Please explain why northerners and coastal hippies are enamored with mocking the south

I have homes in several states and I prefer my Northern Homes to my Southern homes and am constantly hinting to my wife that I want to retire above the Mason Dixon Line. The family situation is complicated.

That being said, there are a few places that I simply cannot live. California is one. Since I am no longer a young hippy runner type, my taxes in CA would be ruinous-43% Federal, 13% state, 7-8% sales, another 3-10% in property tax, and other taxes give me the socialist dream of a 70% marginal tax rate. That is a steep price to pay for good weather. Looking at out-migration rates, it seems that others agree with me.

It's too bad as I grew up in era where CA was the American Dream. Now it is a banana republic with a shrinking middle class. a swath of wealthy people, and the largest number (percent and absolute) of poor people.

You can do similar math for New Jersey and Illinois. Anyone with some wealth flees socialist states.

I hear Oklahoma is nice.

I think you need a new tax accountant, those rates sound crazy.

if you are paying 10% property tax then you either made a really poor purchase....or are lying.

1) As a Northerner I don't mock them but it is easy to imitate their accent.

2 ) Anyone who uses politics to demean their fellow Americans is an a-hole.

Easy. They don't. Delete this thread

NYC Guy wrote:

I live in Manhattan near Columbia University and am native to NYC. The electronic ad kiosks that sprung up in NYC in recent years display literary quotes and the like flattering to NYC residents. But something like 1 in 50 here is HIV positive, there is a huge homelessness problem (NYC has roughly 1 in 7 of the country's homeless), NYC residents are not particularly highly educated compared to many other US locales, and most of the public schools stink relative to their suburban or rural counterparts.

More humility would fitting.

Wejo lives there too. Are you guys friends? I'm trying to look out for him now that he's moved out of Texas. I mean he's lived in upstate NY before but that's a lot like Texas, just with higher taxes.

Southerners are too manly for the limp wristed tofu eaters.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Southerners are too manly for the limp wristed tofu eaters.

You live in Idaho, not exactly the south.

I lived in the South through College, several different states on the East Coast. I lived in the Midwest after college for a year. Now I live in California. Each place had some positives, and my perspective was different based on the time of my life that I lived there.

The Midwest had the most negatives for me. As a college grad with some ambition, there was almost no opportunity there outside of a handful of cities. People often called me "college boy" as if it was an insult. I still chuckle over that all these years later. I would NEVER live there again.

The South had seasons that were not too harsh, mountains, beaches, rivers that made for good recreation. There are some very good colleges. There are pockets of educated and open minded people primarily in the cities or in college towns. But racism was strong. They have monuments, highways, schools named for the losers of the civil war, traitors to the United States. I was stunned that Obama won any southern state and thought it was a sign of things changing, but have been proven wrong recently. I would consider living there again, but it is unlikely.

California has been the land of opportunity for me. The biggest negatives for me are high cost of housing and lack of seasons. But the lack of seasons makes for great year round running, so it ain't so bad. And I am not homeless. I can go to the beach or run on endless trails in a 20min drive, 2hr to skiing in the winter. Within a day's drive are many of the icons of America (Grand Canyon, Sequoias, Yosemite, Big Sur, etc). I might leave when I retire and live somewhere somewhat remote since having nearly endless job opportunities won't be a need.

All places have some amount of willfully ignorant people. They will have one political viewpoint that cannot be changed by logic, reason or facts. They tend to be more one way or the other in certain regions and there is a rural vs city divide.

rojo wrote:

NYC Guy wrote:

I live in Manhattan near Columbia University and am native to NYC. The electronic ad kiosks that sprung up in NYC in recent years display literary quotes and the like flattering to NYC residents. But something like 1 in 50 here is HIV positive, there is a huge homelessness problem (NYC has roughly 1 in 7 of the country's homeless), NYC residents are not particularly highly educated compared to many other US locales, and most of the public schools stink relative to their suburban or rural counterparts.

More humility would fitting.

Wejo lives there too. Are you guys friends? I'm trying to look out for him now that he's moved out of Texas. I mean he's lived in upstate NY before but that's a lot like Texas, just with higher taxes.

wow, are you mocking New York City now? So elitist!