The Economic Downside of Bigotry

Our Republican Overlords in the NC General Assembly (along with Governor Squishy) don't just talk about economic development. They do something about it, as in drive it the hell away from North Carolina. Chad Nance did a little toting up of lost dollar amounts just since Squishy signed HB2:

The numbers are extremely grim:

PayPal: $44 million
Deutsche Bank: $21.4 million
Unnamed tech company expansion in Buncombe County: $14.3 million
Lionsgate: $3 million
Bruce Springsteen concert: $0.7 million
Charlotte hotel revenue lost from canceled or relocated events: $2.2 million
Five canceled, relocated, or scaled-back events in Raleigh: $0.7 million

That doesn't even count the canceled Pearl Jam appearance and Gawd knows how many other economic expansions that were scuttled without alerting the press, let alone the canceled vacations.

Chad Nance addressed his rage at those who passed HB2 or who support it now from pulpits and other armored bunkers of self-righteousness:

For years, and currently with HB2, y’all have been happy to shame anyone you wanted, from single mothers to the gay kid down the street. Now the shame has rightly been directed back at the people who have spent years using it as a weapon. No longer is it socially acceptable to behave this way, and it is eating some of you up to such an extent that you feel obligated to act out publicly. It is those who live their lives in a state of reactionary bigotry that should feel shame. Y’all be embarrassed when you go out of your house. You should feel like people are watching you and silently judging you because of who you are. It’s your turn, folks….

They should feel shame, but I've watched those obsessives long enough to know that they're incapable of shame.