(Robert Jonathan, Headline USA) Since the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, about 160 Wall Street firms have reportedly left their traditional base in Democrat-controlled New York City and moved their headquarters south, taking approximately $1 trillion in financial assets with them.
Florida has become the primary relocation destination, with some opting for Tennessee, North Carolina, or other Republican-led or leaning venues in the Sun Belt.
California, another Democrat-run dystopia, reportedly has similarly lost about $1 trillion in assets under management from firms fleeing mostly to Texas.
Regardless of one’s opinion of the finance sector, the wealth transfer is hardly a positive trend for local economic conditions, such as employment opportunities, downtown commercial real estate, general commerce in central districts, and the related ability for cities to pay their bills and maintain services, as effective or ineffective as those services may be.
The Bloomberg news organization, which analyzed corporate filings to come up with the numbers, explained that “The exodus from the Northeast and West Coast has meant the loss of thousands of high-paying jobs, straining city and state finances by sapping tax revenue. Commercial property markets have also lost valuable tenants at the same time they’ve been struggling with the new realities of hybrid work.”
Blomberg News added that “The moves, often born out of a desire for lower taxes, warmer weather and cheaper mansions, have pushed the industry’s footprint into parts of the US that previously didn’t have much of a finance presence beyond regional banks.”
Apart from the soaring cost of living and the previous imposition of COVID restrictions, Bloomberg notably omitted mentioning rampant violent crime in New York City and in various California municipalities ushered in by pandering, far-left, anti-business radicals in government who prioritize social justice theories over the realities of the effect of those policies on the quality of life there.
Technology has obviously made relocation logistics a lot easier, too.
The New York City area “remains the most powerful center for asset management,” Bloomberg insisted, at least now.
In reacting to the Bloomberg data, the New York Post asserted that “The mass migration threatens a crippling economic blow.”
According to the Post, the year 2022 saw Wall Street generating 16% of the city’s overall economic activity (and about 7% for the Empire State itself), so the stakes are high.
“Likewise, the exodus has grave tax implications for the city and state. Last year, financial firms paid $5.4 billion in New York taxes and accounted for nearly a quarter of all personal income tax collections. Tax revenue from the industry this year is headed for a ‘significant decline,'” the Post noted, citing a report from the New York state comptroller’s office.
With many Baby Boomers themselves moving south, investment firms are following the money, the Bloomberg news outlet, which is owned by former NYC mayor and 2020 Democrat president candidate Michael Bloomberg, suggested.
Last year, owing to public safety concerns, billionaire and GOP megadonor Ken Griffin famously moved his Citadel hedge fund to Florida from Chicago, another U.S. city where Democrats have normalized lawlessness.
