Why Washington Is the Best State in America

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

SEATTLE — That Washington state boasts a booming economy is hardly a shock. The state is home to Amazon.com, after all, and a mature tech sector led by Microsoft. Washington apples, wheat, hops and grapes feed and inebriate the world. Boeing Co. aircraft circle it.

But Washington has a supercharger: power.

Cheap, climate-friendly electricity drives Washington's economy, the nation's fastest growing, according to the U.S. News' Best States ranking of economic growth. The tech-heavy state's expectedly strong broadband network sits atop one of the nation's best electrical systems, one well-positioned as the country shifts away from coal- and natural gas-generated electricity. The state expects to be coal-free by 2025, while still charging rates among the nation's lowest.

Aging hydroelectric dams provide most of the electricity Washington uses or exports, but windmills and solar arrays are increasingly common sights on the arid rolling hills east of the Cascade Mountains. Gov. Jay Inslee, the state's leading clean energy evangelist-turned-presidential hopeful, describes those projects as doubly fruitful: Customers get clean energy, and rural residents get economic opportunity.

"Washington state is an example of how climate action and a strong economy go hand in hand," Inslee told U.S. News & World Report.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2019-05-14/amazon-clean-power-help-fuel-washington

[samnsara]

1. hubby read this to me this am...

me:.."What?...why?" For one thing check out the electricity rates for Chelan/Douglas County. I bet the rest of us wished we'd bought into the damn Dam!

[Funtatlaguy]

2. Especially if you like rain.

[sprinkleeninow]

3. Well, y'all do have Gov. Jay Inslee.

What up w/me and Jay? 🤔

😍That's what.

[yonder]

4. And by getting rid of four lower Snake river dams,

we could benefit salmon recovery efforts along with the economies of two additional states.

[EarnestPutz]

5. Not to mention Washington's health care proposals...

...working towards single payer. This in a state that already has subscriber owned HMOs. Obama came to Washington years ago and held out our system as a national model for health care reform.

[MFM008]

6. I like it

Since 1973.

[PSPS]

7. Billionaires love Washington state. No state income tax at all.

[montanacowboy]

8. Don't forget our sales tax

one of the highest in the nation 10.4% depending on your locality

but that's ok - food is not taxed and you have a choice to purchase stuff

Rather pay sales tax than Income Tax

[PSPS]

9. Horribly regressive -- the most regressive in the country.

One can only wear and pay sales tax on so many shirts. Washington should have an income tax.