ON LEAVING VIRGINIA – AT 8:05 A.M. ET:  We return to New York today from central Virginia.  Some observations:

Regular gasoline down here is about $2.89 a gallon.  In White Plains, New York, it's about $3.25.  One station near us charges $3.47, but they throw in clerks who can't speak English.  You pay for benefits.

The difference in price is symbolic.  People are leaving New York in droves because of inflated living costs, high taxes, and poor services.  We find the spirit here in Virginia far higher.  Employees of stores are endlessly courteous, and knowledgeable.  There are major stores in New York where you can't even find an employee.

In New York there is a constant sense of looming doom.  Everyone knows the state is almost bankrupt.  Yet, people see billions being made once more on Wall Street.  The contrast is enraging.  Apartments in Manhattan are selling in the millions while the state goes under, and small businesses close. 

Virginia is a conservatively run state.  New York is liberal wild.  Do you think there's a lesson here?

And yet, Virginians and other Americans will, in all probability, be asked to bail out New York and California, and will be told that those states are "too big to fail."  Advice to Virginians:  Just say no. 

December 6, 2010