[USA Today] France lost 10,000 millionaires last year. Meanwhile, Chicago is losing more millionaires than any other U.S. city. And the University of Missouri just closed two more dorms ‐ for a total of four shut down this spring ‐ because of plummeting enrollment.What do these things have in common? The consequences of giving in to leftist demands, instead of focusing on the basics.
Most people want some pretty basic things from the powers-that-be: Safety, freedom of movement and the opportunity to get ahead. Where these things prevail, people tend to be pretty happy. Where they don’t, people tend to be less so ‐ and to vote with their feet when they have the opportunity.
In France, the socialist government of Francois Hollande has jacked up taxes even as it has shown an increasing inability to protect the citizenry against crime and terrorism. So the people who can leave most easily ‐ the millionaires ‐ are setting out for greener pastures.
Rahm Emanuel’s Chicago isn’t officially socialist ‐ though, with its high taxes and bloated public sector, you might be excused for thinking otherwise ‐ but the same problems apply. Crime and disorder are up, so are taxes. It’s no wonder people are leaving for places where they feel safer, and where they think they’ll keep more of their money.
If Hollande or Emanuel could maintain peaceful, prosperous polities, perhaps people would forgive the high taxes. But, as so often seems to be the case, their citizens see themselves paying higher and higher taxes to support a government that fails to deliver on its most basic function of maintaining public order. Unsurprisingly, that feels like a bad deal.