T110's Northern Migration

The_Chieftain: Here's another consideration or two. Urban areas may be the engines of economies, but the rural states could be the power trains. I can't help thinking of NYC, for example, as the local version of Trantor. The shining center of the galaxy, but utterly dependent on rural planets for existence. If Kansas or Montana weren't sending NYC stuff like... food, I suspect life in NYC would become somewhat less pleasant.. And I don't think Upstate New York could make up the shortfall for the coast, This those dollars going on Interstates in Nebraska or bridges and long roads to get to Alaskan mines and oil fields do benefit the urban States whether the Urban states realize it or not, because that is what allows those urban necessities to get to the cities in the first place.   The other question is one of capital investment. California has a very long coastline, for example. Those 'Federal funds into States' charts usually account for pay of federal employees, and I believe buildings. How many tens of millions of dollars of non-fixed hardware, though, has the government spent in California? Coast guard cutters,Jayhawks and Dolphins, C-130s..., Investment that doesn't do Utah a whole heck of a lot of good as they save Santa Cruzians who get pulled out by riptides when they fall off their surfboards. Every time I see someone say California should secede and expect to maintain all those standard of living benefits that the State has become used to, I can't help but wonder which programs they are willing to cut in order to buy a fleet of Border Patrol trucks or set up a diplomatic corps to go deal with all those foreign nations,   Finally, raw dollar figures don't tell the entire economic story either. http://www.cnbc.com/...n-for-2017.html   What you get for your dollar is significant. I could sell my house in the outskirts of the Bay Area and get a nicer one inland. A rural state may have less GDP per capita...but the capita doesn't need it to be just as well off as the urban folks.   I remember that firefighter incident above. I don't see the problem. The owner decided to make a conscious decision that he/ she would rather spend the $75 elsewhere than pay it into a protection system. Not a decision I would have made, and the owner lost out on his/her gamble. He she should stay clear of Vegas...