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Here\u2019s the thing about politicians: They talk tough when it costs them nothing \u2014 and when reality hits them in the face, they sing a very different tune.<\/p>\n
Take Kathy Hochul. Back in 2022, while campaigning for governor of New York, she had a message for Donald Trump and like-minded Republicans<\/a>: \u201cJust jump on a bus and head down to Florida where you belong. Okay? Get out of town. Because you don\u2019t represent our values.\u201d<\/p>\n So much for Democratic inclusivity \u2014 to say nothing about their supposed open-mindedness. What better way to say everyone is welcome here than telling your political opponents to pack up and leave the state?<\/p>\n Well, fast forward just four years and \u2014 surprise, surprise \u2014 people actually took her advice.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t just Trump. It wasn\u2019t just Republicans. It wasn\u2019t just the hated billionaires, either. Regular, tax-paying New Yorkers looked around, checked their bank accounts, looked again at their tax bills \u2026 and said, \u201cYou know what? Florida sounds pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n Now Hochul \u2014 who, by the way, is running for reelection \u2014 has encountered a new problem, to add to all the others a governor of New York already has: Trying to lure those people back.<\/p>\n Now she says maybe officials should head down to Palm Beach and see \u201cwho we can bring back home\u201d because \u2014 wait for it \u2014 the tax base has been \u201ceroded.\u201d<\/p>\n Eroded? That\u2019s one way to put it. Another way might be: \u201cWe told people to leave, and then they did.\u201d<\/p>\n Memo to the governor: No amount of sweet-talking or cajoling will bring them back. People don\u2019t uproot their lives on a whim. They leave because something isn\u2019t working. And one of those \u201csomethings\u201d is the feeling that their hard-earned money is being treated like Rodney Dangerfield \u2014 it gets no respect.<\/p>\n Florida, meanwhile, offers year-round sunshine, beautiful beaches, and \u2026 no state income tax. You don\u2019t need a Ph.D. in economics to see the appeal.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t exactly a new story. Back in the 1970s, when I was a correspondent with CBS News, I went to Kingston, Jamaica to interview Michael Manley, the country\u2019s socialist prime minister. He had a message for citizens who didn\u2019t like his policies<\/a>: There are \u201cfive flights a day to Miami \u2026 if you don\u2019t like it, leave.\u201d<\/p>\n And guess what: They did. Not a few or a handful, but a wave. Doctors, lawyers, engineers \u2014 people with skills, ambition and options \u2014 they just packed up and left.<\/p>\n And what happened next? Jamaica\u2019s economy didn\u2019t get stronger. It didn\u2019t magically thrive. It declined. When productive people leave, they tend to take productivity with them. Funny how that works.<\/p>\n Now, am I saying New York is 1970s Jamaica? No. But the pattern? That\u2019s looking awfully familiar. And just when you think maybe someone in charge might take a breath and reconsider where things are headed, along comes a proposal that sounds like it was cooked up in a graduate seminar titled \u201cGood Intentions, Questionable Math.\u201d<\/p>\n New York City is now considering raising the minimum wage from $17 to $30 an hour<\/a> over the next few years.<\/p>\n Mayor Zohran Mamdani argues that in the world\u2019s richest city, minimum wage workers shouldn\u2019t live in poverty \u2014 and that raising wages to $30 an hour will put more money in people\u2019s pockets and help the economy thrive.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a nice sentiment. Who wouldn\u2019t want people to earn more? But the question isn\u2019t whether higher wages are good. The question is: Who pays \u2014 and what happens next?<\/p>\n Because here\u2019s the part that tends to get skipped over among the political talking points: When you dramatically raise the cost of labor, businesses don\u2019t just smile and absorb it out of goodwill. They adjust. They cut hours. They raise prices. They automate. Or \u2014 here we go again \u2014 they leave.<\/p>\n Sound familiar?<\/p>\n There\u2019s always a point where policy stops being aspirational and starts being consequential. New York might want to figure out where that line is \u2014 before more New Yorkers decide to book a flight to Miami.\u00a0And there are a lot more than five flights a day.<\/p>\n Bernard Goldberg<\/a>\u00a0is an Emmy and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University award-winning writer and journalist. He is the author of five books and publishes exclusive weekly columns, audio commentaries and Q&As on his\u00a0Substack page<\/a>. Follow him\u00a0@BernardGoldberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. <\/a><\/p>\n