Ladybug Magnet

Globe columnist Robert Sullivan laments, in his article Bright Flight the exodus of talent from MA. He quotes the economist Richard Florida as attributing MA success to:

three Ts --technology, talent, and tolerance -- characterized by the presence of high-tech industry, a highly educated workforce, and a population diverse enough to include, among other things, a large number of immigrants and a sizeable gay community.

Sullivan rambles on, in Florida's words, about how 9/11 immigration reforms may be partly responsible. He then mentions that:

Massachusetts was the only state in the union to lose population last year--and if not for immigrants, it would have registered population losses during the 1990s and perhaps the 1980s as well.

The implication is, of course, that immigrants somehow provided some sort of rescue I.V. drip for the gaping wound, bleeding off all that real MA talent. How about sewing up the brain trust head wound instead?

Though Massachusetts is famously liberal in terms of national politics, there is a lingering perception of provincialism and racism here. And even overcoming this perception may not be enough, for tolerance is not necessarily the same as openness to new ideas.

You could have fooled me. He talks about 'squelchers'. He talks about how hard they are to count. He talks about how their affect is an open question. What a seething mass of speculative tripe. This implies, with the obligatory poo-poo of any real statistics, that there may be, or probably IS, an undercurrent of intolerance.

Gosh, I hope so. Hey Bob, Maybe it's because MA has high fees, taxes and a freedom choking state bureaucracy. Maybe it's the high real estate prices, and real estate taxes. Maybe it's the entrenched teacher's union lobby, which is a frequent 'squelcher' of basic progress and promoter of political correctness. Add to this, the fact that MA is actively promoting itself as the next San Francisco with tourist ads etc. Many in the engineering community see this as a poisonous atmosphere for raising families. Oops! There's that racist provincialism! Sorry. I guess you can't separate the talent from the common sense. Isolublog!

Yeah right, we need more of Robert Florida's deadbeat bohemian culture to fix the state's problems. Just make sure you put a fresh attractant, in that Ladybug Magnet, every time you change the profane tank.