I can’t get over how I’m learning about small town economic policies via a meme. Thanks for spreading awareness!
This Washington Post article talks about the policy and how other small cities are trying the same thing https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/08/30/cumberland-maryland-revival/
This is a new thing that smaller towns are trying to do to take advantage of an increase in remote work.
The meme is also misleading because it’s implying that this is something they’re giving to everyone that moves there for a limited time, when it is only 10 people. It’s also implying that there’s not enough people there to pay taxes, which doesn’t actually make sense because that’s not how taxes work. There would definitely be enough tax income if they didn’t care about the future of the town. What they’re trying to do is revitalize the area and trigger growth, and they need more income to fund that revitalization.
Conservative and libertarian policies:
Tax cuts = less government revenue, literally defunding the state.
Privatization = less revenue going to the government, more to the private market, and due to tax cuts, that money isn’t coming back to government.
Conclusion, the right wing are conducting anti-patriotic economic attacks on the state… Often doing so in a targeted way, funded by billionaire think tanks.
It’s a major issue that needs to be named, and discussed more openly.
It is discussed openly - how to do it again and again and again, discussed over and over ad nauseum, like Kansas going bankrupt repeatedly, or how other states hear how Florida is doing and say “wowie, lemme try that too!” (while expecting the exact opposite outcome, bc “this time will be different”) If you don’t want to take my words at face value alone, check out the YouTube channel Innuendo Studios that has some amazing content especially The Alt Right Playbook.
The problem is that collectively, as a society, we are very dumb. In fact it is entirely possible that we are too stupid to survive, but I guess we’ll see. We cannot control others though, and it remains to be seen whether we will bother to control ourselves to do what is correct, i.e. to git sum edumacashun ourselves and make a better alternative.
We are far too stupid individually.
And we think communism and socialism are bad.
So corporations and oligarchs take everything.
Almost as if it is (has always been) class warfare.
I fucking miss MD…taxes are no worse than other places. Plus Deep Creek lake and Accident MD!
Friendly reminder that you can have a libertarian communist commune. Libertarianism is not a left-right political ideology.
“I am Andrew Ryan and I am here to ask you a question.”
They also doing anything about the conservative culture that likely caused their brain drain in the first place?
It’s actually much less conservative than the surrounding areas. Though admittedly it only takes a stone’s throw to get into some pretty gruesome backwoods. The real issue is that there aren’t any jobs in the area. It’s too out of the way for tourism, all the factories have closed down, and the railroad just isn’t what it used to be.
So functionally they hand you money, you can’t find a job that pays your bills, so you leave and they’ve gained nothing. Or is the subsidy ongoing as long as they’re short on people (haha until the end of time!) Or is there something else in place to help keep people there?
Yeah. Seems pointless, but I bet they’re trying to attract folks with work-from-home jobs.
There’s a big migration of work-from-home folks out to areas where they can have bigger homes, gardens and such.
I think the theory is that whichever towns or cities attract these folks first will grow into long term preferred work-from-home destinations, using the tax revenue and voting habits of the first folks to move in.
It’s a gamble, but an interesting one.
Start with bringing in the fiber. I can deal without overnight delivery, a good sushi place or a brewpub, but I draw the line at fiber
Yep. I think high quality Internet roll-out will make or break some of these plans.
For WFH crows the town needs fiber, and in another post he stated the town doesn’t have that.
I can see your point and that’s what I figured they were trying to attract
