Nighttime Must-Read: Richard Florida: Is Life Better in America’s Red States?

…But red states, like Texas, Georgia and Utah, have done a better job over all of offering a higher standard of living relative to housing costs…. Red state economies based on energy extraction, agriculture and suburban sprawl may have lower wages, higher poverty rates and lower levels of education… [but] the American dream of a big house with a backyard and a couple of cars is much more achievable in low-tax Arizona than in deep-blue Massachusetts…. Red state economies are experiencing a vigorous (if ultimately unsustainable) spurt…. For blue state urbanites who toil in low-paying retail, food preparation and service jobs… teachers, civil servants, students and young families, the American dream of homeownership–or even an affordable rental apartment–is increasingly out of reach. Adding insult to injury, rapid gentrification in these larger knowledge hubs brings the constant threat of displacement….

Rick Perry of Texas, a likely 2016 G.O.P. presidential candidate, has taken to bragging…. But fracking and sprawling your way to growth aren’t a sustainable national economic strategy…. As long as the highly gerrymandered red states can keep on delivering the economic goods to their voters, concerted federal action on transportation, infrastructure, sustainability, education, a rational immigration policy and a strengthened social safety net will remain out of reach. These are investments that the future prosperity of the nation, in red states and blue states alike, requires…