You’ve seen this story before. We all have. A once-booming American region falls into the hands of progressive ideologues who think they can repeal the laws of economics. They promise a utopia funded by punishing success and redistributing wealth, treating the private sector not as an engine of prosperity but as a dragon’s hoard to be plundered.

Of course, the utopia never arrives. The engine sputters, choked by endless regulations and crippling taxes. The innovators and job creators are vilified until they finally get the message. And the architects of the mess, the ones with the corporate jets, start quietly looking for the escape hatch.

One of them just spoke up, finally noticing the five-alarm fire he helped start.

From The Post Millennial:

As layoffs ripple through the Seattle-area tech scene, one of Washington’s largest employers is sounding the alarm on the state’s aggressive push for even higher taxes and warning that the policies of Democrats led by Governor Bob Ferguson could drive jobs out of the region entirely.

Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a recent interview with Bloomberg that Washington’s growing tax burden threatens to “devastate” the local economy if lawmakers continue targeting the state’s most productive industries.

And who delivered this profound piece of economic wisdom? None other than Brad Smith, President of Microsoft—a company that has done more than its fair share to enable the very political class he’s now complaining about. After helping to transform Washington state into a hopelessly blue progressive nightmare, Microsoft is now threatening to abandon ship and flee to Canada. The hypocrisy is breathtaking.

Reaping What They Sow

For years, Big Tech has been a loyal foot soldier and ATM for the Democratic party, championing every progressive social crusade that came down the pike. They eagerly funded the campaigns of the very politicians who believe capitalism is a disease and profit is a dirty word. Now, with Washington’s economy buckling under the weight of that exact ideology, Microsoft suddenly sees the problem.

The company’s leadership is aghast that the politicians they empowered are actually implementing the anti-business policies they ran on. Smith now frets that Washington state might “go off the rails” on taxes, a complaint so lacking in self-awareness it’s almost comical. They helped build the train, lay the tracks, and fuel the engine, and now they’re shocked it’s heading toward a cliff.

A Cascade of Failed Policies

The balance sheet tells a brutal story. Under Governor Bob Ferguson, Democrats have unleashed a record $12.2 billion in tax hikes. The result wasn’t prosperity; it was a $1.2 billion budget deficit. Their answer, naturally, is to demand even more, proposing new wealth and payroll taxes aimed directly at the state’s biggest employers.

This isn’t a new playbook; it’s a rerun of a disaster film we all know the ending to. Seattle’s notorious “head tax” already chased thousands of Amazon jobs out of the city. Now, state leaders want to take that failure statewide. They’ve passed crippling rent control laws that vaporized new housing starts and new capital gains taxes that have investors running for the hills. Naturally, Ferguson blames President Trump for the damage—because in the progressive fantasy land, nothing is ever their fault.

The Escape Hatch to Canada

While Washington’s workers are handed pink slips, Microsoft is busy plotting its getaway. “You don’t have to look far to find Vancouver,” Smith casually remarked, making it perfectly clear that loyalty to their home state runs a distant second to their bottom line.

This is no bluff. While Microsoft has slashed over 3,200 jobs in Washington this year, its Vancouver office across the Canadian border has more than doubled in size. The company that preaches about corporate responsibility is actively shifting jobs out of the country to escape the very political rot it helped fertilize.

So what’s the lesson from this mess in the Pacific Northwest? It’s simple. The politics of envy and resentment don’t build anything; they only destroy. The elites who champion these destructive ideas, like the executives at Microsoft, will always have a golden parachute. They can run away from the chaos they create. But everyday Americans are left behind. They don’t have a private jet waiting to fly them to Vancouver. They just get stuck with the bill.

Key Takeaways

• Liberal tax-and-spend policies inevitably lead to deficits and drive away jobs.
• Woke corporations are often the first to flee from the consequences of the leftist policies they fund.
• The “blue state exodus” is real, pushing American capital and innovation to foreign nations.
• Elites can escape the damage they cause, but everyday Americans are left with the bill.

Sources: The Post Millennial