Americans are looking for cities with a low cost of living, and strong economies. The Wall Street Journal has run the numbers and found the top 10 cities in what it calls The WSJ/Realtor.com Emerging Housing Markets Index Summer 2022. The cities on the WSJ's list are nearly all in red states, most of them are in my Super States, and the one standout, the Visalia-Porterville area in California, is in what is essentially a red island in the state's sea of blue. The WSJ's Nicole Friedman reports: Low-cost cities with strong economies fared well in the second quarter as high prices and rising … [Read more...]

Originally posted on December 9, 2019.  You’re familiar with my piece Rich Grandchild, Poor Grandchild. Now I want you to shift gears and think about which states are the rich states, and which ones are the poor states. “For each of the past 12 years, Arthur Laffer, Jonathan Williams and I have answered that question in ‘Rich States, Poor States,’ an index of economic competitiveness published by the American Legislative Exchange Council. Every year the top performer has been Utah,” explains Stephen Moore. Yes, that's right, the winner once again is Utah. On a recent ski trip to … [Read more...]

Your Survival Guy’s Super States map gives you a bird’s eye view of where to immediately look for a better America—one where you can raise your family, own a house, and have a job with the peace of mind you deserve. The American dream. But simply putting your finger on a map and moving is easier said than done. Your Survival Guy’s 2022 Super States: #1 New Hampshire We’re talking about a moving target here, where one election could make or break how life moves ahead in your neck of the woods. Believe me, there are plenty of nice places to live in blue states like Newport, RI, but the … [Read more...]

States taxing death are hurting themselves, writes Regina M. Egea, president of the Garden State Initiative, a New Jersey-based independent research and educational organization. Ms. Egea's state, New Jersey, is one where assets are taxed upon death. At Real Clear Policy, she explains how detrimental policies like New Jersey's can be: As a Founding Father and inventor, Benjamin Franklin was a visionary without peer in his time. His famous utterance “nothing is certain except death and taxes” could easily apply to New Jersey in 2022, as residents of one of the highest taxed states in the Union … [Read more...]

Happy Thursday. Your Survival Guy and coastal New England are prepping for a “bomb cyclone” that could dump over a foot of snow on Saturday. Bring it on. I don’t mean to sound like a parent, but, when I was a kid, we didn’t plan four days ahead for a snowstorm. It would snow. We’d help clear the driveway, and then we’d play outside to the point of exhaustion. If we went inside for hot chocolate, and wanted to go back outside, we’d put our feet in sandwich bags and stuff them into our boots and go back outside. Not a big deal. Your Survival Guy’s boots on the ground experience on Monday: … [Read more...]