Unexpected political outcomes

The Koch brothers, who have been very influential in supporting a rightward shift in American politics, worked very hard to kill the Film production industry in Miami. They did so by floating the misleading narrative that subsidies and tax breaks from the Florida state government in support of local film production were communist and un-American.

Of course the truth was that the tax revenue from film production and related industries (hotels, restaurants, transportation, etc) vastly outweighed the cost of the tax breaks that were luring the industry into the state. The film industry had for years been pouring money into Florida, and thereby enriching Florida taxpayers.

Alas for the state of Florida, the Koch brothers’ initiative was successful. Filming mainly shifted to Atlanta, where the Koch brothers are, not coincidentally, heavy investors. Florida tax payers lost, but the Koch brothers won, as they usually do.

But there is now an odd and unexpected consequence to all this. All those new jobs in Atlanta have contributed to a change in demographics in Georgia, accelerating a process of the state shifting politically from its redder rural regions to its bluer urban regions.

If Georgia ends up electing two Democrats to the U.S. Senate in the upcoming runoff election, the Republicans will lose control of the Senate. And the Koch brothers, of all people, will have made it possible.

2 thoughts on “Unexpected political outcomes”

  1. I learned about this directly from someone in the film industry. Alas, I can’t name names, because I don’t want to cause trouble for my source.

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