Since NAFTA and probably even more economically dire circumstances if the TPP comes to fruition, the U.S. economy is becoming a predominantly service economy instead of a production economy, except for businesses with access to raw natural resources for mining and agriculture, or professionals such as doctors, lawyers, accountants, government officials and business owners.
The bulk of service jobs are in urban and suburban communities and most of those jobs pay such low wages that services like retail and hospitality require government subsidies for their employees and families.
Even if the retail and hospitality industries paid livable wages, there would still be a need for subsidies for the remaining unemployed. For Illinois, Chicago is the largest tax drain on the entire state, People south of Interstate 80 are so far-removed from the plight of the service industry that all they see is the money disappearing for taxes but not the positive effect tax money has on the urban communities.
They would rather not pay any taxes at all, then they could sit on their front porches and watch the amber glow on the horizon, of the cities burning in chaos.
