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Fox’s The Five was right to call out the absurd optics of New York’s leaders begging wealthy residents to “come back” while the state’s policies make it harder to prosper. Hardworking taxpayers who remain in New York are watching politicians spend and promise while rewarding special interests, and they’re not fooled by pats on the back for those who fled high taxes and broken services. The message from conservatives is simple: fix the fundamentals — lower taxes, restore public safety, and stop pleading for people who voted with their feet.
Governor Kathy Hochul has touted one-time inflation refund checks and other budget gestures meant to soothe voters, including sending billions in checks to millions of residents as part of the FY2026 budget. Those inflation refund checks — up to $400 for eligible filers and totaling roughly $2.2 billion distributed to over 8 million New Yorkers — are being pushed as proof the governor is “putting money back” into people’s pockets.
But money thrown at voters in one-off rebates can’t paper over a larger problem: policies that drive people and businesses away. Analysts and state reports have shown meaningful pandemic-era migration out of the state and persistent affordability pressures that push families and businesses to greener pastures, and yet Albany’s instinct seems to be kneecapping the productive with threats of higher taxes while begging the wealthy to return. Political leaders who campaign for higher levies on success should not be shocked when the richest among us find friendlier climates for their livelihoods.
Meanwhile, across the country in California, politicians are proudly spending eye-popping sums on wildlife bridges and crossings while taxpayers struggle with housing, gridlocked roads, and rising cost of living. The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing over U.S. 101 in the Santa Monica Mountains has been billed as the world’s largest animal overpass, with price tags reported in the roughly ninety-million-dollar range and construction framed as a marquee environmental project. Conservatives respect conservation, but Californians have to ask whether this is the best use of public money at a time of fiscal strain.
State and local agencies in California are also advancing multiple multimillion-dollar crossing projects and funding packages to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions, with public-private partnerships and grants backing several initiatives. Those partnerships don’t absolve elected officials from priorities: when roads, schools, and public safety need attention, voters deserve answers about why massive sums are diverted to politically fashionable infrastructure. The debate shouldn’t be framed as “jobs vs. wildlife” but as common-sense budgeting and accountability.
The contrast is stark: in blue states we see governors offering smell-good checks and photo-ops to coax residents back, and millions sunk into symbolic projects that win plaudits at cocktail parties. Conservatives argue for a different approach — restore law and order first, cut the tax and regulatory burdens that chase out employers, and let families breathe on affordability. If leaders like Hochul and California’s elites want people to return or stay, they should stop treating success as the enemy and start rewarding it.
Americans who work for a living understand priorities: roads that get people to work, schools that teach basics, and budgets that balance without constant raids on prosperity. It’s time conservatives push harder in statehouses to stop the endless virtue-signaling spending and offer a positive, pro-growth alternative that actually keeps families and businesses from leaving. The choice is clear — defend responsible government or keep watching the cash flow toward pet projects while voters foot the bill.
