Chait reiterates his disdain for "Perfidious Delaware" over at The Plank. He pulls no punches, calling Delaware a "sinkhole of inequity and greed." A "backward, corrupt parasite state." One that represents the "great underappreciated scandal of modern American life." You will doubt the truth he preaches only if you've never been held up for an hour on I-95 waiting to pay an insane amount of money for the ability to drive a tiny stretch of highway.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Delaware: The Worst State
One of my favorite articles in any source in the last five years is Jonathan Chait's brilliant and fully warranted rip-job of Delaware in a 2002 New Republic piece that I swear at the time (at least in the magazine) was called "The Worst State." If you've ever had to endure Delaware's wretched, rapacious toll booths (to drive through just a few hideous, worthless miles) or paid usurious credit card rates (thanks to Delaware's utter sluttishness toward corporate interests) this piece will privide some succor.
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2 comments:
I'll have to read that article. The inequity of corporate slutishness aside, I think Delaware remains, ironically, one of only two states that still have courts of equity. I tend to reserve most of my state-based feelings of annoyance toward New Jersey, which seems to have a problem with the idea of someone pumping their own car with gasoline. Still, I've been on that stretch of highway you're talking about, and it's no picnic. Nor can a state hope to be a rosy picnic generally merely for allowing tax-free shopping. Not as bad a gimmick as legalizing gambling, but a gimmick nonetheless. And the credit card companies are already tilting enough legal goodies inequitably in their favor, with the recent changes in bankruptcy laws.
MUL --
I agree, not being able to pump one's own gas in Jersey is a nuisance, but in all Jersey is not that bad, even if the state largely serves the function of being a giant suburb for New York in the north and Philly in the South.
I suppose we could have our listing of the ten worst states, but Delaware honestly would top my list by a long way.
I don't oppose the lack of sales tax in any state if it is geared toward all shoppers, and not merely a particular subset. My biggest annoyance with delaware is how much of the state functions to squeeze outsiders in every way, shape and form. It really is a bloodsucking parasite of a state.
dcat
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