Americans are dynamic
people. World statistics on the number of cars per capita show that
America is in first place among the "big" countries and in thirdplace
among all countries, behind the dwarfs of San Marino and Monaco.
Where do Americans drive other than to work, shopping, and perhaps
to school? Americans move, and move quite often. They
relocate to neighboring cities and distant states. By and large, the
U.S. looks like a big monolithic country. In fact, the U.S. is a
federal republic of independent states, each with many laws, many customs, and
a unique political climate.
Does the changing political climate affect population migration
between states? Of course, it does, but how? What if we
were to express the movement of intra-American migration, not in words, but in
the language of numbers? A convenient measure of internal migration
could be the U-Haul
Index.
U-Haul is a truck rental company used by many Americans who
relocate. The rented trucks must be driven by U-Haul customers
themselves, and payment is charged one way only. That is, after
unloading, it is not necessary to return the vehicle to the starting
point. If necessary, the U-Haul company will take care of
it. Then the prices for transportation from point A to point B will
be the same as from point B to point A, but only if the average number of
customers is the same at both points A and B.
If the number of orders for trucks at both destinations is the
same, then U-Haul has no problems.
If the number of orders is not the same, then U-Haul must hire
drivers to relocate the empty trucks, and then pay to transport these drivers
back. In this case, the prices for traffic will not be symmetrical –
renting trucks to a popular point A from an unpopular point B will entail
higher costs.
Here are some examples (all data is taken from the U-Haul website; prices are for March
1, 2018, for a favorite 20-foot van.)
Renting a truck from New York to Orlando costs $2,214 and back
$1,557 (the difference is $657, a 42% surcharge.)
Renting a truck from New York to Dallas costs $2,442 and back
$1,962 (the difference is $480, a 24% surcharge.)
Renting a truck from San Francisco to Orlando costs $3,308 and
back $1,988 (the difference is $1,510, an 84% surcharge.)
Renting a truck from San Francisco to Dallas costs $3,206 and back
$1,128 (the difference is $2,078, a 184% surcharge.)
For comparison, renting the same truck from New York to San
Francisco costs $3,409, and back $3,058 (the difference is $351, a surcharge of
11%).
What causes people to leave San Francisco and New York and to make
a move to Dallas and Orlando?
San Francisco is in the state of California, and New York City in
the state of New York. Both states for decades have been bastions of
left-wing politicians – former Democrats, and now socialists and communists.
Dallas is in Texas, and Orlando is in Florida. Both
states for decades have been bastions of right-wing politicians – Republicans
and conservatives.
Perhaps the question should be posed differently: what forces
people to leave those states where the government is pursuing a left socialist
policy and move to states where the government is pursuing a pragmatic
right-wing policy?
The example above shows that in the move from one corner of the
American socialist paradise, San Francisco, to another, New York, a small
difference in prices exists. But, most likely, this asymmetry is
because the climate in San Francisco is more pleasant than in New York.
Regardless of the political views of those Americans who leave
Democrat states for Republican states, Democrat states will be the
losers. After all, most American migrants simply repeat the path of
many talented people who left the socialist paradise known as the Soviet Union.
Democrats are losing their electorate and therefore are forced to
pursue a policy of "open borders." Moreover, the inclusion
of socialism into the capitalist economy leads to severe imbalances that
Democrats prefer to compensate by the injection of illegal aliens into the U.S.
economy. Democrats see their last hope in the legalization of
illegal aliens.
The socialists pursue a single goal: to legalize the participation
of illegal aliens in elections. The mayor of New York, communist
Bill de Blasio, openly supports the idea that 500,000 illegal aliens residing
in New York City should receive the right to vote at least in local elections. The
governor of California, socialist Jerry Brown, has already implemented that
law. Starting April 1, 2018, all residents of California, including
illegal aliens, will automatically be added to voting rolls while renewing their
driver's licenses.
The U-Haul Index shows that Americans categorically do not like
such policies. Americans take part in federal elections every two
years, but in between elections, they vote, too – with their
feet. More precisely, with trucks.
