People fleeing the economy of blue states advise: “Better consider who to vote for” | Florida | New Jersey | New York

An estimated 8.9 million people have moved to Florida from states such as New Jersey, New York and California since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the National Association of Realtors. As the economies of these states continue to collapse under the stress of continued closures and other destructive policies, fleeing former residents offer advice to those who stay: “Start making better decisions about who you vote for.”

Florida was the number one relocation destination for Americans in 2020, according to Move.org. New York and California ranked first and second in terms of residents who chose to leave.

Justin Pearson is a 27-year-old truck loader for a Target distribution center. A resident of Hemmit, California for 22 years, Pearson moved to the city of Riverside for another three years until drastic policy change and rising costs of living made it impossible for him to live on his own. He also couldn’t afford to buy his own home, he said. In order to fully survive, he fled to Lake City, Florida.

While the national average for property taxes is 1.07 percent, Floridians pay only 0.83 percent and the Californians pay even less – 0.73 percent. But Pearson said the cost of everything else in California erased the benefit of low property taxes. Additionally, Florida is one of nine states in the country that has no state income or wage taxes.

“With the COVID restrictions, many companies closed,” Pearson told The Epoch Times. “In turn, that led to an increase in homelessness. The governor then enacted a zero dollar bail policy and an early release program from prison, causing the crime rate to skyrocket. Gasoline taxes were added. The cost of living was so high that you couldn’t survive being single. You literally had to have two or three income to get ahead. “

A specific motivator in Pearson’s decision to go to Florida was his “deep respect” for Governor Ron DeSantis, his Actions to Ban Critical Race Theory, to enact a riot control bill and his unapologetic position to back the police. Pearson also admires DeSantis’ widely criticized decision to lift all COVID restrictions, which he believes are killing California.

Failed policies

California Governor Gavin Newsom decided to maintain COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and extend taxpayer-funded state and federal emergency unemployment benefits. California’s unemployment rate of 8.3 percent is among the highest in the country, second only to Hawaii’s 8.5 percent.

The national average is 6.1 percent.

Florida’s emergency unemployment benefits will expire and DeSantis has refused to extend the additional $ 300 a week in federally subsidized unemployment benefits. Even so, the unemployment rate in Florida it is 4.8 percent.

Pearson said California’s high unemployment fueled a sizable rise in homelessness, a rise that had already been exacerbated by Newsom’s 2017 mental health budget cuts that left patients unstable on the streets.

“You can walk around every corner and find trash everywhere, needles and feces,” Pearson said. “It’s disgusting”.

Pearson also pointed out how illegal immigrants are coming to California and the governor is doing nothing to address the situation.

“In fact,” Pearson said, “he gave them stimulus paychecks using our tax dollars.”

Pearson, who held rallies to support cops in California, said it was getting too dangerous in California for Republicans to defend their convictions.

“People would come and attack us,” Pearson recalled. “But, because of the zero dollar bail policy, they would get away with it. California is just a difficult place to live and I don’t see it changing anytime soon until people in California start making better decisions about who they vote for.

Laura Gainsborg shares many of Pearson’s sentiments.

“I’ve been in New Jersey for over 30 years and that’s enough,” the former Florida resident told The Epoch Times.

Gainsborg said of Pennington, NJ: “It’s a tiny city and the people are very Democratic!”

Like Pearson from California, Gainsborg wanted to leave New Jersey because she, too, was uncomfortable talking about politics. According to Gainsborg, also a Republican, people in her predominantly Democratic neighborhood are not very receptive to listening to the other side.

“There are very few people we can talk to,” Gainsborg lamented of the place he called home for three decades. “I want to go back to Florida. Florida people are always friendly. You can talk to anyone, even people of different political leanings. “

Gainsborg was also drawn to Florida by the leadership of Ron DeSantis. As a retired teacher, she supports his ban on critical race theory. She also supports the decision to opt out of receiving the additional $ 300 per week federal unemployment benefits, which she believes encourages people to avoid going back to work to earn their pay.

In addition to providing an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits for state taxpayers, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy also extended an additional $ 300 per week in federal unemployment benefits. New Jersey’s unemployment rate is currently 7.5 percent.

“It was horrible,” he said. “New Jersey is falling fast because people don’t want to go back to work. The teachers don’t want to go back to work. Unions run New Jersey right now. “

Paying low property taxes was a major factor in Gainsborg’s decision to move to Florida. Gainsborg’s husband, a forensic scientist, is also preparing to retire. But even with their retirement benefits combined, he said they wouldn’t be able to pay the property taxes New Jersey requires.

Follow Patricia Tolson on Twitter at @PTolson1

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