Indiana Governor Mike Pence goes after Connecticut businesses

Governor Mike Pence, who heretofore has been a great disappointment to those of us who thought we were electing a conservative, appears to have awaken face down in his dream of expanding Medicaid and concluded that moving 20,000 or so high paying jobs into the state might enhance his chances. Perhaps he has always had a soft spot in his heart for well heeled taxpayers but whatever his reason His Excellency has come out guns blazing and riding hell bent for leather to steal one or two companies from Connecticut. Ripe for the taking General Electric, Aetna, and Travelers and probably scores of smaller concerns. The state of Indiana took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday specifically targeting the companies that have publicly criticized the $700 million tax on business. Good luck to Governor Pence but there is room for improvement in Indiana's own business environment. Of course it better than Connecticut's which ranked 46 in a CNBC ranking of states on their business environments but with a 19 there is room to grow. Ohio, by the way, ranked 18.
One of the indices CNBC used was the cost of living, which logically correlates to another index, the cost of doing business. If the cost of living is high wages and salaries must also be high to attract competent employees hence a high cost of doing business. As for the cost of living, Indiana ranked number 7, Ohio 15 and Connecticut 48, better than Hawaii but one notch below Alaska.
Democratic blue states which are always mismanaged all share another economic malady namely the high cost of living. New York ranks 50, Connecticut 48, California 47, Massachusetts 45, New Jersey 44, New Hampshire 43, Rhode Island 42, Maryland 41, and Vermont 40. Red Alaska and blue Hawaii would both have a high cost of living since transportation costs drive up the costs of almost every consumer good.
For Governor Pence stealing industry from Connecticut should be like shooting fish in a barrel but this goes beyond economics and politics. It's personal to Pence. After Indiana passed its religious freedom law Governor Dannel Malloy forbade travel to the Hoosier State by all state employees and called Pence a bigot. Pence capitulated proving to everyone he was not a bigot merely a wimp.