Washington
Related: About this forumWhy Washington Is the Best State in America
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
(17,650 posts)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
(10,887 posts)sprinkleeninow
(20,267 posts)What up w/me and Jay? 🤔
😍That's what.
yonder
(9,679 posts)we could benefit salmon recovery efforts along with the economies of two additional states.
EarnestPutz
(2,123 posts)...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
(19,821 posts)Since 1973.
PSPS
(13,620 posts)montanacowboy
(6,103 posts)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
(13,620 posts)One can only wear and pay sales tax on so many shirts. Washington should have an income tax.