House homeless in less costly area

If high state taxes are all that important then why don’t 20 million people in California leave that state and return to Oklahoma? We could call them “Baokies,” Bay Area Okies.” Why? Because it is expensive and should be expensive to live in the best place in the world. How come some theoretically smart people can understand that a Mercedes Benz should cost more than a Plymouth but can’t understand that living in the Puget Sound area should cost more than living in North Dakota?

What frosts me is that our local, state and federal taxes pay people to live in the most expensive parts of the area — in Seattle, in Everett, and in Tacoma, people who are officially disabled and who officially will never do a lick of work. There are probably 40 states in which I could live like a king on my pension but I am happy to stay in Everett and pay the taxes. If I was 100 percent disabled I would move to San Francisco and collect my welfare down there.

You say our poor and oppressed don’t want to live in North Dakota? Breaks my heart. If the choice was between living on the streets in Everett and a warm apartment in North Dakota … North Dakota, here I come.

Think of tax savings and job creation if the federal government would only build welfare housing where most rich and middle class people don’t want to live. Never happen. Why? People on welfare seldom vote Republican.

Bill Wald

Everett