Buffalo Dave

Apparently governor Paterson is the only Democrat in Albany who realizes how the policies this state has adopted over the last several decades is driving people, especially educated people, out of the state. Say what you want about Paterson. People love to bash the guy. Yet, I find it funny that he is the only vocal Democrat who stands up against the rest of the New York state democrats by insisting that the residents of New York State have been taxed to death.

People are leaving this state in droves. They are leaving for jobs. They are leaving because New York is so unfriendly to business that big businesses do not want to operate here. The only way we can get a real fortune 500 company to expand operations in Western NY is to bribe them with some kind of tax breaks or other incentive. How ridiculous is that?

The funny thing is that corporate America knows that the population of New York State is a highly educated one with plenty of skills. Yet this obvious advantage is not enough to overcome the red tape and other baggage that comes along with a New York State corporate address. That is a damn shame.

I can’t count how many people I graduated high school with who have uprooted their families for greener financial pastures in places like North and South Carolina. We were reminded of how many people have left Buffalo when we saw the thousands of Buffalo Bills fans at the Carolina Panthers game a couple weeks ago. That is downright embarrassing.

These damn politicians (Paterson excluded) just don’t realize what they have done. Instead they keep raising taxes on the people who remain here to make up for the shortfall from the ones who left. They are dreaming up ways of collecting new revenue. Instead of altering the tax and spend policies that are at the root of the problem the exacerbate the problem even more. Political genius at its best.

When is there going to be a state constitutional convention for voters to vote on in the ballet box? Isn’t it about time we had one?