因素:1)该州是否有权制定工作法(一半的州都有),2)该州最高的所得税税率有多高。如今有九个州没有所得税,而他们创造的工作机会是高所得税州的两倍。

Data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) show a similar trend. Each year the IRS issues a migration data report that examines how many tax filers (and dependents) in the year changed their residency and how much income was transported from one state to another. The numbers for the most recent year (tax filing year 2013) are gigantic and put the lie to the claim that interstate migration is too small to matter in terms of the wealth and economic opportunity in one state versus another.

国税局的数据也显示了类似的趋势。每年国税局都会发布一份移民数据报告,分析当年度有多少报税人(及其家属)改变了他们的居住地以及有多少收入从一个州转移到另一个。最新一年(2013报税年度)的数字非常之大,证明下述断言就是扯谎:州际迁移太小,不会对各州之间财富和经济机会造成影响。

In 2013, Florida gained $8.2 billion in adjusted gross income from out-of-staters. Texas gained $5.9 billion—in one year. Five of the seven states with the biggest gains in income have no income tax at all: Florida, Texas, Arizona, Washington, and Nevada. New York was again the big loser, with another 112,236 tax filers leaving and taking $5.2 billion with them. (So much for those TV ads trying to lure businesses into America’s 2nd highest taxed state with temporary tax breaks.) Illinois lost nearly 67,000 tax filers and $3.7 billion of income it can no longer tax.

2013年,佛罗里达从外州来者身上获得了共计82亿美元的调整后总收益。德克萨斯在一年内获得了59亿美元。收益增加最多的七个州中有五个没有任何所得税:佛罗里达、德克萨斯、亚利桑那、华盛顿州和内华达。纽约州又是最大的输家,又有112236名纳税人离开,一并带走了52亿美元。(那么多电视广告企图用临时税收减免来引诱企业到全美税负第二重的州去发展,还是打住吧。)伊利诺伊失去了近67000名纳税人,可征税收入中流走了中37亿美元。

I’ve never met a Democrat who could come up with even a semi-plausible explanation for why families and businesses are hightailing it out of blue states. They are leaving states with high minimum wages, pro-union work rules, high taxes on the rich, generous welfare benefits, expansive regulations to “help” workers, green energy policies, etc. People are voting with their feet against these liberal policies.

我从来没有见过任何一个民主党人能想出半个理由,能解释为什么家庭和企业都在从蓝州逃离。他们正在离开的这些州,都有很高的最低工资,有利于工会的工作规定,对富人的高税收,慷慨的福利待遇,无孔不入的旨在“帮助”工人的管制,绿色能源政策,等等。人们正在用脚投票,反对这些自由派政策。

When I debated Paul Krugman this summer, I confronted him with this reality. His lame explanation for the steady migration from liberal North to conservative South was that “air conditioning” has made the South more livable. Americans are evidently moving because of the weather.

今年夏天当我和保罗·克鲁格曼辩论时,我用这样的事实与他对质。他对从自由派北部到保守派南部间的稳定移民的蹩脚解释是,“空调”使南部更适于居住。美国人显然是由于天气原因才搬家的。

There are two glaring problems with this theory: California and North Dakota. In the last decade ending in 2013, 1.4 million more Americans left California than moved into the once-Golden State. It’s a good bet these California refugees didn’t leave for more sunshine or better weather.

这个想法面临着两个突出的困难:加利福尼亚和北达科塔。到2013年为止的十年间,从曾经的黄金州加利福尼亚迁出的人口比迁入的多出140万。可以肯定地说,这些离开加利福尼亚州的难民并不是为了追寻更多的阳光或更好的气候。

And if warm weather is what is attracting people to the South—and surely there is some truth to that—why did the coldest state outside Alaska, North Dakota, have the biggest population gain in percentage terms in the most recent year? The answer is that workers went to get jobs created by the Bakken Shale oil and gas boom. By the way, California is one of the oil- and gas-richest states in the nation, but its “green” politicians are regulating that industry out of businesses. So much for caring about working-class Americans.

如果温暖的气候是吸引人们迁往南方的原因——当然这也有一定的道理——那为什么最近一年中,除阿拉斯加以外最寒冷的州——北达科塔——却有着最大的人口增长百分比?答案是,工人们是去追寻因巴肯页岩油气繁荣而创造出来的工作。顺便提一下,加利福尼亚是全国石油和天然气最为富集的州之一,但该州的“绿色”政治家们正通过管制逼死油气行业。别再说什么关心工薪阶层美国人了。

The latest Census and IRS data merely confirm what Americans can see every day with their own two eyes. Red states are a magnet. There’s a downside to this for sure. Conservatives have a legitimate gripe that as blue-staters come into their prosperous red states, they try to turn them blue. That’s happened in New Hampshire, where Massachusetts transplants vote for the left-wing policies they just fled.

最新的人口普查和国税局的数据只是证实了美国人每天用自己的两只眼睛都能看到的事情。红州是一块磁铁。这肯定会有消极面。保守派的抱怨合情合理,蓝州人在进入繁荣的红州后,正试图将他们的红州变蓝。这种事已经在新罕布什尔发生,来自马萨诸塞的移民投票支持他们方才逃离的左翼政策。

But the underlying trend is unmistakable: Liberal blue states are economic dinosaurs. Will they change their ways before they go the way of Detroit and become extinct?

但基本的趋势是显而易见的:自由派的蓝州是经济的巨大障碍。在重蹈底特律的覆辙走向灭绝之前,他们会改变自己的方式吗?

翻译:董慧颖
校对:沈沉(@你在何地-sxy)
编辑:辉格@whigzhou

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