The most obvious manifestation of our National divide is the movement of companies headquarters since they take (or bring) with them both tax dollars and jobs.
The data is pretty clear and has been for a while that some states attract businesses and other repel them within a range of better-to-worse results:
"In what’s become an annual rite of spring for our Best & Worst States for Business survey of CEOs, Texas and Florida held on to their No. 1 and No. 2 spots this year, continuing their long-running lock on the top of the rankings."
It says a lot when a whole company picks up and leaves a state especially when they have a history there with long standing community ties; it's like a breakup where a couple splits leaving family members and common friends wondering what to do next. The most recent example came from Illinois (Chicago) where Citadel, one of the nations largest fund managers publicly announced they're leaving for Miami - ouch!
"It was the third large corporate departure from Illinois announced this month, after Boeing and Caterpillar trumpeted moves to Virginia and Texas, respectively. Why it matters: Citadel employs more than 1,000 people in the area, and [Ken] Griffin plays an influential role in local politics and philanthropy."
Certain states make it easier to start and run a business and others don't. Business owners like consumers are voting with their feet and wallets leaving a clear picture of winners and losers:
"Caterpillar and Citadel, which in June announced their exit out of Illinois, are only the latest firms to leave high-tax, high-regulation states. Tesla, Hewlett Packard, Oracle, and Remington are also among the hundreds of companies flocking out of California, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey to business-friendly places like Texas, Florida, Arizona, and Tennessee. Relocating companies have spanned industries including tech, finance, media, heavy manufacturing, autos, and firearms."
This re-location activity is sometimes called "balkanization" after the Eastern European area called the "Balkans" where state sized countries separated into warring factions at first only to grudgingly start doing business with each other after long and bloody conflicts. States are now in competition with each other for the best corporate and residential "clients" er, I mean residents. This has already started and has momentum - I expect it to continue.
Here in Florida the business community has been expanding rapidly and the state is reaping the benefits in spades; it's kind of like New York was the husband and Florida was the hot wife - they split up and now she's got a new boyfriend lol!