The New York Sun:

Advocates for more pro-growth policies in New York will get new ammunition today with the release of a report from the U.S. Census Bureau showing that the Empire State was one of only a handful of states that lost population this year, with thousands of people moving away to other parts of America and not being replaced by new residents.

The state lost more than 9,500 people between July 2005 and July 2006, putting its total statewide population at 19.3 million, according to the federal statistics. Only states like Michigan, which has been hard-hit by the decline in the domestic auto industry, and hurricane-ravaged Louisiana, which lost 4.9% of its population due to the storm, saw a more dramatic decline, the bureau estimated.

I have friends who live in rural New York and, believe me, it's not pretty.

Certain policies both (a) do a lot of harm to the area to which they are applied, and (b) make the people who advocate them feel good. Often, the ultimate result of these policies is an expensive, dangerous, or otherwise unlivable environment.

The people who advocated these policies often move elsewhere, leaving their mess behind, to afflict yet another less-screwed-up place with their political demands. They're wealthy and have many options and mobility-- no problem! Poorer and/or more conservative people, like my friend, who wants to stay where he was raised, often end up holding the bag.

The same thing is currently happening in Los Angeles, San Francisco (observations from Radley Balko), Washington DC, and St. Louis, which I know all too well.

Utopian policies and promises deliver dystopia instead.