They're usually huge bootlickers, bought and paid for by companies.
Edit: Downvote away, but if you tune to local public radio in San Diego & LA, some "Democrat" will often be banging on about how the #1 job of theirs is to ensure law and order. Democrats in other states don't usually prattle on about law and order, but its a special breed down there.
California is a formerly Red state, Texas is nearly blue.
It's not that the situation is the opposite of what you describe, it's that your nostrums are utterly incoherent and describe nothing of any accuracy.
I don't really abide either side of the political spectrum, but I do find this point salient. Chicago's successes, and failures, should come as a result of decisions made in Chicago, and to a lesser degree the whole of Illinois. States being held subject to decisions, outside of a very small set of shared minimal norms, from a completely detached governing body that lives very much in a bubble in D.C. is just quite a peculiar system. Having 2% representation in e.g. the Senate does not, in my opinion, markedly change this. Probably made a lot more sense when we had 13 colonies and a hundredth the national population.
When Warren Buffet says he’s avoiding doing business for the next few decades in certain regions due to the defined benefit pension debt, I would certainly be making sure I have backup options or a way out.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/25/full-transcript-billionaire-...
> if I were relocating into some state that had a huge unfunded pension plan I’m walking into liabilities. ’Cause I mean, who knows whether they’re gonna get it from the corporate income tax or my employees-- you know, with personal income taxes or what. But that-- that liability isn’t gonna-- you can’t ship it offshore or anything like that. And those are big numbers, really big numbers. And they may come--you can delay a long time. I mean, they-- you’re getting pushed maybe somewhat. But the politicians are the ones that really haven’t attacked it in a good many states. And when you see what they would have to do-- I say to myself, “Why do I wanna build a plant there that has to sit there for 30 or 40 years?” ’Cause I’ll be here for the life of the pension-- plan-- and they will come after corporations, they’ll come after individuals. They-- just-- they’re gonna have to raise a lotta money.
I lived in "Middle America" and I wouldn't say Chicago is representative of "Middle America" in general? But I only visited Chicago so perhaps someone from there can chime in and correct me.
> Deregulation.
Chicago just doesn't seem like a great bastion of "Deregulation".
It just seems like you are disproving your points here.
Now if we are talking stereotypes, besides deep dish pizza, one thing I think of when I think Chicago is corrupt politicians. The local news stations seems to agree at least:
https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/02/11/chicago-most-corrupt...
Chicago's political system is dominated by public sector unions. Social welfare spending across the US, including in Chicago, has massively increased since 1970.
Meanwhile, on the regulatory front, the percentage of jobs requiring an occupational license increased from 5% in 1950, to about 25% today. Entire regulatory agencies were also created since 1970, including the EPA and OSHA.
Any broad-based measure of how regulated the economy is, like the size of the Code of Federal Regulations, shows regulations increasing in scope since 1970.
There has never been more regulations placed on businesses that deliver middle class wages. Trump may have rolled back a handful of redundant regs, but that's just a finger in the dike. Healthcare costs and costs of coverage continue to geometrically increase because of government interference. IIRC, employer-provided healthcare may even be diminishing in some fashion. Not sure.
As for IP laws, I'm not sure how you're relating that to the collapse of the US/Western middle class, but I'm sure you have a reason to mention it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_gains_tax_in_the_Unite...
Cap gains is only one kind of tax, moreover, the 'top rate' is just one factor in it.
Overall - tax receipts as a % of GDP have roughly been steady [1] or going up a little bit.
(Hint: tax rates going up or down don't mean that tax receipts go up or down in unison. Lower taxes could possibly mean more tax revenue etc.)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauser%27s_law
As for Chicago, there might be specific factors.
My unscientific hunch is that the middle class moved out, the crappy neighbourhoods expanded, and some neighbourhoods were taken over by migrants from poorer countries who don't have access/qualifications for higher skilled jobs.
Essentially the same story as many cities, without maybe the 2000's renaissance we've seen elsewhere with people coming back to the urban core.
It would be nice to look at the entire Chicago region.